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Die Kreislaufwirtschaft zielt unter anderem darauf ab, Abfall als Rohstoff für neue Produkte zu nutzen. Bei Ökobilanzen von Produkten stellt sich diesbezüglich die Frage, wie sich im offenen Kreislauf rezyklierter oder thermisch verwerteter Abfall bewerten lässt. Für die Bewertung von Produktsystemen sind zwei Allokationsmethoden üblich: Die Cut-Off Methode, welche den Einsatz von Recyclingmaterialien begünstigt und die Avoided Burden Methode, welche die Abgabe von recyclingfähigem Material begünstigt. Wir diskutieren diese beiden Methoden hinsichtlich ihrer Eignung zur Bewertung einer Kreislaufwirtschaft, gemessen an der europäischen Abfallhierarchie. Als Fallbeispiel dienen verschiedene End-of-Life-Szenarien für Glas und den Kunststoff Polypropylen, die wir mit Hilfe der Umweltindikatoren Material Footprint und Carbon Footprint bewertet haben. Als Ergebnis zeigt sich, dass die Anwendung von Avoided Burden im Fall einer thermischen Verwertung in einer Müllverbrennungsanlage problematisch ist. Zum einen ergibt sich in diesem Fall ein negativer Material Footprint, falls dadurch ein Steinkohlekraftwerk substituiert wird, zum anderen wird die Abfallhierarchie teilweise übergangen, da die thermische Verwertung günstiger erscheint als Recycling. Des Weiteren wurde herausgestellt, dass die oberste Priorität in der Abfallhierarchie, die Vermeidung, durch den Cut-Off Ansatz höher begünstigt wird, als durch die Avoided Burden Methode.
This review of sources has assessed existing evidence for economic benefits arising from activities fostering the use of vehicles that use electricity to power an electric motor. It is designed to support cities in their decision making and measure selection process. The article is one of 22 reviews published in this volume.
Cleaner vehicles
(2016)
This review of sources has assessed existing evidence for economic benefits arising from innovations or interventions that aim to improve the environmental performance of vehicles - such as enhancements to engine and vehicle technologies or improved fuels. It is designed to support cities in their decision making and measure selection process. The article is one of 22 reviews published in this volume.
The Paris Agreement adopted in December 2015 provides the basis for future international cooperation on the field of climate change mitigation. While truly global in reach, the agreement will however result in an increasingly complex new climate regime: Instead of using a uniform formula, Parties are allowed to autonomously define their NDCs (nationally determined contributions), resulting in a large diversity of contributions. This poses significant challenges for emissions accounting and the transfer of emission units.
This Policy Paper explores how these challenges can be addressed by analysing different types of NDCs and assessing their compatibility with the export and use of emission units. On that basis, the authors develop opt-in provisions for Parties willing to participate in unit transfers under the new climate regime and illustrate how potential risks to environmental integrity can be addressed.
Sustainable supply chain management can drive sustainability. The interpretation of Sustainable supply chain management as an upstreamoriented strategy has an important, but limited potential. Addressing consumer needs and lifestyles downstream can increase the sustainability potentials of Sustainable supply chain management.
Distributed cogeneration units are flexible and suited to providing balancing power, thereby contributing to the integration of renewable electricity. Against this background, we analysed the technical potential and ecological impact of CHP (combined heat and power) systems on the German minutes reserve market for 2010, 2020 and 2030. Typical CHP plants (from 1 to 2800 kWel) were evaluated in relation to typical buildings or supply cases in different sectors. The minutes reserve potential was determined by an optimisation model with a temporal resolution of 15 min. The results were scaled up to national level using a scenario analysis for the future development of CHP. Additionally, the extent to which three different flexibility measures (double plant size/fourfold storage volume/emergency cooler) increase the potential provision of balancing power was examined. Key findings demonstrate that distributed CHP could contribute significantly to the provision of minutes reserve in future decades. Flexibility options would further enhance the theoretical potential. The grid-orientated operating mode slightly increases CO2 emissions compared to the heat-orientated mode, but it is still preferable to the separate generation of heat and power. However, the impacts of a flexible mode depend greatly on the application and power-to-heat ratio of the individual CHP system.
De-industrialization, climate and demographic changes are only a few key words that indicate the challenge of urban development in many industrialized countries for the coming decades. A fundamental transformation of infrastructure and the built environment is expected to adjust to future needs. Numerous concepts of integrating efficiency and renewable energy sources into urban planning were elaborated in recent years. Energy sufficiency in the meaning of voluntary demand reduction of energy intensive goods and services is the third and mostly forgotten pillar of sustainable development. However, organizational and spatial measures are needed to support behavior modification. This paper presents results of a transdisciplinary research design with local stakeholders and scientific experts to develop an understanding of what energy sufficiency might contribute to sustainable urban development. Based on the Multi-Level-Perspective of the transition research approach, it analyzes how stakeholders and experts define energy sufficiency structures for the shrinking district of Vohwinkel (Germany). The paper also shows a compilation and evaluation of measures which facilitate energy sufficient behavior in the fields of space heating and passenger transport on a local level. The methodological concept comprises expert interviews, thought experiments with stakeholders to develop a vision of an "energy sufficient Vohwinkel 2050" as well as a stakeholder workshop to discuss the results. A shrinking population is seen as a chance to actively adapt the built environment to foster energy sufficiency.
The so-called "Semesterticket" is a special tariff for university students in Germany which enables them to use public transport in the area of their university. Semester tickets are financed in solidarity by the students: If a university runs a semester ticket, all students automatically have to buy a ticket for one semester (6 months), regardless of whether they want to use public transport or not. In return, the students can use public transport in the area of their university for a very low semester contribution as much as they want without purchasing any extra tickets. In Germany, the first semester ticket was introduced 25 years ago in Darmstadt (1991) as a result of student initiatives. Today, most German universities run a semester ticket.
This article describes the concept of semester tickets in Germany, their development over the time and presents empirical research data on student acceptance and the effects of semester tickets on mode shift to public transport and the reduction of car ownership.
This article analyses drivers and barriers to returning and recycling mobile phones and their consideration in existing communication and collection campaigns.
This is an important issue based on the fact that the mobile phone market is growing rapidly. In 2015 there are nearly 7 billion global mobile cellular subscriptions. This means that, at least theoretically, everyone in the world has access to mobile communication services (ITU 2015). However, the production of mobile phones is linked to an increasing use of natural resources: the "ecological rucksack" of a mobile phone is equal to about 75 kg of resources (Nordmann et al. 2015); while the global recycling rate of mobile phones is under 10 per cent (Nokia 2008, Tanskanen 2012).
In order to adress this issue, the main factors that influence return and recycling behaviour (focussing on mobile phones) will be discussed in chapter 2 of this article. The theoretical analysis is based on the norm activation model by Ellen Matthies (2005). This analysis will be complemented by empirical data and findings generated in the research project "Return and use of old mobile phones", funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research (Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment, Energy/Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies, 2012-2014). To conclude, we will identify and operationalise essential components of mobile phone communication and collection campaigns, based on the theoretical approach of Matthies, literature and empirical studies, in order to develop a set of criteria for analysing and rating such communication and collection campaigns.
The results show that economic incentives as well as education and communication play a very important role in initiating more sustainable behavioural patterns in the ICT sector. The role of emotional factors is often underestimated in the development of communication activities. In summary, successful mobile phone communication and collection campaigns require a combination of several institutional, economic, social and emotional factors.