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2017 | Buch

Carbon Footprint and the Industrial Life Cycle

From Urban Planning to Recycling

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Über dieses Buch

This book analyzes the relationship between large-scale industrial activity and the carbon footprint, and provides a theoretical framework and tools to calculate the carbon footprint of industrial activities at every stage of their life cycles, including urban-planning master plans, recycling activities, project and building stages as well as managing and manufacturing. Discussing the main preventative and corrective measures that can be utilized, it includes case studies, reports on technological developments and examples of successful policies to provide inspiration to readers. This book collects the contributions of authors from four continents, in order to analyze from as many as possible points of view and using many different approaches, the problem of sustainability in today’s globalized world.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter

Sustainability and Urban Planning

Frontmatter
Chapter 1. Urban Planning in Developing World: Which Alternative for Poor Cities?
Abstract
The efforts made to plan cities in emerging and developing countries are confronted to multiple issues, especially in small and middle-sized cities, which can be considered as poor through several criteria: socio-economic level of majority of population; low levels of public investments, weak quality of local administration, and large dependence of external donors. Following several authors, one of the main reason is that philosophy and methods of urban planning applied to these specific contexts are directly reproduced from a Western tradition, which does not correspond to the local and national context in terms of needs, priorities and organization of the financial resources. The cases of Koudougou, a medium-sized city in one of the poorest countries in the world, Burkina Faso, with a population of 115,000 inhabitants, and of Montes Claros, an industrial blooming city of 360,000 inhabitants in Brazil, one of the most dynamic emerging countries in the world, will give the opportunity to make comparisons in order to understand concretely which and how these deficiencies are translated in an urban context. And foresee, more globally, alternative models of urban planning better adapted to medium-sized cities, focusing on the intermediation with their environment, in the perspective to offer new instruments of urban planning able to tackle in an efficient way the main constraints of their urbanization: growing population; territorial extension and fragmentation; environmental contamination and health; poverty and social exclusion, urban governance.
Jean-Claude Bolay
Chapter 2. Social and Economic Management of Sustainable Neighborhoods Regeneration Projects
Abstract
The aim of this paper will be to analyze how social and economic management affects on sustainable neighborhood regeneration projects. Specifically, will go in depth of processes of social and economic management in Spanish neighbourhood regeneration processes, where environmental and social benefits are the main goal of the intervention, but finance is, nowadays, an obstacle. Therefore, this study of real cases will offer a view on which are the environmental objectives, how these projects are funded in Spain and what is the role of neighbors in the process. On the other hand, will help to identify different possibilities of funding to get this type of projects through successfully. A mapping of significant existing projects will be necessary to reach the main objective of the research, which will produce unpublished documentation, useful for future research on this matter, identifying cases of success and failures.
Alejandro Bosqued, Francisco Javier Gonzalez, Susana Moreno
Chapter 3. Urban Planning Research in the Climate Change Era: Transdisciplinary Approach Toward Sustainable Cities
Abstract
This article discusses the direction of urban planning policies toward sustainable cities. Sustainable development goals (SDGs) adopted by United Nations General Assembly range from poverty eradication, improvements in education to protection of global assets including oceans and climates. Achieving these wide ranging goals requires holistic and transdisciplinary approaches. Urban planning is one of the effective measures for SDGs because those goals are closely related with the urban activities. In this article, we first summarize a conceptual framework of the interaction between urbanization and climate change, and forecast the prospective trajectory of rapid global urbanization in this century and the consequent sustainability problems. Then, we discuss the direction of urban planning analysis to tackle the sustainability problems as sustainable science, and propose the cross-assessment approach for vision-led urban planning. The cross-assessment approach aims to explore synergistic solutions combining different value systems by assessing the impacts on a range of outcome indices of measures pursuing each value factor. The case studies for the cross assessment are taken from Japanese public transport policies. Finally, we discuss the impacts on urban expansion from socioeconomic changes and technological progress, especially in the fields of transport, construction, and communication.
Masanobu Kii, Kenji Doi, Kazuki Nakamura
