Harpa Birgisdottir

Environmental assessment of solid waste systems and technologies : EASEWASTE

A new model has been developed for evaluating the overall resource consumption and environmental impacts of municipal solid waste management systems by the use of life cycle assessment. The model is named EASEWASTE (Environmental Assessment of Solid Waste Systems and Technologies) and is able to compare different waste management strategies, waste treatment methods and waste process technologies. The potential environmental impacts can be traced back to the most important processes and waste fractions that contribute to the relevant impacts. A model like EASEWASTE can be used by waste planners to optimize current waste management systems with respect to environmental achievements and by authorities to set guidelines and regulations and to evaluate different strategies for handling of waste. The waste hierarchy has for decades been governing waste management but the ranking of handling approaches may not always be the most environmentally friendly. The EASEWASTE model can identify the most environmentally sustainable solution, which may differ among waste materials and regions and can add valuable information about environmental achievements from each process in a solid waste management system.

Evaluation of environmental impacts from municipal solid waste management in the municipality of Aarhus, Denmark (EASEWASTE)

A new computer based life cycle assessment model (EASE-WASTE) was used to evaluate a municipal solid waste system with the purpose of identifying environmental benefits and disadvantages by anaerobic digestion of source-separated household waste and incineration. The most important processes that were included in the study are optical sorting and pre-treatment, anaerobic digestion with heat and power recovery, incineration with heat and power recovery, use of digested biomass on arable soils and finally, an estimated surplus consumption of plastic in order to achieve a higher quality and quantity of organic waste to the biogas plant. Results showed that there were no significant differences in most of the assessed environmental impacts for the two scenarios. However, the use of digested biomass may cause a potential toxicity impact on human health due to the heavy metal content of the organic waste. A sensitivity analysis showed that the results are sensitive to the energy recovery efficiencies, to the extra plastic consumption for waste bags and to the content of heavy metals in the waste. A model such as EASE-WASTE is very suitable for evaluating the overall environmental consequences of different waste management strategies and technologies, and can be used for most waste material fractions existing in household waste.

Consideration of Life Cycle Energy Use and Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Road Infrastructure Planning Processes: Examples of Sweden, Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands

Energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with life cycle stages of road infrastructure are currently rarely assessed during road infrastructure planning. This study examines the road infrastructure planning process, with emphasis on its use of Environmental Assessments (EA), and identifies when and how Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) can be integrated in the early planning stages for supporting decisions such as choice of road corridor. Road infrastructure planning processes are compared for four European countries (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and the Netherlands). The results show that only Norway has a formalised way of using LCA during choice of road corridor. Only the Netherlands has a requirement for using LCA in the later procurement stage. It is concluded that during the early stages of planning, LCA could be integrated as part of an EA, as a separate process or as part of a Cost-Benefit Analysis.

Development of the LCAbyg tool: influence of user requirements and context

Citation for published version (APA): Jensen, J. O., Gram-Hanssen, K., & Friis, F. (2016). Local initiatives for motivating Danish house-owners for energy improvements. In Sustainable Built Environment Conference 2016 in Hamburg : Strategies, Stakeholders, Success factors, 7th 11th March 2016 ; Conference Proceedings (1 ed., pp. 826-835). Hamburg: ZEBAU, Hamburg. https://doi.org/10.5445/IR/1000051699This paper considers two linked architectural projects designed and delivered by the author. The first considered the challenges associated with designing and building a energy efficient prefabricated dwelling in just six days, using predominately locally sourced, organic, ‘compostable’ materials whilst creating no waste on site. 5 million viewers a night on UK TV saw this program. However, frustrated by the lack of credible communication of the challenges associated with this project that the medium of TV provided, the author was keen to re-build this project on campus at the University of Brighton where he taught, so that he could involve students in all aspects of the process, thus sharing the learning experience and proving that ‘live’ construction projects could be a useful pedagogic tool. This paper considers why the design emphasis of the second project went from ‘locking carbon’ and zero waste on site, to constructing with waste and proving “that there is no such thing as waste just stuff in the wrong place”. http://arts.brighton.ac.uk/business-and-community/wastehouse

Embodied Carbon Measurement, Mitigation and Management Within Europe, Drawing on a Cross-Case Analysis of 60 Building Case Studies

This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of the state of the art on this subject within Europe. In order to do so, it draws on a cross-case analysis of over 60 European case studies, developed and analysed by the authors as part of the International Energy Agency Annex 57 project.

