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Innovation in Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment of Emerging Technologies

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Engineering and Science".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2022) | Viewed by 17794

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Seung-Jin Lee

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Guest Editor

School of Engineering and Technology, University of Washington Tacoma, Tacoma, WA 98402, USA
Interests: life cycle assessment (LCA); industrial ecology; material flow analysis; renewable energy systems; transportation systems; sustainable design; reuse and recycling

Prof. Xiaobo Xue Romeiko

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Guest Editor

Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY 12222, USA
Interests: environmental sustainability; life cycle assessment; resource recovery; risk analysis; water-energy nexus; climate adaptation and resilience

Dr. Debalina Sengupta

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Guest Editor

TEEE Gas & Fuels Research Center, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA
Interests: natural/shale gas supply chain; energy and sustainability; energy and water supply chain; environmental impacts of energy production

Prof. Shweta Singh

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Guest Editor

Agricultural & Biological Engineering and Division of Environmental & Ecological Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA
Interests: systems scale modeling; coupled natural and human (CNH) systems modeling; complex systems theories for sustainability assessment; industrial ecology; urban sustainability and enhancing methodologies for sustainability assessment

Dr. Junbeum Kim

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Guest Editor

CREIDD Research Centre on Environmental Studies & Sustainability, Department of Humanities, Environment & Information Technology, University of Technology of Troyes, Troyes, France
Interests: industrial ecology; sustainable engineering; life cycle assessment; agricultural and forestry biomass to bioenergy; environmental; economic and policy analysis for systems; sustainability network theory and analysis

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

To address the need to perform systematic assessments across all areas of sustainability, Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA) has been researched and utilized to evaluate the life cycle environmental, economic, and social impacts of various products, systems, and processes. According to the UNEP/SETAC’s 2012 publication, “Towards a Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment. Making Informed Choices on Products,” a LCSA consists of three components—a LCC (life cycle cost analysis), E-LCA (environmental LCA), and S-LCA (social LCA). LCSA involves four steps similar to E-LCA: goal and scope definition, life-cycle inventory analysis (LCI), life-cycle impact assessment (LCIA), and interpretation.

Currently, there are several research needs and gaps in the methodology of LCSA. One of the major advantages of LCSA over traditional LCA is that it can assess social and economic impacts more effectively and accurately. LCSA methodology can be further improved by considering the drawbacks of LCAs and integrating existing sustainability tools. For example, there is an increasing trend of assessing emerging technologies using different sustainability tools, such as disaster resilience and risk assessment. Improvements to LCSAs can also include sustainability assessments that integrate metrics and indicators, multiscale assessments, spatial–temporal dynamic improvements, and the addition of more advanced data science and management, machine learning, and data analytics into LCSA. In addition to the focus on methodologies, LCSAs of emerging technologies are critical, especially those that utilize integrated approaches.

This Special Issue, titled “Innovation in Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment of Emerging Technologies,” seeks to publish research and review articles exploring theoretical, methodological, and case studies related to LCSA. We invite submissions from the areas of engineering, natural sciences, public policy, law, social science, business, and economics. Some emerging technologies include but are not limited to:

Renewable energy systems;
Advanced transportation systems;
Supply chain systems;
Intensified, modular processes;
Resource recovery-based water systems;
Food systems;
Integrated technologies (e.g. food–water–energy nexus);
Advanced manufacturing (e.g., additive manufacturing, 3D printing);
Internet of Things and Industry 4.0;
Pharmaceuticals;
Circular economy.

Prof. Seung-Jin Lee
Prof. Xiaobo Xue Romeiko
Dr. Debalina Sengupta
Prof. Shweta Singh
Dr. Junbeum Kim
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

sustainability
life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA)
life cycle assessment (LCA)
life cycle cost (LCC)
social life cycle assessment (S-LCA)
energy
transportation, resource recovery
food–water–energy nexus
circular economy
advanced manufacturing
supply chain
sustainable supply chain

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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28 pages, 722 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Sustainable Applications of Smart-Government Services: A Model to Understand Smart-Government Adoption

by Ahmad Althunibat, Muhammad Binsawad, Mohammed Amin Almaiah, Omar Almomani, Adeeb Alsaaidah, Waleed Al-Rahmi and Mohamed Elhassan Seliaman

Sustainability 2021, 13(6), 3028; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13063028 - 10 Mar 2021

Cited by 28 | Viewed by 4021

Abstract

Despite the fact that several studies have been conducted to study the adoption of smart-government services, little consideration has been paid to exploring the main factors that influence the adoption of smart-government services at the three main stages of smart-government services (the static, interaction, and transaction stages). Based on the results of this study, each of these three stages has different requirements in terms of system compatibility, security, information quality, awareness, perceived functional benefit, self-efficacy, perceived image, perceived uncertainty, availability of resources, and perceived trust. In addition, the results demonstrate that the requirements and perceptions of users towards the adoption and use of smart-government services in the three stages significantly differ. This study makes a unique contribution to the existing research by examining the perceptions and needs of consumers, in terms of adoption throughout the three stages. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovation in Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment of Emerging Technologies)

