The Potential for Low-Carbon Renewable Methane in Heating, Power, and Transport in the European Union

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

The Potential for Low-Carbon Renewable Methane in Heating, Power, and Transport in the European Union WORKING PAPER 2017-26 The potential for low-carbon renewable methane in heating, power, and transport in the European Union Authors: Chelsea Baldino, Nikita Pavlenko, and Stephanie Searle (ICCT), and Adam Christensen (Three Seas) Date: October 2018 Keywords: biogas, renewable energy, anaerobic digestion, availability, decarbonization, sustainability Introduction in transport. Some stakeholders high reductions of greenhouse gas have also advocated the inclusion (GHG) emissions. This study presents the potential and of renewable methane and other cost of production for renewable low-carbon fuels in the vehicle In this study we expand our previous methane in the European Union (EU) assessment to estimate the technical carbon dioxide (CO2) standards in 2050, following a previous paper (ART Fuels Forum, 2018; ACEA, n.d.; and cost-effective potential for using assessing the potential for renewable NGVA Europe, 2017). As member renewable methane from sustainable methane for the transport sector states consider how to achieve their feedstocks in the power, heating, and in France, Italy, and Spain (Baldino, climate goals, they must assess the transport sectors. We assess barriers Pavlenko, Searle, & Christensen, in realistic potential as well as the costs to producing renewable methane for press). Policymakers throughout the for renewable methane. In 2018, the each sector and identify the maximum EU are evaluating their alternative power sector is the leading user amount of fossil gas that could realis- energy options to help deliver on of renewable methane in the EU tically be displaced in the 2030–2050 their air quality and climate change at 62%, with Germany, the United timeframe. We also estimate the mitigation goals within the transport Kingdom, and Italy responsible for potential for GHG reductions from and stationary heating and power more than 77% of renewable methane renewable methane in each sector. sectors. One of these options is production in the 28 EU member These results help to identify the role renewable methane. states (Kampman et al., 2016). that renewable methane can have in medium- and long-term decarboniza- The recast Renewable Energy Proponents of renewable methane tion of the European Union and the Directive for 2021-2030 (RED II; have touted its climate and air-quality level of policy incentives that will be European Union, 2018) includes benefits when displacing diesel in the necessary to achieve this benefit. ambitious targets for renewable heavy-duty vehicle fleet. Importantly, energy in all three sectors, with the feedstocks and technologies each EU member state required used to produce renewable methane Methodology to implement the directive using play a large role in determining the For this study, we analyze the specific measures that promote the actual climate benefits. Silage maize total technical potential for use of low-carbon energy (General provides about half of the renewable renewable methane from a variety Secretariat of the Council of the methane in the European Union, of feedstocks, including livestock European Union, 2018). Renewable but it competes with food and feed manure, sewage sludge, waste and methane from qualifying feedstocks crops for agricultural land and causes residue biomass, and renewable is one option for meeting the RED substantial indirect land-use-change electricity in 2030 and 2050. We II targets for the overall renewable emissions (Valin et al., 2015). On conduct a cost analysis for each energy target including power, the other hand, wastes, residues, feedstock and technology pathway heating, and transport and for the and renewable power can be used to estimate cost-supply curves for sub-target for advanced biofuels to produce renewable methane with the use of renewable methane in Acknowledgments: This work was generously funded by the European Climate Foundation. Thanks to Jacopo Giuntoli and Peter Mock for helpful reviews. © INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL ON CLEAN TRANSPORTATION, 2017 WWW.THEICCT.ORG THE POTENTIAL FOR LOW-CARBON RENEWABLE METHANE IN HEATING, POWER, AND TRANSPORT IN THE EU power, heating, or transport. Lastly, Table 1: Low-carbon renewable methane feedstocks, technology pathways, and we estimate the maximum total lifecycle GHG intensities for gaseous fuels used in the transport sector. potential GHG savings for renewable Technology methane as well as the GHG savings Feedstock pathway GHG intensity Reference that could be achieved at realistic CARB, average -264 gCO e/MJ levels of policy support. We conduct Livestock manure 2 LCA value for dairy (-9.45 kgCO e/ m3) our analysis at the national level and Anaerobic 2 cows digestion present aggregated EU-level results. 