Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Low carbon footprint'

The emissions associated with food consumption make up approximately 20-30 percent of Scotland’s total greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). Reducing demand for high carbon footprint food products may provide an effective instrument for reducing GHG emissions. However, there is concern that using consumption based taxes may also have negative consequences on nutrition. Therefore, this thesis investigates the likely effect of carbon consumption taxes on GHG emissions and the resulting impact on nutrient consumption. The data used for the analysis are the Scottish part of Kantar Worldpanel data for the UK for the period 2006-2013 along with various sources of carbon footprint and nutrient data. This thesis models a carbon consumption tax which is based on the carbon footprint of the products of interest. The impact of the taxes on demand for food products were measured through the use of demand systems. Two forms of demand systems were used: Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS) and an Exact Affine Stone Index (EASI) which allow for the estimation of price elasticities based on time series data. These Marshallian price elasticities were then used for estimating carbon footprint and nutrient elasticities which allow for the estimated change in GHG emissions (represented as carbon emissions) and nutrients. The price elasticities were particularly important for identifying the substitutes and complements of the different food products. This is useful as some food products such as poultry have a lower carbon footprint relative to beef products. The results suggest that applying carbon consumption taxes would likely reduce carbon emissions though the reduction is relatively small. The net effect of taxing all major food products would likely reduce emissions by 543,208.75 tCO2e/y which represents approximately five percent of the total emissions in Scotland attributed to food consumption (no land use change considered). However, taxing only meat and milk food products could reduce emissions by approximately 1.6 million tCO2e/y. While this reduction is much larger than when all food products are taxed, it is considered that modelling all the major food products offers a more realistic understanding of how households will change their demand for the different food products. The effect on nutrient consumption with regards to taxing all food products suggests that households with lower socioeconomic status would likely experience some favourable changes in terms of a reduction in sugar and energy. Though a negative distributional effect is likely to occur when considering the decreased consumption of vitamin D and the increased consumption of salt. Therefore, a carbon consumption tax is estimated to reduce food based GHG emissions by a relatively small amount. Despite the mainly positive effect on nutrient intake, policy makers are still likely to be cautious when considering this instrument because of the relatively small (compared to other studies) reduction in GHG emissions.

Yes
The UK faces the joint economic policy challenges of raising productivity and tackling climate change. This report challenges prevailing narrow market-based views of productivity, by examining the £4bn UK early stage Cleantech innovation finance market. We find that Cleantech innovation is frequently capital intensive and long horizon (5-10+ years), measured by shorterterm technology readiness level (TRL) and intellectual property (IP) progression. Longer-term sustainable productivity impacts remain little understood and, where applied, narrowly relate to customer adoption. This leads to Cleantech environmental impact investor logics that primarily relate to end user financial value (customer sales). There is little consideration for non-market values from, for example, circular economy (CE) and wider environmental spillover impacts (e.g. supply chains). Whilst few Cleantechs currently successfully commercialise, a small proportion exhibit high employment and sales growth and global environmental impact. Improved understanding of the broader environmental impacts of Cleantechs, through the adoption of environmental impact metrics (EIMs) can (i) add to a more holistic notion of productivity and (ii) improve the efficiency of the finance escalator, enabling more Cleantechs to contribute significantly to establishing the UK as a globally leading low carbon economy.
ESRC

Climate change has emerged as one of the most serious challenges faced by human beings. As manufacturing globalisation involves more and more emerging nations, a greater proportion of CO2 emissions is generated from developing countries. The dilemma between fast industrial development and carbon reduction makes firms in developing nations reluctant to take serious commitment and actions in CO2 emission reduction in their global manufacturing practices. From a theoretical perspective, low-carbon supply networks research is also still in its infant stage and needs more explorations and development. Therefore this research aims to address the research question: “How can supply networks in developing countries be developed to reduce carbon emission?” Especially it focuses on: • An influence process to engage companies in developing countries to reduce carbon emission • A typology of carbon emission assessments in supply networks • An initial process of implementing carbon-reduction projects in supply network The research adopts theory building approach based on multiple case studies. The units of analysis are carbon reduction project of focal firms and initiatives of Non-Government Organizations (NGO). Drawing upon the cases, this research develops a general framework for developing low-carbon supply network, including three parts namely network influence, network CO2 measurement, and network CO2 improvement (IMI), with the three process models accordingly proposed. In the ‘influence’ process, based on resource dependence theory (RDT), this research illustrates a categorization of influence choices and a typology of influence pathways, which both underpin the four-step influence procedure proposed later. In the ‘measurement’ process, this research proposes a goal-oriented carbon footprint measurement guideline. In the “improvement’ process, an initial framework to classify carbon reduction projects and implementation process model of these projects are both built based on the analysis of primary case studies and Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) database which contains corporates’ carbon reduction practices. Overall this research makes contributions in the following aspects: (1) this research advocates IMI framework as a pathway to de-carbonize supply networks, contributing to manufacturing system’s evolution to sustainable paradigm; (2) It integrates the institutional, stakeholder and network theory in the context of de-carbonization, and extends the research scope of operations management; (3) The research contributes to life cycle assessment (LCA) literature by exploring supply network coordination during the LCA procedure; (4) The research also contributes to green supply chain literature by providing insights from firms’ de-carbonization projects in supply network. (5) In practice, the IMI three-process models can help practitioners to implement de-carbonization management, serving as a preliminary guideline to follow. The potential audience of this research can be MNCs, NGOs, government bodies, consultants, and any organization or individual who aim to change industrial system in the pursuit of climate change mitigation.