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21 pages, 13342 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Revealing Development Trends in Blockchain-Based 5G Network Technologies through Patent Analysis

by Fei Gao, De-Li Chen, Min-Hang Weng and Ru-Yuan Yang

Sustainability 2021, 13(5), 2548; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13052548 - 26 Feb 2021

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 5243

Abstract

The fifth-generation (5G) network has special communication and security requirements including high reliability, low latency, precise automatic control, secure covert transmission, and evidence traceability. The 5G network combined with blockchain technology just meets this demand, so it is driving a rapidly growing volume of patent applications. This study proposes application scenarios, architecture diagrams, and patent analysis methods for blockchain-based 5G network technologies, beginning with a network architecture using mobile edge computing (MEC) and blockchain as independent platform components to solve MEC load pressure. In the patent analysis, a patent cluster map of blockchain-based 5G networks is proposed to analyze the intersection of technical application fields. The bottleneck period of technological development is presented for leading countries and enterprises in the technological development of blockchain-based 5G network, highlighting relative advantages and disadvantages. Specifically, to extract the core international patent classification (IPC) key technologies and their mutual interrelatedness, we use network topology analysis to establish an IPC network topology diagram through node global and local topology characteristics, thus revealing hotspots of IPC technology research and the characteristics of the technology relationship system. The findings provide a very useful reference for the formulation of government strategy to assist in the implementation and development of blockchain-based 5G network technologies for future smart cities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovation in Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment of Emerging Technologies)

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17 pages, 571 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Systematic Evaluation of Nutrition Indicators for Use within Food LCA Studies

by Marta Bianchi, Anna Strid, Anna Winkvist, Anna-Karin Lindroos, Ulf Sonesson and Elinor Hallström

Sustainability 2020, 12(21), 8992; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12218992 - 29 Oct 2020

Cited by 22 | Viewed by 4055

Abstract

Expressing the environmental impact of foods in relation to the nutritional quality is a promising approach in the search for methods integrating interdisciplinary sustainability perspectives. However, the lack of standardized methods regarding how to include nutrient metrics can lead to unharmonized results difficult to interpret. We evaluated nutrient density indexes by systematically assessing the role of methodological variables with the purpose of identifying the index able to rank foods with the highest coherence with the Swedish dietary guidelines. Among 45 variants of the nutrient density index NRF (Nutrient Rich Food), a Sweden-tailored NRF11.3 index, including 11 desirable nutrients and 3 undesirable nutrients, calculated per portion size or 100 kcal with the application of weighting, ranked foods most coherently with the guidelines. This index is suggested to be suitable as complementary functional unit (FU) in comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) studies across food categories. The results clarify implications of methodological choices when calculating nutrient density of foods and offer guidance to LCA researchers on which nutrition metric to use when integrating nutritional aspects in food LCA. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovation in Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment of Emerging Technologies)

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Review

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19 pages, 734 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceReview

Towards an Understanding of Hydrogen Supply Chains: A Structured Literature Review Regarding Sustainability Evaluation

by Sebastian Fredershausen, Henrik Lechte, Mathias Willnat, Tobias Witt, Christine Harnischmacher, Tim-Benjamin Lembcke, Matthias Klumpp and Lutz Kolbe

Sustainability 2021, 13(21), 11652; https://doi.org/10.3390/su132111652 - 21 Oct 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3225

Abstract

Hydrogen technologies have received increased attention in research and development to foster the shift towards carbon-neutral energy systems. Depending on the specific production techniques, transportation concepts, and application areas, hydrogen supply chains (HSCs) can be anything from part of the energy transition problem to part of the solution: Even more than battery-driven electric mobility, hydrogen is a polyvalent technology and can be used in very different contexts with specific positive or negative sustainability impacts. Thus, a detailed sustainability evaluation is crucial for decision making in the context of hydrogen technology and its diverse application fields. This article provides a comprehensive, structured literature review in the context of HSCs along the triple bottom line dimensions of environmental, economic, and social sustainability, analyzing a total of 288 research papers. As a result, we identify research gaps mostly regarding social sustainability and the supply chain stages of hydrogen distribution and usage. We suggest further research to concentrate on these gaps, thus strengthening our understanding of comprehensive sustainability evaluations for HSCs, especially in social sustainability evaluation. In addition, we provide an additional approach for discussion by adding literature review results from neighboring fields, highlighting the joint challenges and insights regarding sustainability evaluation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovation in Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment of Emerging Technologies)

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