Search Results (48)

Agriculture, livestock, and fisheries significantly impact socioeconomic, environmental, and health dimensions at global level, ensuring food supply for growing populations whilst promoting economic welfare through international trade, employment, and income. Considering that bilateral food exchanges between countries represent exchanges of natural resources involved in food production (i.e., food imports are equivalent to savings of natural resources), the purpose of the study is to investigate the evolution of carbon and water footprints corresponding to the global food trade networks between 1986 and 2020. The research aims to identify potential associations between carbon and water footprints embedded in food trade and countries’ economic welfare. Complex network analysis was used to map countries’ positions within annual food trade networks, and countries’ metrics within networks were used to identify connections between participation in global trade of carbon and water footprints and economic welfare. The findings of the study show an increase in carbon and water footprints linked to global food exchanges between countries during the period. Furthermore, a country’s centrality within the network was linked to economic welfare, showing that countries with higher imports of carbon and water through global food trade derive economic benefits from participating in global trade. Global efforts towards transformations of food systems should prioritize sustainable development standards to ensure continued access to healthy sustainable diets for populations worldwide. Full article

Rural areas around the world are increasingly dealing with energy and environmental challenges. These challenges are particularly acute in developing countries, where persistent reliance on traditional energy sources—such as wood fuel—intersects with concerns about forest conservation and energy sustainability. While wood fuel use is often portrayed as unsustainable, it is important to acknowledge that much of it remains ecologically viable and socially embedded. This study explores the role of rural entrepreneurs in shaping low-carbon transitions at the intersection of household energy practices and environmental stewardship. Fieldwork was carried out in four rural Zambian communities in 2016 and complemented by 2024 follow-up reports. It examines the connections between household energy choices, greenhouse gas emissions, and forest resource dynamics. Findings reveal that over 60% of rural households rely on charcoal for cooking, with associated emissions estimated between 80 and 150 kg CO₂ per household per month. Although this is significantly lower than the average per capita carbon footprint in industrialized countries, such emissions are primarily biogenic in nature. While rural communities contribute minimally to global climate change, their practices have significant local environmental consequences. This study draws attention to the structural constraints as well as emerging opportunities within Zambia’s rural energy economy. It positions rural entrepreneurs not merely as policy recipients but as active agents of innovation, environmental monitoring, and participatory resource governance. A model is proposed to support sustainable rural energy transitions by aligning forest management with context-sensitive emissions strategies. Full article

Today, the construction sector is largely responsible for climate change and global warming. The industry generates the largest carbon footprint and is also one of the least digitized industries in national economies. Faced with the challenge of reducing this carbon footprint, BIM is becoming an essential tool for building digital twins, which in turn makes it possible to calculate and track the carbon footprint over time for designed, constructed, and existing buildings. Semantically rich databases such as BIM make it possible to record the past, present, and future states of buildings and infrastructure facilities. To date, primary research using the free and popular UrbanBIM tool has been conducted on ready-made models, e.g., a previously prepared piece of space. In this secondary study, a specific pre-designed shell building in the BIM environment was examined, and the embedded carbon footprint was calculated for it. The calculated result of 76.35 tons of CO₂ provides an overview of the solutions used and an analysis of the various elements in terms of their environmental impact. The results of the study indicate a growing need to automate the modeling of building information for analysis and simulation, and then to further manage the information. The paper also identifies limitations and presents future research directions for carbon footprint calculation and tracking. Full article

For several decades, cement production has caused concerns about CO₂ emissions. As the production of concrete has increased over the years, the fact that cement is its key component additionally raises a concern. By partially replacing cement with waste material such as biomass waste biochar, the reduction in waste and the reduction of CO₂ emissions could be addressed at the same time but raises a concern about the ecotoxicological potential of biochar-containing cementitious composites. During their use, recycling and disposal of biochar-containing mortars could pose hazardous environmental impacts due to their exposure to rain and other environmental conditions. The aim of the study was to determine the early-age mechanical properties of mortars with 5%, 10%, and 15% biochar as partial cement replacement. The environmental impact of biochar-containing mortars in terms of carbon footprint reduction and ecotoxicological potential was addressed simultaneously. The biochar used was prepared from waste wood biomass as carpentry waste wood. Results showed that added biochar caused no significant changes in flowability and fresh density of fresh mortar mixture. The strength tests revealed mortars with 5% and 10% biochar had higher 3-day flexural strength, while only mortar with 5% biochar had higher 7- and 28-day compressive strength (4% and 6%) than the conventional mortar. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis detected five main crystalline phases in biochar-containing mortars. SEM-EDS showed the strong embedment of biochar particles in cement paste. Ecotoxicological assessment based on acute toxicity tests with mortar leachates using duckweed and mustard seeds showed low toxicity of leachates with the highest inhibition values around 50%. The calculations of the total CO₂-equivalent emissions for selected mortars revealed mortars with biochar as partial cement replacement had lower CO₂-equivalent emissions than the conventional mortar and can contribute to carbon footprint reduction and at the same time to natural resource conservation. Full article