Today we are experiencing an "eco friendly boom"; which includes the developing of ecological processes that have a smaller impact in the environment. This is the reason that prompted me to carrying out this thesis; the aim is to use a vegetable extract as a sustainable product for the pre-tanning processes. This study considers the use of the fruit of the Tara tree as a raw material source of tannins with low carbon footprint and proposes alternatives to avoid or reduce the use of commercial vegetable extracts, synthetic products and mineral salts that require non sustainable processes. Various experimental designs have been developed as to obtain new tailored Tara tannins by both chemical and physical modification, in order to obtain a higher percentage of tannins, and therefore improve its tanning capability, also reducing the astringency and improving the penetration of the tannin molecules through the leather structure. In chemical modifications, several aqueous extractions at different temperatures and combined with some chemicals, have been developed and optimized in order to increase the tannin content and reduce the astringency. The degree of hydrolysis has controlled by measuring the Gallic acid content by means of HPLC (High performance liquid Chromatography). In the physical modification part, the Tara has been milled and sieved, at several particle sizes, with the aim of obtaining a smaller molecular size. Both chemical and physical modifications were tested in hides, in a wet-white pre-tanning process, combining them with the fewest possible commercial vegetable extracts and syntans. The formulations have been optimized by experimental design. All the resulting leather products and final baths have been analyzed with physical and chemical tests respectively, to determine if they comply with the parameters established by the IULTCS (International Union of Leather Technologists and Chemists Societies). Finally, a life cycle assessment has been developed, in order to determine the environmental improvement of the new modified product, obtained in this thesis. This thesis is also supported with articles published in magazines specialized in the Leather sector. There are two articles published in the Journal of the American Leather Chemists Association (JALCA), named: *Low carbon products for the design of innovative leather processes. Part I: determination of the optimal chemical modification of tara. . (JALCA, Vol. 108, pag. 386-391, 2013) *Low carbon products for the design of innovative leather processes. Part II: determination of the optimal physical modification of tara. (JALCA, Vol. 109, pag. 25-31, 2014) One article pending to be published in the Journal of AQEIC (Spanish Leather Chemists Association) Application of Sustainable tannins with Low carbon footprint,And presented in the 62nd Congress of AQEIC, Lorca (Murcia), May 10th and 11th, 2013 Presentation: "Aplicación de taninos sostenibles con baja huella de carbono"

Achieving the carbon emission reductions necessary to address climate change is proving challenging. Voluntary behaviour change by individuals has the potential to make a substantial contribution to decreasing carbon emissions, but generally that potential is not being realised. Group-based interventions, however, may offer an effective method for promoting significant and durable changes in pro-environmental behaviour leading to carbon reductions. This thesis evaluates Footpaths, a group-based programme designed and implemented by Transition Leicester and consisting of seven sessions. The study investigates the effectiveness of the programme, using a longitudinal mixed-methods approach to facilitate understanding of both measurable results and the processes leading to those results. The Reasonable Person Model (RPM) is used as a theoretical framework to aid understanding of the way in which group-based interventions may promote pro-environmental behaviour. Data were collected from participants just before and immediately after involvement with the Footpaths programme, as well as a year after the sessions commenced. Questionnaires were administered at all three times and semi-structured interviews were conducted after the last session. Participants also completed a carbon footprint calculator at all three times and provided data on measured energy use. Findings show that Footpaths participants reduced their carbon footprints by 15 percent over the course of the sessions, and continued to reduce their carbon footprints resulting in a 20 percent reduction over the course of a year. Pro-environmental behaviour increased, including increases in harder to change behaviours, and measured energy use decreased. Increases in pro-environmental behaviour and reductions in carbon footprint were associated with increased understanding, greater feelings of competence, and reduced confusion; all considered to be elements of a supportive informational environment. Participants highlighted the importance of having an opportunity to examine their own behaviour coupled with active engagement with information over a period of time. Neither feedback nor a desire for social contact were related to increases in pro-environmental behaviour. Pro-environmental behaviour was more closely associated with both worldview and attitude after participation in Footpaths possibly indicating a closer alignment between attitude and behaviour after participation. This research suggests that group-based interventions are effective in promoting significant and durable changes in pro-environmental behaviour and it provides interesting insight into the design of successful interventions to encourage such behaviour. Findings highlight the potential value of the RPM as an integrative framework for understanding the characteristics of interventions that successfully promote durable sustainable behaviours.

