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The book contains a collection of articles dealing with how the extraction of mineral resources can be considered in environmental analyses such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The consumption of resources, e.g., metals, is increasing strongly worldwide. This is associated with more energy use; environmental pollution; and social, economic, and political consequences. An increase is also expected for the coming decades. At the same time, modern products and technologies, even in the field of renewable energies, require a large number of critical raw materials. A crucial question here is the exhaustibility of natural resources. What is the relevance of resource depletion today? Must a geological shortage of metals be expected in the foreseeable future? How could such a thing be considered in the LCA of products and weighed against other environmental aspects? The articles in question have been written over the past three years by leading experts in both geology and environmental sciences and show the breadth of the controversial discussion.

Mining --- Environmental Impact --- Life Cycle Assessment --- Scarcity --- Resource depletion --- Mineral resources production

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The buildings have a significant negative impact on the environment. Several tools and concepts have been developed to encourage the building sector towards more sustainable solutions such as the biomimicry, the inspiration from nature, to solve a problem in a sustainable way.
The aim of this study is to demonstrate, on basis of the current knowledge, whether the biomimetic structure of the tertiary high-rise building studied has a lower or higher environmental impact than a conventional structure for the same type of infrastructure, and so, if biomimicry has made it possible to build a more efficient structure.
The life cycle analysis allows a comparison between the environmental impacts of products or services that guide the developer to a responsible environmental choice.
In accordance with the standard NBN EN 15978 Sustainability of construction works - Assessment of environmental performance of buildings - Calculation method , the environmental impacts of the structures are determined according to 7 environmental indicators: global warming (GWP), stratospheric ozone depletion potential (ODP), soil and water acidification potential (AP), eutrophication potential (EP), photochemical ozone creation potential (POCP), the abiotic depletion potential for elements (ADP_elements) and the abiotic depletion potential for fossil fuels (ADP_fossiles).
The results obtained from the life cycle analysis of the structures studied show that, for the studied parameters, the hypothesis and the limits that we imposed, the "biomimetic" steel-concrete structure has environmental impacts greater than the "conventional" concrete beam-post structure. Les bâtiments ont un impact négatif considérable sur l’environnement. Plusieurs outils et concepts sont développés pour pousser le secteur du bâtiment vers des solutions plus durables, notamment le biomimétisme, l’inspiration tirée de la nature, visant à solutionner un problème de façon durable. 
Cette étude a pour but de démontrer, sur base des connaissances actuelles, si la structure biomimétique du bâtiment tertiaire de grande hauteur étudié a un impact environnemental moindre ou supérieur à une structure classique pour le même type d’infrastructure, et donc, si le biomimétisme a permis de construire une structure plus efficiente.
L’analyse de cycle de vie permet une comparaison entre les impacts environnementaux de produits ou de services orientant le concepteur vers un choix environnemental responsable.
Au travers de la norme NBN EN 15978 Contribution des ouvrages de construction au développement durable — Évaluation de la performance environnementale des bâtiments — Méthode de calcul, les impacts environnementaux des structures sont déterminés selon 7 indicateurs environnementaux : le réchauffement climatique (GWP), le potentiel de destruction de la couche d’ozone stratosphérique (ODP), le potentiel d’acidification du sol et de l’eau (AP), le potentiel d’eutrophisation (EP), le potentiel de formation d’oxydants photochimiques de l’ozone stratosphérique (POCP), le potentiel de dégradations abiotiques des ressources pour les éléments (ADP_éléments) et le potentiel de dégradations abiotiques des combustibles fossiles (ADP_fossiles).
Les résultats obtenus à l’issue de l’analyse de cycle de vie des structures étudiées montrent que, pour les paramètres étudiés, les hypothèses et limites que nous avons imposées, la structure « biomimétique » en acier-béton a des impacts environnementaux supérieurs à la structure « classique » poteaux-poutres en béton.

Biomimicry --- Life cycle assessment --- Environmental impatcs --- Biomimétisme --- Analyse de cycle de vie --- Impacts environnementaux --- Ingénierie, informatique & technologie > Architecture

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This work aims to understand the environmental impacts of recycling graphite from spent lithium ion batteries to battery grade graphite with the help of life cycle assessment study and compares it to the production of virgin battery grade graphite with the electricity mix of Germany and China. The results show that recycling reduces around 5 times the CO2 produced per kg as compared to production of virgin battery grade graphite and is even more when compared to other author’s results. With too small to even negligible production of graphite in the European Union, its current and future production is discussed along with the option of recycling from various waste streams which could be a potential solution to contribute to the future demand of graphite. Also, all the life stages of graphite are discussed in this study including their biggest reserves, price, applications and supply chain.

Environmental impacts --- Life cycle assessment --- Graphite --- Recycling --- Lithium ion battery --- Ingénierie, informatique & technologie > Géologie, ingénierie du pétrole & des mines

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The United Nations Environmental Programme published in 2019 that 39 % of the energy-related carbon dioxide comes from the construction sector. Thereby, the regulation of the energy performance of the buildings becomes stricter, which leads to new technologies of construction components, like today's vacuum insulated glazing.

