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...

Eco-transformation of industrial parks in China

During the past three decades, China has achieved impressive economic development. However, the pollution and resource depletion that accompanied China's rapid industrialization have led to severe environmental issues, such as ecosystem degradation, groundwater contamination and smog, which have turned into visible crises. In China, industrial...

The energy and thermal performance of two university buildings in Southern Brazil with the aim of achieving environmental efficiency

This paper demonstrates the results of research concerning eco-efficiency at the University of Passo Fundo – Southern Brazil. Its objective is to identify the factors that affect energy consumption in buildings of Higher Education Institutions and to elaborate a methodology that can facilitate the evaluation of the degree of influence of each...

Enriching SCOR Model: Recapturing the notions of Business Strategy and Business Sustainability

The Supply-Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) model, established by the Supply Chain Council, constitutes the most renowned state-of-the-art analytical tool when it comes to the Supply Chain Management domain. Although it enumerates several prominent advantages, which are mainly related to its systematic and holistic approach, there appear to be...

The search for the most eco-efficient strategies for sustainable housing construction; Dutch lessons

The QWERTY/EE concept, Quantifying Recyclability and Eco-Efficiency for End-of-Life Treatment of Consumer Electronic Products

The QWERTY/EE concept addresses recyclability and eco-efficiency of take-back and recycling of consumer electronic products, a topic currently receiving large international attention. Through the environmental part of the concept an alternative for usual weight based recycling percentages is presented. In addition, economic effects of take-back...