Search Results (8)

The construction sector accounts for 39% of GHG emissions, being the main contributor to embodied carbon emissions of building materials, and operational energy consumption for indoor thermal comfort. Cereal straw, an agricultural by-product, is emerging as a low-carbon alternative due to its thermal performance and negative embodied carbon. This paper aims to review recent advances of cereal straw as a building material for decarbonization of construction, analyzing its thermal properties, embodied carbon, and large-scale applications. A literature review focused on European-certified straw-based materials, grouped into four categories: straw bales, blown-in insulation, modular systems, and bio-composites. Twelve Product Environmental Declarations (EPDs) and technical specifications were examined to evaluate manufacturing processes, material properties, and Global Warming Potential (GWP) for cradle-to-gate stages (A1–A3), as well as their use in large-scale projects over the past five years. Thermal conductivity ranged from 0.043 to 0.068 W/m·K, while embodied carbon varied between –101.2 and –146.5 kg CO₂ eq/m³. Straw bales remain prevalent in small-scale housing, blown-in insulation supports retrofitting, and modular systems offer the most balanced performance, enabling high-rise or extensive built surfaces. The study concludes that straw products have the potential to decarbonize opaque elements of the envelope, reducing operational and embodied energy of buildings. Full article

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from Thailand’s biomass pellet production were comprehensively assessed, with a specific focus on wood and corn pellets. Employing the extended input and output tables, the anticipated economic and environmental effects of the rising demand for biomass pellets within the Asia–Pacific Economic Cooperation region, which is projected to see an increase exceeding 33% by the year 2050, were investigated. The estimations of CO₂, CH₄, and N₂O emissions, which were conducted utilizing an open Leontief model based on the 2015 National Input–Output Tables, covered each stage of the production process. The results show that emissions from the production of corn pellets are expected to rise steadily, from 52.91 MtCO₂e in 2022 to 75.77 MtCO₂e by 2030, whereas emissions from wood pellet production are set to increase more substantially, from 210.30 to 301.18 MtCO₂e within the same timeframe. Data derived from surveys and interviews with corn farmers and wood pellet manufacturers informed the lifecycle data for the biomass pellet supply chain from cradle to gate. The findings suggest that Thailand’s power sector could benefit significantly from the biomass potential in the northern part of Thailand, which boasts an estimated energy content of corncob at 39 ktoe (0.0016 TJ). Market demand scenarios were explored in two forms: one where it was assumed that all biomass pellets are to be exported to Japan and South Korea, expecting a combined demand of approximately 560,262 tons by 2030, and another positing that 10% of production will be reserved for the domestic market, with a forecasted annual increase of 10% from 2020 to 2050. This paper highlights the need to prioritize low-emission renewable energy sources, expand technologies with lower lifecycle emissions, optimize the biomass supply chain to enhance efficiency, and introduce sustainable energy practices. The detailed GHG emissions analysis provides critical insights for policy formulation, underscoring the importance of sustainable transitions in the context of increasing biomass demand. Full article

Hydraulic structures, such as movable weir gates, are widely installed in rivers and streams for various purposes. Among these is the rising sector gate, which is the focus of this study. This research investigated how different gate openings affect flow velocity and turbulence distributions at the gate mouth. A hydraulic analysis of flow and turbulence characteristics near the mouth of a rising sector gate model was conducted through laboratory experiments with various flow conditions and gate openings utilizing a Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) system. Experimental tests were carried out with two gate-opening angles (30 and 45 degrees). The PIV measurements revealed significant variations in flow velocity and turbulence properties in response to the gate openings and flow conditions. Notably, in the vicinity of the gate mouth, where the flow regime changes rapidly between the upstream and downstream regions, the turbulence properties in the upstream part of the gate mouth were more than twice those in the downstream part. Additionally, the streamwise distribution of depth-averaged relative turbulence intensity was analyzed. The results showed that the depth-averaged relative turbulence intensity decreased by nearly half as the gate opening increased from 30 to 45 degrees, with the lowest values observed at the gate mouth, followed by an increase downstream. A functional relationship between the maximum flow velocity at the gate mouth during underflow operation and the Froude number was established to guide practical gate operation in the field. Full article

