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Abstract: Agriculture and food production can cause a variety of adverse environmental impacts. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is the only standardised method so far that provides a comprehensive assessment of the environmental burden of products. LCA results can be expressed as environmental impacts (midpoint level) or environmental damage (endpoint level). Communication on environmental impact is mostly carried out as a part of the Carbon Footprint (CF) or Environmental Product Declaration (EPD), while reporting on environmental damage is rarely used. Due to the growing interest of consumers in ‘healthy’ food, it is important that food producers address the environmental damage. Therefore, an overview of existing Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) methods that provide insight into endpoint indicators describing damage to human health has been performed and presented in this paper. The application of the selected LCIA methods is demonstrated for the case of food products, highlighting the fact that the results obtained by different LCIA methods are not directly comparable due to a variety of methodological limitations, such as the existence of different environmental indicators and their structure. Finally, the usage of the LCA method for designing food products is presented, with the aim of enabling consumers to choose diets with lower environment and human health impacts.
Keywords: sustainable food consumption, eco-conscious choices, life cycle assessment, environmental impact, human health
Published in DKUM: 23.09.2025; Views: 0; Downloads: 8
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Abstract: Waste heat recovery technologies play an important role in enhancing energy efficiency and supporting sustainable energy production. This study investigates the utilization of waste heat from aluminium production through an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) system to generate electricity and heat simultaneously. Based on operational data from an aluminium plant, the system is firstly optimized from both the thermodynamic and economic perspectives. To maximize performance and to identify optimal configurations, a mathematical model is developed and solved using GAMS, capturing the complex interdependencies between the operational, economic and thermodynamic parameters. The environmental impact of the optimized scenarios is subsequently evaluated using a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), considering a broad range of impact categories. The results indicate a maximum power output of 830.9 kW and a maximum net present value (NPV) of 51.71 M€, confirming the system’s technical and economic viability. The environmental assessment demonstrates the potential of ORC systems as sustainable energy solutions, with significant environmental unburdening under optimized operating conditions (up to -606.0 kg CO2 eq./h). A sensitivity analysis indicates that the greatest environmental benefits occur under the optimal thermodynamic scenario, achieved through the utilization of higher-energy flue gas streams (up to -515.0 kg CO2 eq./h), and under the optimal economic scenario by balancing the electricity and heat prices optimally for simultaneous heat and power production (up to -696.7 kg CO2 eq./h). These findings highlight the importance of the thermal input quality and availability in maximizing ORC performance. With the ability to prioritize electricity, heat, or both, the optimized ORC systems support flexible energy solutions tailored to specific applications and environmental conditions, offering a promising pathway for unburdening the environment through the efficient utilization of industrial waste heat.
Keywords: waste heat recovery, aluminium production, organic rankine cycle, environmental impact, life cycle assessment, sustainable energy solutions
Published in DKUM: 13.06.2025; Views: 0; Downloads: 20
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Keywords: environmental impact assessment, EIA, sustainability, infrastructure planning
Published in DKUM: 11.05.2018; Views: 2018; Downloads: 99
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Abstract: The present scientific monograph, entitled “Environmental management & audit“, is the result of three years’ work on an international project entitled “Environmental management in Russian companies – retraining courses for the sensibilization for and integration of Eco-Audit programs in corporate decision-making (RECOAUD)”. Within its more than 600 pages, the monograph features interesting texts written by 31 authors from the European Union and the Russian Federation, edited by dr. Borut Jereb, Darja Kukovič and dr. Daria Meyr. The monograph “Environmental management & audit“ is composed of four books: “Scarcity and Introduction of Environmental Management”, “Management Systems”, “Controlling and Stakeholders”, and “Environmental Assessment” (Featured Articles). These four topics reflect the complexity, heterogeneity and multidisciplinary of the project Tempus RECOAUD. The reader of the monograph gets a comprehensive overview of theoretical perspectives of environmental management and audit in the chosen areas. Furthermore, the monograph also highlights the results of research in the field of environmental management and audit as well as trends and challenges in the development of this field. Providing insight into theoretical and research findings, the monograph will prove useful to both practitioners and researchers in the field of environmental management and audit; it can also be used for study purposes.
Keywords: logistics, environment, climate change adaptation, sustainability, reverse logistics, life cycle assessment, environmental impact assessment, waste management, oil industry, gas industry, pollution
Published in DKUM: 09.05.2018; Views: 2257; Downloads: 144
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