The aim of the research was to investigate how to stimulate sustainable consumer behaviors that lead to a lowering of the carbon footprint. Because of environmental challenges at the individual and societal levels, researchers agree that behavioral change is necessary. We argue that when already performing a sustainable behavior, this behavior can spill over to other sustainable actions, even to more difficult ones. First, we studied whether a positive behavioral spillover occurs between product categories and whether the spillover effect depends on the ease or difficulty of the sustainable behavior. Second, we investigated whether high awareness of sustainability determines the spillover between categories. We conducted three online experiments in Central Europe, investigating whether spillover takes place between behaviors assigned to the same category (transport or food) or between behaviors assigned to different categories (transport or food). In all three studies participants had to make two independent decisions. In studies 1a (N=281) and 1b (N=195), the effect of the ease/difficulty of the behavior was tested. In study 2 (N=164), awareness of CO2 emission reducing effects was manipulated. Findings revealed a behavioral spillover between sustainable choices.

One of the greatest challenges of our time is the ongoing climate change. Research suggests that it is us humans that through our greenhouse gas emissions are the greatest cause of globalwarming and the problems that comes with it. To reduce the emissions of greenhouse gas and meet the international goals, it is necessary for individuals to make changes in their behavior. Some people care a lot about the climate and tries to do everything in their power to lower theirown impact, others want to do something but do not know what and some people does not care at all. The purpose of this study is to provide a deeper understanding of how to influence people to live in a more environmentally friendly way by identifying factors that determines environmentally friendly actions both positively and negatively. The study was conducted through a qualitative case study where the data collection was made through personal interviews with citizens in Luleå. The results of the study show that knowledge has a strong connection to individual behaviors. It is important to know that the environmental actions you take is of importance. Many people have the desire to do more than they do but are hindered by contextual factors like saving time. Except for the factors that was identified in the frame of reference the study also shows that there are other reasons for individuals to act in an environmentally friendly way: health, economy, ethics, frugality and care about future generations. By identifying these factors and get an explanation of how they impact individuals, the study can aid decision makers of a county with information that helps them adapt their conversion work to the citizens. The recommendations for counties are to provide citizens with clear information both regarding what goals they aim to reach as well as concrete actions to take in order to fulfil these, make it easier to choose environmentally friendly options, market the environmental benefits but also other reasons for certain behaviors since many people are more motivated byother things than environmental reasons, share their results in their environmental work to include citizens as well as spread motivation for further behavior changes.
En av vår tids största utmaningar är de pågående klimatförändringarna. Forskning visar att det till allra största del är vi människor som genom våra utsläpp av växthusgaser är ansvariga för den globala uppvärmningen och de problem som den för med sig. För att reducera utsläppen av växthusgaser och uppnå de internationella utsläppsmålen krävs delvis insatser på individnivå. Vissa människor bryr sig mycket om klimatet och försöker göra allt i sin makt för att minska sin egen klimatpåverkan, andra vill göra något men vet inte vad och vissa bryr sig inte alls. Denna studie syftar till att ge en djupare förståelse för hur man kan påverka människor att leva mer klimatsmart genom att identifiera faktorer som påverkar miljövänliga beteenden i både positiv och negativ riktning. Studien genomfördes genom en kvalitativ fallstudie där datainsamlingen gjordes genom personliga intervjuer med invånare i Luleå kommun. Studiens resultat visar att kunskap har en stark koppling till en individs beteenden. Det är viktigt att de insatser man gör till förmån för klimatet känns betydelsefulla. Många har en vilja att göra mer för klimatet men hindras av kontextuella faktorer, till största del handlar det om tidsaspekten. Förutom de faktorer som identifierades i det teoretiska ramverket framkom även ytterligare orsaker till varför individer beter sig miljövänligt: hälsa, ekonomi, etik, sparsamhet samt att värna om framtida generationer. Genom att identifiera dessa faktorer samt få förklarat hur de påverkar individen kan studien bidra med information till beslutsfattare exempelvis inom kommuner för att de ska kunna anpassa sitt omställningsarbete till medborgarna i kommunen. Studiens rekommendationer för kommuner är att de bör bistå med tydlig information till invånarna, både när det gäller vilka mål de siktar till att uppnå samt vad som konkret krävs för att uppfylla dessa. Kommunen bör också göra det lättare att välja miljövänliga alternativ, marknadsföra såväl klimatnyttan men även andra skäl till ett visst beteende eftersom att många motiveras mer av andra fördelar än klimatnytta. Samt dela med sig av resultat i klimatarbetet för att göra medborgarna delaktiga samt sprida motivation att arbeta vidare.