Chapter 4. Edge Open Spaces in Madrid and Its Metropolitan Area (Spain), Sustainable Urban Planning and Environmental Values
Abstract
This contribution is focused on the valuation of the spaces that remain vacant at the city border, as part of a future urban Green Infrastructure. To that end, they have been identified and characterized. Furthermore, a specific GIS has been developed for Madrid, the largest urban metropolitan area in Spain. This chapter is organised in five parts and the final conclusions. First of all, in the introduction, the general objectives are exposed and the concept and importance of the open spaces in the city are studied. Secondly, the methodology describes the design of the research and the development of the GIS. Afterwards, the urban and territorial context, where these pieces have their origin, are characterized. This is a synthetic approach which also includes the recent evolution of the legislation as well as that of the city. Through this evolution it is possible to see how these pieces have been framed into a failed green belt since the middle of the last century. Fourthly, a presentation of these open spaces, their urban regime and their land uses is carried out. Subsequently, their valuation in a potential network of open spaces in the Madrilenian metropolitan area is performed. The basic criteria for this valuation is the land adjacent to each of these open spaces. Finally, in the conclusions, we set out the evidence arising from this research, requiring the need for having accurate tools, such as GIS, in order to reach solid proposals that deal with the challenge of Green Infrastructures. We also believe that the conservation and integration of open spaces should be a priority in general strategies of urban development for mitigation Climate Change and to reduce the effects of Global Warming.
Fernando Allende, Elia Canosa, Nieves López, Gillian Gómez
Chapter 5. Controlled Landscapes or Building Sustainability in Public Spaces. Case of Studies of Padova and Moscow
Abstract
In the present chapter, a comparative exercise of insertions of green areas in two European urban centers of great historical value is realized: Padova (Italy) and Moscow (Russia). Its urban fabrics, with a high degree of consolidation in their central areas, are the object of interventions that contribute to alleviate the congestion that they suffer in our days. More than two hundred years separate the intervention of Andrea Memmo, known as Prato della Valle from the ambitious project meant for the center of Moscow, next to the Red Square, for the plot of Zarydaye. Besides the temporal distance, there is a great difference in the intentions that animate both projects, however, the results obtained in the Italian case and expected in the Russian intervention participate in current sustainable values with full validity.
Elena Merino Gómez, Fernando Moral Andrés
Chapter 6. Occupation of the Territory and Sustainability in Transport in Madrid
Abstract
The use of private car plays a fundamental role in the GHG. This work analyzes the effect that the changes in the model of land occupation, in the last two decades in the Community of Madrid, have had on mobility. It has produced a high consumption of land in the last two decades, in an increasingly peripheral way, in increasingly distant nuclei and explained in part by the increase of single-family housing. These growths, functionally specialized, have been supported in the network of radial roads, losing density, diversity and the compact model of the Mediterranean city. At the same time, it is verified the relocation of the industry and the set of increasingly peripheral and unconnected employment to the residential space, together with the change in the labor model and the scarce residential mobility, the product of a model of housing in property, it generate an increase of the mobility due to work. The appearance of shopping centers once more peripheral, based on the road network and unrelated to the residence, leads to an increase in private vehicle travel due to the impossibility of providing support with public transport. These changes have resulted in an increase in private vehicle travel, with a clear loss of the percentage in public transport, which contributes significantly to the generation of GHGs and thus to climate change, as well as a high energy consumption. Therefore, the land occupation model has a clear effect on the mobility of the metropolitan area, requiring coordination between the urban model and the transportation model that leads to a more balanced region.
Alberto Leboreiro Amaro
Chapter 7. Private Vehicle and Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Spain: A War Without Winner
Abstract
The region of Madrid, which includes the capital and surrounding towns, has increased the number of private vehicles up to almost 4 million cars in 2016, plus about a million trucks, motorcycles and vans. Current situation in Barcelona is similar, with up to 2.5 million cars. Both countries (two of the most urbanized cities in Spain) have begun thinking about taking drastic steps to reduce car exhaust pollution. In fact, in 2016 some actions (insufficient and unpopular) have already been carried out. It can be said that a war against pollution has begun. Will there be winners? And how have they come to this limit situation? This work tries to show the evolution of greenhouse gas emissions in these representative countries, including factors as urbanism and economic crisis.
Francesc Clar, Roberto Álvarez

