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...

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...

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...