Life Cycle Assessment of Alternative Traction Options for Non-Electrified Regional Railway Lines

The railway sector is facing significant challenges in addressing the increasing concerns related to climate change, environmental pollution and scarcity of resources. This especially applies to often non-electrified regional railway networks, with passenger services provided by diesel-driven vehicles. Innovative propulsion system concepts offer...

Carbon Conscious! The Impact of Embodied Emissions on Design Decisions for Building Envelopes

A focus on embodied emissions in building materials has been notorious in the last years, mostly due to high improvements in optimisation of operational energy in buildings. The environmental impact of building materials reflected in embodied energy and potential (re) life options that stimulate circular flows has become the focus of discussion....

Beyond (eco)design: Current approaches to sustainable packaging design

Packaging has always received a lot of attention within the field of design for sustainability. The classical approach has been to mainly focus on reducing the impact of the packaging. This approach stems from the ill-informed position that packaging is superfluous, or at best there only for marketing reasons. This is a rather guild-based...

Sustainability assessment of power generation in combination with lng evaporation: A comparison of lca methods and exergy analysis

Several options exist for power generation, but it is difficult to determine which option is the most sustainable. When assessing the sustainability of an option or system, it is important to consider the environmental, economic and social aspects of sustainability and to take a life-cycle point of view. According to literature, a relationship...

An integrated approach for financial and environmental cost optimisation of heating services

A four-year project has started in 2007 to develop a methodology that can be applied to optimize the Belgian dwelling stock. The aim of the project is to optimise buildings concerning their environmental impact, their financial cost and the quality they offer over the whole life cycle, from the production of primary raw materials to the final...

Integrating health and sustainability in Life Cycle Assessment