Techno-economic, Social and Environmental Assessment of Biomass Based District Heating in a Bioenergy Village

Bioenergy villages can be defined as villages, municipalities, settlements or communities, which produce and use most of their energy from local bioenergy and other renewable energy sources. A bioenergy village approach has not been applied in Macedonia yet, and it is at a nascent stage of implementation in other South-Eastern European countries. This work aims to integrate a techno-economic, social and environmental assessment and an implementation strategy into a bioenergy village concept, which is not often seen in works dedicated to bioenergy villages and biomass based heating systems. The assessment was conducted by means of energy audit and project-related tools, whilst the strategy was composed by bioenergy working group meetings. Results show that a biomass based district heating system is a more attractive solution for heating several public buildings instead of a fossil fuelled system, with numerous associated benefits. Such concepts can be replicated with variety of renewables, thus contributing to sustainable development pathways of small communities

Comparative assessment of two circularity indicators for the case of reusable versus single-use secondary packages for fresh foods in Spain

Sustainable packaging is a crucial focus in the context of circular economy efforts. This study evaluates the circularity of two secondary packaging systems used in Spanish fresh food produces: Reusable Plastic Crates and Single-use Cardboard Boxes. A Mass Flow Analysis was performed to assess the material flows in the production and use phases of both systems and two circular indicators were applied: the Material Circularity Indicator and Product Circular Indicator. While most previous studies for single-use packaging use these indicators at the product level, this study applies a system approach since the Reusable Plastic Crates can be reused 100 times. The functional unit was defined as the distribution of 1000 tonnes of fresh products, resulting in the distribution of 6,666,700 packages with 15 kg of products. The Material Circularity Indicator and Product Circular Indicator results show that Reusable Plastic Crates are more circular than Singleuse Cardboard Boxes. The Product Circular Indicator provides a more comprehensive assessment of circularity by considering multiple life cycle stages, efficiency, and unrecoverable waste, resulting in a difference in circularity evaluations. The indicators used have limitations as they do not consider the resource stock. Further research is needed to explore this aspect.This study is developed in the frame the KAIROS-BIOCIR Project, Grant number KAIROS-BIOCIR Project PID2019-104925RB-C33 (AEO/FEDER, UE), financed by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Competitiveness. The authors would like to thank ARECO for the support provided during the preparation of the research

Assessing the environmental impacts of three different types of accommodations in Portugal and Spain by using an LCA approach

The tourism industry, affected by COVID-19, must reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This study evaluated the environmental impact of three hotels in coastal and mountainous regions of Spain and Portugal using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Data was gathered via surveys in the Greentour tool. Results indicate that the 2-star hotel (focused on cultural-urban tourism) has the highest impacts in most categories, except for CC, FRD, and POF indicators. The 3-star hotel (beach tourism) contributes the most to CC and FRD indicators, while the hostel (nature-religious tourism) has the highest value in the POF indicator. LCA findings reveal that diesel consumption in the hostel and electricity usage in both the 2-star and 3-star hotels are major contributors to environmental impacts across various categories. Overall, evidence suggests that fossil fuel and electricity usage significantly affect tourism activities environmentally. Interestingly, this study highlights that a 2-star hotel can have a higher carbon footprint (CC indicator) compared to a 3-star hotel, challenging the notion that higher star ratings imply lower environmental impact.This research was funded by the INTERREG SUDOE Programme, grant number GREENTOUR: Circular Economy and Sustainable Tourism in Destinations of the SUDOE space (SOE4/P5/E1089)

Short Communication: Biogenic carbon in fast-moving products:A deception or real contribution to circularity?

Packaging is lately identified as one of the biggest environmental problems and is at a focus of the scientific community and the industry aiming at minimizing environmental impacts. One of the most applied eco-design measures is to substitute traditional packaging materials with bio-based materials. One of the driving incentives for the packaging industry is the calculation of biogenic carbon (BC), even though there is no unified method for the calculation of credits from carbon sequestration.We developed a case study of paper-based packaging and tested the two variables important in the circular economy: (i) material, by modeling three different end-of-life scenarios; (ii) and time, by assessing the importance of this variable using bottom-up and top-down calculations.The results of the case study showed that credits from carbon sequestration could lead to undesirable linear pathways of the EoL, by giving the biggest credits for landfilling and, thus, contradicting the circularity principles. Moreover, the time variable is critical for the calculation of biogenic carbon. Credits for carbon sequestration for short-lived products can lead to an overestimation of the storing impact because the top-down calculus of national inventories, developed based on the UNFCCC method, cannot register carbon savings.This short communication indicates that we need to invest in additional research to identify the correct way to calculate the carbon credits when using bio-based materials and to improve the practice for calculations of the overall carbon footprint of the short-lived materials in the technosphere

Short Communication: Biogenic carbon in fast-moving products: A deception or real contribution to circularity?