Urban Planning Policy Implications

Frontmatter
Chapter 8. Implementing COP 21
Abstract
The global policy of halting climate change has only been decided upon in Paris 2015, as the implementation process has yet to start. Many more meetings and conferences are held by The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change almost monthly, but the real putting into effect of means and instruments that promote the COP21 goals is still lacking, at least from a global point of view. I will point out the problematic with the COP21 Agreement, employing two well-known social economics models and illustrating it with a few examples from the real world. The findings include that several countries face an energy-emissions conundrum that the climate change project must face.
Jan-Erik Lane
Chapter 9. Do Municipalities Have the Right Tools to Become Zero Carbon Emissions Cities? ACCENT, a Pan-European Decision-Support Tool to Take Refurbishment Decisions at City Scale Based on Buildings Energy Performance
Abstract
Buildings are responsible for almost 40% of energy consumption and over a third of CO2 emissions in the European Union. Most of the buildings that will exist in 2050 are already built. Renovation of the existing building stock is therefore crucial to meet long term energy and climate goals. The public sector is an important driver in supporting market transformation towards more efficient energy systems and buildings. To succeed in the energy transition, it is important not only to mobilize local administrations but also to engage other local stakeholders: citizens and service providers. But the development, financing and implementation of ambitious sustainable energy plans and measures should be based on reliable data, and here we find the big challenge. The aim of this paper is to present the main insights of ACCENT (Accompany Cities in Energy Strategy), a new decision-support tool for local administrations developed under a pan-European project upheld by Climate KIC. ACCENT is a GIS web-based platform that supports local administrations to monitor building energy performance and plan actions on the building stocks of the city. ACCENT faces global pan-European challenges, such as the need to share data regarding buildings energy consumption or the reluctance of some energy suppliers to offer information in this regard. Additionally, in some countries like Spain, specific local barriers are addressed such as the lack of connection between public bodies, the dispersion of available data, the need to make citizens aware of energy renovation, or the inaccessibility of citizens and technicians to energy data. ACCENT four main functionalities—mapping, planning setting up scenarios and connecting—allows the Local Administrations to take refurbishment decisions at city scale based on buildings energy performance.
Carolina Mateo-Cecilia, Vera Valero-Escribano, Miriam Navarro-Escudero
Chapter 10. Towards a Climate-Resilient City: Collaborative Innovation for a ‘Green Shift’ in Oslo
Abstract
The starting point of this chapter is climate change as a wicked and unruly problem that requires collaborative innovation to create local climate solutions. We pay special attention to the role of institutional design and public leadership and management in facilitating collaboration and spurring innovation. The chapter provides an analytical framework that aims to combine a process perspective on networked collaboration and creative problem solving with an institutional and management perspective to enable and sustain processes of collaborative innovation. The city of Oslo, with its highly ambitious climate goals and its dependence on innovation in governance systems to spur new solutions contributing to goal attainment, forms the empirical basis of the chapter. Our analysis of the Oslo case shows that the city’s strategy for reaching these ambitious goals tends to cohere with ideas and principles of collaborative innovation. The city of Oslo is currently making a huge effort to design and lead collaborative arenas that may spur the development of innovative solutions. However, our analysis reveals that, at this early point in the process, there is still a long way to go before the city government can begin to reap the fruits of cross-sector collaboration. So far, the city government’s in-house focus has overshadowed attempts to build society-wide arenas for collaborative innovation that can mobilize the knowledge, resources and energies of all the relevant and affected actors in the pursuit of innovative climate solutions. Hence, future research should concentrate on formulating and testing hypotheses about the conditions, drivers, barriers and impact of collaborative innovation as a promising new approach to public policy-making.
