Optimizing Rainwater Harvesting Systems in Urban Areas
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Optimizing rainwater harvesting systems in urban areas. By María Violeta Vargas Parra A thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the PhD degree in Environmental Science and Technology September 2015 The present doctoral thesis has been developed thanks to the project “Análisis ambiental del aprovechamiento de aguas pluviales” financed by Spanish Ministry for Science and Innovation, ref. CTM 2010-17365 as well as the pre-doctoral grant awarded to M. Violeta Vargas-Parra by Conacyt (National Council of Science and Technology, decentralized public agency of Mexico’s federal government). The present thesis entitled Optimizing rainwater harvesting systems in urban areas by María Violeta Vargas Parra has been carried out at the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA) at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). M. Violeta Vargas Parra under the supervision of Dr. Xavier Gabarrell and Dr. Gara Villalba from ICTA and the Department of Chemical, Biological and Environmental Engineering at the UAB, and Dr. María Rosa Rovira Val, from ICTA and the Business School at the UAB Dr. Xavier Gabarrell Dr. Gara Villalba Dr. M. Rosa Rovira Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès), September 2015. “I keep turning over new leaves, and spoiling them, as I used to spoil my copybooks; and I make so many beginnings there never will be an end. (Jo March)” - Louisa May Alcott, Little Woman V Table of Contents Acknowledgements.................................................................................. XI Summary ............................................................................................. XIII Resumen ............................................................................................. XV List of Acronyms and abbreviations ............................................................ XVII List of Figures ....................................................................................... XIX List of tables ........................................................................................ XXI Preface ............................................................................................... 23 Part I. Introduction and framework .............................................................. 27 Chapter 1 Introduction ............................................................................. 31 1.1 Sustainability. ................................................................................ 31 1.2 Sustainability and industrial ecology ...................................................... 32 1.3 Water and urban areas. ..................................................................... 32 1.4 Water-Energy-Food Nexus .................................................................. 33 1.5 RWH systems history ........................................................................ 33 1.6 RWH in urban areas .......................................................................... 33 1.7 Objectives .................................................................................... 34 Chapter 2 Methodology ............................................................................. 37 2.1 Exergy Analysis ............................................................................... 37 2.2 Life Cycle Assessment ....................................................................... 39 2.3 Life Cycle Costing ............................................................................ 42 2.4 Data Envelopment Analysis ................................................................. 43 2.5 Case studies .................................................................................. 43 Part II. Resource efficiency ........................................................................ 45 Chapter 3 Exergy in buildings .................................................................... 48 Abstract ............................................................................................ 48 3.1 Introduction ......................................... Error! No s'ha definit el marcador. 3.2 Method ............................................... Error! No s'ha definit el marcador. 3.2.1 Exergy Analysis ............................. Error! No s'ha definit el marcador. 3.3 Case study scenarios................................ Error! No s'ha definit el marcador. 3.4 System boundaries .................................. Error! No s'ha definit el marcador. 3.5 Exergetic Efficiency of RWH Systems ............ Error! No s'ha definit el marcador. VII 3.6 Results ................................................ Error! No s'ha definit el marcador. 3.7 Conclusions .......................................... Error! No s'ha definit el marcador. Chapter 4 Exergy in neighborhoods. ........................................................... 71 Abstract ............................................................................................ 71 4.1 Introduction .................................................................................. 72 4.2 Method ........................................................................................ 72 4.2.1 Exergy Analysis ...................................................................... 72 4.2.2 Case study ............................................................................ 73 4.3 Results ......................................................................................... 78 4.4 Conclusions ................................................................................... 80 Part III. Economic and environmental analysis .................................................. 81 Chapter 5 Cost effective analysis in buildings. ................................................. 85 Abstract ............................................................................................ 85 5.1 Introduction ......................................... Error! No s'ha definit el marcador. 5.2 Methods .............................................. Error! No s'ha definit el marcador. 5.2.1 Scenario design ............................. Error! No s'ha definit el marcador. 5.2.2 Rainwater offer and laundry demand. .. Error! No s'ha definit el marcador. 5.2.3 Data source and criteria .................. Error! No s'ha definit el marcador. 5.2.4 Data Inventory .............................. Error! No s'ha definit el marcador. 5.2.5 Economic and financial analysis ......... Error! No s'ha definit el marcador. 5.3 Results. ............................................... Error! No s'ha definit el marcador. 5.4 Conclusion, Limitations and Directions for Future Research.Error! No s'ha definit el marcador. Chapter 6 LCA and LCC in buildings. ........................................................... 99 Abstract ............................................................................................ 99 6.1 Introduction ................................................................................ 100 6.2 Methodology ................................................................................ 101 6.3 System boundaries ......................................................................... 102 6.3.1 Functional unit .................................................................... 103 6.3.2 Goal and scope .................................................................... 103 6.4 Data .......................................................................................... 106 6.4.1 Life Cycle Inventory .............................................................. 106 6.4.2 Cost data ........................................................................... 108 VIII 6.4.3 Costs and savings by life cycle stages .......................................... 110 6.5 Results ....................................................................................... 110 6.5.1 Environmental Impacts ........................................................... 110 6.5.2 Avoided impacts ................................................................... 113 6.5.3 Life cycle cost results ............................................................ 114 6.6 Conclusions ................................................................................. 120 Chapter 7 LCA and LCC in neighborhoods...................................................... 127 Abstract .......................................................................................... 127 7.1 Introduction ................................................................................ 128 7.2 Methodology ................................................................................ 128 7.2.1 System boundaries ................................................................ 129 7.2.2 Functional unit .................................................................... 132 7.2.3 Goal and scope .................................................................... 132 7.3 LCA ........................................................................................... 134 7.3.1 Life Cycle Inventory .............................................................. 134 7.3.2 Environmental Impacts ........................................................... 136 7.3.3 Avoided impacts ................................................................... 138 7.4 Life cycle costs ............................................................................. 138 7.4.1 Data sources ....................................................................... 138 7.4.2 Costs and savings by life cycle stages .........................................