Embodied Carbon Tools for Architects and Clients Early in the Design Process

Alterations of a building design are easier facilitated in the early stages of a building design where less strategic parameters are fixed. Tools for environmental assessments are aimed for decision support but are often used late in the building design process because the calculations rely on detailed volumes of material uses. This paradox can be addressed by using carbon profiles of a large set of prespecified, precalculated building elements together with limited, geometric input data of the early building design. The simplified approach allows for embodied carbon modelling within minutes and at a 5–10% margin of error compared to more detailed tools.

Life cycle assessment of a Danish office building designed for disassembly

ABSTRACT The building industry is responsible for a large proportion of anthropogenic environmental impacts. Circular economy (CE) is a restorative and regenerative industrial economic approach that promotes resource efficiency to reduce waste and environmental burdens. Transitioning from a linear approach to a CE within the building industry will be a significant challenge. However, an insufficient number of quantitative studies exist to confirm the potential (positive) environmental effects of CE within the built environment as well as a consistent method for characterizing these effects. This paper considers key methodological issues for quantifying the environmental implications of CE principles and proposes a life cycle assessment (LCA) allocation method to address these issues. The proposed method is applied to a case study of a Danish office building where the concrete structure is designed for disassembly (DfD) for subsequent reuse. The potential environmental impact savings vary between the different impact categories. The savings are significantly influenced by the building’s material composition, particularly the number of component-use cycles as well as the service life of the building and its components. The substitution of other material choices (e.g. glass and wood) for the concrete structure exhibited a potential increase in impact savings.

Sustainable Built Environment Conference 2016 in Hamburg : Strategies, Stakeholders, Success factors, 7th - 11th March 2016 ; Conference Proceedings

Citation for published version (APA): Jensen, J. O., Gram-Hanssen, K., & Friis, F. (2016). Local initiatives for motivating Danish house-owners for energy improvements. In Sustainable Built Environment Conference 2016 in Hamburg : Strategies, Stakeholders, Success factors, 7th 11th March 2016 ; Conference Proceedings (1 ed., pp. 826-835). Hamburg: ZEBAU, Hamburg. https://doi.org/10.5445/IR/1000051699This paper considers two linked architectural projects designed and delivered by the author. The first considered the challenges associated with designing and building a energy efficient prefabricated dwelling in just six days, using predominately locally sourced, organic, ‘compostable’ materials whilst creating no waste on site. 5 million viewers a night on UK TV saw this program. However, frustrated by the lack of credible communication of the challenges associated with this project that the medium of TV provided, the author was keen to re-build this project on campus at the University of Brighton where he taught, so that he could involve students in all aspects of the process, thus sharing the learning experience and proving that ‘live’ construction projects could be a useful pedagogic tool. This paper considers why the design emphasis of the second project went from ‘locking carbon’ and zero waste on site, to constructing with waste and proving “that there is no such thing as waste just stuff in the wrong place”. http://arts.brighton.ac.uk/business-and-community/wastehouse

Sustainability elements in the Danish Building Regulations

Citation for published version (APA): Jensen, J. O., Gram-Hanssen, K., & Friis, F. (2016). Local initiatives for motivating Danish house-owners for energy improvements. In Sustainable Built Environment Conference 2016 in Hamburg : Strategies, Stakeholders, Success factors, 7th 11th March 2016 ; Conference Proceedings (1 ed., pp. 826-835). Hamburg: ZEBAU, Hamburg. https://doi.org/10.5445/IR/1000051699This paper considers two linked architectural projects designed and delivered by the author. The first considered the challenges associated with designing and building a energy efficient prefabricated dwelling in just six days, using predominately locally sourced, organic, ‘compostable’ materials whilst creating no waste on site. 5 million viewers a night on UK TV saw this program. However, frustrated by the lack of credible communication of the challenges associated with this project that the medium of TV provided, the author was keen to re-build this project on campus at the University of Brighton where he taught, so that he could involve students in all aspects of the process, thus sharing the learning experience and proving that ‘live’ construction projects could be a useful pedagogic tool. This paper considers why the design emphasis of the second project went from ‘locking carbon’ and zero waste on site, to constructing with waste and proving “that there is no such thing as waste just stuff in the wrong place”. http://arts.brighton.ac.uk/business-and-community/wastehouse