Geopolymer material using by-products can lead to a significant reduction of the carbon footprint and have positive impact on the environment. Geopolymer is recognized as an alternative construction material for the Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) concrete. The mechanical properties of geopolymer concrete are superior for normal exposure environments. In terms of durability in the seawater, a limited number of publications were available. The seawater environment contains chloride ions and microorganisms that are harmful for reinforced concrete structures. Hence, a study of the durability of fly ash geopolymer concrete is essential when this material is to be used in a real application. The present study aims to investigate the durability of fly ash geopolymer concrete mixture in a seawater environment such as seawater resistance and corrosion of steel reinforcement bars. The development of mixtures and their mechanical properties were also presented.The concrete mixtures were developed using the Taguchi optimization method. Three mixtures, labelled T4, T7, T10 and a control mix were investigated further. Mechanical properties such as compressive strength, tensile strength, flexural strength, Young’s Modulus of Elasticity were determined for each mix. In addition the water absorption/AVPV and drying shrinkage were also measured. The seawater resistance study comprises chloride ion penetration, change in strength, change in mass, change in Young’s Modulus of Elasticity, change in effective porosity and change in length. The corrosion performance of steel reinforcement bars in fly ash geopolymer concrete was determined by measuring the corrosion potential by half-cell potential, accelerated corrosion test by impressed voltage method and microbiologically influenced corrosion incorporating algae. The microstructure of the samples was also investigated using SEM and microscope.It can be summarized that the fly ash geopolymer concrete has an equivalent or higher strength than the OPC concrete. The seawater resistance revealed a high chloride ion penetration into the fly ash geopolymer concrete due to lack of a chloride binding ability and continuous hydration under aqueous medium. The geopolymer concrete had a higher strength and small expansion following exposure to wetting-drying cycles. There was a rapid depassivation of steel reinforcement bars in fly ash geopolymer concrete, although it has a smaller corrosion rate than the OPC concrete. This could delay the pressure in generating cracks in the concrete cover which is not favourable in the long term, due to a sudden loss of load carrying capacity. A novel study on the corrosion performance in algae medium demonstrated a risk of steel bar corrosion in fly ash geopolymer concrete due to the low alkalinity of this concrete. It can be concluded that the low calcium fly ash geopolymer offers some advantages in durability for reinforced concrete in seawater environments.

Kyoto University (京都大学)
0048
新制・課程博士
博士(エネルギー科学)
甲第19818号
エネ博第324号
新制||エネ||65(附属図書館)
32854
京都大学大学院エネルギー科学研究科エネルギー社会・環境科学専攻
(主査)教授 東野 達, 教授 宇根﨑 博信, 准教授 MCLELLAN,Benjamin
学位規則第4条第1項該当

As climate change is progressing, it is important to find mitigation strategies to reach the Paris Agreement’s long-term temperature goal. The objective is to keep the increase in global average temperature to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels. One approach to climate change mitigation is to decrease people’s carbon footprint. This complex problem can be approached with top-down programs and bottom-up methods. One such a bottom-up approach is the app Deedster. This app is designed to educate its users about sustainable behavior choices and encourage the users to try out these new behaviors in so-called deeds to reduce their personal carbon footprint. In this research, an exploratory qualitative approach was taken to gather insights into the suitability of the Deedster app as a tool to change individual behavior towards a more sustainable lifestyle as well as investigating obstacles to acting sustainably. App users were interviewed in the beginning and at the end of a four-week Deedster challenge. The findings suggest that the Deedster app is a suitable tool to encourage behavior change and to educate its users about sustainability topics. Based on the results, the app may be stronger in changing low-cost (less difficult) behavior changes than effortful behavior changes. However, in some cases, also effortful behavior changes were reported.  In addition, the users reported more knowledge about sustainable lifestyle alternatives and opened conversations about the app and their behavior changes with others. This study makes valuable contributions to the field of sustainable behavior changes and proposes the Deedster app as a useful method to engage more people in sustainable lifestyles.

L’objectif des travaux rapportés dans ce mémoire de thèse est la formulation de solutions à faible empreinte carbone (< 150 kg.éq.CO2/m3) et industriellement viables. En premier lieu, la substitution d’une forte teneur en clinker (65 % à 70 %) par du métakaolin et des additions calcaires est étudiée. Ensuite, l’optimum de compacité du squelette granulaire (via le Modèle d’Empilement Compressible) a été recherché pour minimiser le volume de pâte requis.L’application de leviers matériau (faible teneur en eau et adjuvantation) et procédés (traitement thermique) a permis d’approcher les performances d’une référence à base de ciment Portland. Une résistance à la compression supérieure à 14 MPa à 8 heures et des classes de résistance à 28 jours C25/30 et C40/50 ont été atteintes. Via l’approche performantielle, les classes de durabilité XC2 ou XC4, XS3e et XS3m ont pu être validées. Ces solutions décarbonées ont permis la fabrication de prémurs à l’échelle industrielle
The aim of the presented research is to formulate industrially viable low carbon footprint concrete (< 150 kg.eq.CO2/m³). First, high substitution of clinker (65 % to 70 %) by metakaolin and limestone has been investigated to reduce the concrete’s carbon footprint. Then, granular packing compacity has been optimized with the Compressible Packing Model to reduce the required paste volume.High water content reduction (with adapted admixture content) and a thermal treatment have been applied to approach an Ordinary Portland Cement concrete’s performances. Compressive strength of superior to 14 MPa at 8 hours and strength classes of C25/30 and C40/50 have been reached. Also, through a performance approach, durability classes XC2 or XC4, XS3e and XS3m have been validated. The developed low carbon solutions were used to produce walls with integrated formwork at the industrial scale

