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| Title | Author(s) | Type | Year | Tags | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Estimation of greenhouse gas reduction in waste recycling sector in Cheongju-si, Korea using US EPA WARM model The "A new climate agreement" adopted by the 21st Session of the Conference of Parties (COP) in Paris in 2015 and entered into force on November 4. For this purpose, it is mandatory to report on national greenhouse gas inventories and achievement of GHG reduction targets. In order to play a role as a countermeasure against climate change, efforts for climate change are also essential in local governments. Although in Korea, a portion of wastes sector among the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions is only 2.4% (based on 2015 year), considering the effect of substituting natural resources through material recycling, waste-to-energy conversion, and landfill gas recovery would make cumulative further reduction of greenhouse gases. The importance of recycling is increasing in recent years due to the lack of virgin material, the limitation of natural resources, increased waste management costs, limited space in landfills, and the impact of climate change resulting from the decomposition of waste from landfills. In the United States, the EPA WARM (waste reduction model) was developed and widely used to calculate greenhouse gas reductions in the waste sector. In this study, we used the WARM model to estimate the amount of GHG reduction by the recycling of household municipal waste in Cheongju city with a population of 800000, along with material flow analysis on the data of '2017 National Waste Generation and Disposal Status '. In order to calculate the greenhouse gas reduction amount obtained from recycling, baseline scenario was based on assuming that some of the recycled amount was either landfilled or incinerated, while the alternative scenario was based on the currently recycled amount of the city. According to the results of this study, greenhouse gas reductions by the waste recycling of Cheongju city calculated by the WARM model were reduced about 410,000 MTCO2eq (Metric Ton of Carbon Dioxide Equivalent) or 110,000 MTCE(Metric Ton of Carbon Equivalent) per year in 2017 and 2.74 million MBTU of energy was conserved. It should be noted that the feasibility of domestic application and to accurately understand and analyze the factors considered in the system boundary and estimation method should be examined, when applying to actual reduction of GHGs by waste recycling. The results of this study can be used as a basic data for estimating GHG reductions at the local city level in the waste sector and establishing GHG reduction policy in the future. | Estimation of greenhouse gas reduction in waste recycling sector in ... | Lee, Gain; Kwon, Yuree; Jang, Yong-chul; Jang, Yeji | Conference Paper | None | 2019 |
Case Study
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
Material Flow Analysis (MFA)
Municipal Solid Waste (MSW)
Scenario analysis
Single point in time
Urban
Waste
|
| Diets, Food Miles, and Environmental Sustainability of Urban Food Systems: Analysis of Nine Indian Cities With ever-growing populations, cities are increasingly interested in ensuring a well-functioning food system. However, knowledge of variation between individual city food systems is limited. This is particularly true in countries such as India, experiencing significant issues related to food security and sustainability. This paper advances the understanding of urban food systems, by analyzing the unique food systems of nine cities within India, through the integration of multiple city-specific data sources including demand of residents, visitors and industries, and commodity-specific supply chains to assess nutrition, environmental impact, and supply risk. This work finds a large degree of intercity food system variability across multiple food system characteristics. Specifically, levels of undernutrition vary, with the percentage of city populations who are underconsuming protein ranging from 0% to 70%, and for calories 0% to 90%. Environmental impacts (consumptive water loss, land use, and greenhouse gas emissions) of urban food demand also show variation, largely influenced by differing composition of residential diet. Greenhouse gas emissions are also largely influenced by location of production and spatially informed energy intensity of irrigation. Supply chain distance (“food-miles”) also vary by city, with the range of 196 (Pondicherry) to 1,137 (Chennai) km/Mg—shorter than more industrialized nations such as the United States. Evaluating supply chain risk in terms of water scarcity in food-producing regions that serve city demand finds production locations, on average, to be less water-scarce than the watersheds local to the urban environments. This suggests water-intensive agriculture may at times be best located at a distance from urban centers and competing demands. | Diets, Food Miles, and Environmental Sustainability of Urban Food Systems: ... | Boyer, D.; Sarkar, J.; Ramaswami, A. | Journal Article | academic | 2019 |
Case Study
Food
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
Urban
|
| Consumption-Based Carbon Emissions of Tianjin Based on Multi-Scale Input–Output Analysis Cities are a major source of carbon emissions and should play an important role in reducing carbon emissions. This study applies the method of multi-scale input–output analysis (MSIO) to analyze the consumption-based carbon emissions of Tianjin in 2012. This method can estimate the carbon emissions embodied in imported products. The results reveal that the production-based carbon emissions of Tianjin were 1.52 × 108 tonnes CO2 in 2012, which had increased over 50% since 2007. Meanwhile, the consumption-based carbon emissions of Tianjin city were 2.55 × 108 tonnes CO2, 1.71 times higher than those in 2007 and 1.67 times the amount of production-based carbon emissions in 2012. Regarding the total embodied carbon emissions involved in the Tianjin economy in 2012, about 6% were from foreign countries, over 60% were from other regions of China, and only one-third were territorial-based or production-based carbon emissions. Correspondingly, Tianjin respectively exported 11% and 34% of the total embodied carbon emissions to foreign countries and other regions in China, while over half were embodied in the local final demand. Tianjin was a carbon budget importer in domestic trade and an exporter in international trade in both 2007 and 2012. However, when both domestic and international trades are considered, Tianjin had shifted from a carbon budget exporter in 2007 to an importer in 2012. Since 2007, the carbon nexus between Tianjin and other regions in China had become much closer (carbon emissions embodied in domestic trade increased 103.47%), but the connection with foreign countries became looser (carbon emissions embodied in international trade decreased 21.96%). Compared to Beijing in 2012, it is evident that there were less carbon emission transfer issues for Tianjin city. | Consumption-Based Carbon Emissions of Tianjin Based on Multi-Scale Input–Output Analysis | Xu, Peiqi; Shao, Ling; Geng, Zihao; Guo, Manli; Wei, Zijun; Wu, Zi | Journal Article | academic | 2019 |
Case Study
Comparison
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
Multi-Region Input-Output (MRIO) Analysis
Single point in time
Urban
|
| Analysis of urban metabolism and policy assessment : building a nested multiregional input-output model According with the projections of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the limitation of global warming below 1.5 °C above pre-industrial level is strictly related to the reduction of GHG emissions. Nowadays, more than half of the world’s population lives in urban areas and cities contribute approximately to 75% of world’s GHG emissions. Considering that the share urban population is forecasted to reach 68% by 2050, cities will play a key role in the fight for climate change. Indeed, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), urban areas account for up to two-thirds of the potential to cost-effectively reduce global carbon emissions. As a basis for action on climate change, cities should report their CO2 emissions in an effective and complete way. The traditional Production-Based Accounting should be integrated with the Consumption-Based Accounting to assess the “responsibility” of CO2 emissions. The policy-makers should be informed through precise and specific analysis highlighting the inter-sectoral connections arising inside and outside the city boundaries. The objective of this work is to develop a Nested Environmental-Extended Multiregional Input-Output (Nested EE-MRIO) model with three spatial levels, applied to Italy, Italian regions and the metropolitan area of Milan. The framework has been modeled through Exiobase 3 and Istat databases, applying traditional and modified methodologies of downscaling of data at regional and urban dimensions. The model estimates, according to a CBA logic, the Carbon Footprint and the carbon flows associated to 17 production sectors of Italy, of the Italian regions and of the metropolitan area of Milan, in order to analyze how these sectors interact with each other. The results show that the double scaling of data (from nation to region and then from region to city) gives a more realistic representation of the urban system than the one obtained by scaling directly national data to the urban dimension. The attributional analysis has been followed by a consequential analysis to give a first environmental and economic assessment of the green roofs policy that is included in the new Piano di Governo del Territorio (PGT) of Milan. In accordo con le proiezioni dell’Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), la limitazione del riscaldamento globale sotto 1.5 °C rispetto al livello preindustriale è strettamente collegata alla riduzione di emissioni di gas serra. Ad oggi più di metà della popolazione mondiale vive in zone urbane e le città contribuiscono circa al 75% delle emissioni di gas serra. Considerando che è previsto il raggiungimento del 68% di popolazione urbana entro il 2050, le città assumono un ruolo chiave nella lotta al cambiamento climatico. Infatti, in accordo con l’International Energy Agency (IEA), le aree urbane rappresentano due terzi del potenziale per ridurre efficientemente le emissioni globali di carbone in termini di costi. Alla base della lotta al cambiamento climatico, le città devono calcolare le loro emissioni di CO2 in modo efficace e completo. Il tradizionale Production-Based Accounting deve essere integrato con il Consumption-Based Accounting per valutare la “responsabilità” delle emissioni di CO2. I responsabili delle politiche devono essere informati tramite precise e specifiche analisi che sottolineino le connessioni intersettoriali all’interno e all’esterno dei confini cittadini. L’obiettivo di questo lavoro è lo sviluppo di un modello ambientale multiregionale Input-Output a tre livelli spaziali applicato all’Italia, alle sue regioni e all’area metropolitana di Milano. Il sistema è stato modellato a partire dai database Exiobase 3 e Istat, applicando metodologie tradizionali e revisionate di regionalizzazione e urbanizzazione dei dati. Il modello permette di calcolare, secondo una logica CBA, l’impronta di carbonio e i flussi di carbonio associati a 17 settori produttivi dell’economia italiana, regionale e dell’area metropolitana di Milano per analizzare come tali settori interagiscano l’uno con l’altro. I risultati ottenuti mostrano come il duplice scaling dei dati (da nazione a regione e da regione a città) dia una rappresentazione più realistica del sistema urbano rispetto a quella che si otterrebbe scalando i dati direttamente dalla dimensione nazionale a quella cittadina. In aggiunta all’analisi attributiva, è stato realizzata un’analisi consequenziale per una prima valutazione di impatto ambientale ed economico della politica sui tetti verdi contenuta nel nuovo Piano di Governo del Territorio di Milano (PGT). | Analysis of urban metabolism and policy assessment : building a ... | BRAMBILLA di CIVESIO, ALBERTO; BURATTI, DAVIDE | Thesis | theses | 2019 |