Background: The wine industry in arid area serves as a crucial livelihood source at the frontiers of anti-desertification and anti-poverty. By making use of a carbon footprint (CF) management system, formerly untapped climate values can be explored, embedded, and cherished to connect rural communities with the global goals of sustainable development. However, the current standards of CF management mainly represent the traditional wine grape growing areas of Europe, Oceania, and North America. Limited study of the arid areas in lower-income regions exists, which offers a kind of potential development knowledge regarding creating climate-related livelihoods. Methods: This paper attempts to construct a cradle-to-gate CF Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) framework based on the prominent emission factors in three GHG emission phases (raw material input, planting management, and transportation) of a wine grape variety, Cabernet Sauvignon (chi xia zhu), planted at the Eastern Foothills of the Helan Mountains in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of China. Results: It is found that viticulture processes (instead of wine-making, bottling, or distribution) account for a larger proportion of GHG emissions in Ningxia. Due to the large amount of irrigation electricity usage, the less precipitation wine producers have, the larger CF they produce. By using organic fertilizer, the CF of Ningxia Cabernet Sauvignon, being 0.3403 kgCO₂e/kg, is not only lower than that of the drier areas in Gansu Province (1.59–5.7 kgCO₂e/kg) of Western China, but it is even lower than that of the Israel Negev Region (0.342 kgCO₂e/kg) that experiences more rainfall. Conclusions: The measurement of CF also plays a role in understanding low-carbon experience sharing. As the largest wine grape production area in China, CF analysis of the Ningxia region and its commercial value realization might practically fill in the knowledge gap for desert areas in developing countries. It is inspiring to know that by applying green agricultural technologies, the viticulture CF can be effectively reduced. For the potential exchanges in global carbon markets or trading regulations under the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), positive variations in CF and soil organic carbon (SOC) storage volume need to be considered within financial institutional design to lead to more participation toward SDGs. Full article

The shift from Industry 4.0 to Industry 5.0 represents a significant evolution toward sustainable, human-centric manufacturing. This paper explores how advanced multi-objective optimization techniques can integrate Artificial Intelligence (AI) with human insights to enhance both sustainability and customization in manufacturing. We investigate specific optimization methods, including genetic algorithms (GAs), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), and reinforcement learning (RL), which are tailored to balance efficiency, waste reduction, and carbon footprint. Our proposed framework enables human creativity to interact with AI-driven processes, embedding human input into a computational structure that adapts dynamically to operational goals. By linking optimization directly to environmental impacts, such as reducing waste, energy consumption, and carbon emissions, this study establishes a pathway toward environmentally sustainable production. This research fills existing gaps by offering a detailed, practical model that harmonizes theoretical insights with applications in personalized manufacturing environments. In this regard, it contributes to the ongoing development of Industry 5.0, emphasizing how AI and human collaboration can foster intelligent, adaptable, and sustainable manufacturing systems. Full article

The paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the environmental impact of building materials used in the construction of railway stations. It analyses two examples of innovative railway stations built in Poland in recent years and examines the impact of the choice of building materials on the Global Warming Potential (GWP) of the stations. The analysis found significant differences in GWP between the two stations, with structural steel being the largest contributor for one station, accounting for 48% of the total GWP. Replacing traditional materials with low-emission alternatives was shown to reduce the total GWP for both stations by around 60%. The research highlights the importance of analysing the GWP of all building materials, even in small quantities, as some materials, such as high-pressure laminates, can have a disproportionate impact on carbon emissions. The study also shows that the correct use of low-carbon building materials in the construction of the station can lead to a significant reduction in the carbon footprint of the building. Collaboration between designers, investors and contractors is essential to achieve sustainable building designs that minimise the environmental impact of construction. Full article