Packaging is lately identified as one of the biggest environmental problems and is at a focus of the scientific community and the industry aiming at minimizing environmental impacts. One of the most applied eco-design measures is to substitute traditional packaging materials with bio-based materials. One of the driving incentives for the packaging industry is the calculation of biogenic carbon (BC), even though there is no unified method for the calculation of credits from carbon sequestration.We developed a case study of paper-based packaging and tested the two variables important in the circular economy: (i) material, by modeling three different end-of-life scenarios; (ii) and time, by assessing the importance of this variable using bottom-up and top-down calculations.The results of the case study showed that credits from carbon sequestration could lead to undesirable linear pathways of the EoL, by giving the biggest credits for landfilling and, thus, contradicting the circularity principles. Moreover, the time variable is critical for the calculation of biogenic carbon. Credits for carbon sequestration for short-lived products can lead to an overestimation of the storing impact because the top-down calculus of national inventories, developed based on the UNFCCC method, cannot register carbon savings.This short communication indicates that we need to invest in additional research to identify the correct way to calculate the carbon credits when using bio-based materials and to improve the practice for calculations of the overall carbon footprint of the short-lived materials in the technosphere

Circular economy of packaging and relativity of time in packaging life cycle

This paper introduces a new methodology for the analysis of the time of recycling to compare different life cycle assessments (LCA). We apply the three variables that define the value creation principles in the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s definition of circularity: material, energy and time. Including time in the LCA methodology improves understanding of the system under study, especially for products that have a relatively short usage time compared to their recycling time. We developed a formula that includes the time necessary for obtaining the secondary material needed for "n+1" product. The paper shows that we need to consider the production of additional packaging products, quantity of which depends on the time needed for recycling, to develop comparative LCAs between systems that serve same function. The proposed approach to packaging LCA contributes to the scientific debate over the allocation of credits and burdens between several consecutive life cycles of a material.This study is an outcome of the KAIROS-BIOCIR Project, Grant number KAIROS-BIOCIR Project PID2019-104925RB-C33 (AEO/ FEDER, UE), financed by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Competitiveness. As one of the authors of this study, Ilija Sazdovski would like to express his gratitude to the UNESCO Chair in Life Cycle and Climate Change at ESCI-UPF for funding his PhD programme in Environmental Engineering at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, of which the research presented in this paper forms a part.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Environmental comparison of food-packaging systems: The significance of shelf-life extension

Consumer-level food waste has considerable environmental consequences and is related to packaging and its impact on product shelf life. This study uses the life cycle assessment methodology to compare food packaging systems with similar or varying shelf life. When comparing packaging with different shelf life, estimating food waste from retail to consumer related to shelf life becomes crucial. Currently, no validated models exist for this purpose, and this paper contributes, for the first time, to a critical comparison of existing models. Key findings from a case study on chicken meat packaging reveal that extending the shelf life from 6 to 15 days in a PET tray, employing a modified atmosphere (with the highest packaging-to-food ratio), led to an average reduction in food waste from 47% to 15% of the total chicken meat produced at the slaughterhouse, consequently reducing Climate Change by approximately 78%. The range of food waste estimate was 24–66% using 5 different models. Despite this variation, a sensitivity analysis demonstrates that the comparison results remain consistent, emphasising the significance of food waste in the environmental impact. This underscores the crucial need for a validated method to assess food waste based on shelf life in food packaging ecodesign

Life cycle assessment on calcium zincate production methods for rechargeable batteries

The world's energy transition from fossil to renewable energy is unthinkable without further research in energy storage. Decreasing the environmental impacts from the production of energy storage technologies is essential for achieving a green energy transition. Calcium Zincate (CAZN) is used as active material in rechargeable zinc-based batteries (and other products, such as heterogeneous catalysts for biodiesel or antifungal products). They present a low-cost, safer, alternative to Lithium based batteries and are targeted as replacement solutions for lead-acid batteries. We propose a novelty in the synthesis of CAZN, the hydro-micro-mechanical process (HMMS). The residence time of this new route is about 20 times lower than the traditional processes, so its production needs less infrastructure and can deliver quicker at an industrial scale. In addition, laboratory tests indicate that HMMS CAZN has more reaction surface area and the activation of the battery is 1.77 times faster. Using the life cycle assessment (LCA) method, we compare this new process with the current best option, hydro-thermal synthesis (HTS). The cradle-to-gate results per kg of CAZN already indicates that HMMS is an environmentally better alternative for all indicators; especially when considering the normalization of the results with the residence time and the surface area, HMMS delivers better results, with improvements of 97 % in global warming, for instance. With this, we demonstrate that, outside of the cradle-to-gate, variables that make the final products better service units or give more function should be considered as valuable additional information when deciding among alternatives. This also highlights the importance of life cycle thinking when working with chemical processes and substances. In the sensitivity analysis, we developed 7 scenarios related to the energy demand of the processes, and we incorporated the projection in the European electricity mix for 2030 and 2050

Requirements for comparative life cycle assessment studies for single-use and reusable packaging and products: recommendation for decision and policy-makers

In this discussion paper recommendations are given to perform in a proper way an LCA study where single-use and reusable packaging and products are compare