Carbon Footprint (CF)
Case Study
Environmentally-Extended Input-Output Analysis (EE-IOA)
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
Method
Multi-Region Input-Output (MRIO) Analysis
Multi-scale
National
Urban
|
| A Simple Sinuosity-Based Method using GPS data to Support Mitigation Policies for Public Buses GHG Emissions It is clear by now that climate change mitigation relies on our capacity to guide urban systems towards a low-carbon phase and that the urban transportation sector plays a major role in this transition. It is estimated that around 30% of total CO2 emissions worldwide come from the urban transportation sector. Regardless of its importance, detailed estimations of transport-related emissions in cities are still rare to find, hindering our capacity to understand and reduce them. This work aims to develop a replicable and fast method for GHG estimation from GPS (Global Positioning System) data and to introduce a simple sinuosity-based algorithm for such. We applied the method for 1 year of GPS data in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Our results were compared to top-down estimations from fuel consumption and proved to be valid after a simple data filling process. Our GPS-based approach allowed for much finer spatial and temporal descriptions of emissions and we further showed possible policy insights that can be extracted from the estimated emissions based on the proposed method. | A Simple Sinuosity-Based Method using GPS data to Support Mitigation ... | Wills, William; Meirelles, Joao; Baptista, Vivien Green; Cury, Gabriel; Cerdeira, Pablo | Conference Paper | None | 2019 |
Case Study
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
Single point in time
Urban
|
| From urban metabolism to industrial ecosystem metabolism: A study of construction in Shanghai from 2004 to 2014 Amid the prolific studies on urban metabolism is the relatively sparse research focusing on a specific industrial ecosystem. A general urban metabolism framework disconnected from specific industrial background is at the risk to misunderstand the key drivers of metabolic process, thereby failing to propose applicable measures for improving its sustainability. This paper aims to develop an industrial ecosystem level metabolism framework. This was conducted by following the major analytical tools such as material and energy flow analysis (MEFA) with a focus on the construction ecosystem, which plays a pivotal role in materializing the urban meanwhile generating negative by-products such as greenhouse-gas (GHG), pollutants, and construction waste. The framework was further applied to the construction ecosystem in Shanghai for confirming the major components it includes. Using the data in Shanghai, it was also discovered that the construction industry is generally less efficient in terms of metabolism. It is indicated that population, urbanization rate, concrete input, real estate investment, and the housing demolished and newly built are principal determinants explaining massive construction and demolition (C&D) waste generation in Shanghai. The framework can facilitate the understanding of construction ecosystem metabolic process, investigation of C&D waste generation and its main drivers, and evaluating and improving urban sustainability at an industrial scale. | From urban metabolism to industrial ecosystem metabolism: A study of ... | Youzhi Zhang and Weisheng Lu and Vivian Wing-Yan Tam and Yingbin Feng | Journal Article | academic | 2018 |
Case Study
Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW)
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
Material and Energy Flow Analysis (MEFA)
Urban
|
| The Concept of City Carbon Maps: A Case Study of Melbourne, Australia Cities are thought to be associated with most of humanity's consumption of natural resources and impacts on the environment. Cities not only constitute major centers of economic activity, knowledge, innovation, and governance—they are also said to be linked to approximately 70% to 80% of global carbon dioxide emissions. This makes cities primary agents of change in a resource- and carbon-constraint world. In order to set meaningful targets, design successful policies, and implement effective mitigation strategies, it is important that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions accounting for cities is accurate, comparable, comprehensive, and complete. Despite recent developments in the standardization of city GHG accounting, there is still a lack of consistent guidelines regarding out-of-boundary emissions, thus hampering efforts to identify mitigation priorities and responsibilities. We introduce a new conceptual framework—based on environmental input-output analysis—that allows for a consistent and complete reconciliation of direct and indirect GHG emissions from a city. The 'city carbon map' shows local, regional, national, and global origins and destinations of flows of embodied emissions. We test the carbon map concept by applying it to the greater metropolitan area of Melbourne, Australia. We discuss the results and limitations of the approach in the light of possible mitigation strategies and policies by different urban stakeholders. | The Concept of City Carbon Maps: A Case Study of ... | Wiedmann, Thomas O. and Chen, Guangwu and Barrett, John | Journal Article | academic | 2016 |
Carbon Footprint (CF)
Case Study
Environmentally-Extended Input-Output Analysis (EE-IOA)
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
Review Paper
Single point in time
UM review paper import
Urban
|
| Towards a Dynamic Approach to Urban Metabolism: Tracing the Temporal Evolution of Brussels' Urban Metabolism from 1970 to 2010 Urban metabolism (UM) is a way of characterizing the flows of materials and energy through and within cities. It is based on a comparison of cities to living organisms, which, like cities, require energy and matter flows to function and which generate waste during the mobilization of matter. Over the last 40 years, this approach has been applied in numerous case studies. Because of the data‐intensive nature of a UM study, however, this methodology still faces some challenges. One such challenge is that most UM studies only present macroscopic results on either energy, water, or material flows at a particular point in time. This snapshot of a particular flow does not allow the tracing back of the flow's evolution caused by a city's temporal dynamics. To better understand the temporal dynamics of a UM, this article first presents the UM for Brussels Capital Region for 2010, including energy, water, material, and pollution flows. A temporal evaluation of these metabolic flows, as well as some urban characteristics starting from the seminal study of Duvigneaud and Denayer‐De Smet in the early 1970s to 2010, is then carried out. This evolution shows that Brussels electricity, natural gas, and water use increased by 160%, 400%, and 15%, respectively, over a period of 40 years, whereas population only increased by 1%. The effect of some urban characteristics on the UM is then briefly explored. Finally, this article succinctly compares the evolution of Brussels’ UM with those of Paris, Vienna, Barcelona, and Hong Kong and concludes by describing further research pathways that enable a better understanding of the complex functioniong of UM over time. | Towards a Dynamic Approach to Urban Metabolism: Tracing the Temporal ... | Athanassiadis, Aristide and Bouillard, Philippe and Crawford, Robert H. and Khan, Ahmed Z. | Journal Article | academic | 2016 |
Carbon dioxide (CO2)
Case Study
Electricity
Emissions
Energy
Energy Balance
Fossil Fuels
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
Infra-urban
Material Flow Analysis (MFA)
Research and Analysis
SO2
Time series
UM review paper import
Urban
Waste
Wastewater
Water
|
| Urban carbon transformations: unravelling spatial and inter-sectoral linkages for key city industries based on multi-region input-output analysis With around 80% of global greenhouse gas emissions directly or indirectly attributed to cities, attempts to mitigate climate change impacts must seriously consider urban carbon transformations. Two challenges are currently constraining urban planning decisions around decarbonisation. Firstly, a lack of detailed knowledge about city-induced emissions occurring outside of the city boundary hampers the design of mitigation strategies that involves the city's ‘hinterland'. Secondly, the complexity of interconnections between industries and regions located upstream or downstream the supply chain of urban economic activity makes it difficult to implement specific, effective and efficient decarbonisation policies. In this study, a multi-scale, multi-region input-output model with nested regions at city, state, nation and world level is employed to study the carbon footprints and the inter-sectoral linkages in terms of embodied carbon emissions of the two largest metropolitan areas of Australia, Melbourne and Sydney. The results show that imported emissions make up more than 50% of the city carbon footprints, with most of them attributable to goods (excluding food) and services (excluding electricity). This highlights the importance of promoting mitigation measures both within and outside of the city. The energy, mining and agriculture sectors - usually located outside of city boundaries - all have significant carbon linkage multipliers associated with city demand, indicating the need of pursuing carbon mitigation measures in these sectors. The linkage analysis pinpoints to crucial sectors that need to be targeted in future investments towards urban decarbonisation to minimise emissions and to maximise positive economic effects for urban and regional economies. The study also provides an improved understanding of the differences and similarities between Australia's two main cities. It is envisaged that this type of analysis will become increasingly relevant to other cities as the spatial resolution of multi-region input-output databases continues to improve. | Urban carbon transformations: unravelling spatial and inter-sectoral linkages for key ... | Guangwu Chen and Michalis Hadjikakou and Thomas Wiedmann | Journal Article | academic | 2016 |