Hege Hofstad, Jacob Torfing
Chapter 11. Energy Innovation in the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC): A Theoretical Approach
Abstract
This chapter presents the relationship between economic growth and environmental pollution through the theoretical hypothesis of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC). Moreover, it attempts to illustrate the impact of renewable energy sources and energy Research, Development and Demonstration (RDD) on environmental degradation in countries around the world. Many studies have confirmed the existence of an inverted N-shaped EKC pattern in the relationship between income level and the environmental degradation process. These results also indicate that energy regulation processes delay technological obsolescence once economies have reached the early stages of the decontamination process, which, in the long-run, means that an increase in income threshold is required before there can be a return to rising pollution levels. Furthermore, this chapter explains the environmental pollution process through an analysis of low-carbon technologies. It also introduces how income levels affect energy consumption and explains how higher energy demand leads to a larger share of fossil sources in energy mix and, thus, an increase in greenhouse gas (GHG) emission levels. Finally, this chapter offers an empirical approach to the positive impact that energy innovation policies exert over the replacement of polluting sources with renewable ones and explains how these measures help to control environmental pollution levels. In addition, Administrations’ regulatory policies help to delay technical obsolescence and also control the scale effect that causes economies to return to increasing pollution levels. Although the promotion of energy innovation actions has a direct impact on the reduction of GHG emissions, this chapter concludes that, in the long-term, it is necessary to continue implementing energy innovation measures to delay technical obsolescence and, thus, delay the return to a stage of increasing GHGpc emissions.
Daniel Balsalobre-Lorente, Muhammad Shahbaz, José Luis Ponz-Tienda, José María Cantos-Cantos
Chapter 12. Marginal Abatement Cost Curves (MACC): Unsolved Issues, Anomalies, and Alternative Proposals
Abstract
Policy makers proposed the MACC as an instrument to rank possible mitigation measures available in a market. This tool orders measures according to their cost-efficiency, taking into account only two variables: costs and emissions reductions. Although this tool has been used in relevant settings like the first treaty of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), it has shown mathematical failures that might produce unreliable rankings. This chapter presents existing alternatives to the use of traditional MACC for ranking GHG abatement measures: (1) Taylor’s method by the application of the dominance concept. (2) Ward’s method directly related to the net benefit of each measure. (3) The GM method, which supports an environmentalist attitude and performs a direct comparison of measures with negative and positive costs. (4) An extension of traditional MACC (EMAC method), that considers the economically driven point of view of the decision maker, weighting the negative cost options according to its economic savings over its reduction potential. (5) And the BOM method, consisting of a linear-weighted combination of two discretional seed methods, allowing decision makers to take into account the goodness of multiple methods in order to create new rankings adjustable to a specific GHG policy, whether it is fully or partially driven by economical or environmental positions. Finally, several case studies and discussions are presented showing the advantages of the exposed methods.
José Luis Ponz-Tienda, Andrea Victoria Prada-Hernández, Alejandro Salcedo-Bernal, Daniel Balsalobre-Lorente
Chapter 13. Global and Local: Climate Change Policies as a Paradigm of Multilevel Governance
Abstract
European energy policies based on energy savings and the promotion of renewables are still the main components of the most recent and ambitious climate policies. However, a distinctive key element of the current approaches is that the objectives they pursue cannot be achieved without decisive intervention by sub-state political and administrative levels, particularly the local ones. The most recent European energy and climate regulations are insistently referring specific actions to the achievement of the set goals that inescapably have to be pursued at the local level—for example, Heating and cooling energy districts or the design of infrastructures that must withstand the distributed generation or the utilization of residual heat.
Susana Galera

