Despite the great pressure on global natural resources, few LCA studies focus on total resource consumption and the efficiency of the use of those resources. Moreover, a total resource use assessment for agricultural systems is highly relevant because many of these systems have become high...

The health external costs of the electricity generation alternatives associated to a sugar ethanol factory are investigated. Two scenarios of power generation facilities have been analyzed in this study: the first scenario (existing) combines a bagasse cogeneration unit with a diesel combustion...

Energy poverty is a global threat to sustainable development and improved livelihoods hence the availability of clean, affordable, reliable and sustainable energy is a central issue to Kenya’s national development objectives. Biogas technology in Kenya has been earmarked as one of the main...

Energy affects all aspects of national development. Hence the current global energy crisis demands greater attention to new initiatives on alternative energy sources that are renewable, economically feasible and sustainable. The agriculture-dependent developing countries in Africa can mitigate...

Ethanol from sugarcane is mainly used as fuel for cars in Brazil. However, the chemical industry is considering ethanol also as biotic feedstock for several plastics (e.g. polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride). Both uses are able to cause less environmental impacts than their fossil references if...

Photovoltaic installations (PV-systems) are heavily promoted in Europe. In this paper, the Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) method is used to find out whether the high subsidy cost can be justified by the environmental benefits. Most existing LCAs of PV only use one-dimensional indicators and are only...

Environmental implications of the whole supply-chain of products, both goods and services, their use, and waste management, <em>i.e.</em>, their entire life cycle from “cradle to grave” have to be considered to achieve more sustainable production and consumption patterns. Progress toward...

Research on national competitiveness issue still lacks a coherent, comprehensive and universally accepted conceptual and methodological basis. Second, national competitiveness is commonly set as isolated public policy goals, with little preoccupation with its systematic relationships to and...

Carbon sequestration is a distinct technological option with a potential for controlling carbon emissions; it complements other measures, such as improvements in energy efficiency and utilization of renewable energy sources. The deployment of carbon sequestration technologies in electricity...

There is a growing concern about the impact of energy system decarbonisation on natural resources, such as raw materials and freshwater. Along this line, this paper assesses the needs for cooling water and construction materials of pulverised coal combustion (PF), integrated gasification...