Carbon
Carbon Footprint (CF)
Case Study
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
Multi-Region Input-Output (MRIO) Analysis
Research and Analysis
UM review paper import
Urban
hybrid
|
| Urban metabolism profiles. An empirical analysis of the material flow characteristics of three metropolitan areas in Sweden Knowledge about the characteristics and driving forces of material flows in urban areas is crucial, as the pathways towards sustainability depend on local conditions. Currently, Urban Metabolism research focuses on the analysis of trends and transitions in different stages of city development, on developing classification systems and identification of metabolism profiles for urban areas. A novel framework for characterizing cities metabolism is provided using Urban Material Flow Accounting indicators as the basis. A Material Flow Accounting study is conducted for three cities in Sweden, from 1996 until 2011: Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmo. Based on the urban metabolism characteristics framework, three distinct profiles are proposed: consumer-service; industrial; and transitioning. Stockholm's material needs are mainly for final consumption. When compared with the other two cities, material flows follow a more stable trend and have lower dependency on external systems due to the marginal production and export of goods. Gothenburg has the most resource intensive metabolism. It requires several times larger material inputs than the other two cities and produces much larger outputs, for benefit of the rest of the country and the world. Consequently, \{CO2\} emissions are higher in Gothenburg. Malmo characteristics are more complex than Stockholm's with higher material needs in particular construction minerals. Its dependency on external flows is low, due to the fact that the economy and exports are based on domestically extracted Non-Metallic Minerals and Biomass. | Urban metabolism profiles. An empirical analysis of the material flow ... | Leonardo Rosado and Yuliya Kalmykova and João Patrício | Journal Article | academic | 2016 |
Case Study
Construction Materials
Direct Material Consumption (DMC)
Domestic extraction (DE)
Fossil Fuels
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
Imports and Exports
Metals
Minerals
Research and Analysis
Time series
UM review paper import
Urban
Urban Metabolism Analyst Model (UMan)
|
| Towards more comprehensive urban environmental assessments: exploring the complex relationship between urban and metabolic profiles Urban areas cover 2% of the Earth's land surface, host more than 50% of global population and are estimated to account for around 75% of CO2 emissions from global energy use. In order to mitigate existing and future direct and indirect environmental pressures resulting from urban resource use, it is necessary to investigate and better understand resource and pollution flows associated with urban systems. Current urban environmental assessment methodologies enable the quantification of resource use and pollution emissions flows entering, becoming stocked and exiting urban areas. While these methodologies enable to estimate the environmental effect of cities, they often consider urban areas as being static and homogeneous systems. This partial and simplistic representation shadows the complex spatio-temporal interrelationships between the local context and its associated local and global environmental pressures. This characterisation of urban systems is a significant limitation, not only for the urban environmental assessments, but also for the identification of their drivers as it may lead to inadequate urban environmental policies. To overcome this limitation and effectively reduce glocal urban environmental pressures, it is necessary to better understand the complex functioning of cities and identify their drivers. This research developed a comprehensive urban environmental assessment framework that helps to better explicit and understand the complex relationship between an urban system and its environmental profile in a systemic and systematic way. This framework was applied to the case study of Brussels Capital Region (BCR). Results from the application of this framework show that urban systems are neither static nor homogeneous. In fact, different relationships between the urban and metabolic profiles appear when considering different spatial scales and temporal intervals as well as different urban and metabolic metrics. The establishment of BCR's urban profile showed that components that shape the urban system evolve in an organic way over time. Moreover, the spatial expression of an urban system portrays its heterogeneous aspect and how different metrics of the same urban indicator can reveal distinct facets and challenges for an urban area or a neighbourhood. Finally, it was demonstrated that the relationship between urban indicators is different for each spatial scale and therefore knowledge from one spatial scale is not necessarily transferable from one scale to another. The establishment and analysis of BCR's metabolic profile also underlined the complex functioning of cities as each flow has a different temporal evolution and spatial expression. Due to the multifaceted and intertwined aspect of metabolic flows it becomes clear that no single parameter enables to explain or predict their behaviour. This leads to the conclusion that a great number of questions still need to be considered, understood and answered before effectively and coherently reducing environmental pressures from cities. The developed framework proposes a number of concrete steps that enable existing and new cities to better understand their metabolic functioning and ultimately transition towards less environmentally harmful futures. | Towards more comprehensive urban environmental assessments: exploring the complex relationship ... | Aristide Athanassiadis | Thesis | theses | 2016 |
Belgium
Biomass (must be merged with other Biomass)
Brussels
Carbon
Carbon Monoxide (CO)
Carbon dioxide (CO2)
Circular Economy
City
Construction Materials
Domestic extraction (DE)
Economy-Wide Material Flow Analysis (EW-MFA)
Electricity
Emissions (must be merged with Emissions)
Energy
Food
Global
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
Imports and Exports
Material Stock Analysis (MSA)
Metals
Minerals
Multi-scale
NOx
Natural Gas
SO2
Single point in time
Social Metabolism
Time series
Urban
Waste
Wastewater
Water
Zotero import
|
| The Efficiency of Informality: Quantifying Greenhouse Gas Reductions from Informal Recycling in Bogotá, Colombia The dual challenges of increasing urbanization and consumption are centered in cities in the Global South, where growing waste production threatens public and environmental health. Reuse and recycling are widely recognized to provide broad environmental benefits. Although most industrialized cities replaced their informal recycling sectors with municipally run recycling schemes and have had to build their recycling rates anew, most industrializing cities in the Global South remain centers of recycling and reuse through the work of informal workers. Bogotá, Colombia, is emblematic of many cities in the Global South seeking to modernize their city, in part by formalizing their recycling system. This article asks: What are the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission implications of this modernization? Using interviews and observation in combination with life cycle assessment, we compare GHG emissions resulting from the baseline case (1,200 tonnes per day [t/d] recycled through informal channels; 5,700 t/d landfilled) to three alternative scenarios that formalize the recycling sector: the prohibition of informal recycling; a reduction in informal recycling coupled with a scale-up of formalized recycling; and the replacement of informal recycling with formal recycling. We find that the baseline recycling scenario, dependent on the informal sector only, emits far fewer GHGs than do all formalization scenarios. Three processes drive the results, in order of magnitude: informal textile reuse (largest GHG savings); landfilling (largest emitter of GHGs); and metal recycling (GHG savings). A hybrid model could combine the incentives and efficiency of the informal system with the better working conditions of the municipal one. | The Efficiency of Informality: Quantifying Greenhouse Gas Reductions from Informal ... | Vergara, Sintana E. and Damgaard, Anders and Gomez, Daniel | Journal Article | academic | 2016 |
Case Study
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
Scenario analysis
Single point in time
UM review paper import
Urban
|
| Competition for land: a sociometabolic perspective Possible negative effects of increased competition for land include pressures on biodiversity, rising food prices and GHG emissions. However, neoclassical economists often highlight positive aspects of competition, e.g. increased efficiency and innovation. Competition for land occurs when several agents demand the same good or service produced froma limited area. It implies thatwhen one agent acquires scarce resources from land, less resource is available for competing agents. The resource competed for is often not land but rather its function for biomass production,which may be supplanted by other inputs that raise yields. Increased competitionmay stimulate efficiency but negative environmental effects are likely in the absence of appropriate regulations. Competition between affluent countries with poor people in subsistence economies likely results in adverse social and development outcomes if not mitigated through effective policies. The socioecological metabolism approach is a framework to analyze land-related limits and functions in particular with respect to production and consumption of biomass and carbon sequestration. It can generate databases that consistently link land usedwith biomass flows which are useful in understanding interlinkages between different products and services and thereby help to analyze systemic feedbacks in the global land system. | Competition for land: a sociometabolic perspective | Helmut Haberl | Journal Article | academic | 2015 |