The knowledge and publications of vacuum insulated glazing are limited, and few multi-criteria comparisons are given. Therefore, this thesis compares vacuum insulated glazing in today’s and tomorrow’s production to triple glazing, following three criteria: energy performance, carbon emission, and cost. The glazings considered are produced by AGC Glass Europe. The analysis of variations in energy use is carried out with the help of a building energy model on EnergyPlus with DesignBuilder of the case study ‘t Centrum in Westerlo. The energy model’s robustness is proven with calibration, sensitivity and uncertainty analyses.
Further, the carbon emission is calculated based on the environmental product declaration and the energy emissions. Meanwhile, the cost is analysed using different energy cost scenarios and the carbon tax scenarios discussed in Belgium in 2017. The work is dedicated, first, to the architects and individuals involved in the construction industry in order to foster more responsible choices, second, to the AGC Glass and, third, to any individual wanting to understand the new glazing technology.

A total energy load reduction of 1.12% is found for the vacuum insulated glazing in tomorrow’s production. Yet, the vacuum insulated glazing of today leads to the lowest cooling load and the least overheating hours. The energy load is discovered to represent 96% of the carbon emission, leading the vacuum insulated glazing of tomorrow to be the less polluting in a building’s life cycle with a total of 550,867 kg eq. CO2. Meanwhile, the glazing by itself has the highest carbon emission. Vacuum insulated glazing of today has the lowest carbon footprint, offering a 36% reduction thanks to the reuse of the material. The carbon tax represents 54-87%, the energy cost 5-38%, and the glazing 2.3 – 29.46% of the total cost depending on the interest and taxation scenario. Still, triple glazing is the cheapest during its life cycle with a total cost of €8,714,212.

In conclusion, the vacuum insulated glazing of tomorrow's production is the most carbon and energy-efficient choice, while triple glazing is the most cost-efficient. However, glazing must be chosen on the basis of the importance of each criterion for the end-user. Le programme environnemental des Nations Unies a montré en 2019 que 39 % du dioxyde de carbone lié aux énergies proviennent du secteur de la construction, ce qui rend les réglementations des performances énergétiques des bâtiments plus strictes. Ainsi, de nouvelles technologies apparaissent dans ce domaine, par exemple le vitrage sous vide, notamment celui produit par AGC Glass Europe.

Or, la connaissance sur ces vitrages est limitée. Par conséquent, cette thèse compare le vitrage sous vide en production d’aujourd’hui et de demain au triple vitrage. Ainsi, le travail est premièrement dédié aux architectes, au producteur AGC Glass, aux autres acteurs de la construction, mais aussi toute personne voulant comprendre cette nouvelle technologie. Les critères de comparaison sont la performance énergétique, l’émission de carbone et le coût. L’analyse de la variation des performances énergiques est faite à l’aide d’un modèle énergétique Energyplus avec DesignBuilder pour le cas d’étude 't Centrum à Westerlo. Une calibration ainsi que des études de sensibilité et d’incertitude sont effectuées pour renforcer ce modèle. De plus, le calcul des émissions de carbone est établi sur les déclarations environnementales des produits et sur les émissions énergétiques. Par ailleurs, le coût est analysé en utilisant différents scenarios de coût d’énergie et de potentielle tarification de carbone.

Il est démontré que le vitrage sous vide de demain induit une réduction de la charge énergétique totale de 1.12%. Le vitrage sous vide d’aujourd’hui possède lui une charge de refroidissement plus petite et provoque moins d’heures de surchauffe. Puisque l’énergie représente 96% de l’émission de carbone, le vitrage sous vide de demain est le moins polluant avec un total de 550,867 kg eq. CO2. L’empreinte carbone la plus basse est toutefois celle du vitrage sous vide d’aujourd'hui seul, qui offre une réduction de 36% grâce à ses capacités de recyclage. En termes de coût total, 54 à 87% sont dédiés à la taxation carbone, 5 à 38% au coût d’énergie et 2.3 à 29.46% au vitrage selon les scénarios étudiés. Néanmoins, le triple vitrage demeure le plus économique durant sa durée de vie avec un coût total de €8,714,212.
Pour conclure, le vitrage sous vide de demain constitue le meilleur choix en termes d’efficacité énergétique et d’empreinte carbone, mais reste onéreux. Ainsi, le vitrage doit être choisi selon l’importance donnée à chaque critère par l’utilisateur d’après les conclusions de ce travail.

Cost --- Energyplus --- DesignBuilder --- Belgium --- AGC Glass --- Advanced insulation glazing --- Building energy model --- Life cycle assessment --- Coût --- Belgique --- cycle de vie --- model énergétique de batiment --- Ingénierie, informatique & technologie > Architecture

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life cycle assessment and updating --- optimization --- construction materials --- computers in civil engineering --- sustainable infrastructures --- automation and robotics in construction --- Civil engineering --- Structural engineering --- Civil engineering. --- Structural engineering. --- Engineering, Structural --- Structures, Engineering of --- Architecture --- Engineering --- Public works --- Engineering sciences. Technology