19 gCO2e/MJ Sewage sludge 3 CARB, average We present renewable methane (0.68 kgCO2e/ m ) Municipal and potential in the European Union on -26 gCO e/MJ industrial solid 2 Wang, 2017 a pre-combustion basis, or before (-0.93 kgCO e/ m3) waste 2 the renewable methane is used for Gasification and -6 gCO e/MJ energy by the end user. We present Crop residues methanation 2 Wang, 2017 (-0.21 kgCO e/ m3) our findings for two alternatives: 2 -12 gCO e/MJ delivering renewable gas to the gas Logging residues 2 Wang, 2017 (-0.42 kgCO e/ m3) grid for use in either the stationary 2 Renewable solar heating or transport sector, or onsite 26 gCO e/MJ Christensen & power-to-gas in 2 (0.93 kgCO e/ m3) Petrenko, 2017 combustion of renewable methane to 2030 Electrolysis and 2 methanation generate electricity to be sold to the Renewable solar (power-to-gas) 12 gCO e/MJ Christensen & power grid. power-to-gas in 2 (0.42 kgCO e/ m3) Petrenko, 2017 2050 2 EU-28 Power European FEEDSTOCK SUSTAINABILITY 68.6 gCO e/MJ production, grid 2 Commission, 2016a; AND PATHWAY SELECTION (2.46 kgCO e/ m3*) average in 2030 2 Moomaw, 2011. In this study, we assess the potential EU-28 Power European 46.9 gCO e/MJ for renewable methane production production, grid 2 Commission, 2016a; (1.68 kgCO e/ m3*) only from sustainable, low-carbon average in 2050 2 Moomaw, 2011. feedstocks. We use the same Giuntoli, Agostini, Fossil fuel-derived 72 gCO e/MJ 2 Edwards, Marelli, assumptions regarding feedstock fossil gas (2.58 kgCO e/ m3) 2 2015 sustainability and pathway selection for renewable methane production as Note: CARB=California Air Resources Board. For livestock manure, the CARB GHG intensity in Baldino et al. (in press). The three values included high carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) reduction credits from avoided methane conversion pathways for renewable emissions. The gasification pathways include credits for exported electricity. * GHG intensities for electricity are for delivered electricity, not input feedstocks. methane production that we assess include anaerobic digestion, thermo- chemical gasification, and power-to- The feedstocks, technology the power sector, we calculate the gas, in which electricity is used to pathways, and lifecycle GHG intensi- GHG mitigation potential similarly, create methane. This study focuses ties used in the analysis are listed comparing renewable methane GHG on renewable methane produced in Table 1. We use these GHG inten- intensity to that of EU grid power. from wastes and residues that do sities to calculate the greenhouse We take the projected EU-level not have existing uses, including gas mitigation potential of using grid composition in 2030 and 2050 livestock manure, sewage sludge, these renewable methane pathways from the EU Reference Scenario and municipal solid waste, crop residues, relative to either fossil gas or elec- break this down to the national level and forestry residues. For the power- tricity. We assume that renewable based on 2015 grid composition in to-gas pathway, only solar power is methane replaces fossil gas in the each member state from Eurostat considered. Power-to-gas has been gas grid, which is then used in the (E3M-Lab, IIASA, & EuroCARE, discussed as a potential energy transport or heating sectors, while 2016). We combine this with mean storage and electrical grid balancing we consider average electrical grid life-cycle power-generation emission solution (Science Advice for Policy power in the power sector. For factors for each power source from by European Academies, 2018). heating or transport, we multiply Moomaw et al. (2011) to estimate Baldino et al. (in press) provides a the renewable methane volume by grid power GHG intensities for each more detailed explanation of how we the difference between the carbon member state. Table 1 provides the determined the choice of feedstocks intensities of fossil gas and the average grid carbon intensities in and the sustainable availability of specific feedstock and conversion the power sector in the EU in 2030 these feedstocks in our assessment. pathway assessed (see Table 1). For and 2050, while the individual GHG 2 INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL ON CLEAN TRANSPORTATION WORKING PAPER 2017-26 THE POTENTIAL FOR LOW-CARBON RENEWABLE METHANE IN HEATING, POWER, AND TRANSPORT IN THE EU intensities that we use for each assume a straw yield reduction of sewage sludge in our assessment member state are available in the 40% to account for growing oats at because methane potential is Appendix in Table A1. a non-optimal time of the year and less certain than that of domestic of a further 20% because of physical wastewater treatment sludge, since In our primary analysis, we do not limitations in harvesting as the industrial wastewater varies greatly include cover crops as a potential harvester cannot cut below ~12 inches in its organic matter composition. source for renewable methane from the ground. We assume a 15% Generally, it is likely that most of production because there is little data moisture content for oat yields based the methane potential from sewage on the use of cover and catch crops, on FAOSTAT data to first calculate sludge is already being used for also known as sequential crops, inter- the dry mass yield of total straw renewable methane production.