The study set out to understand and demonstrate the role the ICT sector could play as a critical enabler in the transition and progress towards an energy– efficient, low carbon economy. More specifically, the study of sustaining ICT for sustainability has twofold intent: (2) to investigate the direct footprint of ICT sector and explore how it can be tackled through adopting sustainable design–based solutions; and (2) to highlight the enabling potential of ICT sector to mitigate climate change and massively improve energy efficiency across the economy, identifying and quantifying the global ICT impacts and opportunities in the context of energy and carbon emissions savings. To achieve the aim of this study, a pertinent and extensive literature review covering theoretical, empirical, and critical scholarship was performed to investigate the phenomenon. The study draws on a variety of sources to survey the unsustainability of ICT sector pertaining to energy–intensive consumption and explore potential solutions through espousing environmental design practice, and also to examine the role of ICT in delivering energy–efficient solutions through its products and services. Validity was ensured through using quality academic and industry literature as well as relevant studies carried out by a range of eminent researchers, experts, and stakeholders (i.e. NGOs, research centers). Findings highlight the unsustainability of ICT sector regarding energy– intensive consumption and concomitant GHG emissions associated with its products and services. Of the whole lifecycle, the use phase of ICT is the most critical. Data centers and telecom networks devour energy. Planned obsolescence entrenched in software design shorten upgrade cycle, which makes software utilities a planet killer as to energy consumption. Alternative sustainable design–based solutions entail using renewable energy and most efficient energy required over ICT’s life cycle – de–carbonization strategy. Also, digitization is an effective strategy for ICT sector to slash energy use per unit. To reduce the footprint of data centers and telecom networks, design solutions vary from hardware and software to technological improvements. Designing out built–in obsolescence in software technology is a key factor in the energy equation. As for the enabling role of ICT, the findings are highly illuminating. The ICT sector must step up its efforts in reducing its direct footprint in order to claim a leadership role in an energy–efficient, low carbon economy. Although the ICT sector’s own emissions will increase because of global growing demand for its products and services, the real gains will come from its enabling potential to yield substantial energy efficiency improvements and emissions reductions across the economy. The sheer scale of the climate change challenge presents smart development mitigation opportunities for ICT sector to deliver environmentally sustainable solutions. The largest identified opportunities are: dematerialization; intelligent transport and logistics; intelligent buildings; smart power supply; and efficient industrial processes and systems. This study provides a novel approach into sustainable design in ICT, underlining unsustainable design practices in ICT sector. Review of the literature makes an advance on extant reviews by highlighting the synergic relationship between ICT design, sustainability, and the economy.
+46 704 35 21 35

There are many opportunities for consumers to design their lives more sustainably. While a rapidly growing body of literature has investigated how consumers can reduce carbon footprints in key con- sumption areas, such as food, housing and mobility, an overall framework that allows structuring those options across all consumption areas is still missing. Hence, this paper presents a novel and systematic framework to identify improvement options that promote climate change mitigation and structure them based on their primary mode of impact on GHG emissions. The framework targets consumer practices and focuses on ambitious, but technically and socioeconomically feasible strategies for consumers to lower their carbon footprint. Four major categories for reducing consumption-based emissions form the basic framework, which are then subdivided into behavioural strategies and sub-strategies. The practical application of the framework is illustrated by using food consumption as an example. Systematically identifying improvement options can advance a holistic understanding of the range of behavioural strategies targeting consumer choices that operate at different stages in the supply chain. It thus provides a starting point for addressing critical questions related to the role of consumers in supporting climate change mitigation. (authors' abstract)

Presented theses dealing with the complex influence of human activity on the environment. Particularly provides the calculation of carbon footprint volume consumed during manufacturing of raw materials used for a normal and a low-energy house. The calculation of the energy performance certificate for both variants is also included. To evaluate of economical demanding investment to both mentioned houses including carbon dioxide disposal, the theoretical calculation of the price of carbon footprint equivalent has to be determined. The aim of this study is an investigation of carbon footprint in construction industry focusing on the production of carbon dioxide during the realization of a normal and low-energy house.

碩士
國立臺灣科技大學
建築系
104
With the emergce of environment problems, such as global warming, greenhouse effect and extreme climate, the problems of carbon emissions have become an important international issue. Obviously, the carbon emissions of buildings sector is the most in global greenhouse gas emissions by economic sectors. Cutting carbon dioxide emissions of buildings become more critical for carbon reduction. This study create an educational board game to spread the sustainable environment protection. The design concept of the game is based on Building Carbon Footprint Evaluation Method, which proposed by Low Carbon Building Alliance (LCBA). The game create a model to simulate a house construction processed by purchasing equipment and choosing the building materials, and reducing carbon footprint by energy-efficient technologies design afterwards to achieve the purpose of low carbon building. In order to exam the result of this instructional game, there are two experiments. These results show that participants’ awareness of low carbon building has been improved. Secondly, the participants purchase more energy-saving devices or more green building materials are helpful for cutting carbon footprint of building.

碩士
國立臺北科技大學
環境工程與管理研究所
99
With the rising concern on the deterioration of climate change, how to educate general public to reduce their carbon footprints become more and more important. Currently, governments of every country focus not just on controlling the main emissions sources, but also try to enhance the efficiency of carbon reduction through the development of low carbon communities. Hence, a suitable carbon footprint calculator play a crucial role in educating general public to understand their own carbon emissions and to further change their living behaviors. In Taiwan, although several carbon footprint calculators have been developed, none of them is adequate in terms of functions and completeness of the database. Therefore, to develop a carbon footprint calculator framework conforming Taiwanese living style and with completeness becomes the goal of this study. After analyzing various carbon footprint calculators, an evaluating hierarchy for Taiwan’s carbon footprint calculator was proposed. In order to ensure the effectiveness of the hierarchy, this study applied the Fuzzy Delphi Method to collected experts’ opinions on the framework. After two rounds of FDM questionnaires, the framework of carbon footprint calculator to be used in Taiwan was finalized. The proposed carbon footprint calculator framework consists of 5 dimensions (including household, transportation, food, commercial goods/services and green behaviors) and 21 indicators. In addition, through collecting and analyzing the carbon emission coefficients, this study discovered that most of carbon emission coefficients for calculating carbon footprints are missing in Taiwan. It is suggested that in order to strive to the low carbon society, a database which consists of accurate and complete carbon emission coefficients should be established in the future.