Reducing carbon emissions is a critical issue for the near future as climate change is an imminent reality. To reduce our carbon footprint, society must change its habits and behaviours to optimise energy consumption, and the current progress in embedded systems and artificial intelligence has the potential to make this easier. The smart building concept and intelligent energy management are key points to increase the use of renewable sources of energy as opposed to fossil fuels. In addition, cyber-physical systems (CPSs) provide an abstraction of the management of services that allows the integration of both virtual and physical systems in a seamless control architecture. In this paper, we propose to use multiagent reinforcement learning (MARL) to model the CPS services control plane in a smart house, with the purpose of minimising, by shifting or shutdown services, the use of non-renewable energy (fuel generator) by exploiting solar production and batteries. Furthermore, our proposal dynamically adapts its behaviour in real time according to current and historic energy production, thus being able to handle occasional changes in energy production due to meteorological phenomena or unexpected energy consumption. In order to evaluate our proposal, we have developed an open-source smart building energy simulator and deployed our use case. Finally, several simulations with different configurations are evaluated to verify the performance. The simulation results show that the reinforcement learning solution outperformed the priority-based and the heuristic-based solutions in both power consumption and adaptability in all configurations. Full article

Climate policies such as sectoral carbon budgets use national greenhouse gas emissions inventories to track the decarbonization of sectors. While they provide an important compass to guide climate action, the accounting framework in which they are embedded lacks flexibility for activities that are international and at the crossroads of different sectors. The building activities, being largely linked with important upstream emitters such as energy production or industrial activities, which can take place outside of national borders, are such an example. As legislation increasingly addresses the whole-life carbon emissions of buildings, it is vital to develop cross-sectoral accounting methods that effectively measure and monitor the overall impact of buildings. Such methods are essential for creating sound and holistic decarbonization pathways that align with sustainability policies. This article aims to provide a consistent approach for depicting the life-cycle emissions of buildings at the national level, using France as a case study. By integrating the different emission scopes with decarbonization pathways, this approach also enables the creation of comprehensive whole-life carbon budgets. The results show that the French building stock footprint reached 162 MtCO₂eq in 2019, with 64% attributed to operational emissions, primarily from fossil fuel combustion, and the remainder to embodied emissions, mainly from upstream industrial and energy sectors. Overall, 20% of the emissions occurred outside the national borders. Under various global decarbonization pathways, the significance of embodied emissions is projected to increase, potentially comprising 78% of the life-cycle emissions by 2050 under the current policies. This underscores the necessity for climate policies to address emissions beyond territorial and operational boundaries. Full article

Plant proteins have gained significant attention over animal proteins due to their low carbon footprint, balanced nutrition, and high sustainability. These attributes make plant protein nanocarriers promising for applications in drug delivery, nutraceuticals, functional foods, and other areas. Zein, a major by-product of corn starch processing, is inexpensive and widely available. Its unique self-assembly characteristics have led to its extensive use in various food and drug systems. Zein’s functional tunability allows for excellent performance in loading and transporting bioactive substances. Lutein offers numerous bioactive functions, such as antioxidant and vision protection, but suffers from poor chemical stability and low bioavailability. Nano-embedding technology can construct various zein-loaded lutein nanodelivery systems to address these issues. This review provides an overview of recent advances in the construction of zein-loaded lutein nanosystems. It discusses the fundamental properties of these systems; systematically introduces preparation techniques, structural characterization, and functional properties; and analyzes and predicts the target-controlled release and bioaccessibility of zein-loaded lutein nanosystems. The interactions and synergistic effects between Zein and lutein in the nanocomplexes are examined to elucidate the formation mechanism and conformational relationship of zein–lutein nanoparticles. The physical and chemical properties of Zein are closely related to the molecular structure. Zein and its modified products can encapsulate and protect lutein through various methods, creating more stable and efficient zein-loaded lutein nanosystems. Additionally, embedding lutein in Zein and its derivatives enhances lutein’s digestive stability, solubility, antioxidant properties, and overall bioavailability. Full article

This paper introduces a parameter-efficient transformer-based model designed for scientific literature classification. By optimizing the transformer architecture, the proposed model significantly reduces memory usage, training time, inference time, and the carbon footprint associated with large language models. The proposed approach is evaluated against various deep learning models and demonstrates superior performance in classifying scientific literature. Comprehensive experiments conducted on datasets from Web of Science, ArXiv, Nature, Springer, and Wiley reveal that the proposed model’s multi-headed attention mechanism and enhanced embeddings contribute to its high accuracy and efficiency, making it a robust solution for text classification tasks. Full article