Biomass (must be merged with other Biomass)
Carbon dioxide (CO2)
Food
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
Research and Analysis
Social Metabolism
|
| Carbon, water and energy fluxes of terrestrial ecosystems in Italy In this chapter the Eddy Covariance network of Italy is presented, with a short introduction to each of the 29 sites that were active during the CarboItaly project. These sites provided a unique dataset for a better study and understanding of the carbon cycle of terrestrial ecosystems and the links between carbon sink capacity and the main environmental factors. After a number of examples of Eddy Covariance time series where it is possible to see the effect of interannual climate variability and disturbances and managements practices, an analysis of the role of the Carbon Uptake Period in the total Net Ecosystem Exchange (NEE) definition and a study of the effect of temperature and precipitation on the interannual variability of NEE are presented in order to show the way these data can contribute to a better understanding of the role and response of ecosystems to climate change. In: Valentini R., Miglietta F. (eds) The Greenhouse Gas Balance of Italy. Environmental Science and Engineering. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg | Carbon, water and energy fluxes of terrestrial ecosystems in Italy | Dario Papale, Mirco Migliavacca, Edoardo Cremonese, Alessandro Cescatti, Giorgio Alberti, Nicola Arriga, Manuela Balzarolo, Luca Belelli, Eleonora Canfora, Raffaele Casa, Pierpaolo Duce, Osvaldo Facini, Marta Galvagno, Lorenzo Genesio, Damiano Gianelle, Enzo Magliulo, Giorgio Matteucci, Leonardo Montagnani, Fabio Petrella, Andrea Pitacco, Guenther Seufert, Donatella Spano, Paolo Stefani, Francesco Vaccari, Riccardo Valentini | Book Section | academic | 2015 |
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
Italy
National
Single point in time
|
| The role of in-use stocks in the social metabolism and in climate change mitigation Human well-being includes the use of physical services from buildings, infrastructure, and consumer products. These in-use stocks link the services enjoyed by humans to energy and material consumption. Climate change mitigation requires us to transform current in-use stocks to decouple energy and material throughput from service provision. Assessing the potential environmental benefits of emissions mitigation and other sustainable development strategies requires a solid understanding of in-use stocks and their dynamics. We identified the different roles of in-use stocks in the social metabolism and showed to what extent they are included in current impact assessment models. We extended state-of-the-art dynamic stock models by including direct and indirect energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions. We applied the new modeling framework to three case studies in the major sectors transportation, buildings, and industry. We assessed the emissions reduction potential of the decoupling strategies energy efficiency, material efficiency, and moderate lifestyle changes. For the global steel industry and for residential buildings the emissions reduction potential of the above-mentioned strategies was so large that the benchmarks corresponding to the 2 °C climate target could be reached. Decoupling alone might be sufficient to reach the 2 °C benchmarks in some sectors. Considering decoupling next to supply side measures such as new energy technologies may make it easier to consider other objectives than emissions reduction. Decoupling may therefore revitalize the debate about sustainable development because it allows us to loosen the focus on climate change mitigation and put more weight on the economic, social, cultural, and other environmental aspects of sustainability. | The role of in-use stocks in the social metabolism and ... | Pauliuk, Stefan, and Müller, Daniel B. | Journal Article | academic | 2014 |
Decoupling
Dwellings
Emissions (must be merged with Emissions)
Energy
Global
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
Material Stock Analysis (MSA)
Metals
Social Metabolism
Substance Flow Analysis (SFA)
Transportation
Waste
|
| Global carbon benefits of material substitution in passenger cars until 2050 and the impact of the steel and aluminium industries Light-weighting of passenger cars using high-strength steel or aluminum is a common emissions mitigation strategy. We provide a first estimate of the global impact of light-weighting by material substitution on GHG emissions from passenger cars and the steel and aluminum industries until 2050. We develop a dynamic stock model of the global car fleet and combine it with a dynamic MFA of the associated steel, aluminum, and energy supply industries. We propose four scenarios for substitution of conventional steel with high-strength steel and aluminum at different rates over the period 2010-2050. We show that light-weighting of passenger cars can become a 'gigaton solution': Between 2010 and 2050, persistent light-weighting of passenger cars can, under optimal conditions, lead to cumulative GHG emissions savings of 9-18 gigatons CO2-eq compared to development business-as-usual. Annual savings can be up to 1 gigaton per year. After 2030, enhanced material recycling can lead to further reductions: closed-loop metal recycling in the automotive sector may reduce cumulative emissions by another 4-6 gigatons CO2-eq. The effectiveness of emissions mitigation by material substitution significantly depends on how the recycling system evolves. At present, policies focusing on tailpipe emissions and life cycle assessments of individual cars do not consider this important effect. | Global carbon benefits of material substitution in passenger cars until ... | Modarsi, Roja, and Pauliuk, Stefan, and Løvik, Amund N., and Müller, Daniel B. | Journal Article | academic | 2014 |
Emissions (must be merged with Emissions)
Future Scenario
Global
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
Metals
Substance Flow Analysis (SFA)
Time series
|
| A material flow model for impurity accumulation in beverage can recycling systems Recycling of aluminum is beneficial due to reduced energy inputs, greenhouse gas emissions and raw material costs. Beverage cans are currently the second largest source of old scrap, and could become even larger with improved collection. However, impurities such as iron, titanium or lead may impede end-of-life recycling at higher levels, especially in closed-loop systems where they can accumulate over time. A generic material flow model for impurity accumulation in a simple recycling system is presented here. Sensitivity analysis was used to investigate the effect of key parameters on dynamics of accumulation and concentration at steady state. It was found that it takes longer to reach steady state at high collection rates, and that the steady state concentration is disproportionally higher. Increasing the U.S. beverage can collection rate from today's 54% to the goal of 75% may cause more than a doubling of impurity concentrations unless better scrap treatment and remelting are developed in parallel or the scrap is used in other applications. Book: Light Metals 2014 | A material flow model for impurity accumulation in beverage can ... | Løvik, Amund N., and Müller, Daniel B. | Book Section | academic | 2014 |
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
Metals
Substance Flow Analysis (SFA)
|
| Enabling Future Sustainability Transitions: An Urban Metabolism Approach to Los Angeles This synthesis article presents an overview of an urban metabolism (UM) approach using mixed methods and multiple sources of data for Los Angeles, California. We examine electric energy use in buildings and greenhouse gas emissions from electricity, and calculate embedded infrastructure life cycle effects, water use and solid waste streams in an attempt to better understand the urban flows and sinks in the Los Angeles region (city and county). This quantification is being conducted to help policy‐makers better target energy conservation and efficiency programs, pinpoint best locations for distributed solar generation, and support the development of policies for greater environmental sustainability. It provides a framework to which many more UM flows can be added to create greater understanding of the study area's resource dependencies. Going forward, together with policy analysis, UM can help untangle the complex intertwined resource dependencies that cities must address as they attempt to increase their environmental sustainability. | Enabling Future Sustainability Transitions: An Urban Metabolism Approach to Los ... | Pincetl, S., Chester, M., Circella, G., Fraser, A., Mini, C., Murphy, S., Reyna, J., Sivaraman, D. | Journal Article | academic | 2014 |
Energy
Environmentally-Extended Input-Output Analysis (EE-IOA)
Greenhouse Gas Accounting
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
Material Flow Analysis (MFA)
UM review paper import
Urban
Waste
Water
|
| Environmentally extended input–output analysis on a city scale – application to Aveiro (Portugal) This study evaluates direct and indirect environmental impacts associated with the consumption of goods and services by the households living in the municipality of Aveiro (Portugal) using environmentally extended input output (IO) analysis. The environmental impacts addressed are greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and fossil fuel consumption. A methodology adapted to the specificities of the data available is proposed. This methodology relies on the Portuguese economic IO table, on GHG emission and fossil fuel consumption intensities, and on national household expenditure data downscaled to the urban level. This methodology could also be applied to other municipalities or cities for which data on local household expenditures are missing. This study also identifies the sectors with the largest impacts in order to prioritise strategies for reducing the impacts to move the municipality towards more sustainable consumption. The estimated total GHG emissions in 2005 amounted to 26 kg CO2-eq./cap/day and the total fossil fuel consumption was 7.3 koe/cap/day. The sectors that contributed most for both indicators are “land transport and transport by pipelines”, “food, beverages and tobacco”, “construction” and “production, collection and distribution of electricity”. Therefore, improvement measures are proposed for these sectors in order to more effectively decrease the environmental impacts related with GHG emissions and fossil energy consumption of the municipality. | Environmentally extended input–output analysis on a city scale – application ... | Dias, Ana Cláudia; Lemos, Diogo; Gabarrell, Xavier; Arroja, Luís | Journal Article | academic | 2014 |
