The Infona portal uses cookies, i.e. strings of text saved by a browser on the user's device. The portal can access those files and use them to remember the user's data, such as their chosen settings (screen view, interface language, etc.), or their login data. By using the Infona portal the user accepts automatic saving and using this information for portal operation purposes. More information on the subject can be found in the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. By closing this window the user confirms that they have read the information on cookie usage, and they accept the privacy policy and the way cookies are used by the portal. You can change the cookie settings in your browser.
It is commonly believed that telework is good for the environment because it saves energy through reduced commuting. Millions are teleworking worldwide. Some peer-reviewed publications in the last decade have shown that the principles of life-cycle assessment (LCA) have to be applied to telework (just like to other products and services) in order to arrive at a comprehensive assessment of all the...
The environmental cost of production-the impacts of effluents such as greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, air particulates, and water pollutants-on society and the environment is a growing global concern for governments, corporations, and consumers. Proposed regulatory schemes seek to address many of these environmental problems by imposing policies to internalize the environmental costs associated with...
The energy saving potential of reusing / reselling personal computer (PC) devices was evaluated relative to the choice of buying new. Contrary to the common belief of reuse leading to energy savings, with the advent of more efficient laptops and liquid crystal displays (LCD), reuse of an old personal computer device can lead to relative energy expenditure. We found that in certain scenarios this expenditure...
Transitioning to an infrastructure that integrates a more substantial portion of renewable energy sources into the larger energy portfolio is not effortless or without sacrifice; it has economic, technical as well as social challenges related to the decisions, choices and consequences in trying to establish new energy systems. Those decisions, choices and consequences are highly dependent on the social,...
Proposed fuel economy standards in the U.S. require new vehicles to achieve at least 34.1 miles per gallon on average by 2016. Scenarios of vehicle technology deployment indicate that this target is aggressive, requiring significant changes. New vehicles must become, lighter, smaller and a greater number will use advanced, more fuel-efficient powertrains. These changes can reduce fuel use, and also...
Wind energy conversion (WEC) is dependent on wind power density, which increases with elevation and swept area of the rotor. Many components are readily scalable and size-independent; whereas, turbine blades have presented a new frontier in aerodynamic design. As the limits of glass fiber-reinforced plastics (GFRP) have been reached in this field, there is now a materials development problem in achieving...
Lifespan of product is essential information for material flow and stock accounting (MFA/MSA) as well as discussing possible contribution of product lifespan extension to waste prevention and materials/energy savings. There are a number of literatures on actual lifespan distribution of products in our society; however, existing information is not well organized. The authors created a database named...
Nowadays more and more consumers substitute their conventional TV-sets and computer monitors by LCD panels. In the near future huge amounts of LCDs will start coming back to recycling. As LCDs with hazardous mercury backlight lamps are used an appropriate recycling technology has to be implemented.
An increasingly common way for people to measure and understand their individual environmental impact is by using an online carbon footprint calculator. Although a wide variety of these calculators are available, the vast majority shares the same form of user interaction and calculation methods, limiting the reach of these tools and introducing a number of problems for informing users of their environmental...
The rising quantities of electronic waste (e-waste) around the world necessitates new approaches for sustainable management of this waste stream. One strategy for managing this waste stream is the use of e-waste mono disposal landfills, or monofills, as temporary storage for future mining. E-waste monofills can be a sustainable waste management solution. However, lifecycle costs must be considered...
Sustainability is one of the global grand challenges of the 21st century. In order for future generations to enjoy a satisfactory quality of life, the current generation must find ways to meet humanity's needs for energy, shelter, food and water in ways that are environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable. Engineers must be trained to design systems and technologies that have a small environmental...
Many international policies that adopt the precautionary principle such as European REACH directives have emerged in response to the regulatory dilemma caused by the fast growing use of toxic chemicals in electronics production. However, while these current global green electronic standards pay much attention to substances in the product, the adverse impacts of chemicals and solvents used in the manufacturing...
The goal of this paper is to investigate life cycle management of carbon nanotube (CNT)-enabled electronic devices from a regulatory perspective. At present, there are consumer products containing CNTs on the market and even more in the research and development phase. Because the environmental and human health implications of nanotubes are of great uncertainty, it is critical to explore how to safely...
The use of consumer products requiring external power supplies (EPS) has surged in the last thirty years. This paper reviews global trends in mandated regulations and voluntary initiatives aimed at improving the energy efficiency of EPS. It also examines efforts to improve EPS performance, including energy efficiency, life cycle assessment, interoperability, and intelligent power supplies.
The presented LCA-based method can be used when assessing the potential CO2e emission reduction from introducing an ICT-based service. The method was used to analyze the CO2e emissions from the communication networks in Sweden as well as on the effects of introducing smart work solutions at TeliaSonera. For TeliaSonera the CO2e reductions resulting from smart work sum up to about 40% per employee,...
Design of `green buildings' has become a major area of research in architecture and civil engineering. However, construction of buildings and infrastructure has not evolved at a similar pace. This paper uses various life cycle assessment techniques to examine the carbon dioxide emissions from the production of key materials used in the construction of a landmark pedestrian bridge and how those emissions...
A cradle-to-gate greenhouse gas assessment of nickel for every major mine, smelter, and refinery worldwide reveals a high degree of variability in emissions per unit of contained metal. The difference between lowest and highest carbon-intensive producers is 70-100 fold, for each stage of production. The results suggest that using global average LCI data for nickel can seriously misrepresent the actual...
Cloud computing is gaining in popularity. At the same time, the global community is becoming increasingly conscious about sustainability. While intuitively Cloud computing, due to resource consolidation and virtualization, economies of large scale, delivery on demand, etc., has the potential to be more sustainable than well tuned data centers, this is not guaranteed. To evaluate and understand Cloud...
Aluminum recycling is an important area of modern research because of the tremendous energy savings achieved by producing aluminum products from secondary sources. Aluminum products have precise compositional specifications that must be met to ensure adequate mechanical properties. These precise compositional specifications limit the incorporation of secondary metals into final aluminum products because...
Electronic waste legislation is non-uniform, at both the national and global level, and a variety of financial and collection schemes exist. In some locations, e-waste stakeholders have preempted mandatory take-back by creating their own e-waste programs. Whether involved by mandate or voluntarily, stakeholders would like to develop strategies that minimize their financial burden. However, the economic...
Set the date range to filter the displayed results. You can set a starting date, ending date or both. You can enter the dates manually or choose them from the calendar.