Andrea Raggi

VerdEE: a tool for adoption of life cycle assessment in small and medium sized enterprises in Italy

The Italian National Agency for New Technology, Energy and the Environment (ENEA) carried out a project focused on identifying the main difficulties and problems of the introduction of the life cycle concept in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and also on overcoming these difficulties. A new tool, VerdEE, was developed to evaluate the environmental profile of a product based on a well-defined criteria system. The procedure includes checklist and the automatic interpretation of results in matrix and target-plot forms. Checklist questions deal either with quantitative, qualitative and improvement aspects of material and energy flows guided by objective valuation rules and recommended scores. The combination of structural innovations, methodological improvements and self-assessment characteristics made VerdEE different compared to other streamlined life cycle assessment (LCA) methods and helped it to achieve its specific goals. A comparison with detailed LCA results was also carried out. The results were very similar regarding identification of significant life cycle stages and environmental problems.

A proposal for a new method to develop synthetic quality indices for air and water

Abstract During the last decades, several methods have been proposed to obtain synthetic indices expressing the environmental quality of natural resources. Such methods differ from each other in many characteristics (environmental parameters, normalization functions, aggregation functions) in order to be made suitable for specific situations. Moreover, these indices have been accused of leading to a loss of information because of their excessively synthetic character. A new tree-structured method is proposed to obtain synthetic quality indices for air and water. Besides the final index, several intermediate indices are computed, allowing environmental managers to have indices at different degrees of aggregation. The aggregation functions proposed in the literature are compared and the arithmetic mean is suggested for use, as it is demonstrated to be the most neutral function.

Factors influencing changes in energy consumption : The case of Italy, 1975-85

Abstract During the last years several authors have been studying the main factors influencing changes in energy consumption, ie production volume, production structure and energy intensity. Thus, a number of methods to quantify these factors have been suggested. In this paper one of those methods is partially modified and is applied to the Italian situation for the period 1975–85 in order to try to point out the role played by the various factors which have caused changes in energy consumption in Italy.

A newly developed integrated environment-quality approach for the design of hotel services

In the perspective of sustainability and industrial ecology, the need to dematerialise economies has become more important. As a consequence, the relative contribution of the service industries to the overall economic output is expected to increase. This entails a growing focus on service-related activities and their ability to meet consumer requirements and societys needs. Among the service industries, one that has become the object of an increased consumer interest is tourism. In this research work, we investigate the main aspects concerning the applicability of existing or newly developed integrated design tools to the above-mentioned service industry, with particular focus on lodging services. In particular, the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) design tool is taken into account and its integration with life cycle-based instruments for environmental assessment is proposed and evaluated with the aim of improving the level of customer satisfaction and the compliance with environmental requirements in lodging services.

New method for assessing the global quality of energy systems

Comparisons of various energy systems are often made from partial, limited standpoints that do not take into due consideration the numerous factors involved in such systems. A more complete assessment of the global quality of energy systems must consider a wider range of characteristics, such as: conversion and transportation yields, energy potential, added value, risk of accidents during conversion and transportation, coefficients of transportability and storability, and polluting emissions (carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, sulphur and nitrogen oxides, unburnt hydrocarbons, dust, radionuclides and dispersed heat). This paper not only identifies and quantifies the parameters that allow the above qualities to be expressed, but also defines a tree-structured energy-quality index system which starts from the parameters identified and makes it possible to obtain a global summary index, through various intermediate levels of aggregation. Our objective is to make an instrument available to professionals (engineers, policymakers and energy managers) which allows them to concentrate their attention each time, according to the specific needs in question, on particular aspects of the quality of the energy, or to obtain numerical indicators that briefly express quality in the broadest sense. In addition, a sample application of the proposed method is presented, using data gathered mainly from the literature on alternative systems for power production and space heating by fossil fuels.