Case Study
Environmentally-Extended Input-Output Analysis (EE-IOA)
Fossil Fuels
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
UM review paper import
Urban
Zotero2
|
| Transforming the Norwegian Dwelling Stock to reach the 2 Degrees Celsius Climate Target Residential buildings account for about one-third of the final energy demand in Norway. Many cost-effective measures for reducing heat losses in buildings are known, and their implementation may make the building sector one of the largest contributors to climate change mitigation. To determine the sectoral emission reduction potential, we model a complete transformation of the dwelling stock by 2050 by applying both renovation and reconstruction with different energy standards. We propose a new dynamic stock model with an optimization routine to identify and prioritize buildings with the highest energy saving potential. We combine material flow analysis (MFA) and life cycle assessment (LCA) techniques to extend the sectoral boundary beyond direct household emissions. Despite an expected population growth of almost 50% between 2000 and 2050, sectoral carbon emissions in that period may drop between 30% and 40% for scenarios where the stock is completely transformed by either reconstruction or renovation to the passive house standard. Due to its lower upstream impact, renovation leads to a lower sectoral carbon footprint than reconstruction. Full transformation, however, is not sufficient to achieve an emissions reduction of 50% or more, as required on average to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius, because hot water generation, appliances, and lighting will dominate the sectoral footprint once the stock has been transformed. A first estimate of the additional impact of realistic energy efficiency and lifestyle changes in the nonheating part of the sector reveals a maximal total reduction potential of about 75%. | Transforming the Norwegian Dwelling Stock to reach the 2 Degrees ... | Pauliuk, Stefan, and Sjöstrand, Karin, and Müller, Daniel B. | Journal Article | academic | 2013 |
Carbon dioxide (CO2)
Dwellings
Emissions (must be merged with Emissions)
Energy
Future Scenario
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
Metals
Norway
Substance Flow Analysis (SFA)
|
| Carbon emissions of infrastructure development Identifying strategies for reconciling human development and climate change mitigation requires an adequate understanding of how infrastructures contribute to well-being and greenhouse gas emissions. While direct emissions from infrastructure use are well-known, information about indirect emissions from their construction is highly fragmented. Here, we estimated the carbon footprint of the existing global infrastructure stock in 2008, assuming current technologies, to be 122 (−20/+15) Gt CO2. The average per-capita carbon footprint of infrastructures in industrialized countries (53 (±6) t CO2) was approximately 5 times larger that that of developing countries (10 (±1) t CO2). A globalization of Western infrastructure stocks using current technologies would cause approximately 350 Gt CO2 from materials production, which corresponds to about 35-60% of the remaining carbon budget available until 2050 if the average temperature increase is to be limited to 2 °C, and could thus compromise the 2 °C target. A promising but poorly explored mitigation option is to build new settlements using less emissions-intensive materials, for example by urban design; however, this strategy is constrained by a lack of bottom-up data on material stocks in infrastructures. Infrastructure development must be considered in post-Kyoto climate change agreements if developing countries are to participate on a fair basis. | Carbon emissions of infrastructure development | Müller, Daniel B., and Gang Liu, and Løvik, Amund N., and Modaresi, Roja, and Pauliuk, Stefan, and Steinhoff, Franciska S., and Brattebø, Helge | Journal Article | academic | 2013 |
Carbon dioxide (CO2)
Data Quality
Dwellings
Emissions (must be merged with Emissions)
Global
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
Policy
|
| Contextualizing the Urban Metabolism of Brussels: Correlation of resource use with local factors To monitor and assess resource use and in order to comprehend its environmental impact -and thus propose adequate policies- urban metabolism and Material Flow Analysis have become tools widely acknowledged and employed. However, due to the high level of aggregation of urban metabolism figures and to the fact that the urban system at stake is often considered as an abstract entity, it becomes hardly unfeasible to use and understand what is hidden behind these results. In fact, urban metabolism studies could be compared to 'black boxes'. In order to illustrate why the urban metabolism results of Brussels Region are specific to Brussels and not to any other abstract urban system, this paper will identify the causal relations of how and where these material and energetic flows are consumed. Thus, this paper will perform a material and energy balance at a regional scale and in order to contextualize it, it will correlate the results with local factors such as such as socio-economic (demography, income, household size, GINI, …) and territorial organization (density, land use, …) indicators. To do so, energy and material flows were downscaled at municipality level. The outcomes of this paper will be on the one hand to produce the urban metabolism at two different spatial scales and on the other to perform a correlation with local factors identifying which have the highest influence on the consumption of resources. Conference: CISBAT At: Lausanne - EPFL | Contextualizing the Urban Metabolism of Brussels: Correlation of resource use ... | Aristide Athanassiadis , Philippe Bouillard | Conference Paper | None | 2013 |
Belgium
Biomass (must be merged with other Biomass)
Brussels
Carbon dioxide (CO2)
City
Conference proceedings
Construction Materials
Emissions (must be merged with Emissions)
Energy
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
Infra-urban
NOx
Natural Gas
SO2
Single point in time
Waste
Wastewater
Water
Wood
|
| Carbon footprints of cities and other human settlements in the UK A growing body of literature discusses the CO2 emissions of cities. Still, little is known about emission patterns across density gradients from remote rural places to highly urbanized areas, the drivers behind those emission patterns and the global emissions triggered by consumption in human settlements—referred to here as the carbon footprint. In this letter we use a hybrid method for estimating the carbon footprints of cities and other human settlements in the UK explicitly linking global supply chains to local consumption activities and associated lifestyles. This analysis comprises all areas in the UK, whether rural or urban. We compare our consumption-based results with extended territorial CO2 emission estimates and analyse the driving forces that determine the carbon footprint of human settlements in the UK. Our results show that 90% of the human settlements in the UK are net importers of CO2 emissions. Consumption-based CO2 emissions are much more homogeneous than extended territorial emissions. Both the highest and lowest carbon footprints can be found in urban areas, but the carbon footprint is consistently higher relative to extended territorial CO2 emissions in urban as opposed to rural settlement types. The impact of high or low density living remains limited; instead, carbon footprints can be comparatively high or low across density gradients depending on the location-specific socio-demographic, infrastructural and geographic characteristics of the area under consideration. We show that the carbon footprint of cities and other human settlements in the UK is mainly determined by socio-economic rather than geographic and infrastructural drivers at the spatial aggregation of our analysis. It increases with growing income, education and car ownership as well as decreasing household size. Income is not more important than most other socio-economic determinants of the carbon footprint. Possibly, the relationship between lifestyles and infrastructure only impacts carbon footprints significantly at higher spatial granularity. | Carbon footprints of cities and other human settlements in the ... | Minx, Jan; Baiocchi, Giovanni; Wiedmann, Thomas; Barrett, John; Creutzig, Felix; Feng, Kuishuang; Förster, Michael; Pichler, Peter-Paul; Weisz, Helga; Hubacek, Klaus | Journal Article | academic | 2013 |
Carbon Footprint (CF)
Case Study
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
Multi-Region Input-Output (MRIO) Analysis
Rural
UM review paper import
Urban
Zotero2
|
| The Roles of Energy and Material Efficiency in Meeting Steel Industry CO2 Targets Identifying strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from steel production requires a comprehensive model of the sector but previous work has either failed to consider the whole supply chain or considered only a subset of possible abatement options. In this work, a global mass flow analysis is combined with process emissions intensities to allow forecasts of future steel sector emissions under all abatement options. Scenario analysis shows that global capacity for primary steel production is already near to a peak and that if sectoral emissions are to be reduced by 50% by 2050, the last required blast furnace will be built by 2020. Emissions reduction targets cannot be met by energy and emissions efficiency alone, but deploying material efficiency provides sufficient extra abatement potential. | The Roles of Energy and Material Efficiency in Meeting Steel ... | Milford, Rachel L., and Pauliuk, Stefan, and Allwood, Julian M., and Müller, Daniel B. | Journal Article | academic | 2013 |
Carbon dioxide (CO2)
Economy-Wide Material Flow Analysis (EW-MFA)
Emissions (must be merged with Emissions)