Recommended publications
  • Electrification of Public Transport in Cities (Horizon 2020 ELIPTIC Project)
    Available online at www.sciencedirect.com ScienceDirect Transportation Research Procedia 14 ( 2016 ) 2614 – 2619 6th Transport Research Arena April 18-21, 2016 Electrification of public transport in cities (Horizon 2020 ELIPTIC Project) Michael Glotz-Richter a,*, Hendrik Koch a aCity of Bremen, ELIPTIC project coordination, Contrescarpe 72, 28195 Bremen Abstract Public transport is one of the backbones of sustainable transport strategies in Europe. Collective transport has undisputed benefits concerning space efficiency. Today, more than 90% of buses in Europe depend on diesel, calling for better environmental and post- fossil alternatives. Further electrification of public transport (in combination with green electricity production) is a core aspect of further improving the environmental profile of public transport. Investments in electrifying public transport have a particularly high impact since urban public transport vehicles run up to 16 hours per day, compared to less than one hour for the average conventional car. A single 18 m urban bus consumes about 40,000 litres diesel annually – equivalent to more than 100 tons of CO2! THE EU ELIPTIC project is looking at the electrification of urban buses as well as the improvement of energy performance in light rail and the multi-purpose use of infrastructure to support further electrification in transport. ELIPTIC is demonstrating technical approaches in 20 showcases with variations of electrified public transport under different operational, geographical and climate conditions. The demonstrations include new battery buses of high passenger capacity (18 m articulated) as they are increasingly in demand by public transport operators. Another concept is the combination of battery and trolley bus concepts, allowing to recharge batteries in operation (when connected to the overhead wires) and giving trolley bus cities an opportunity to extend the electric operation into areas without overhead wires.
    [Show full text]
  • Sustainable Transport Systems: Linkages Between Environmental Issues, Public Transport, Non-Motorised Transport and Safety1
    Sustainable Transport Systems: Linkages Between Environmental Issues, Public Transport, Non-Motorised Transport and Safety1 Dinesh Mohan and Geetam Tiwari Transportation Research and Injury Prevention Programme Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, India INTRODUCTION A sustainable transport system must provide mobility and accessibility to all urban residents in a safe and environment friendly mode of transport. This is a complex and difficult task when the needs and demands of people belonging to different income groups are not only different but also often conflicting. For example, if a large proportion of the population can not afford to use motorised transport - private vehicles or public buses - then they have to either walk or ride bicycles to work. Provision of safe infrastructure for bicyclists and pedestrians may need segregation of road space for bicyclists and pedestrians from motorised traffic or reduction in speeds of vehicles. Both measures could result in restricting mobility of car users. Similarly, measures to reduce pollution may at times conflict with those needed for reduction in road accidents. For example, increases in average vehicle speeds may reduce emissions but they can result in an increase in accident rates. But, most public discussions and government policy documents dealing with transportation and health focus only on air pollution as the main concern. This is because air pollution is generally visible and its deleterious effects are palpable. It is easy for most people to connect the associations between quality of motor vehicles, exhaust fumes and increased morbidity due to pollution. But most individuals are not able to understand the complex interaction of factors associated with road accidents.