Metrics for the Sustainability of Infrastructure Projects

Frontmatter
Chapter 14. Carbon Footprint of Human Settlements in Spain
Abstract
The role of towns and their inhabitants in fighting climate change is becoming increasingly important (Shi et al. in Nat Clim Change 6(2):131–137, 2016). In this context, the aim of this paper is to apply a multi-regional input-output model to study the evolution of the carbon footprint for Spanish households as determined by the different type of settlement. This study analyses the household carbon footprint as a function of the municipality’s population size, whether it is located in a rural or urban environment, and its relation to population density. By using a multi-regional model we are able to calculate the share of that carbon footprint that is generated within the settlement and the share that is produced around the world along global value chains. This methodology has been widely applied to study carbon footprints for households in terms of different characteristics: income levels (Duarte et al. in Energy Policy 44:441–450, 2012), age (Shigetomi et al. in Environ Sci Technol 48(11):6069–6080, 2014), consumption of agriculture products (López et al. in J Clean Prod 103:423–436, 2015), or tourism consumption (Cadarso et al. in J Clean Prod 111(Part B):529–537, 2016). The structure of household consumption as a function of the type of settlement will be used to analyse whether socio-economic features are the greatest influence in the level of carbon footprint, or by the contrary, structural, institutional or geographical factors of the settlement are more relevant. Previous literature has addressed this link in other countries, for instance Fan et al. (J Clean Prod 33:50–59, 2012), Minx et al. (Environ Res Lett 8(3):035039, 2013), Baiocchi et al. (Global Environ Change 34:13–21, 2015) or Ahmad et al. (Environ Sci Technol 49(19):11312–11320, 2015), but not for the Spanish case. Regarding data sources, we propose combining the World Input-Output Database (WIOD) and the Household Budget Survey for the Spanish economy, in order to analyse the carbon footprint from household consumption for 2015.
Guadalupe Arce, Jorge Enrique Zafrilla, Luis-Antonio López, María Ángeles Tobarra
Chapter 15. Theoretical Analysis of the Metrics for Measuring the Sustainability of Infrastructure Projects
Abstract
The built environment contributes significantly to the emission of greenhouse gases. Empirical evidence suggests that these gases are principally responsible for climate change. To mitigate the impact of climate change on the environment, there is an increasing need to ensure that infrastructure projects are sustainable. Hence, this chapter presents a systematic review of extant literature on metrics for evaluating the sustainability of infrastructure projects, as there are currently limited studies that have holistically addressed the lack of theoretical information on the metrics for evaluating the sustainability of infrastructure. Indicative results from the extant review of literature revealed that the number of publications on sustainability metrics has been increasing and there are a growing number of systems and sustainable development indicators for measuring the sustainability of infrastructure projects. These findings suggest that issues relating to sustainability are becoming more important to built-environment researchers and practitioners. The results of the study provide valuable insights on the trends and gaps in theoretical knowledge on metrics for measuring the sustainability of infrastructure projects in the global South. The identified metrics in this chapter could be used in the development of an infrastructure decision support tool that can be used by for project teams to facilitate optimization of processes associated with sustainable infrastructure projects.
Olalekan Oshodi, Clinton Aigbavboa
Chapter 16. Impact of Urban Policy on Public Transportation in Gauteng, South Africa: Smart or Dumb City Systems Is the Question
Abstract
Policy on public transport often directs where infrastructure and investment is directed. Currently, the discourse is towards transport infrastructure investments that facilitate the attainment of the so-called smart city and smart mobility status. This status is often seen as the panacea towards all the public transport problems that among others include traffic congestion and unreliability. This chapter grapples with the question; to what extent have the urban planning policies in South Africa and Gauteng province been instrumental in the pursuit of efficient, effective and responsive public transport systems? Have the transport systems led to either smart or dumb city systems. The Gauteng province has put in place policies such as the Gauteng 25 year integrated master plan (ITMP 25) that has a vision to better the lives of Gauteng residents through the establishment of a smart and efficient public transport system. The ITMP 25 also seeks to attract foreign investments and boost tourism through land use densification that supports the use and efficiency of public transport systems. The policy also aims to reinforce the passenger rail-network as the backbone of the public transport system in Gauteng, and to extend the integrated rapid and road-based public transport networks that assist to strengthen freight hubs; thus ensuring effective travel demand management and mainstreaming non-motorized transport. As a result, Gauteng has invested in bus rapid infrastructure (Reya-Vaya within the City of Johannesburg, the Gautrain which is a high-speed rail network that caters for all three metro municipalities) and investments in non-motorized transport lanes in Johannesburg. The study applies smart city and smart mobility indicators to determine the level of smartness of the Reya Vaya, Gautarin and cycling infrastructure.  The results indicate a steady uptake in public transport and use of cycling as a means of transport as well as a paradigm shift towards smart mobility by Johannesburg and Gauteng residents. Nevertheless, this has yielded unintended consequences such as the reinforcement of spatial segregation and inadequate use of new transport infrastructure. Parts of the challenges are a direct result of weak policy formulation and implementation strategies at both national and provincial levels as well as a deep culture that prefers private automobiles to public transport. There is therefore need to improve transportation policy and promote evidence based transportation policy.
Walter Musakwa, Trynos Gumbo