Energy
Future Scenario
Global
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
Metals
|
| Stock dynamics and emission pathways of the global aluminium cycle Climate change mitigation in the materials sector faces a twin challenge: satisfying rapidly rising global demand for materials while significantly curbing greenhouse-gas emissions. Process efficiency improvement and recycling can contribute to reducing emissions per material output; however, long-term material demand and scrap availability for recycling depend fundamentally on the dynamics of societies' stocks of products in use, an issue that has been largely neglected in climate science. Here, we show that aluminium in-use stock patterns set essential boundary conditions for future emission pathways, which has significant implications for mitigation priority setting. If developing countries follow industrialized countries in their aluminium stock patterns, a 50% emission reduction by 2050 below 2000 levels cannot be reached even under very optimistic recycling and technology assumptions. The target can be reached only if future global per-capita aluminium stocks saturate at a level much lower than that in present major industrialized countries. As long as global in-use stocks are growing rapidly, radical new technologies in primary production (for example, inert anode and carbon capture and storage) have the greatest impact in emission reduction; however, their window of opportunity is closing once the stocks begin to saturate and the largest reduction potential shifts to post-consumer scrap recycling. | Stock dynamics and emission pathways of the global aluminium cycle | Gang Liu, and Bangs, Colton E, and Müller, Daniel B. | Journal Article | academic | 2013 |
Economy-Wide Material Flow Analysis (EW-MFA)
Future Scenario
Global
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
Metals
Research and Analysis
|
| Implementing Trans-Boundary Infrastructure-Based Greenhouse Gas Accounting for Delhi, India Community‐wide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions accounting is confounded by the relatively small spatial size of cities compared to nations—due to which, energy use in essential infrastructures serving cities, such as commuter and airline transport, energy supply, water supply, wastewater infrastructures, and others, often occurs outside the boundaries of the cities using them. The trans‐boundary infrastructure supply chain footprint (TBIF) GHG emissions accounting method, tested in eight U.S. cities, incorporates supply chain aspects of these trans‐boundary infrastructures serving cities, and is akin to an expanded geographic GHG emissions inventory. This article shows the results from applying the TBIF method in the rapidly developing city of Delhi, India.The objectives of this research are to (1) describe the data availability for implementing the TBIF method within a rapidly industrializing country, using the case of Delhi, India; (2) identify methodological differences in implementation of the TBIF method between Indian versus U.S. cities; and (3) compare broad energy use metrics between Delhi and U.S. cities, demonstrated by Denver, Colorado, USA, whose energy use characteristics and TBIF GHG emissions have previously been shown to be similar to U.S. per capita averages.This article concludes that most data required to implement the TBIF method in Delhi are readily available, and the methodology could be translated from U.S. to Indian cities. Delhi's 2009 community‐wide GHG emissions totaled 40.3 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents (t CO2‐eq), which are normalized to yield 2.3 t CO2‐eq per capita; nationally, India reports its average per capita GHG emissions at 1.5 t CO2‐eq. In‐boundary GHG emissions contributed to 68% of Delhi's total, where end use (including electricity) energy in residential buildings, commercial and industrial usage, and fuel used in surface transportation contributed 24%, 19%, and 21%, respectively. The remaining 4% of the in‐boundary GHG emissions were from waste disposal, water and wastewater treatment, and cattle. Trans‐boundary infrastructures were estimated to equal 32% of Delhi's TBIF GHG emissions, with 5% attributed to fuel processing, 3% to air travel, 10% to cement, and 14% to food production outside the city. | Implementing Trans-Boundary Infrastructure-Based Greenhouse Gas Accounting for Delhi, India | Abel Chavez, Anu Ramaswami, Dwarakanath Nath, Ravi Guru, and Emani Kumar | Journal Article | academic | 2012 |
Carbon Footprint (CF)
Case Study
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
Single point in time
Trans-Boundary Infrastructure Supply Chain Footprint (TBIF)
UM review paper import
Urban
|
| Comparison of energy flow accounting, energy flow metabolism ratio analysis and ecological footprinting as tools for measuring urban sustainability: A case-study of an Irish city-region This paper seeks to apply a number of biophysical sustainability metrics to an Irish city-region in order to evaluate the effect of methodological pluralism when measuring urban sustainability and to determine the outcome of using more than one method when measuring the sustainability of the same system boundary at a city-region level. It is concluded that a ‘toolkit’ approach can be useful in highlighting commonalities and differences between different metrics as well as capturing some of the deficiencies inherent in using a single biophysical metric. In addition, this paper develops an approach to measuring energy metabolism by outlining and applying the ‘energy flow metabolism ratio analysis’ methodology, which is used to measure the ratio of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as a function of energy material inputs. | Comparison of energy flow accounting, energy flow metabolism ratio analysis ... | Browne, David and O'Regan, Bernadette and Moles, Richard | Journal Article | academic | 2012 |
Case Study
Comparison
Ecological Footprint (EF)
Energy Balance
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
Material Flow Analysis (MFA)
Multi-scale
Sub-national
Time series
Urban
|
| Using Life Cycle Assessment to Evaluate Green and Grey Combined Sewer Overflow Control Strategies Decentralized approaches to managing urban stormwater are gaining increased attention within the contexts of urban sustainability, climate change adaptation, and as a means of reducing combined sewer overflows (CSOs). This study applied a life cycle assessment (LCA) to comparing the environmental efficiency of three means of equivalently reducing CSOs to the Bronx River (Bronx, NY, USA). Strategy 1 featured decentralized green infrastructure technologies, while “grey” strategies 2 and 3 detained, and detained and treated, respectively, excess flows at the end of pipe. We estimated greenhouse gas emissions (in metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents [t CO2-eq]) over the construction, operation, and maintenance phases, including energy consumed at the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), carbon sequestered, and shading provided by vegetation (in the case of the green approach) over a 50-year analysis period. The study area comprised the entire drainage area contributing to New York State permitted CSO discharge points associated with the Hunts Point WWTP. The analysis was performed using a hybrid of process and economic input-output (EIO) LCA methods. The decentralized green strategy outperformed the two grey strategies in terms of this set of environmental metrics. The net emissions of the green strategy over 50 years was 19,000 t CO2-eq, whereas the grey strategies emitted 85,000 t CO2-eq (detention) and 400,000 t CO2-eq (detention and treatment). These results were significantly influenced by the emissions associated with the operation and maintenance activities required for strategies 2 and 3, and the carbon sequestered and shading provided by the vegetation in strategy 1, and suggest that watershed managers who seek to reduce CSOs and reduce carbon footprints would opt for the green approach. | Using Life Cycle Assessment to Evaluate Green and Grey Combined ... | Sousa, Maria R. C. De; Montalto, Franco A.; Spatari, Sabrina | Journal Article | academic | 2012 |
Case Study
Economic Input-Output Life-Cycle Assessment (EIO-LCA)
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
UM review paper import
Urban
Water
|
| Addressing sustainability in the aluminum industry: a critical review of life cycle assessments This article discusses the state of the practice, strength, and weakness of life cycle assessments (LCA) for achieving sustainability goals in the aluminum industry. Notable features of the reviewed LCAs include a limited geographical and life cycle scope and differentiated system boundaries, a common practice to use industry-wide inventory data, a polarized debate on allocation of aluminum recycling, and a predominant focus on energy and greenhouse gas emissions environmental metrics. Not surprisingly, the various studies have produced significantly different results, e.g., the greenhouse gas emissions per kilogram primary aluminum production range from 5.92 to 41.10 kg CO2-equivalent and the 'break-even point' (the point when the fuel economy benefits of the lighter aluminum vehicle offset added emissions from the production stage) of vehicles lightweighting ranges from 50,000 to 250,000 km. These variations relate not only to real world differences (e.g., temporal and geographical characteristics), but also partly to data uncertainties and methodological choices. Particularly, the recyclability, long lifetime, and environmental benefits in the use phase of aluminum pose great challenges for LCA methodology, especially for the allocation of recycling. The identified uncertainties and deficiencies can serve as an important base for further improvement of subsequent LCA applications in the aluminum industry. | Addressing sustainability in the aluminum industry: a critical review of ... | Gang Liu, and Müller, Daniel B. | Journal Article | academic | 2012 |
Case Study
Data Quality
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
Metals
Method
Review Paper
Uncertainty
Zotero import
Zotero2
|