The dairy sector faces increasing pressure to adopt sustainable practices. Various tools have been developed to evaluate sustainability of the dairy supply chain. This paper provides an overview of these tools, highlighting their strengths and limitations regarding sustainability dimensions, indicators, and system boundaries. A systematic literature search identified 27 tools that were then categorized into a typology based on dimensions of sustainability, geographical applicability, and accessibility. In-depth analysis was conducted on six tools: Sustainability Assessment of Food and Agriculture (SAFA), Sustainability Monitoring and Assessment RouTine (SMART), Response-Inducing Sustainability Evaluation (RISE) 3.0 version, Swiss Agricultural Life Cycle Assessment (SALCAsustain), MOnitoring Tool for Integrated Farm Sustainability (MOTIFS), and Technology Impact and Policy Impact CALculations (TIPICAL). Assessment focused on the relevance of covered sustainability dimensions to the dairy sector, level of supply chain coverage, type of indicators, accessibility, and practicability. The review identified tools which integrate multiple sustainability aspects in a comprehensive way (SAFA and SMART) and tools offering accurate quantification of the impact on sustainability dimensions of the production system (SALCAsustain, RISE, MOTIFS, TIPICAL). Only two tools extend assessment past the farm gate (SAFA, SMART). Future users should select tools based on the specific objectives of measuring sustainability in dairy systems. This review contributes to the literature by addressing various aspects of sustainability assessment tools, by addressing the need for an integrated and comprehensive view, and by considering the entire dairy supply chain. Full article

The demand for food vegetable oil is rising and this trend is reflected in the agricultural sector of the Czech Republic. The traditional oil crops of the Czech Republic are winter rapeseed and sunflower. These oil crops have high demands on energy inputs, for example, in the form of land preparation and chemical protection. At the same time, they are characterized by high food oil production and oiliness. Moreover, marginal oils crops, such as hemp, are also gaining prominence. This work aimed to evaluate the environmental impacts associated with the cultivation of winter rapeseed and sunflowers based on standard cultivation practices typical of the conditions of the Czech Republic. For comparison, an intensive cultivation strategy for hemp was modelled, also corresponding to the conditions of the Czech Republic. This study assessed the environmental impact of traditional oil crops from the agricultural Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) perspective. The system boundaries included all the processes from the cradle to the farm gate. Mass-based (volume of food oil) and area-based (land demand for generating the same volume of food oil) functional units were employed. The results cover nine impact categories related to the agricultural LCA. ReCiPe Midpoint (H) characterization and normalization models were used for the data expression. Hemp is a plant with generally low demands on the inputs of the growing cycle but generally has a low oil production, which affects the character of the results relating to the goal and scope definition of the study. Hemp food oil thus generated a higher environmental impact per unit of production and area compared to sunflower and rapeseed food oil. Full article

While international beef and sheep meat price developments are usually measured with meat trade prices (provided by FAO), no comparable information exists on world average of national prices that producers receive for livestock. This paper aims to fill this gap by introducing a set of global producer price indices representing cattle, lambs, and sheep prices as received by producers: the agri benchmark of weaner cattle, finished cattle, lambs and lambs and sheep price indices. These Laspeyres, production-weighted indices measure changes in global farm gate prices as provided annually by the agri benchmark Beef and Sheep Network, with this paper covering prices between 2000 and 2019. The results showed that growing Asian imports, local economic developments in South America, the interconnection with the dairy sector in Europe, growth of beef consumption in China and exchange rates shifts are the key factors that drove developments of global beef producer prices over the past 20 years. Droughts in Oceania and the rapid rise in China’s sheep meat prices are highly reflected in the Global Lambs and Lambs and Sheep Meat Price indices. The indices indicate whether cattle and sheep producers globally are receiving more, or less, for the commodity and may increase or reduce production and investment accordingly. This will be of more use if there were similar producer price indices for competing enterprises, such as dairy and cropping, and for competing proteins, such as pigs, poultry, and fish. Full article