    [Show full text]
  • Sustainable Transport Solutions to the Climate Crisis
    Thematic discussion3: Sustainable transport solutions to the climate crisis Saturday, 26 November, 4:30 – 6:00 P.M. Lead entity: Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific Climate change is of major concern to the future livelihoods of the peoples of this planet. While transport plays a critical role in economic and social development, the transport sector, as one of the top consumers of fossil fuels, is a major contributor to air pollution and generates a variety of emissions that impact the climate. Transport systems are responsible for around 26 per cent of globally emitted greenhouse gases, mainly through the burning of fossil fuels, representing around 30 per cent of all fossil fuel use. It is estimated that investing in better end-use fuel and electricity efficiency in transport use can help cut emissions in the sector by nearly 30 percent by 2050 (IEA 2012). Climate change has in turn impacts on critical transport infrastructure worldwide. Ports for instance, key nodes in global supply-chains, handling over 80% of the volume of world trade, are likely to be affected directly and indirectly by climatic changes, such as rising sea levels, extreme weather events and rising temperatures, with broader implications for international trade and for the development prospects of the most vulnerable nations, in particular LDCs and SIDS. Given the potential for climate related damage, disruption and delay to transport across closely interconnected global supply chains, enhancing the climate resilience of critical transport infrastructure is of strategic importance. Transport systems are under threat from the effects of climate change and extreme events that are expected to be more frequent and, or intense, in the future.
    [Show full text]
  • Biogas As a Transport Fuel—A System Analysis of Value Chain Development in a Swedish Context
    sustainability Article Biogas as a Transport Fuel—A System Analysis of Value Chain Development in a Swedish Context Muhammad Arfan *, Zhao Wang, Shveta Soam and Ola Eriksson Department of Building Engineering, Energy Systems and Sustainability Science, University of Gävle, SE-801 76 Gävle, Sweden; [email protected] (Z.W.); [email protected] (S.S.); [email protected] (O.E.) * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +46-704-400-593 Abstract: Biofuels policy instruments are important in the development and diffusion of biogas as a transport fuel in Sweden. Their effectiveness with links to geodemographic conditions has not been analysed systematically in studying biogas development in a less urbanised regions, with high po- tential and primitive gas infrastructure. One such region identified is Gävleborg in Sweden. By using value chain statistics, interviews with related actors, and studying biofuels policy instruments and implications for biogas development, it is found that the policy measures have not been as effective in the region as in the rest of Sweden due to different geodemographic characteristics of the region, which has resulted in impeded biogas development. In addition to factors found in previous studies, the less-developed biogas value chain in this region can be attributed particularly to undefined rules of the game, which is lack of consensus on trade-off of resources and services, unnecessary competition among several fuel alternatives, as well as the ambiguity of municipalities’ prioritization, and regional cultural differences. To strengthen the regional biogas sector, system actors need a strategy to eliminate blocking effects of identified local factors, and national policy instruments should provide mechanisms to process geographical conditions in regulatory, economic support, Citation: Arfan, M.; Wang, Z.; Soam, and market formation.