| Reconciling sectoral abatement strategies with global climate targets: The case of the Chinese passenger vehicle fleet The IPCC Forth Assessment Report postulates that global warming can be limited to 2 °C by deploying technologies that are currently available or expected to be commercialized in the coming decades. However, neither specific technological pathways nor internationally binding reduction targets for different sectors or countries have been established yet. Using the passenger car stock in China as example we compute direct CO2 emissions until 2050 depending on population, car utilization, and fuel efficiency and compare them to benchmarks derived by assuming even contribution of all sectors and a unitary global per capita emission quota. Compared to present car utilization in industrialized countries, massive deployment of prototypes of fuel efficient cars could reduce emissions by about 45%, and moderately lower car use could contribute with another 33%. Still, emissions remain about five times higher than the benchmark for the 2 °C global warming target. Therefore an extended analysis, including in particular low-carbon fuels and the impact of urban and transport planning on annual distance traveled and car ownership, should be considered. A cross-sectoral comparison could reveal whether other sectors could bear an overproportional reduction quota instead. The proposed model offers direct interfaces to material industries, fuel production, and scrap vehicle supply. | Reconciling sectoral abatement strategies with global climate targets: The case ... | Pauliuk, Stefan, and Dhaniati, Ni Made A., and Müller, Daniel B. | Journal Article | academic | 2012 |
Carbon dioxide (CO2)
China
Emissions (must be merged with Emissions)
Fossil Fuels
Future Scenario
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
National
Policy
Transportation
|
| Unearthing potentials for decarbonizing the U.S. aluminium cycle Global aluminum demand is anticipated to triple by 2050, by which time global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are advised to be cut 50-85% to avoid catastrophic climate impacts. To explore mitigation strategies systematically, a dynamic material flow model was developed to simulate the stocks and flows of the U.S. aluminum cycle and analyze the corresponding GHG emissions. Theoretical and realistic reduction potentials were identified and quantified. The total GHG emissions for the U.S. aluminum cycle in 2006 amount to 38 Mt CO2-equivalence. However, the U.S. has increasingly relied on imports of aluminum embodied in various products. The in-use stock is still growing fast in most product categories, which limits current scrap availability for recycling and emissions saving. Nevertheless, there is still large emission mitigation potential through recycling. The potentials from '100% old scrap collection' and 'low emission energy' were each calculated to be higher than all process technology potential. Total emissions will decrease dramatically and mitigation priorities will change significantly under a stock saturation situation as much more old scrap becomes available for recycling. The nature of in-use stock development over the coming decades will be decisive for the aluminum industry to reach deeper emission cuts. | Unearthing potentials for decarbonizing the U.S. aluminium cycle | Gang Liu, and Bangs, Colton E, and Müller, Daniel B. | Journal Article | academic | 2011 |
Carbon dioxide (CO2)
Economy-Wide Material Flow Analysis (EW-MFA)
Emissions (must be merged with Emissions)
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
National
Policy
Single point in time
United States
|
| Cities and greenhouse gas emissions: moving forward Cities are blamed for the majority of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. So too are more affluent, highly urbanized countries. If all production- and consumption-based emissions that result from lifestyle and purchasing habits are included, urban residents and their associated affluence likely account for more than 80 per cent of the world's GHG emissions. Attribution of GHG emissions should be refined. Apportioning responsibility can be misguided, as recent literature demonstrates that residents of denser city centres can emit half the GHG emissions of their suburban neighbours. It also fails to capture the enormous disparities within and across cities as emissions are lowest for poor cities and particularly low for the urban poor.This paper presents a detailed analysis of per capita GHG emissions for several large cities and a review of per capita emissions for 100 cities for which peer-reviewed studies are available. This highlights how average per capita GHG emissions for cities vary from more than 15 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e) (Sydney, Calgary, Stuttgart and several major US cities) to less than half a tonne (various cities in Nepal, India and Bangladesh). The paper discusses where GHG emissions arise and where mitigation efforts may be most effective. It illustrates the need to obtain comparable estimates at city level and the importance of defining the scope of the analysis. Emissions for Toronto are presented at a neighbourhood level, city core level and metropolitan area level, and these are compared with provincial and national per capita totals. This shows that GHG emissions can vary noticeably for the same resident of a city or country depending on whether these are production- or consumption-based values. The methodologies and results presented form important inputs for policy development across urban sectors. The paper highlights the benefits and drawbacks of apportioning GHG emissions (and solid waste generation) per person. A strong correlation between high rates of GHG emissions and solid waste generation is presented. Policies that address both in concert may be more effective as they are both largely by-products of lifestyles. | Cities and greenhouse gas emissions: moving forward | Hoornweg, Daniel and Sugar, Lorraine and Trejos Gomez, Claudia Lorena | Journal Article | academic | 2011 |
Amman
Athens
Austin
Bangkok
Bangladesh
Barcelona
Beijing
Bhutan
Brussels
Buenos Aires
Calgary
Cape Town
Carbon dioxide (CO2)
Colombo
Comparison
Czech Republic
Delhi
Denver
Dhaka
Frankfurt
Geneva
Glasgow
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
Hamburg
Jordan
Kathmandu
Ljubljana
London
Los Angeles
Madrid
Mexico City
Naples
New York
Oslo
Paris
Portland
Porto
Prague
Rio de Janeiro
Rotterdam
Sao Paulo
Seattle
Seoul
Shanghai
Singapore
Singapore: City
Single point in time
Stockholm
Stuttgart
Sydney
Tianjin
Tokyo
Toronto
Urban
Vancouver
|
| Estimating GHG emissions of marine ports—the case of Barcelona In recent years, GHG inventories of cities have expanded to include extra-boundary activities that form part of the city's urban metabolism and economy. This paper centers on estimating the emissions due to seaports, in such a way that they can be included as part of the city's inventory or be used by the port itself to monitor their policy and technology improvements for mitigating climate change. We propose the indicators GHG emissions per ton of cargo handled or per passenger and emissions per value of cargo handled as practical measures for policy making and emission prevention measures to be monitored over time. Adapting existing methodologies to the Port of Barcelona, we calculated a total of 331,390 tons of GHG emissions (CO2 equivalents) for the year of 2008, half of which were attributed to vessel movement (sea-based emissions) and the other half to port, land related activities (land-based emissions). The highest polluters were auto carriers with 6kg of GHG emissions per ton of cargo handled. Knowing the highest emitters, the port can take action to improve the ship's activities within the port limits, such as maneuvering and hotelling. With these results, the port and the city can also find ways to reduce the land-based emissions. | Estimating GHG emissions of marine ports—the case of Barcelona | Villalba, Gara; Gemechu, Eskinder Demisse | Journal Article | academic | 2011 |
Case Study
Greenhouse Gas Accounting
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
Single point in time
UM review paper import
Urban
|
| Methodology for inventorying greenhouse gas emissions from global cities This paper describes the methodology and data used to determine greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions attributable to ten cities or city-regions: Los Angeles County, Denver City and County, Greater Toronto, New York City, Greater London, Geneva Canton, Greater Prague, Barcelona, Cape Town and Bangkok. Equations for determining emissions are developed for contributions from: electricity; heating and industrial fuels; ground transportation fuels; air and marine fuels; industrial processes; and waste. Gasoline consumption is estimated using three approaches: from local fuel sales; by scaling from regional fuel sales; and from counts of vehicle kilometres travelled. A simplified version of an intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC) method for estimating the GHG emissions from landfill waste is applied. Three measures of overall emissions are suggested: (i) actual emissions within the boundary of the city; (ii) single process emissions (from a life-cycle perspective) associated with the city's metabolism; and (iii) life-cycle emissions associated with the city's metabolism. The results and analysis of the study will be published in a second paper. | Methodology for inventorying greenhouse gas emissions from global cities | Kennedy, Christopher and Steinberger, Julia and Gasson, Barrie and Hansen, Yvonne and Hillman, Timothy and Havranek, Miroslav and Pataki, Diane and Phdungsilp, Aumnad and Ramaswami, Anu and Villalba, Gara | Journal Article | academic | 2010 |
Carbon dioxide (CO2)
Case Study
Emissions
Energy
Greenhouse Gas Accounting
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
Method
Sub-national
UM review paper import
Urban
|
| Combined MFA-LCA for Analysis of Wastewater Pipeline Networks Oslo's wastewater pipeline network has an aging stock of concrete, steel, and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipelines, which calls for a good portion of expenditures to be directed toward maintenance and investments in rehabilitation. The stock, as it is in 2008, is a direct consequence of the influx of pipelines of different sizes, lengths, and materials of construction into the system over the years. A material flow analysis (MFA) facilitates an analysis of the environmental impacts associated with the manufacture, installation, operation, maintenance, rehabilitation, and retirement of the pipelines. The forecast of the future flows of materials—which, again, is highly interlinked with the historic flows—provides insight into the likely future environmental impacts. This will enable decision makers keen on alleviating such impacts to think along the lines of eco‐friendlier processes and technologies or simply different ways of doing business. Needless to say, the operation and maintenance phase accounts for the major bulk of emissions and calls for energy‐efficient approaches to this phase of the life cycle, even as manufacturers strive to make their processes energy‐efficient and attempt to include captive renewable energy in their total energy consumption. This article focuses on the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions associated with the wastewater pipeline network in the city of Oslo. | Combined MFA-LCA for Analysis of Wastewater Pipeline Networks | G. Venkatesh, Johanne Hammervold, and Helge Brattebø | Journal Article | academic | 2009 |