The real estate sector is receiving mix responses throughout the world, with some countries like USA receiving lesser and European and Asia Pacific markets receiving more transactions in recent years. Among the concerning factors, post-purchase regrets by the real estate owners or renters are on the rise, which have never been assessed to date through scholarly research. These regrets can further increase in the time of lockdowns and bans on inspections due to Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and social distancing rules enforced by various countries such as Australia. The current study aims at investigating the key post-purchase regret factors of real estate and property owners and renters over the last decade using published literature and online threads. Based on pertinent literature, 118 systematically identified and text-mined articles, and four online threads with 135 responses, the current study develops system dynamics models to assess and predict the increase in consumers’ regrets over the last decade. Further, a user-generated thread with 23 responses involving seven real estate managers and five agents with more than 20 years of experience, 10 buyers with at least three successful rentals or purchases, and a photographer with more than 10 years of experience, is initiated on five online discussion platforms whereby the respondents are involved in a detailed discussion to highlight the regret reasons specific to real estate purchases based on online information. General architecture for text mining (GATE) software has been utilised to mine the text from both types of threads: Published and user generated. Overall, the articles and threads published over the last decade are studied under two periods: P1 (2010–2014) and P2 (2015–2019) to highlight the post-purchase or rent-related regret reasons. The results show that regret levels of the real estate consumers based on published post-purchase data are at an alarmingly high level of 88%, which compared to 2015, has increased by 18%. Among the major cited reasons, complicated buy–sell process, lack or accuracy of information, housing costs, house size, mortgages, agents, inspections, and emotional decision making are key reasons of regret. Overall, a total of 10% and 8% increases have occurred in the regrets related to the buy–sell process and lack of inspections, respectively. On the other hand, regrets related to agents and housing costs have decreased drastically by 40% mainly due to the good return on investments in the growing markets. However, based on the current trend of over reliance on online information and more powers to the agents controlling online information coupled with lack of physical inspections, the situation can change anytime. Similarly, lack of information, housing size, and mortgage-related regrets have also decreased by 7%, 5%, and 2%, respectively, since 2019. The results are expected to encourage policy level changes for addressing the regrets and uplifting the real estate industry and moving towards a smart and sustainable real estate sector. These results and pertinent discussions may help the real estate decision makers to uplift the current state, move towards a smart real estate, and avoid futuristic regrets, especially in the COVID-hit environment where most of the industries are struggling to survive. Careful attention is required to the top regret factors identified in the study by the real estate managers, investors, and agents to pave the way for a more managed real estate and property sector whereby the consumers are more satisfied with the value they receive for their money. This win–win situation will enhance the property business and remove the stigmas of intentional and deliberate withholding of information by managers and agents from the property and real estate sectors that can help boost the business through more purchases and satisfaction of its customers. Full article

Nowadays, the incorporation and constant evolution of communication networks in the electricity sector have given rise to the so-called Smart Grid, which is why it is necessary to have devices that are capable of managing new communication protocols, guaranteeing the strict requirements of processing required by the electricity sector. In this context, intelligent electronic devices (IEDs) with network architectures are currently available to meet the communication, real-time processing and interoperability requirements of the Smart Grid. The new generation IEDs include an Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), to support specialized networking switching architectures for the electric sector, as the IEEE 1588-aware High-availability Seamless Redundancy/Parallel Redundancy Protocol (HSR/PRP). Another advantage to using an FPGA is the ability to update or reconfigure the design to support new requirements that are being raised to the standards (IEC 61850). The update of the architecture implemented in the FPGA can be done remotely, but it is necessary to establish a cyber security mechanism since the communication link generates vulnerability in the case the attacker gains physical access to the network. The research presented in this paper proposes a secure protocol and Intellectual Property (IP) core for configuring and monitoring the networking IPs implemented in a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). The FPGA based implementation proposed overcomes this issue using a light Layer-2 protocol fully implemented on hardware and protected by strong cryptographic algorithms (AES-GCM), defined in the IEC 61850-90-5 standard. The proposed secure protocol and IP core are applicable in any field where remote configuration over Ethernet is required for IP cores in FPGAs. In this paper, the proposal is validated in communications hardware for Smart Grids. Full article