Engineered Bamboo in Europe: A Study into Practical Application of Moso Bamboo-Based Building Elements in European Architecture

Engineered Moso bamboo has favorable mechanical properties and shows great potential for large scale application in European architecture due to its high renewability. However, lack of standardization and coherence in test data trongly hinders its practical application. In this research paper, the practical application potential of Moso bamboo...

Environmental and economic optimization of a conventional concrete building foundation: Selecting the best of 28 alternatives by applying the pareto front

This research optimizes the environmental impact of a conventional building foundation in Northern Europe while considering the economic cost. The foundation is composed of piles and ground beams. Calculations are performed following relevant building Eurocodes and using life cycle assessment methodology. Concrete and steel accounted for the...

Eco-efficient value creation of residential street lighting systems by simultaneously analysing the value, the costs and the eco-costs during the design and engineering phase

In search of sustainable business models, product innovation must fulfil a double objective: the new product must have a higher (market) value, and at the same time a lower eco-burden. To achieve this objective, it is an imperative that the value, the total costs of ownership, and the eco-burden of a product are analysed at the beginning of...

The Eco-Costs of Material Scarcity, a Resource Indicator for LCA, Derived from a Statistical Analysis on Excessive Price Peaks

The availability of resources is crucial for the socio-economic stability of our society. For more than two decades, there was a debate on how to structure this issue within the context of life-Cycle assessment (LCA). The classical approach with LCA is to describe "scarcity" for future generations (100-1000 years) in terms of absolute...

The role of hydrogen in the ecological benefits of ultra low sulphur diesel production and use: An LCA benchmark

Desulphurization of oil-based fuels is common practice to mitigate the ecological burden to ecosystems and human health of SO_x emissions. In many countries, fuels for vehicles are restricted to 10 ppm sulphur. For marine fuels, low sulphur contents are under discussion. The environmental impact of desulphurization processes is,...

Insulation or Smart Temperature Control for Domestic Heating: A Combined Analysis of the Costs, the Eco-Costs, the Customer Perceived Value, and the Rebound Effect of Energy Saving

Calculating the environmental benefits of energy saving systems in dwellings in a life cycle assessment (LCA) has two major issues, namely: how to deal with the customer behaviour and how to deal with rebound effects. Both issues are important for sustainable strategies. From a user-centred design perspective, two fundamentally different...

Combined analyses of costs, market value and eco-costs in circular business models: eco-efficient value creation in remanufacturing

Eco-efficient Value Creation is a method to analyse innovative product and service design together with circular business strategies. The method is based on combined analyses of the costs, market value (perceived customer value) and eco-costs. This provides a prevention-based single indicator for ‘external environmental costs’ in LCA. The...

Sustainability Inspired Materials Selection App for Designers

This graduation thesis presents the results of the design of a sustainability inspired materials selection app for designers. Sustainable design, and in specific ecodesign plays an increasingly important role in society. However, industrial designers, being uniquely suited to take such considerations into account, have difficulty in finding the...

Development of a new sustainable product for Blackstarbikes - using the eco-costs/value ratio

A new product development process for Blackstarbikes BV, a company in bamboo bicycles. An eco-efficient value creation method (with the use of the eco-costs/value ratio) is used to design a balance bicycle for young children.

Development of a photovoltaic ceramic roof tile

Two important barriers in adopting rooftop PV are the (perceived) lack of compatibility with current (tiled) roofs and the poor aesthetics of roof-mounted PV panels. This has led to the idea of PV roof tiles, which could take away these barriers. The Delft-based company FlexSol Solutions has the unique capability of curving highly efficient...

Vepa: An Exploration towards sustainability and the development of an eco-efficient office storage unit

Through the use of eco-label guidelines, eco-design guidelines, and LCA-based environmental impact and sustainability indicators like Eco-costs, the Eco-cost to Value Ratio (EVR) and ReCiPe points, a boundary and baseline for new product development can be set to which an improvement can be measured. In addition to this the LCA based indicators...

Sustainable Mobility for Tourists at the Dutch Coastal Islands (Waddeneilanden)

The European Coastal Islands around the North sea, are joined together in a project that stimulates sustainable development. Within this 'Cradle-to-Cradle Islands' project, some islands were selected as breading grounds for potentially sustainable projects. One of these projects was the development of a device for transport: the “Vrachtfiets”. A...

Sustainable mobility for tourists at the Dutch Coastal Islands (Waddeneilanden)

The European Coastal Islands around the North sea, are joined together in a project that stimulates sustainable development. Within this 'Cradle-to-Cradle Islands' project, some islands were selected as breading grounds for potentially sustainable projects. One of these projects was the development of a device for transport: the “Vrachtfiets”. A...