Case Study
Concrete
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
Hybrid MFA-LCA
Material Stock Analysis (MSA)
PVC
Steel
Time series
Urban
Various Materials
Wastewater
|
| Greenhouse gas emissions from global cities The world's population is now over 50% urban, and cities make an important contribution to national greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Many cities are developing strategies to reduce their emissions. Here we ask how and why emissions differ between cities. Our study of ten global cities shows how a balance of geophysical factors (climate, access to resources, and gateway status) and technical factors (power generation, urban design, and waste processing) determine the GHGs attributable to cities. Within the overall trends, however, there are differences between cities with more or less public transit; while personal income also impacts heating and industrial fuel use. By including upstream emissions from fuels, GHG emissions attributable to cities exceed those from direct end use by up to 25%. Our findings should help foster intercity learning on reducing GHG emissions. | Greenhouse gas emissions from global cities | Kennedy, Christopher and Steinberger, Julia and Gasson, Barrie and Hansen, Yvonne and Hillman, Timothy and Havranek, Miroslav and Pataki, Diane and Phdungsilp, Aumnad and Ramaswami, Anu and Mendez, Gara Villalba | Journal Article | academic | 2009 |
Bangkok
Barcelona
Canada
Cape Town
Carbon dioxide (CO2)
Case Study
Czech Republic
Denver
Geneva
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
London
Los Angeles
New York
Prague
Single point in time
South Africa
Spain
Switzerland
Thailand
Toronto
United Kingdom
United States
Urban
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| The energy and mass balance of Los Angeles County We conducted an urban “metabolic” study of inputs and outputs of food, water, energy, and pollutants from Los Angeles County, USA. This region has been the subject of recent debate about the nature of population density and distribution as it relates to urban form and associated environmental impacts. We found that with the exception of food imports and wastewater outputs, inputs of resources and outputs of pollutants generally declined on a per capita basis from 1990 to 2000. Reductions likely reflected a combination of changes in public policy, improvements in technology and public infrastructure, and impacts of increases in population density. However, in comparison to other municipalities and urban regions, resource consumption per capita was still relatively high in some categories, particularly inputs of water and transportation energy. Per capita greenhouse gas emissions were lower in Los Angeles County than for the average of the USA as a whole but higher than previous analyses of urban areas internationally, largely due to comparatively high emissions from the transportation sector. Wastewater discharge accounted for less than 40% of water inputs excluding precipitation; however the partitioning of water outputs through other potential losses, specifically evapotranspiration, runoff, and groundwater recharge, remains highly uncertain. We suggest that more detailed information about water losses will greatly improve future mass and energy accounting for analyses of urban environmental sustainability in this semi-arid region. | The energy and mass balance of Los Angeles County | Ngo, N. S. and Pataki, D. E. | Journal Article | academic | 2008 |
Case Study
Energy
Energy Balance
Food
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
Material Flow Analysis (MFA)
Time series
UM review paper import
Urban
Water
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| A Demand-Centered, Hybrid Life-Cycle Methodology for City-Scale Greenhouse Gas Inventories Greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting for individual cities is confounded by spatial scale and boundary effects that impact the allocation of regional material and energy flows. This paper develops a demand-centered, hybrid life-cycle-based methodology for conducting city-scale GHG inventories that incorporates (1) spatial allocation of surface and airline travel across colocated cities in larger metropolitan regions, and, (2) life-cycle assessment (LCA) to quantify the embodied energy of key urban materials—food, water, fuel, and concrete. The hybrid methodology enables cities to separately report the GHG impact associated with direct end-use of energy by cities (consistent with EPA and IPCC methods), as well as the impact of extra-boundary activities such as air travel and production of key urban materials (consistent with Scope 3 protocols recommended by the World Resources Institute). Application of this hybrid methodology to Denver, Colorado, yielded a more holistic GHG inventory that approaches a GHG footprint computation, with consistency of inclusions across spatial scale as well as convergence of city-scale per capita GHG emissions (∼25 mt CO2e/person/year) with state and national data. The method is shown to have significant policy impacts, and also demonstrates the utility of benchmarks in understanding energy use in various city sectors. | A Demand-Centered, Hybrid Life-Cycle Methodology for City-Scale Greenhouse Gas Inventories | Ramaswami, A., Hillman, T., Janson, B., Reiner, M., Thomas, G. | Journal Article | academic | 2008 |
Case Study
Concrete
Energy
Food
Fossil Fuels
Greenhouse Gas Accounting
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
UM review paper import
Urban
Water
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| The Changing Metabolism of Cities Data from urban metabolism studies from eight metropolitan regions across five continents, conducted in various years since 1965, are assembled in consistent units and compared. Together with studies of water, materials, energy, and nutrient flows from additional cities, the comparison provides insights into the changing metabolism of cities. Most cities studied exhibit increasing per capita metabolism with respect to water, wastewater, energy, and materials, although one city showed increasing efficiency for energy and water over the 1990s. Changes in solid waste streams and air pollutant emissions are mixed. The review also identifies metabolic processes that threaten the sustainability of cities. These include altered ground water levels, exhaustion of local materials, accumulation of toxic materials, summer heat islands, and irregular accumulation of nutrients. Beyond concerns over the sheer magnitudes of resource flows into cities, an understanding of these accumulation or storage processes in the urban metabolism is critical. Growth, which is inherently part of metabolism, causes changes in water stored in urban aquifers, materials in the building stock, heat stored in the urban canopy layer, and potentially useful nutrients in urban waste dumps. Practical reasons exist for understanding urban metabolism. The vitality of cities depends on spatial relationships with surrounding hinterlands and global resource webs. Increasing metabolism implies greater loss of farmland, forests, and species diversity; plus more traffic and more pollution. Urban policy makers should consider to what extent their nearest resources are close to exhaustion and, if necessary, appropriate strategies to slow exploitation. It is apparent from this review that metabolism data have been established for only a few cities worldwide, and interpretation issues exist due to lack of common conventions. Further urban metabolism studies are required. | The Changing Metabolism of Cities | Christopher Kennedy, John Cuddihy, and Joshua Engel-Yan | Journal Article | academic | 2007 |
Case Study
Comparison
Emissions
Energy
Energy Balance
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
Material Flow Analysis (MFA)
Nutrients
Review Paper
UM review paper import
Urban
Various Materials
Water
Zotero2
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| Estimating the urban metabolism of Canadian cities: Greater Toronto Area case study An urban metabolism analysis is a means of quantifying the overall fluxes of energy, water, material, and wastes into and out of an urban region. Analysis of urban metabolism can provide important information about energy efficiency, material cycling, waste management, and infrastructure in urban systems. This paper presents the first urban metabolism of a Canadian urban region, and possibly the first for a North American city. It also makes a first attempt at comparing the urban metabolisms of a few cities worldwide. The most noticeable feature of the Greater Toronto Area metabolism is that inputs have generally increased at higher rates than outputs over the study years (1987 and 1999). The inputs of water and electricity have increased marginally less than the rate of population growth (25.6%), and estimated inputs for food and gasoline have increased by marginally greater percentages than the population. With the exception of CO2 emissions, the measured output parameters are growing slower than the population; residential solid wastes and wastewater loadings have actually decreased in absolute terms over the 12 year period from 1987 to 1999.Key words: urban metabolism, urban sustainability, Canadian cities, materials, food, water and energy consumption, waste outputs. | Estimating the urban metabolism of Canadian cities: Greater Toronto Area ... | Sahely, Halla R and Dudding, Shauna and Kennedy, Christopher A | Journal Article | academic | 2003 |
Case Study
Emissions
Energy
Energy Accounting
Food
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
Material Flow Analysis (MFA)
Time series
UM review paper import
Urban
Waste
Water
Zotero import
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| Tackling Urban CO2 Emissions in Toronto no abstract available | Tackling Urban CO2 Emissions in Toronto | Harvey, L. D. Danny | Journal Article | academic | 1993 |
Case Study
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)
Energy
Energy Accounting
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
UM review paper import
Urban
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