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Vertical farming has emerged in urban areas as an approach to provide more resilient food production. However, a substantial share of the material requirements come from outside their urban environments. With urban environments producing a large share of residual and waste streams, extensive potential exists to employ these material and energy streams as inputs in urban farming systems to promote more circular economy approaches. The aim of this article is to assess the environmental performance of employing residual material flows for vertical hydroponic farming in urban environments in order to support more circular, resilient, and sustainable urban food supply. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is used to assess replacing conventional growing media and fertilizers with urban residual streams. Paper, compost, and brewers' spent grains were assessed for replacements to conventional gardening soil employed in the studied system. Biogas digestate was also assessed as a replacement for conventional fertilizers used in the recirculating water bath. The results suggest that large environmental performance benefits are illustrated when conventional growing media is replaced. Although not as significant, employing fertilizers from residual urban streams also leads to large potential benefits, suggesting the two residual streams have the potential for more circular hydroponic systems., QC 20200409

Conventionally the use phase of a road vehicle contributes to more than 70% of the total environmental impact in terms of energy use or emissions of greenhouse gases. This figure is no longer valid concerning electric vehicles and a shift to other life cycle stages and impacts is expected and should be re-evaluated. The goal of this study is to assess the environmental performance of two prototype vehicle drivetrains; an internal combustion engine and an electric motor, from a life cycle perspective. The assessment is performed in a qualitative manner using the Environmentally Responsible Product Assessment (ERPA) matrix. The two vehicles in this study have similar car body construction, providing an excellent opportunity to highlight the significance of material differences in their drivetrains. The internal combustion vehicle demonstrated a better environmental performance in three out of five lifecycle stages (pre-manufacture, product manufacture, and disposal). In all of these stages, the impact of the electric vehicle is determined by the burden of the materials needed for this technology such as rare earth elements (REE) and by the lack of recycling possibilities. The study demonstrated a need to close the material cycle when it comes to Critical Raw Materials (CRM) such as REE which can only be achieved when the technology but also the incentives for material recovery are provided, i.e. by promoting the development of cost-efficient recycling technologies. Moreover, the need for relevant metrics and assessment indicators is demonstrated to be able to compare the two technologies fairly., QC 20180218

A screening environmental life cycle analysis (LCA) of the novel self-reinforced poly(ethylene therephthalate) (SrPET) is presented in this paper. A truck exterior panel is used as case study where a concept design made by SrPET is assessed and compared to a glass fibre reinforced composite and a thermoplastic blend that are currently used for the selected component. The results showed that the SrPET panel has 25% lower environmental impact compared to the current design, with no significant life cycle trade-offs. SrPET offers possibilities for weight reduction while maintaining good mechanical properties. As the impact during use phase is expected to decrease in the future the relative importance of manufacturing and end-of-life (EOL) will increase. Thus SrPET can be considered a competitive material for replacing existing energy intense non-recyclable composites., QC 20160628

Conventionally the use phase of a road vehicle contributes to more than 70% of the total environmental impact in terms of energy use or emissions of greenhouse gases. This figure is no longer valid concerning electric vehicles and a shift to other life cycle stages and impacts is expected and should be revaluated. The goal of this study is to assess the environmental performance of two prototype vehicle drivetrains; an internal combustion engine and an electric motor, from a life cycle perspective. The assessment is performed in a qualitative manner using the Environmentally Responsible Product Assessment (ERPA) matrix. Having a similar car body construction, the two vehicles provided excellent opportunities to highlight the significance of material differences in their drivetrains. The internal combustion vehicle demonstrated a better environmental performance in three out of five lifecycle stages (pre-manufacture, product manufacture, and disposal). In all of these stages the impact of the electric vehicle is determined by the burden of the materials needed for this technology such as rare earth elements (REE) and the lack of recycling possibilities. The study demonstrated a need to close the material cycle when it comes to Critical Raw Materials (CRM) such as REE which can only be achieved when the technology but also the incentives for material recovery are provided i.e. by promoting the development of cost efficient recycling technologies. Moreover, the need for relevant metrics and assessment indicators is demonstrated in order to be able to fairly compare the two technologies., QCR 20161103

Weight reduction is commonly adopted in vehicle design as a means for energy and emissions savings. However, selection of lightweight materials is often focused on performance characteristics, which may lead to sub optimizations of life cycle environmental impact. Therefore systematic material selection processes are needed that integrate weight optimization and environmental life cycle assessment. This paper presents such an approach and its application to design of an automotive component. Materials from the metal, hybrid and polymer families were assessed, along with a novel self-reinforced composite material that is a potential lightweight alternative to non-recyclable composites. It was shown that materials offering the highest weight saving potential offer limited life cycle environmental benefit due to energy demanding manufacturing. Selection of the preferable alternative is not a straightforward process since results may be sensitive to critical but uncertain aspects of the life cycle. Such aspects need to be evaluated to determine the actual benefits of lightweight design and to base material selection on more informed choices., QC 20150911

This paper presents an empirical study on the use of tools for sustainable product development at four vehicle manufacturing companies in Sweden. Different tools that are used in the studied companies are identified and listed while the obstacles and needs for an increased and successful use of those tools are discussed. The study shows that a limited number the identified tools are used in a systematic way, for instance product specific tools that monitor regulation requirements. Impact assessment tools are applied more centrally in the companies with less integration to the design process. However, interest on the available tools has increased and on the ways that such tools can assist and influence design decisions in a more efficient way., QC 20140626

QC 20130524

QC 20160524

This paper provides a compilation of 31 Design for Environment (DfE) tools that are available today and investigates the potential of those tools to be used during vehicle design processes. The assessment is based on a variety of parameters that cover methodological characteristics of the identified tools but also aspects that are relevant from a vehicle design perspective. The results show that product developers have a rich and diverse toolbox where suitable tools can be selected. When it comes to vehicle design, combinations of DfE tools have the potential to capture the parameters and requirements considered. The paper identifies a need for tools that manage to integrate a multi-criteria perspective related to vehicle design i.e. by incorporating environmental, functional, economic, stakeholder’s and regulation requirements but also for tools that provide possibilities for integration into engineering tools., Paper submitted to the Journal of Engineering Design. QS 2013

Design for environment (DfE) tools, are defined as any type of systematised aid that facilitates the integration of environmental considerations during product development. A variety of DfE tools is available and informed selection based on the company’s, user’s and product’s needs is important for their successful implementation. Through systematic review of the literature, the goal of this paper is to provide a compilation of DfE tools that can be used during vehicle design and development processes. The review resulted in a rich and diverse toolbox of 41 DfE tools the majority of which exhibiting features that are relevant from a vehicle design perspective, such as environmental impacts that are important to monitor for this product category, life cycle considerations, functional and regulation requirements and more. No tool covers all features thus the use of a combination of tools may be necessary. By collecting and presenting the DfE tools available, this paper is expected to assist the adoption and systematic use of existing tools. Gaps and limitations are identified, indicating areas for improvement, for the development of future tools., QC 20160921