•Pycirk, a python package to create complex scenarios using the mrEEIOA database EXIOBASE (https://pypi.org/project/pycirk/).•Methods and blueprints to increase transparency of modeling assumptions ...for the Circular Economy.•A case study on two circular economy strategies - Product Life Extension and Resource Efficiency.
A circular economy is an industrial system that is restorative or regenerative by intention or design. During the last decade, the circular economy became an attractive paradigm to increase global welfare while minimizing the environmental impacts of economic activities. Although several studies concerning the potential benefits and drawbacks of policies that implement the new paradigm have been performed, there is currently no standardized theoretical model or software to execute such assessment. In order to fill this gap, in the present paper we show how to perform these analyses using Environmentally Extended Input-Output Analysis. We also describe a python package (pycirk) for modeling Circular Economy scenarios in the context of the Environmentally Extended Multi-Regional Input-Output database EXIOBASE V3.3, for the year 2011. We exemplify the methods and software through a what-if zero-cost case study on two circular economy strategies (Resource Efficiency and Product Lifetime Extension), four environmental pressures and two socio-economic factors.
Full text
Available for:
GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is gaining more and more attention in regenerative medicine as an innovative and efficient therapeutic approach. The regenerative properties of PRP rely on the numerous ...bioactive molecules released by the platelets: growth factors are involved in proliferation and differentiation of endothelial cells and fibroblasts, angiogenesis and extracellular matrix formation, while cytokines are mainly involved in immune cell recruitment and inflammation modulation. Attempts are ongoing to improve the therapeutic potential of PRP by combining it with agents able to promote regenerative processes. Two interesting candidates are ozone, administered at low doses as gaseous oxygen-ozone mixtures, and procaine. In the present study, we investigated the effects induced on platelets by the in vitro treatment of PRP with ozone or procaine, or both. We combined transmission electron microscopy to obtain information on platelet modifications and bioanalytical assays to quantify the secreted factors. The results demonstrate that, although platelets were already activated by the procedure to prepare PRP, both ozone and procaine induced differential morpho-functional modifications in platelets resulting in an increased release of factors. In detail, ozone induced an increase in surface protrusions and open canalicular system dilation suggestive of a marked α-granule release, while procaine caused a decrease in surface protrusions and open canalicular system dilation but a remarkable increase in microvesicle release suggestive of high secretory activity. Consistently, nine of the thirteen platelet-derived factors analysed in the PRP serum significantly increased after treatment with ozone and/or procaine. Therefore, ozone and procaine proved to have a remarkable stimulating potential without causing any damage to platelets, probably because they act through physiological, although different, secretory pathways.
Environmentally extended input-output analysis (EEIOA) can be applied to assess the economic and environmental implications of a transition towards a circular economy. In spite of the existence of ...several such applications, a systematic assessment of the opportunities and limitations of EEIOA to quantify the impacts of circularity strategies is currently missing. This article brings the current state of EEIOA-based studies for assessing circularity interventions up to date and is organised around four categories: residual waste management, closing supply chains, product lifetime extension, and resource efficiency. Our findings show that residual waste management can be modelled by increasing the amount of waste flows absorbed by the waste treatment sector. Closing supply chains can be modelled by adjusting input and output coefficients to reuse and recycling activities and specifying such actions in the EEIOA model if they are not explicitly presented. Product lifetime extension can be modelled by combining an adapted final demand with adjusted input coefficients in production. The impacts of resource efficiency can be modelled by lowering input coefficients for a given output. The major limitation we found was that most EEIOA studies are performed using monetary units, while circularity policies are usually defined in physical units. This problem affects all categories of circularity interventions, but is particularly relevant for residual waste management, due to the disconnect between the monetary and physical value of waste flows. For future research, we therefore suggest the incorporation of physical and hybrid tables in the assessment of circularity interventions when using EEIOA.
Full text
Available for:
CEKLJ, NUK, ODKLJ, UL, UM, UPUK
This study shows the environmental impacts and economic performance due to agricultural trade through The Netherlands. Using the demand-driven input–output model and the database EXIOBASE (2011), we ...first analysed the environmental impacts and value added directly generated abroad by the agricultural sector through imported final consumption in The Netherlands; we then compared the environmental impacts and value added generated in The Netherlands by the agricultural sector due to exports to other countries. The results show that the Dutch consumption of imported agricultural products had significant greenhouse gas emissions of 19,386 kt CO2-eq, land use of 280,525 km2 and water consumption of 50,373 M.m3, while impacts in The Netherlands due to agricultural exports amounted, respectively, to 13,022 kt CO2-eq, 9282 km2 and 3339 M.m3. At the same time, we found that Dutch agricultural production had a higher value added to pressure ratio than abroad. These differences highlight the great dependency of Dutch final consumption on foreign natural resources, a significant trade imbalance for environmental impacts with relatively smaller economic benefits for countries exporting to The Netherlands. With these results, we suggest that it is of great importance that sustainability policies for the agricultural sector not only address environmental impacts domestically but also impacts and value creation abroad.