    [Show full text]
  • Sustainable Aviation Fuels Road-Map
    SUSTAINABLE AVIATION FUELS ROAD-MAP Fueling the future of UK aviation sustainableaviation.co.uk Sustainable Aviation wishes to thank the following organisations for leading the work in producing this Road-Map: Sustainable Aviation (SA) believes the data forecasts and analysis of this report to be correct as at the date of publication. The opinions contained in this report, except where specifically attributed to, are those of SA, and based upon the information that was available to us at the time of publication. We are always pleased to receive updated information and opinions about any of the contents. All statements in this report (other than statements of historical facts) that address future market developments, government actions and events, may be deemed ‘forward-looking statements’. Although SA believes that the outcomes expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance: actual results or developments may differ materially, e.g. due to the emergence of new technologies and applications, changes to regulations, and unforeseen general economic, market or business conditions. CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY INTRODUCTION 1.1 Addressing the sustainability challenge in aviation 1.2 The role of sustainable aviation fuels 1.3 The Sustainable Aviation Fuels Road-Map SUSTAINABLE AVIATION FUELS 2.1 Sustainability of sustainable aviation fuels 2.2 Sustainable aviation fuels types 2.3 Production and usage of sustainable aviation fuels to date THE FUTURE FOR SUSTAINABLE
    [Show full text]
  • GREEN YOUR BUS RIDE Clean Buses in Latin America Summary Report
    Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized GREEN YOUR BUS RIDE Clean Buses in Latin America Summary report January 2019 Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized i Clean Buses in Latin American Cities Transport is the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, responsible for 23% of global CO2 emissions from fuel combustion. Driven by the unprecedented rate of urbanization and demand for transportation, transport has become the largest contributor of greenhouse gas emissions in Latin America.1 1 IEA (2015), IADB (2013). ii Clean Buses in Latin American Cities Overview 1 1 Introduction 7 Overview of Clean Bus Technologies 8 2 Total Costs of Ownership 11 | World Bank TCO Estimates 12 3 Cost-Effectiveness Analysis 15 4 Enabling Environment 21 What makes a good enabling environment for the implementation of clean buses? 22 Diagnosis of Current Situation A. Public Transport Systems 24 B. Environmental Policies 26 C. Energy Sector 28 D. Governance and Markets 30 E. Funding and Finance 32 Self Evaluations 33 5 General Recommendations 35 6 City-Specific Recommendations and Implementation Roadmaps 39 A. Buenos Aires 40 B. Mexico City 44 C. Montevideo 47 D. Santiago 50 E. São Paulo 53 Conclusions 57 References 59 Appendix A: Key Assumptions for World Bank TCO Analysis 61 Appendix B: TCO Estimates for each of the Five Cities 65 iii Clean Buses in Latin American Cities Acknowledgements This report is a product of the staff of The This report was developed by Steer for the World Bank with external contributions. The NDC Clean Bus in Latin America and the findings, interpretations, and conclusions Caribbean (LAC) Project led by Bianca expressed in this volume do not necessarily Bianchi Alves and Kavita Sethi, and the team, reflect the views of The World Bank, its Board including Abel Lopez Dodero, Alejandro of Executive Directors, or the governments Hoyos Guerrero, Diego Puga, Eugenia they represent.
    [Show full text]
  • Crediting System for Renewable Fuels
    CREDITING SYSTEM FOR RENEWABLE FUELS IN EU EMISSION STANDARDS FOR ROAD TRANSPORT Report for the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) 20 May 2020 AUTHORS: Dr. David Bothe Michael Zähringer Julian Bauer Dr. Christoph Sieberg Florian Korbmacher CONTACT: Dr. David Bothe Michael Zähringer +49 221 337 13 106 +49 221 337 13 105 +49 176 641 00 11 3 [email protected] [email protected] Frontier Economics Ltd is a member of the Frontier Economics network, which consists of two separate companies based in Europe (Frontier Economics Ltd) and Australia (Frontier Economics Pty Ltd). Both companies are independently owned, and legal commitments entered into by one company do not impose any obligations on the other company in the network. All views expressed in this document are the views of Frontier Economics Ltd. CREDITING SYSTEM FOR RENEWABLE FUELS IN EU EMISSION STANDARDS FOR ROAD TRANSPORT CONTENTS Executive Summary 5 1 Introduction 14 1.1 Background 14 1.2 Scope of the report 17 1.3 Structure of this report 17 2 Context – current road transport sector regulations 19 2.1 EU emission standards for new road vehicles 19 2.2 Renewable Energy Directive II 23 2.3 Different definitions for sustainable transport fuels in EU regulations 24 3 Principles for developing an SAAF-crediting system 26 3.1 Evaluation criteria 26 3.2 Four principles for developing an SAAF-crediting system 27 4 Main building blocks of the proposed SAAF-crediting system 29 4.1 Basic concept 30 4.2 General design features
    [Show full text]
  • Systemic Sustainable Development in the Transport Service Sector
