Pre-construction quantification of embodied environmental impacts to promote sustainable construction projects: The case study of a diversion dam.

A quantitative assessment of the embodied environmental impacts of infrastructures can provide initial guidance to industry practitioners and engineers at the outset of the construction projects. This study presents the applicability of the Environmentally Extended Input-Output Analysis as a pre-construction evaluation tool for quantifying the embodied environmental impacts of a small diversion dam in Spain. Seven impact categories are assessed from a production-based and consumption-based perspective identifying the main sectors and regions contributing to the environmental impacts. From the consumption-based perspective, Spain is the only contributor to the environmental impacts, and from the production-based perspective, Spain is the main polluting country in all the impact categories contributing on average 68.9%. The use of high quantities of construction material leads to the sectors of steel and cement to significantly increase the environmental impacts. From the production-based perspective, steel and cement contribute on average 29.5% and 17.2%, respectively. From the consumption-based perspective, both sectors account for 74% of the overall environmental impacts. As observed in this case study, the application of the EEIOA model enables engineers and designers to focus during the early design stages on decisions that achieve high embodied impact reductions, such as prioritizing recycled materials for the construction of this infrastructure and, when possible, use materials from a less polluting origin.

Feeding children with environmentally based dietary guidelines: The Nitrogen Footprint of school lunch menus adhering to the Spanish dietary guidelines.

It is at an early development stage the best opportunity for a society to learn the concepts of sustainable production and consumption. Schools can serve as effective and efficient ways for this purpose. This work quantifies the Nitrogen Footprint (NF) of twelve school menus developed following the Spanish dietary guidelines. The analysis considers six fall school menus and six spring school menus for 7 to 12 years old children. Fall menus present higher NF than spring menus, being on average 23 g N and 19 g N, respectively. This is mainly due to the presence of beef dishes in fall menus, which significantly increase the production NF. Menus including non-meat protein sources, such as legumes, exhibit the lowest N pollution. Menus with beef dishes remain the most intensive menus for fall and spring in terms of N pollution and energy intake, being 0.04 g N/kcal. The highest contributing stage to the total NF is the production (92.6 %), followed by consumption (5.8 %), while the distribution and cooking stages present lower contributions. In order to improve the overall NF, some reduction strategies are: (1) substitution of beef with other animal meat sources, (2) substitution of beef with non-meat sources, (3) improvement of wastewater treatment efficiency, and (4) recycling non-edible food. Substituting beef with non-meat sources achieves the highest reduction (76 %) compared to the total NF of the school menus. It is recommendable to include environmental aspects related to N emissions within the school guidelines in order to provide practical information to policymakers and guide-users.

Identifying the environmental footprint by source of supply chains for effective policy making: the case of Spanish households consumption.

Household consumption has been identified to have an essential role in influencing ultimately the environmental pressures generated by human activities. This study assesses the indirect environmental footprint of the Spanish households applying a combination of consumer expenditure surveys with environmentally extended multi-regional input-output analysis. A total of fourteen environmental impact categories are studied from 2006 to 2015. All the impact categories present a similar trend, particularly affected by the economic crisis. The impacts decreased from 2008 to 2013 and finally slightly started rising again from 2014 to 2015. Results show that the dominant categories influencing the indirect environmental footprint in 2015 are (1) food and beverages, (2) housing, and (3) furnishings. From the intensity perspective, housing, transport, and food and beverages appear to be the most intensive consumption clusters in the Spanish household indirect environmental footprint. In relation to the indirect water impacts embodied in the Spanish households' imports, the largest amount is from European countries and the highest virtual water (59%) corresponds to food and agriculture, in particular from wheat, fruit, vegetables, and dairy products. The findings obtained in relation to the sources generating indirect impacts from household consumption could aid the implementation of future mitigation policies.