Methodology for Calculating Industrial Carbon Footprints

Frontmatter
Chapter 17. Technologies for the Bio-conversion of GHGs into High Added Value Products: Current State and Future Prospects
Abstract
Today, methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions represent 20% of the total greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory worldwide. CH4 is the second most important GHG emitted nowadays based on both its global warming potential (25 times higher than that of CO2) and its emission rates, while N2O is the main O3-depleting substance emitted in this 21st century. However, despite their environmental relevance and the forthcoming stricter legislation on atmospheric GHG emissions, the development of cost-efficient and environmentally friendly GHG treatment technologies is still limited. In this context, an active bio-technological abatement of CH4 and N2O emissions combined with the production of high added value products can become a profitable alternative to mitigate GHGs emissions. The feasible revalorization of diluted CH4 emissions from landfills has been recently tested in bioreactors with the production of ectoine, a microbial molecule with a high retail value in the cosmetic industry (approximately $1300 kg−1), as well as with the generation of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), a commodity with potential to replace conventional petroleum-derived polymers. This CH4 bio-refinery approach can be also based on the biogas produced from anaerobic digestion, therefore improving the economic viability of this waste management technology. The N2O contained in emissions from nitric acid production processes can be also considered as a potential substrate for the production of PHAs, with the subsequent increase in the cost-effectiveness of the abatement strategies of this GHG. On the other hand, the off-gas N2O abatement from diluted wastewater treatment plant emissions has been recently confirmed, although at the expense of a high input of electron donor due to the need to first deplete the O2 transferred from the emission. This chapter constitutes a critical review of the state-of-the-art of the potential and research niches of bio-technologies applied in a CH4 and N2O bio-refinery approach.
Sara Cantera, Osvaldo D. Frutos, Juan Carlos López, Raquel Lebrero, Raúl Muñoz Torre