    sustainability Article Systemic Sustainable Development in the Transport Service Sector Izabela Sztangret Entrepreneurship Department, University of Economics in Katowice, 40-287 Katowice, Poland; [email protected] Received: 26 September 2020; Accepted: 10 November 2020; Published: 16 November 2020 Abstract: The concept of sustainability and sustainable development, especially systemic sustainable development, still raises controversy in literature. The article makes an attempt to re-examine these concepts from a systems perspective, seeking foundations and applications in the selected sector. It is becoming increasingly clear that sustainability and sustainable development are aimed at integrated economic, social, cultural, political, and ecological factors. This causes a need for a constructive approach to the issue, taking into account all the actors, areas and dimensions involved in the pursuit of systemic sustainable development. As a result, both local and global dimensions and the way they interact must be explored in a multifaceted manner in order to offer a perspective more effective and useful than other analytical approaches, as the systems view is a way of thinking in terms of connectedness, relationships, and context. The article aims to review selected publications and studies so as to form the general idea of systemic sustainable development and define the systemic development of sustainable transport, including in particular the perspective of the actors of the sector, transport providers (passenger, urban), and transport development program, implemented both by local governments and on the European scale. An attempt was made to identify elements of the systemic sustainable development model, setting it in the reality of the following subcategories: “Society”, “Economy”, and “Environment” in sectoral terms.
    [Show full text]
  • Renewable Energy and Transport – Decarbonising Fuel in the Transport
    RENEWABLE ENERGY AND TRANSPORT - DECARBONISING FUEL IN THE TRANSPORT SECTOR 1 This preliminary analysis of INDCs in the transport sector is intended to inform discussions at the ADP 2-11 session in Bonn in October 2015, and is to be developed further before COP21 in December 2015. Table of Contents List of Abbreviations iii Overview 1 Cureent Trends 1 Required Policies 3 Lifecycle Assessments 4 National Climate Actions 5 Conclusions 8 List of Figures Figure 1: Current Renewable Energy Use in Different Sectors (IEA, 2015) 1 Figure 2: Share of Oil in Transport Sector (IEA, 2015) 2 Figure 3: Share of Oil in Transport in 2035 Under Current Policies and 2DS Scenario (IEA, 2012) 3 Figure 4: Current and Projected Fuel Diversity for Passenger and Freight Transport 4 Figure 5: Grid Emission Factors for Countries 5 Figure 6: INDC’s Prioritize Diversification of Transport Fuel Mix 6 List of Tables Table 1: Some Examples of Renewable Energy Targets in INDC 6 Table 2: National Targets for Decabonising Fuel in the Transport Sector 7 List of Abbreviations 2DS Two-degree Celsius scenario ASI Avoid-Shift-Improve BAU Business-as-usual BRs Biennial reports BRT Bus Rapid Transit BURs Biennial update reports CO2 Carbon dioxide COP Conference of the Parties ECF European Cyclists’ Federation EV Electric vehicle GDP Gross Domestic Product GHG Green House Gas GIZ Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GSR Global Status Report Gt Giga tons HGV Heavy Goods Vehicle IEA International Energy Agency INDCs Intended Nationally-Determined Contributions
    [Show full text]
  • The Renewable Route to Sustainable Transport, a Working Paper Based
    THE RENEWABLE ROUTE TO SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT A WORKING PAPER BASED ON REMAP AUGUST 2016 WORKING PAPER Copyright © IRENA 2016 Unless otherwise stated, this publication and material featured herein are the property of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and are subject to copyright by IRENA. Material in this publication may be freely used, shared, copied, reproduced, printed and/or stored, provided that all such material is clearly attributed to IRENA and bears a notation that it is subject to copyright (© IRENA 2016). Material contained in this publication attributed to third parties may be subject to third-party copyright and separate terms of use and restrictions, including restrictions in relation to any commercial use. ISBN 978-92-95111-68-4 (Print) ISBN 978-92-95111-67-7 (PDF) AboutIRENA The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) is an intergovernmental organisation that supports countries in their transition to a sustainable energy future, and serves as the principal platform for international co-operation, a centre of excellence, and a repository of policy, technology, resource and fi nancial knowledge on renewable energy. IRENA promotes the widespread adoption and sustainable use of all forms of renewable energy, including bioenergy, geothermal, hydropower, ocean, solar and wind energy, in the pursuit of sustainable development, energy access, energy security and low-carbon economic growth and prosperity. Acknowledgements This working paper has benefi ted from the valuable engagement of the REmap Transport Action Team and the authors thank all of those involved. Additionally, valuable comments and feedback was provided by Kerstin Geppert (FU-Berlin), Marc Londo (ECN), Gerard Ostheimer (Novozymes), Jacob Teter (IEA), Tali Trigg (GIZ) and Martijn van Walwijk (HAN).