The use of non-metallic reinforcement can significantly reduce the carbon footprint of the construction sector. Mixed structures made out of steel and non-metallic reinforcement should be avoided due to the risk of galvanic corrosion. So far, researchers have been focusing on the load-bearing behavior in the longitudinal direction of the fibers. In this study, the behavior of the fibers in the non-metallic reinforcements is analyzed perpendicular to the fiber orientation. Therefore, a uniaxial shear test on a single bar (uniaxial shear test), as well as a series of push-off tests with reinforcements embedded in the concrete, was carried out. For both experiments, bars made of carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (CFRPs) and glass fiber-reinforced polymers (GFRPs) were investigated. In order to analyze the influence of non-metallic reinforcement in the joint, specimens without reinforcement have been tested as well. Also, the joint roughness and reinforcement ratio of the concrete joint was varied in the tests. The determined transverse shear strengths for the single bar exceed the values of the producer. For the push-off test, high standard deviations occurred, making it difficult to draw firm conclusions. Nevertheless, it is shown that increasing the amount of reinforcement leads to higher ultimate forces. The presented study emphasizes the necessity of further studies of the shear transfer in concrete joints. Full article

This review article analyzes the influence of recycled glass (as sand and powder) beyond the durability, rheology and compressive strength of plain UHPC, even exploring flexural and direct tensile performance in fiber-reinforced UHPC. Interactions with other mineral admixtures like limestone powder, rice husk ash, fly ash, FC3R, metakaolin and slags, among others, are analyzed. Synergy with limestone powder improves rheology, reducing superplasticizer usage. Research highlights waste glass–UHPC mixtures with reduced silica fume and cement content by over 50% and nearly 30%, respectively, with compressive strengths exceeding 150 MPa, cutting costs and carbon footprints. Furthermore, with the proper fiber dosage, waste glass–UHPC reported values for strain and energy absorption capacity, albeit lower than those of traditional UHPC formulations with high cement, silica fume and quartz powder content, surpassing requirements for demanding applications such as seismic reinforcement of structures. Moreover, durability remains comparable to that of traditional UHPC. In addition, the reported life cycle analysis found that the utilization of glass powder in UHPC allows a greater reduction of embedded CO₂ than other mineral additions in UHPC without jeopardizing its properties. In general, the review study presented herein underscores recycled glass’s potential in UHPC, offering economic and performance advantages in sustainable construction. Full article

Reducing carbon emissions associated with buildings is a top priority for mitigating the human impacts from climate change. Reducing carbon emissions resulting from the manufacturing, designing, constructing, investing, owning, operating, occupying, renovating, and demolishing of buildings is essential to safeguard the environment from negative consequences. This paper relates to the environment and human influence on the climate and addresses the different amounts of embedded carbon for building activities ranging from new buildings to major renovations to minor renovations, using a methodology termed the “whole-life carbon measurement”. The data from the case studies indicate that refurbished or renovated buildings exhibit the least carbon footprint compared to other alternatives. This outcome can be attributed to the sustainable practice of reusing materials, coupled with the positive effects of retrofitting. The expectation that refurbished buildings would demonstrate a lower carbon footprint aligns with the principles of sustainability, emphasizing the environmental benefits of repurposing existing structures. While embedded carbon is currently not priced, it is important that it be accurately measured over the entire life cycle of buildings if the real estate industry is to meet sustainability goals. Full article

In recent years, the growing demand for efficient and sustainable energy management has led to the development of innovative solutions for embedded systems. One such solution is the integration of hybrid nanogrid energy management systems into various applications. There are currently many energy management systems in different domains, such as buildings, electric vehicles, or even naval transport. However, an embedded nanogrid management system is subject to several constraints that are not sufficiently studied in the literature. Indeed, such a system often has a limited energy reserve and is isolated from any energy supply for a long time. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of research, advancements, and challenges in the field of hybrid nanogrid energy management systems. Furthermore, it offers a comparative analysis between hybrid nanogrids and microgrids and the implications of their integration in embedded systems. This paper also discusses the key components, operation principles, optimization strategies, real-world implementations, challenges, and future prospects of hybrid nanogrid energy management systems. Moreover, it highlights the significance of such systems in enhancing energy efficiency, reducing carbon footprints, and ensuring reliable power supply. Full article