碩士
國立臺南大學
生態科學與技術學系生態旅遊碩士班
102
The carbon emissions by travel behavior will seriously influence the change of the world’s climate. In response to sustainable development of the future environment, it is indeed and urgent important to develop low-carbon tourism. The main purposes of this study were to find out factors influencing the development of low-carbon tourism of Taijiang National Park. We try to figure out the environmental unfriendly factors through reviewing the routes of low-carbon tourism in the Tai Jiang National Park. Meanwhile, ecological footprint, including ecological footprint transport (EFT), ecological footprint accommodation (EFA), ecological footprint activities (EFAC) and ecological footprint food and fiber consumption (EFFFC), are applied to analysis the consumption of resources, carbon footprint transport (CFT), carbon footprint food (CFF), carbon footprint accommodation (CFA) and carbon footprint activities (CFAC) for the years 2010 to 2012. We expect to approach the appropriate development of low-carbon tourism methods in Taijiang National Park. The outcomes of reviewing the routes of low-carbon tourism in the Taijiang National Park are as follows: 1.The percentage of lodging at the Qigu District is less than 15%, it reveals that most of visitors stay at far away from the Qigu District 2. The catering business is not satisfied by visitors for there are only 19 restaurants nearby the Taijiang National Park. 3. The transportation is not good enough both at the number of runs and stops. The outcomes show that the routes of low-carbon tourism in the Taijiang National Park is not keeping with low-carbon tourism and resulting in increased CO2 of transport and Accommodation. The results of this research show that the annual ecological footprint of tourism, from 2010 to 2012, is between 10.29 and 14.25 (hectare/person) in Taijiang National Park. Moreover, the annual carbon footprint of tourism is between 14.72 and 15.63 (kg CO2e/person). Analyzing data from both the ecological footprint and the carbon footprint, we observe that transportation seems the most influential factor with the average value 52.40% and55.88% respectively. These results indicate that it consumes petrochemical energy mainly for the tourism in Taijiang National Park. However, the petrochemical energy footprint in ecology is one of the most important factor concerning global warming and ecological threat. With the analysis and discussion of this research, we can conclude and provide some practical suggestions for developing low-carbon tourism of the Taijiang National Park in the future.

碩士
中原大學
工業與系統工程研究所
100
Due to rising awareness of environmental protection, more and more consumers paid their attention to the lower environmental impact product development under the same features and conditions. Many companies begin to perform the environmental impact assessment and get the certification for their products in order to enhance their brand value. However, this environmental assessment process is generally implemented only when the products are designed and mass produced. It is too late for the designers to change their product design when they found the product may have higher environmental impacts. The reason is that it will cost a lot of efforts and costs to perform the change. In this research, the products’ environmental impacts are provided and analyzed during the design stage based on the previous certified products. In order to solve the confiscation of carbon emission and cost problems, a multi-objective decision making method, step method. Finally, a case study is applied for the demonstration of the results.

