Examensarbeten för masterexamen // Master Theses

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Environmental Impact of Food Retailing, A comparative LCA of organic and conventional food products
(2015) Eriksson, Malin; Chalmers tekniska högskola / Institutionen för energi och miljö; Chalmers University of Technology / Department of Energy and Environment
The food chain in Sweden is estimated to contribute to one quarter of the total greenhouse gas emissions. Retailers have an important position, as the actor between the food producers and the consumer, to influence the supply chain. The aim of this thesis was to perform a comparative life cycle assessment to investigate the environmental impact of Swedish retailers handling of food products, and see if conventional and organic products are handled in different ways. The study also assessed the retailers opportunity to affect the environmental impacts in the food chain. This was achieved by studying six different food products; apple, banana, deep frozen cod, egg milk and pork. In order to gather information both quantitative and qualitative methods were used. Retailer data were collected from the Swedish retailer Coop through interviews and literature reviews. The study shows that retailers have a small contribution to a food products environmental impact, regardless of impact category studied. The activity that contribute the most to retailers environmental impact on food products is transportation, meanwhile warehouse, operational electricity and heating together only contribute to between 1-20 percent of the retailers total environmental impact. Organic production generates in general lower greenhouse gas emissions than conventional production, meanwhile conventional production results in a lower acidification potential and eutrophication potential than organic production. In future studies a greater collaboration with retailers is preferable in order to receive internal documents and more retailer specific data, this could result in a better understanding of retailers handling of food products and their possibility to affect the food chain.
Environmental impacts of shoe consumption, Combining product flow analysis with an LCA model for Sweden
(2015) Gottfridsson, Marie; Zhang, Yuqing; Chalmers tekniska högskola / Institutionen för energi och miljö; Chalmers University of Technology / Department of Energy and Environment
In today’s society, the increasing consumption and its impact on the environment is a relevant issue. The global market situation and varying environmental standards makes it even more complicated. Therefore, a focus on the life cycle of products including material flows in the society is necessary to improve environmental work and reduce environmental impacts. In this thesis, the shoe consumption in Sweden and its environmental impacts was analyzed between 2000 and 2010 with a model approaching life cycle assessment, product flow analysis and material flow alysis. The consumption was defined as the net inflow of shoes into Sweden during one year, no life time was considered. The shoes were categorized according to the CN system used for trade and statistics, which generated six shoe groups involving waterproof, rubber & plastic, leather, textile, others and shoe parts. Four impact categories involving acidification, eutrophication, global warming and POCP were included. According to this study, the shoe consumption in Sweden increased by 20% during 2000 and 2010. In 2010, the total consumption was dominated by rubber & plastic shoes, 36%, leather shoes, 24%, and textile shoes, 22%. Most shoes consumed in Sweden are imported from Asia, while an increase in Asian import from 56% to 63% can be seen during 2000 and 2010. The shoes contributing most to the environmental impact of the Swedish shoe consumption in 2010 were leather shoes, up to 50%, rubber & plastic shoes, up to 26% and textile shoes, up to 17%. For the included impact categories, one pair of leather shoes show up to 3 times higher impact compared to an average shoe. The results show that material production corresponds to the highest impact with 80% of the total life cycle. The most contributing materials per kilogram included leather, wool, nylon, aluminium, synthetic rubber, PET plastic, PU plastic and viscose. For the Swedish shoe consumption, the environmental impact of leather was dominating for all impact categories followed by synthetic rubber, natural rubber, cotton, wool and various plastics. The impact changes according to the net inflow, but is also affected by conditions in import countries and material content in shoes. Natural textile and wood materials are preferable compared to leather, rubber and synthetic fibers with regard to environmental impact. Thus, an increase in consumption of some shoe groups such as leather shoes might then generate higher impact than others.
Improving waste sorting- and collection systems, An Action Research study in Borås, Sweden
(2015) Jansson, Ann; Blomér, Frida; Chalmers tekniska högskola / Institutionen för energi och miljö; Chalmers University of Technology / Department of Energy and Environment
There are different ways to work towards a more sustainable future – a developed waste management system could be one part of the solution. In Sweden, munici-palities are responsible for collecting household waste. Borås, a medium-sized city in western Sweden, has a sorting system where food waste is sorted into a black bag and waste for incineration is disposed in a white. The bags are sorted optically at a treatment plant. Recyclables and bulky waste should be disposed at a recycling station or center. A lot of material is miss-sorted, and the supplier of waste management services, Borås Energi och Miljö (BEM), thus wants to investigate how to increase the sorting quality and still keep a high customer satisfaction. The main research question in the thesis has thus been: How can an already developed waste management system be improved in order to achieve high customer satisfaction and high sorting quality? To find area specific solutions, BEM chose four geographical areas with varied pre-conditions as base for the study. The Action research method was used throughout the work. Data was gathered through literature studies, interviews, focus groups and observations. Also results from a waste composition analysis were used. Data showed that Borås’ inhabitants are satisfied with the white- and black bag system but that the waste quality in the bags could be improved in all areas. General improvements needed are; maintenance at the recycling stations, distribution of information and attitudes toward waste sorting. It was shown that safety is an impo-rtant aspect to consider when developing the system. The waste sorting- and colle-ction system recommended for the first area is to divide the collection into one bin for white and another for black bags, and further to build an environmental room for recyclables. For the second area the proposed system includes keeping the waste chutes for white- and black bags and to reinstate the environmental room in the house. For the third area it is suggested to remove the waste bins in the yards and to collect waste inside the buildings. For the fourth area it is suggested to offer the inhabitants collection of recyclables at the house. Informing people about why the changes are happening is crucial. When implementing the changes, it is an opportunity for BEM to spread updated sorting instructions and to promote their sorting guide and phone-app.