A new approach to elaborate a multifunctional soil quality index

ConclusionThe formulation of quality indices for a given land area can be considered of great practical interest, both for highlighting the specific characteristics of that area, and for establishing the best management methods to adopt in order to exploit the soil’s maximum potential. Among other things, the specific formulation of the parameters considered here enables us to simulate specific measures designed to modify poor chemical, physical or biological characteristics (AQI, MQI), or to achieve a more rational form of soil management (AQI).We believe that one of the most interesting aspects of the proposed method is its tree-structured approach, which enables us to formulate an overall synthetic index by going through successive levels of aggregation. In this way, we are able to meet the contrasting needs of those, on the one hand, who are concerned about the inevitable loss of information inherent in every process of synthesis, and those, on the other hand, whose decision-making tasks require them to have concise quantitative information. The choice concerning which level of aggregation to operate will strictly depend on the objectives one is pursuing through the use of such indices.

Life Cycle Assessment in the Wine Sector

Currently, stakeholders’ increasing attention to quality is driving the wine sector to rethink and change its own production processes. Amongst product quality dimensions, the environment is gaining ever-growing attention at various levels of policy-making and business. Given its soundness, the use of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has become widespread in many application contexts. Apart from applications for communication purposes, LCA has also been used in the wine sector to highlight environmental hot spots in supply chains, to compare farming practices and to detect improvement options, inter alia. Case studies whose focus is the wine industry abound in high quality publications.

Resource Scarcity as a Stimulus for Advantageous Innovations

Resource scarcity has become an increasingly conditioning factor in economic development and, consequently in the international relationships. In this paper it is indicated that, in order to greatly modify resource utilization, new criteria in designing and managing production processes should be introduced which consider the availability of primary commodities and energy sources, as well as the environmental quality. Such an innovation activity should be an opportunity for economic benefits either for individual companies or the whole society. Indeed, while obtaining materials, energy and environmental efficiencies, also improvements in global efficiency (notably productivity, product performance, flexibility) have to be obtained so that the required investments can be effective. Finally, some meaningful case studies — concerning environmental, mineral, agro-industrial, agro-food and energy resources — are here examined and discussed from both a technical and an economic standpoint.

Resource- and eco-effectiveness as a new paradigm of development to prevent resource depletion and environmental imbalance

Pursuing eco-efficiency in all industrial activities has become a target in the last two decades, and many positive results have led to the belief that this could be the solution to resource and environmental questions. However, even by recognising the encouraging results obtained in several large- and medium-sized companies, mainly in the field of energy conversion rates, this paradigm seems to be limited if one considers the questions from a macro-economic view: no substantial changes have occurred into how energy and mineral resources are utilized, and environmental imbalances have increased all over the world. This is why the recently-developed paradigm and concept of resource- and eco-effectiveness should be considered as most suited to open up wider perspectives in economic development, despite the fact that economic thought has neglected such a concept, whereas it has widely developed the concept of efficiency. Following previous research work, where this new paradigm has been defined and implemented through a model, in this work its potential utilization is analysed and discussed, not only on a theoretical basis, but also with real applications to specific productive branches or to a whole economy, in order to find new solutions able to modify the traditional resource utilization criteria and, consequently, to offset present trends toward resource depletion and environmental imbalance.

Technological growth in the Italian economy: some indicators compared

Abstract The determination of the effects caused in a productive system by the introduction of new technologies requires a previous objective measurement of technological innovation. With this aim, several technological indicators have been proposed in the literature; in this paper, such indicators are reviewed and the main limitations of each are pointed out. Moreover, in order to obtain more information on their reliability, some indicators (patents, R&D expenditures and technological balance of payments) were tested by applying them to the measurement of innovation growth for 20 product groups of the Italian economy. For most examined product groups the technological growth rates resulting from different indicators did not agree and in some cases were totally discordant. This leads to the conclusion that the use of a single indicator does not seem to be acceptable and no statement should be made on innovation growth levels unless different indicators give the same concordant results.