碩士
逢甲大學
景觀與遊憩研究所
97
Abstract The environmental issues about global warming needs whole world''s people working together to solve the climate change. The number of domestic visitor is increasing, the needs for the transportation, consumption and tourists behavior may caused the increased of the total emissions and carbon dioxide, therefore, it is necessary for people to change their travel behavior and care more the environment. From the Environmental behavior studies, the scholars believed that the theory of planned behavior provides researchers the measurement to predict the tourist activities and the behavior that may affect the environment thus visitors need to be informed and guidance which behavior to avoid. The purposes of this study ere (1) Using the Theory of Planned Behavior as visitors construct and low-carbon travel behavior as structural model and examination models of various beliefs and attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavior control to examine low-carbon travel behavior intentions; (2) To compare the carbon footprints of different individuals in the structural model if there are significant differences; (3) Individual attribute of visitors in the model variables if there are significant differences. In this study the questionnaire based on Ajzen’ theory of planned behavior, data were collected at Taipei, Pinglin Township in the low carbon tourist destination, for four days on May 30, 31 and June 6, 7 2009, survey were conducted using random sampling on site locations to visitors in the areas, from a total of 415 questionnaires, resulting a total of 327 usable questionnaires with response rate of 78.80%. In this study, first, descriptive analysis were conducted to described the individual attribute of visitors and second, structural equation analysis (SEM) was conducted to examine potential effect of low-carbon behavior intention model on latent variable and to compare the differences of the carbon footprints in the structure of the model and finally, t test analysis, one way ANOVA analysis of individual attribute from different tourist to test the significant differences. In this study the original model were tested and adjusted resulting revised model and the final revised model was acceptable to obtain as indicators, the results showed (1) The attitude of the low-carbon travel behavior intentions has highest significantly affect, followed by perceived behavioral control, and attitude toward the behavior; while the beliefs of the attitude, perceived behavior control and the subjective norms, the effects was also high, the indirect impact on behavioral intention resulting medium-low effect. (2) Visitors’ carbon footprint were divided by the Mean into two categories, low-carbon footprint and high-carbon footprint, for low-carbon footprint the effects in behavior intention model is from perceived behavioral control, subjective norms and attitudes; and for the high carbon footprint the highest effects are behavior, subjective norms and their perceived behavior control had no effect; the belief in the two categories of visitors, from attitude, perceived behavioral control, subjective norms, the effect were higher, generally, high-carbon footprint is lower and the low-carbon footprint is higher. (3) The ANOVA analysis for the differences between the individual attributes of tourists, age, education level, the latent variable of traveling in a low-carbon travel behavior patterns, shows significant differences in different situations. This study suggests that in the future need implementation of the rule, policy and education of low-carbon travel behavior, should more emphasis on improving the visitors’ attitudes and perceived behavior control, subjective norms, supplemented, thereby increasing the intention of low-carbon travel behavior; the Government can also hold more low-carbon tourism activities in order to increase the tourists’ participation and consequently improve the general effectiveness; so the carbon footprint of tourist in daily life and individual attributes have assistance and choice to engage in the tourism activities. Because of the limitation of this study recommended that future research could explore the actual behavior of tourists or comparison of cross-regional differences.

碩士
國立臺灣海洋大學
食品科學系
102
The aim of this study is to produce bioethanol from Kappaphycus alvarezii with low cost and low carbon footprint technology. Thirteen marine bacteria with agarase activity were isolated from decomposed algae, thread seaweed, decomposed K. alvarezii, and sea water in Keelung, Taiwan. Three strain with most prominent agarase activity were W208, W518, and W619. Based on result of some biochemical tests, this isolate was pre-identified as Pseudomonas sp. Crude enzymes were produced by Pseudomonas vesicularis MA103 (MA103), Aeromonas salmonicida MAEF108 (MAEF108), and isolate W518 (W518). The highest enzyme activity of strain MA103 was its amylase activity at 3 days of incubation (5.01 U) in AM-Kap-A [half strength artificial sea water medium added with 0.3% (w/v) K. alvarezii hydrolyzed by 0.2 N HCl at 121oC for 20 min], strain MAEF108 was its agarase activity at 3 d incubation (2.85 U) in AM-Kap-P [half strength artificial sea water medium added with 0.3% (w/v) K. alvarezii powder], and strain W518 was its amylase activity at 3 days of incubation (1.64 U) in AM-Kap-AP [half strength artificial sea water added with 0.15% (w/v) K. alvarezii powder and 0.15% (w/v) K. alvarezii hydrolyzed by 0.2 N HCl at 121oC for 20 min]. The most effective acid hydrolysis condition was decided based on the amount of reducing sugar and electricity consumption ratio. The highest ratio was 40.16 mg/mL reducing sugar per kWh electricity, the most effective hydrolysis condition was using 0.4 N HCl 121oC for 0.5 h. Ethanol production by procedure I [5% (w/v) biomass, 4,560 U cellulase, 7,333 U amylase, used K. alvarezii-induced commercial Modified Marine Broth (MMB-Kap) as marine bacteria crude enzymes inducer] resulted in 34.00 g ethanol per 100 g K. alvarezii ethanol yield, but production cost was high. In order to lower bioethanol production cost, commercial enzyme usage was lowered. In procedure II-1-a, lower cellulase enzymes amount (760 U) was used, but biomass loading was increased [10% (w/v) biomass]. This procedure yielded 12.88 g ethanol per 100 g K. alvarezii powder. To further lower the cost, in procedure II-4-a which was the development of procedure II-1-a used AM-Kap-P to replace MMB-Kap for marine bacteria crude enzymes inducer, this procedure yielded 11.68 g ethanol per 100 g K. alvarezii powder. Fermentation of K. alvarezii hydrolysate with different acid concentration showed 0.2 N HCl, yielded 9.98 % (w/w) ethanol. Fermentation of K. alvarezii hydrolyzed with different biomass loading level showed 5% (w/v) biomass yielded 14.91 % (w/w) ethanol. The fermentation procedure VI-2 where cellulase and marine bacteria crude enzymes was added together and hydrolyzed at 37oC for 4 d yielded in 23.20 g ethanol per 100 g dried K. alvarezii. K. alvarezii hydrolysate for fed-batch fermentation was prepared as in procedure VI-2. The ethanol concentration was 1.59% (v/v) and ethanol yield was 10.55%, obtained at day-9 of fermentation. TLC and HPLC analysis showed that acid hydrolysis was able to hydrolyze K. alvarezii PSs to become galactose for yeasts fermentation. LCA analysis from K. alvarezii cultivation to ethanol production was calculated for K. alvarezii bioethanol production through procedure I, II-1-a, and VI-2. Compared to procedure I, the changes in biomass loading, HCl concentration, commercial cellulase, and crude enzymes in procedure II-1-a and VI-2 lowered the cost of production by 50% and 80%, respectively. Compared to procedure I (4.20 kg CO2/L), the amount of CO2 released increased for procedure II-1-a by 122% (9.35 kg CO2/L) and lowered the amount of CO2 released for procedure VI-2 by 30% (2.95 kg CO2/L). The amount of CO2 sequestered by seaweed during cultivation was higher than ethanol production process by 165% and 48% for procedure II-1-a and VI-2, respectively.

