Edible production potential of food forests in the temperate zone

Food forests have recently received an increasing amount of attention since they are seen as a possible addition to the Dutch nitrogen-sensitive agricultural sector. Food forests are claimed to positively affect local ecosystem services while producing food for human consumption. Most of the effects and the edible production, however, lack...

Hydrogen-based fuels for European aviation: A prospective life cycle assessment applying scenario analysis

Through exploratory scenario development, this study delves into the environmental impacts of European commercial aviation. Climate targets and the adoption of alternative aviation fuels (AAF) following ReFuelEU Aviation are assessed, considering e-fuel produced from direct air capture (DAC) and hydrogen aircraft. A novel method is applied,...

Prospective life cycle inventory datasets for conventional and hybrid-electric aircraft technologies

Hybrid-electric aircraft represent a promising solution for the urgent need to decarbonize short-haul flights and bolster aviation sustainability. Nevertheless, the realization of hybrid-electric aircraft demands rigorous environmental impact analysis, given the substantial investments, time, and research required for technology development....

Weaving Knowledges for a more Sustainable and Fair Circular Economy: A Framework for Respectful and Collaborative Indigenous Research in Australia

What started as a research on Australian Indigenous Knowledge Systems and the circular economy (CE), turned into a much more complex and personal journey of what it means to do respectful and collaborative research with Indigenous communities. In this thesis, I attempted to build an understanding of the very rich and complex tapestry of...

Quantifying materials in household furniture: A case study of dynamic furniture stock in American homes

Current cravings for more are taking a great toll on the Earth and its most vulnerable communities. The rise in ’fast furniture’ has contributed to this issue, popularizing the idea that furniture can be cheap, to the point of being disposable. To understand the size of this issue and how much more damage to the environment might be in store if...

A policy framework for the circular economy: Lessons from the EU

Transitioning from the ‘take-make-dispose’ linear production system to a circular economy can strengthen sustainability, and governments play a vital role. Recent scholarship has investigated policies for circular economy transition, but few studies take a perspective on circularity reform that spans geographies, industries, and product life...

Circularity in Practice: Review of Main Current Approaches and Strategic Propositions for an Efficient Circular Economy of Materials

This paper aims to summarize, propose, and discuss existing or emerging strategies to shift towards a circular economy of materials. To clarify the landscape of existing circular practices, a new spectrum is proposed, from product-based strategies, where entire products go through several life cycles without being reprocessed, to material-based...

Social housing as a source for urban mining in The Hague by 2050

SummaryThe municipality of The Hague and the Social housing associations are researching on how to cope with the population growth in The Hague. Every year approximately 5,000 new persons arrive at The Hague, meaning that in 10 years The Hague will increase their population by 8%. The main problem is that currently, the city has a shortage of...

Sea, Sand and Sustainability: How can the beach pavilions at Scheveningen align themselves with The Hague’s Climate Agreement?

We were commissioned to support the beach pavilions at Scheveningen in aligning themselves with the climate goals of the Haags Klimaatpact. We decided to focus on collaborative measures that they could take to make better use of energy, materials and water. We used the perspective we have developed in the last year from Industrial Ecology to...

Energy Efficiency Improvement of Retail Space Operation Using Energy Benchmarking And Quantitative Modelling

The present research applied a mixed approach for increasing the energy performance of retail spaces by setting new specific energy consumption targets and identifying what measures can be implemented at the building level to achieve the most energy gains. Energy benchmarking, a common practice of evaluating the building performance has been...

Back to Shenzhen's future: Restructuring metabolism systems for megacities

A strategic, multi-scalar and multi-actor approach to revitalizing the existing water-, waste-. and food systems within the Shenzhen SEZ is assessed and modelled. Concordant local interventions are furthermore implemented, integrating local conditions into the overarching strategy. Furthermore, a phenomenological view of these systems is...