    [Show full text]
  • Sustainable Supply Chain Management: the Influence of Disposal Scenarios on the Environmental Impact of a 2400 L Waste Container
    Article Sustainable Supply Chain Management: The Influence of Disposal Scenarios on the Environmental Impact of a 2400 L Waste Container José Eduardo Galve 1, Daniel Elduque 2,*, Carmelo Pina 1 and Carlos Javierre 2 1 BSH Electrodomésticos España S.A.; Avda. de la Industria, 49, Zaragoza 50016, Spain; [email protected] (J.E.G.); [email protected] (C.P.) 2 i+(i3A), Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Zaragoza; C/María de Luna, 3, Zaragoza 50018, Spain; [email protected] (D.E.); [email protected] (C.J.) * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +34-876-555-211; Fax: +34-976-761-861 Academic Editor: Young Hae Lee Received: 24 April 2016; Accepted: 12 June 2016; Published: 17 June 2016 Abstract: This paper analyzes the influence of the supply chain management on the environmental impact of a 2400 L waste disposal container used in most cities of Spain. The studied functional unit, a waste disposal container, made up mostly of plastic materials and a metallic structure, and manufactured in Madrid (Spain), is distributed to several cities at an average distance of 392 km. A life cycle assessment of four different scenarios (SC) has been calculated with the software EcoTool v4.0 (version 4.0; i+: Zaragoza, Spain, 2015) and using Ecoinvent v3.0 database (version 3.0; Swiss Centre for Life Cycle Inventories: St. Gallen, Switzerland, 2013). The environmental impact has been characterized with two different methodologies, recipe and carbon footprint. In order to reduce the environmental impact, several end of life scenarios have been performed, analyzing the influence of the supply chain on a closed-looped system that increases recycling.
    [Show full text]
  • Sustainable Transport and Fuels
    Published on EU Science Hub (https://ec.europa.eu/jrc) Home > Sustainable transport and fuels Sustainable transport and fuels The European Commission is working towards forms of mobility that are sustainable, energy-efficient and respectful for the environment. Technical innovation such as electric vehicles, intelligent transport systems and smart grids, will contribute to achieving this goal. Alternative fuels like biofuels and non-polluting energy sources, notably hydrogen, are also pathways towards a more sustainable mobility. The Commission Communication (COM(2010)186 final) sets out a European strategy on clean and energy efficient vehicles. ‘Decarbonising’ transport has been identified as a priority target for the development of a sustainable transport system. Priority areas for road transport are thus electric vehicles, alternative fuels and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. Euronews Futuris series: Green energy: tomorrow's reality /jrc/en/video/euronews-futuris-green-energy-tomorrows- realityeuronews futuris - Green energy: tomorrow's reality Video of euronews futuris - Green energy: tomorrow's reality The Directive on the Promotion of the Use of Energy from Renewable Sources (2009/28/EC) [1] and the Fuel Quality Directive (2009/30/EC) [2] are also of particular relevance to the transport sector. This EU regulatory framework sets environmental sustainability criteria for biofuels and bioliquids, with a threshold of 35% savings of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions; plus it excludes the use of specific land categories such as primary forest, grassland with high biodiversity, wetlands and peatlands. The European Commission is furthermore working on Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) [3] – combinations of communication, computer and control technology to improve transport safety, efficiency, mobility, … – which can be applied both to transport infrastructure as to vehicles.
    [Show full text]