Die drei Essays dieser Dissertation verbinden Themen der wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung und des Klimawandels. Alle Essays erörtern die allgemeine Frage wie steigende Einkommen und Austauschbeziehungen in Umweltfragen verbunden werden können und konzentrieren sich dabei auf CO2 Emissionen als Hauptverursacher von Treibhausgasen. Die Forschungsarbeit beleuchtet die wesentlichen Treiber und Verteilungswege von CO2 Emissionen und zeigt wie wirtschaftliches Wachstum, Energieverbrauch und Emissionen interagieren. Im ersten Essay wird am Beispiel Indonesiens der ökologische Fußabdruck von Haushalten durch ihre Konsumentscheidung aufgezeigt. Es werden Muster, Determinanten und die Aufschlüsselung der steigenden Emissionen der Haushalte analysiert. Die Arbeit konnte zeigen, dass die Sektoren mit Leichtöl und im Transportwesen die intensivsten Emittenten in Indonesien sind und ein signifikantes Ungleichgewicht der Karbon-Emissionen zwischen Haushalten besteht. Sie konnte zudem darlegen, dass ein steigendes Einkommen die wichtigste Determinante der Haushaltsemissionen sind. Die Aufschlüsselung des Emissionswachstums legt nahe, dass die steigenden Emissionen zwischen 2005 und 2009 hauptsächlich auf den steigenden Wohlstand der Haushalte zurückzuführen sind.  Eine gerechtere Haushaltsverteilung besitzt -wie jedes Emissionsreduzierungskonzept- einen größeren Effekt zur Abschwächung des Klimawandels in einer Gesellschaft mit weniger Ungleichheit als in einer Gesellschaft mit verstärkter Ungleichheit.  Im zweiten Essay wurde die Ungleichheit von Haushalts-Emissionen und die Aufschlüsselung der Emissionsungleichheiten in ihre Ursachen untersucht.. Die Studie zeigt einerseits eine steigende Ungleichheit unter den untersuchten Haushalten als auch dass Energie-Transport hauptsächlich für höhere Emissionsungleichheit verantwortlich ist. Der dritte Essay untersucht kausale Zusammenhänge zwischen Emissionen, Energieverbrauch und wirtschaftliche Entwicklung gemeinsam mit Urbanisierung und Investitionen im Falle von Indonesien unter Verwendung von Zeitreihenanalyse. Diese Studie zeigt eine Granger-Kausalität von Output und Energieverbrauch hin zu Emissionen, aber nicht in die entgegengesetzte Richtung von Emissionen zu Output. Dies weist darauf hin die Möglichkeit Emissionen zu reduzieren ohne Wachstum zu hemmen. Damit könnte Energieverbrauch die hauptsächlich verändernde Variable zwischen Output und Emissionen sein. Urbanisierung und Kapitalformation können CO2 neutral sein, wenn das betreffende Land nachhaltige städtische Entwicklung, grüne Investitionen und Energieeffizienz zur Entschärfung des Klimawandels fördert. Jeder dieser Essays trägt zu der Literatur dazu bei, wie ökonomische Aktivitäten (wie steigender Konsum) steigende Emissionen - eine der wichtigsten Externalitäten menschlicher Entwicklung - bedingen. Andersherum könnte Umweltzerstörung (und/oder entschärfende Maßnahmen) weitere Entwicklung menschlichen Wohlbefindens erschweren. Passende Politikmaßnahmen, der Konsum in Richtung von weniger emissionsintensiven Ausgaben stimulieren, könnten implementiert werden. Aber insbesondere in Entwicklungsländern, die mit Energieeffizienz (CO2 intensive Energiesysteme), ungenügend grünen Infrastrukturen, Städteplanung, öffentlichem Nahverkehr und hohen (und ungünstig gezielte) Treibstoffsubventionen zu kämpfen haben, könnte dies schwierig werden. Diese Themen könnten dann nicht nur für Indonesien als entwickelnde Ökonomie sondern auch bei globalen Debatten dazu beitragen, wie Entwicklungspfade weniger kohlenstoffintensiv gestaltet werden können und damit substantielle Bedeutung erlangen.

CEMS
Nowadays, companies increase their competitive advantage by reducing their environmental impact. Correspondingly, Norwegian fertilizer company Yara International plans to improve its competitiveness through low carbon footprints. In order to conduct the best possible strategy for Yara to do so, a thorough understanding of the sustainability of Yara’s operational context, i.e. the food value chain, is required. Therefore, this project mapped the sustainability developments in the chain and their impact on both the agricultural industry and Yara’s competitiveness. The same type of analysis was carried out on the influencers alongside the chain. Consequently, several strategic recommendations for Yara were conducted.