Abstract
Life cycle assessment (LCA) databases and software evolve. We analyzed to which extent software and evolving life cycle inventory databases affect the comparison of technology alternatives, ...using a comparative LCA on permanent magnets as a case study, with two selected software tools: CMLCA and Brightway LCA. We migrated the system models from the CMLCA to Brightway LCA software and alternated between the ecoinvent database versions 2.2 and 3.1 to 3.6 in the system background. When using ecoinvent v3.6 instead of v2.2, the change of the indicator results ranged from to 283%. The evolution of the ecoinvent database impacted the absolute amounts of the characterized results and the relative performance between alternatives. The impact category with the highest variability was ionizing radiation, which even showed a ranking inversion with ecoinvent v3.4. In contrast, the impact of using CMLCA or Brightway was negligible because the same data and modeling assumptions caused percentage differences below 0.4%. During the semi‐automated data migration to Brightway, we identified 23 environmental flows in the CMLCA model that were not paired with their corresponding characterization factors in the published study of reference. This error had led to an underestimation of 63% in the photochemical oxidation indicator of one of the alternatives. This underestimation relates to an interoperability issue regarding the nomenclature of environmental flows in software alternatives and is a matter of data implementation rather than an issue intrinsic to the selected software. Finally, we identified improvement opportunities for the transparency and reusability of LCA models. This article met the requirements for a Gold‐Gold JIE data openness badge described at
http://jie.click/badges
.
Full text
Available for:
BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Industrial ecology tools are increasingly being used in ways that require high computational times. In the policy arena, this becomes problematic when practitioners want to live‐test various ...alternatives in a responsive and web‐based platform. In research, computational times come into play when analyzing large systems with multiple interventions or when requiring many runs for, for example, Monte Carlo simulations. We demonstrate how the computational time of a number of commonly used industrial ecology tools can be reduced significantly, potentially by multiple orders of magnitude. Our case study was the optimization of scenario calculations in Environmentally Extended Input–Output Analysis (EEIOA). Instead of recalculating the Leontief inverse after individual changes to the interindustry relations, as is done traditionally in EEIOA scenario analysis, we give formulations to find the total value of the change in the environmental indicators in one calculation step. We illustrate these novel formulations both for a simple hypothetical system and for the full EXIOBASE EEIO model. The use of explicit formulas decreases the computational time to the degree that it becomes possible to carry out these analyses in live or web‐based environments. For our case study, we find an improvement of up to four orders of magnitude.
Full text
Available for:
BFBNIB, DOBA, FZAB, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
We planned to carry out a pilot study to evaluate the efficacy and safety as an antihypercholesterolemic agent of a brand dietary supplement made of
Monascus purpureus titrated extract, octacosanols ...and niacin on 111 Caucasian patients with low cardiovascular disease risk (<20% by Framingham algorithms), comparing them with the antihypercholesterolemic effect of a low dosage of Pravastatin on 20 subjects with similar risk profile.
In our study, the tested dietary supplement determined a significant decrease of Total Cholesterol (TC), Low Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (LDL-C), and Triglycerides (TG) in moderately hypercholesterolemic subjects without clinically relevant change in liver and muscular toxicity markers. The reduction of LDL-C reached the 20%, and it is similar to that obtained with a well-known effective statin like Pravastatin.
Further long-term and double blind evaluation have to be carried out before to infer the observed results, however it appears that the studied dietary supplements could be a safe and efficacious antihypercholesterolemic agent for patients at low risk for cardiovascular diseases.
Full text
Available for:
GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
Display omitted
Due to increased policy attention on circular economy strategies, many studies have quantified material use and recovery at national and global scales. However, there has been no ...quantitative analysis of the unrecovered waste that can be potentially reintegrated into the economy as materials or products. This can be interpreted as the gap of material circularity. In this paper we define the circularity gap of a country as the generated waste, plus old materials removed from stocks and durable products disposed (i.e. stock depletion), minus recovered waste. We estimated the circularity gap of 43 nations and 5 rest of the world regions in 2011, using the global, multiregional hybrid-units input-output database EXIOBASE v3.3. Our results show the trends of circularity gap in accordance to each region. For example, the circularity gaps of Europe and North America were between 1.6–2.2 tonnes per capita (t/cap), which are more than twice the global average gap (0.8 t/cap). Although these regions presented the major amount of material recovery, their circularity gaps were mostly related to the levels of stock depletion. In Africa and Asia-Pacific regions, the circularity gap was characterized by a low degree of recovery and stock depletion, with high levels of generated waste. Moreover, we discuss which intervention types can be implemented to minimize the circularity gap of nations.
Full text
Available for:
GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Artificial intelligence (AI) applications and digital technologies (DTs) are increasingly present in the daily lives of citizens, in cities and in industries. These developments generate large ...amounts of data and enhance analytical capabilities that could benefit the industrial ecology (IE) community and sustainability research in general. With this communication, we would like to address some of the opportunities, challenges, and next steps that could be undertaken by the industrial ecology community in this realm. This article is an adapted summary of the discussion held by experts in industrial ecology, AI, and sustainability during the 2021 Industrial Ecology Day conference session titled “The Future of Artificial Intelligence in the Context of Industrial Ecology.” In brief, building on previous studies and communications, we advise the industrial ecology community to: (1) create internal committees and working groups to monitor and coordinate AI applications within and outside the community; (2) promote and ensure transdisciplinary efforts; (3) determine optimal infrastructure and governance of AI for IE to minimize undesired effects; and (4) act on effective representation and on reduction of digital divides.
Full text
Available for:
BFBNIB, DOBA, FZAB, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
PDF