Indicators of Biodiversity, The Case of the Port of Gothenburg
(2015) Pettersson, Albin; Chalmers tekniska högskola / Institutionen för energi och miljö; Chalmers University of Technology / Department of Energy and Environment
The aim of this study is to find suitable indicators for biodiversity that can be used at the municipality owned company the Port of Gothenburg and to try a methodology for scientifically based indicator selection. The used methodology is a so called eDPSIR network, which both enables assessment of indicators for factors influencing biodiversity and indicators for assessment of biodiversity in itself. Since the Port of Gothenburg have many different stakeholders, and to ensure the function and usefulness of the indicators, the project included several stakeholder interactions. The recommendation drawn from the study is for the Port of Gothenburg to implement a naturalness based Natural Capital Index for assessment of biodiversity, and also to start measuring noise in green areas, light pollution and emissions of untreated ballast water. Furthermore the Port is recommended to collaborate with its owner, the municipality of Gothenburg, regarding data collection for the Natural Capital Index. If this is made as a citizen science project the indicator can fulfill several purposes, such as education and raising awareness, and can thereby achieve a high cost efficiency.
Socio-Economic Assessment of Implementing Mobile Biorefineries, A pre-study with focus on the European Union
(2015) Höcke, Edvard; Jacobssson, Anton; Chalmers tekniska högskola / Institutionen för energi och miljö; Chalmers University of Technology / Department of Energy and Environment
Fossil resources will likely face future resource problems, and the use of such resources is one of the main drivers for global warming. Biological feedstock has been suggested as a potential alternative to fossil resources. Such feedstock can be used in biorefineries to produce fuels and materials. A desire to make biorefineries more flexible by making them mobile has been expressed by the European Union’s Commission of Research, which has initiated a research project called Mobile FLIP to develop mobile biorefinery concepts. A socio-economic assessment of implementing these mobile biorefineries is to be carried out within this project, and that is where this study aims at contributing. To identify socio-economic factors related to implementing mobile biorefineries, the method of content analysis was applied by analysing 25 reports and articles from both journals and newspapers. The texts were culled for arguments that associate or dissociate socio-economic factors to mobile biorefineries. A total of 104 arguments where identified and categorised into four primary arguments: (1) cost, (2) feedstock availability, (3) rural development and (4) forest fire. The identified arguments were both compared to two established frameworks for social assessment of products, and analysed by reviewing the existing literature and performing some screening calculations. Most of the identified factors could not be identified in the established frameworks for social assessment of products. This is likely due to in the context in which these were developed. Current product social assessment frameworks were developed in a developing country context, while mobile biorefineries are mainly discussed in a developed country context. All socio-economic factors identified in this study should be evaluated further to confirm their importance and impact. Some specific suggestions of relevant methods for further analysis are suggested. Life cycle costing (LCC) could be used for assessing the primary argument cost. A risk assessment should be performed to assess the potential risk of forest fires. A societal life cycle assessment using working hours as indicator may be used to assess rural development in general and rural jobs in particular.
The Blood Wedding Ring, Assessing the Life Cycle Lives Lost in Gold Jewelry Production
(2015) Parsmo, Rasmus; Chalmers tekniska högskola / Institutionen för energi och miljö; Chalmers University of Technology / Department of Energy and Environment
This study investigates the human health impact of gold jewelry during its entire life cycle. Gold has many negative impacts on human health during its life cycle, such as emissions and accidents during different stages in the life cycle. There are also indications that mining of different minerals leads to conflicts and that minerals, such as gold, are used for financing military activities resulting in people getting killed, injured or displaced. Especially the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is associated with conflict gold. Consequently, gold produced in the DRC is the main focus of this study, while gold produced in Sweden and South Africa are included for comparison.The main method of this thesis is an attributional life cycle assessment (LCA) with an expanded social perspective. The disability-adjusted life years (DALY) is the indicator, and the results are quantified for the amount of gold in one typical wedding ring and per kg of gold. The indicator DALY is chosen since it allows for considering different types of causes of death and impairment, including conflicts, occupational hazards and environmental hazards. The aim is not to reach an exact figure of how many years of life that are lost, but rather to evaluate the magnitude of different processes. The three types of human health impacts that are quantified in this study are: impacts from environmental emissions, impacts from work environment accidents, and impacts from conflict. About 0.4 years of life were lost per wedding ring for gold produced in the DRC, which is several orders of magnitude larger than the impact of gold produced in South Africa and Sweden. The calculated number for life years lost is very high for such a small amount of gold, creating credibility for the title of this tudy: “the blood wedding ring”. The impact from the conflict is several orders of magnitude larger than the impact in any other process. If the impact assessment result from the conflict is excluded from the results, the emissions occurring at the extraction and processing of gold instead had the greatest impact, several orders of magnitude larger than any other process. In particular, mercury emissions to air had a high impact on human health during the processing of gold in artisanal mining in the DRC. The other processes have more minor impacts on human health. Sensitivity analyses were conducted to evaluate data gaps and uncertainties. These analyses in general showed that the results of the impact assessment are reasonable. The overall conclusion is that even though the results are uncertain, the conflict’s impact on human health is still several magnitudes larger than those of all other processes evaluated in the study.

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