Modelling a Low-Carbon City: Eco-city and Eco-planning

Frontmatter
Chapter 18. The Architecture and the Value of the Waste
Abstract
The text addresses the architecture of the WTE plant: the first part is dedicated to the relationship between architecture and waste, the second to the reading of some projects, in the last part conclusions are drawn and we outline the possible perspectives of change of this architectural machine. The relationship between architecture and waste draws various imaginary paths. The relationship between architecture and the trash is the reflection of the plot between the city and the minimum fragment of something useless and of the cultural role attributed to waste: to the city in use corresponds its double made of what is discarded, that in “less civilized” realties remains a resource and not a problem. In the vocabulary “WTE plant,” one of the many structures that transform and give new meaning to waste, is inherent reason of the uncanny relationship: the industrial machine, often called to coincide with the architectural building, change the unnecessary material to look into it new scraps of necessity. The nature of the container and its contents are opposed but also in the word ‘value’ lies an embarrassing contradiction: the word may tell a “soul virtues” and even “the merit or the price of everything.” Environmental issues remain in the background of this story: what burns inside of architecture produces powders, which change the air quality and the ecological parameters. They are the black shadow of this close relationship between waste and energy. The processing machinery of waste are part of a production process which implies the end of things: their umpteenth “enhancement” finally brings the total disappearance of the object, to its accommodative disappearance.
Sara Marini
Chapter 19. Modeling a Low-Carbon City: Eco-city and Eco-planning
Abstract
Mathematically modelling a low-carbon city in the traditional sense is a complex task and have been studied from a variety of perspectives, potential challenges and ultimately towards providing accurate models for low-carbon emissions for cities. Unknown and statistically fragmented data, future uncertainty and limited or inaccurate historical datasets complicate this task. The effects of climate change, based on models or on perceived impacts, also vary among cities. For example, cities on coastal regions experience a rise in sea levels and an increase in the frequency and severity of cyclones; whereas inland, resulting temperature rises pose significant health impacts for humans and animals. There needs to exist a mutual understanding between climate change, urban development and eco-city planning as well as the causes and effects of carbon pollution. Low-carbon cities are long-term investments in city infrastructure to create sustainable and environmentally friendly cities. Low-carbon cities can be realized through an amalgamation of smart city technologies, efficient and sustainable buildings and sustainable transport. Urbanization occurs rapidly and it is common to find infrastructure to be relatively old-fashioned; relying on increased supply rather than decreasing demand. Refurbishment of infrastructure is typically the most economically feasible and environmentally friendly solution. Accurate mathematical modelling and research into cost-effective technologies for improvements are necessary to support the business case for infrastructure overhauls. The contributed chapter provides cost-effective and technologically sustainable means to achieve efficient and low-carbon cities. Emission modeling is a dynamic research discipline; this chapter aims to highlight the considerations and concerns of generating a complete eco-city and sustainable model by identifying and understanding the characteristics of individual sectors. The chapter supplements the related body of knowledge by thematically providing guidelines for low-carbon city modelling. The chapter investigates potential scholarly contributions by assisting researchers to theoretically identify and classify overlooked and underestimated sources of GHG emissions in urban settings. The notional overview on low-carbon cities through economic planning provides a means to identify known issues and sub-optimal eco-city infrastructure. The chapter aims to serve as a starting point for specialized research to improve upon such scenarios.
Wynand Lambrechts, Saurabh Sinha

Characterization of Industrial GHG Emission Sources in Urban Planning

Frontmatter
Chapter 20. Characterization of Industrial GHG Emission Sources in Urban Planning
Abstract
Urbanization produces large amounts of non-natural greenhouse gases (GHG), leading to air pollution, health hazards and unsightly fog lingering above cities. Rapid growth of cities is creating opportunities for development, new jobs and improving the quality of life of inhabitants; unfortunately, generally at the expense of carbon pollution. A severe effect is global warming, also called the greenhouse effect: the heating of the earth’s atmosphere by re-radiated heat. The burning of fossil fuels to generate electricity and heat, as well as pollution in the transport sector, are among the largest contributors to the greenhouse effect. Research on minimizing this pollution is two-fold: reducing emissions through advances in technology and more efficient urban planning. An efficient built environment through appropriate urban planning, supported by energy-efficient vehicles, buildings, appliances and power generation by alternative and renewable sources, can reduce GHG emissions substantially. Urban planning can be used to create more resourceful micro-climates within cities, on roads and extending to rural areas. The increasing rate of materials and goods production worldwide means that this number will almost certainly remain constant or worse, increase, but doubtfully decrease if no intervention is posed towards decreasing its emissions. A single solution to minimize GHG emissions in micro-climates does not exist, but applying energy-saving measures, incorporating low-energy technologies, intellectually empowering workers and learning from experience can collectively lead to optimized solutions for various situations. Cities can reduce wasted energy through two main categories of planning initiatives: energy-efficient building standards for new urban constructions or energy retrofits for existing buildings and efficient urban infrastructure planning of transportation (public and cargo), communications and distribution networks. Identification and characterization of all industrial GHG emission sources is critical to achieve these two goals. The contributed chapter, supplements the related body of knowledge by thematically combining efficient urban planning and reducing GHG emissions in the electricity and heat generation sector and in the transport sector. The chapter investigates potential scholarly contributions by assisting researchers to theoretically identify and classify overlooked and underestimated sources of GHG emissions in urban settings. The notional overview on low-carbon cities through economic planning ties in with urban planning and provides a means to identify known issues and sub-optimal infrastructure. The chapter aims to serve as a starting point for specialized research to improve upon such scenarios. Readers are encouraged to apply the academic principles recognized in this chapter to devote intellectual resources to innovating efficient urban planning and eco-planning for future sustainable cities.
Wynand Lambrechts, Saurabh Sinha
Chapter 21. From Grey Towards Green. About the Urban Energy Fold at Symbiont City
Abstract
Instead of the energy and ecological relocation, SYMBIONT City detects energy opportunities and possible urban folding to achieve thermodynamic benefits. Although some agendas have already fostered the concept of symbiotic planning, neither current infrastructural systems nor urban regulatory frameworks allow for its real implementation. SYMBIONT is a set of local laboratories designed to enable new synergies between waste, energy and information flows on existing urban waste transfer facilities. It pretends to raise the level of urban resilience in cities by acting on existing urban facilities and adjacent urban setting through the implementation of local laboratories able to monitor, process, and reconnect existing waste, energy and information flows while recovering the notion of infrastructure as public space through social engagement actions. These spatial facilities have a strategic value as nodal urban locations—with potential phase-change capacity—for neighbourhood waste and energy flows. These micro-infrastructural interventions will help in the aforementioned transition allowing for a turn from “grey” towards “green” infrastructures, with capacity to provide social, ecological and economic benefits to urban communities such as reduction of waste disposal, local energy generation and storage, improvement of air quality, reduction of energy costs and new opportunities to social cohesion and engagement.
Nieves Mestre, Lucelia Rodrigues, Eva Hurtado, Eduardo Roig
Chapter 22. Does Urban Living Reduce Energy Use?
Abstract
The claim by Edward Glaeser and others that cities make us greener has been verified for the Netherlands, based on empirical data available on a detailed level. When considering ‘greener’ to mean using less domestic energy, urban areas seem to be more energy-efficient than non-urban areas, as far as mobility and energy consumption (natural gas and electricity) is concerned. Yet, for energy consumption, this depends on the unit of measurement; when calculated per dwelling and per person, urban areas consume less energy, but when calculated per square metre of residential floor space, there is no clear relationship with urban density. Type of housing and household type are better indicators of energy consumption. Renewable energy generation through the use of solar panels placed on roofs is found more often in non-urban areas where the roofs are more suited to solar panels. These are also the areas where local wind power and solar energy initiatives are found more frequently.
Arjan Harbers
Chapter 23. The Challenge of Urbanization in the Context of the New Urban Agenda: Towards a Sustainable Optimization of the Urban Standards
Abstract
Urbanization is one of the main challenges at present due to the increasing urban metrics (population, economy, land/energy/resources consumption, etc.) usually associated with urban sprawl through planned developments in the metropolitan peripheries and through informal unplanned developments. In this context, the New Urban Agenda has just been adopted at the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III), which considers urbanization as an opportunity, readdressing the way cities and human settlements are planned, designed, financed, developed, governed and managed to achieve a sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, among other issues. This approach has been questioned by some researchers and scholars proposing an Alternative Habitat III. As a contribution to this debate, this work raises the problem of urban development not only as a matter of magnitude but also of the adopted urban model, where design, that is, morphology and urban standards play a fundamental role in the achievement of objectives of sustainability. A selection of key indicators such as density, diversity of uses, open public space and the treatment of free building surfaces are analyzed, allowing the urban model to be optimized with sustainability criteria, being its application very simple and replicable in any territory. The way of transforming these indicators into urban standards, that are also related to the idiosyncrasy of the society is to take the needs of the citizen, not only current but future, as a unit of measure. The citizen is at the center of the discourse of urban sustainability in order to achieve greater and better development and wellbeing.
Alexandra Delgado-Jiménez, Jesús Arcediano
Metadaten
Titel
Carbon Footprint and the Industrial Life Cycle
herausgegeben von
Roberto Álvarez Fernández
Sergio Zubelzu
Rodrigo Martínez
Copyright-Jahr
2017
Electronic ISBN
978-3-319-54984-2
Print ISBN
978-3-319-54983-5
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54984-2