doc. Ing. Jan Weinzettel, Ph.D.

Recycling lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have become increasingly important in response to expanding electromobility. This paper is focused on evaluating the environmental impacts (EIs) of recycling pre-treatment of three types of LIBs with black mass as its product. A detailed gate-to-gate Life Cycle Assessment study was conducted to obtain EIs of the recycling process. The benefits of LIBs recycling pre-treatment and significant recovery of secondary aluminum for compared battery types are highlighted in the analysis. This paper points out that the varying chemistry of the compared LIBs does not affect the resulting EIs of the recycling pre-treatment procedures.

Cities and urban areas are critical nodes of societal resource flows, responsible for both global and local sustainability implications. They are complex systems and understanding the implications of potential actions by cities is critical for progress towards sustainability. In this paper the future implications of sustainability strategies are assessed for 10 European cities by comparing two scenarios for 2050: a business-as-usual (BAU) and a post-carbon/sustainability scenario (PC2050) (generated by city stakeholders). The effects of the scenarios are assessed using a mixed methodology: a semi-quantitative sustainability indicator analysis, energy and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (both production-based and consumption-based accounting (PBA and CBA)), land-use spatial modelling, and cost-benefit analysis. The paper highlights the clear benefits of PC2050 with improved sustainability indicator results, reduced land sprawl (which averages 16% in BAU) and positive cost-benefit results. Nonetheless, inequality and segregation are a common concern. In addition, whilst PBA indicates a significant decrease (average decrease from 4.7 to 1.3 tCO(2)eq per capita) CBA demonstrates rising overall emissions from an average of 11 to 14.8 tCO(2)eq per capita. This is linked to rising affluence and consumption trends despite local improvements in GHG emissions, which highlights a need for cities to address consumption-based emissions.

Water footprinting has emerged as an important approach to assess water use related effects from consumption of goods and services. Assessment methods are proposed by two different communities, the Water Footprint Network (WFN) and the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) community. The proposed methods are broadly similar and encompass both the computation of water use and its impacts, but differ in communication of a water footprint result. In this paper, we explain the role and goal of LCA and ISO-compatible water footprinting and resolve the six issues raised by Hoekstra (2016) in "A critique on the water-scarcity weighted water footprint in LCA". By clarifying the concerns, we identify both the overlapping goals in the WFN and LCA water footprint assessments and discrepancies between them. The main differing perspective between the WFN and LCA-based approach seems to relate to the fact that LCA aims to account for environmental impacts, while the WFN aims to account for water productivity of global fresh water as a limited resource. We conclude that there is potential to use synergies in research for the two approaches and highlight the need for proper declaration of the methods applied. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

In this report, the environmental impacts of different electricity supply technologies are analysed on a per-kWh basis and as implemented in International Energy Agency (IEA) scenarios. Energy resources, however, differ in their spatial and temporal distribution. As electricity supply needs to match electricity demand for the reason of stability, a transmission and distribution grid system is required not only to transport the electricity to customers but also to ensure an adequate quality of supply in terms of voltage, frequency, and reliability. The characteristics of resources and technologies for electricity generation, as well as the characteristics of power demand, have important implications for the design of the transmission and distribution system. A high fraction of variable renewable energy (VRE) sources such as wind and solar energy presents a special challenge to system operation; these sources may require energy storage or flexible demand. In this Chapter, we discuss implications for electricity transmission and distribution of different generation technologies and system configurations, evaluate the need for electricity storage, and review assessments of environmental impacts of such systems.

Measuring progress towards sustainable development requires appropriate frameworks and databases. The System of Environmental-Economic Accounts (SEEA) is undergoing continuous refinement with these objectives in mind. In SEEA, there is a need for databases to encompass the global dimension of societal metabolism. In this paper, we focus on the latest effort to construct a global multi-regional input-output database (EXIOBASE) with a focus on environmentally relevant activities. The database and its broader analytical framework allows for the as yet most detailed insight into the production-related impacts and "footprints" of our consumption. We explore the methods used to arrive at the database, and some key relationships extracted from the database.

A development in wind energy technology towards higher nominal power of the wind turbines is related to the shift of the turbines to better wind conditions. After the shift from onshore to offshore areas, there has been an effort to move further from the sea coast to the deep water areas, which requires floating windmills. Such a concept brings additional environmental impact through higher material demand. To evaluate additional environmental burdens and to find out whether they can be rebalanced or even offset by better wind conditions, a prospective life cycle assessment (LCA) study of one floating concept has been performed and the results are presented in this paper. A comparison with existing LCA studies of conventional offshore wind power and electricity from a natural gas combined cycle is presented. The results indicate similar environmental impacts of electricity production using floating wind power plants as using non-floating offshore wind power plants. The most important stage in the life cycle of the wind power plants is the production of materials. Credits that are connected to recycling these materials at the end-of-life of the power plant are substantial.

Optická záznamová média lze pokládat v současnosti za nejrozšířenější přenosné medium pro ukládání dat, a to i přesto, že se již začínají na trhu objevovat nová média využívající technologii Blue Ray. Nejasnosti jsou ale v tom, po jaké době bude možné datový záznam uložený na tomto optickém médiu ještě přečíst. Příspěvek je věnován formám degradace tohoto media a možnostem diagnostiky stavu záznamové vrstvy DVD pomocí konfokálního laserového mikroskopu LEXT firmy Olympus.

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a methodology which was developed to assess the impact of different products on the environment. Its aim is to evaluate the product's environmental impact during its whole life cycle - from raw materials acquisition over transportation, sale, and use to its final processing as a waste. To enable to compare different products, the results of an LCA study are expressed related to a functional unit. The total sum of functional units gained from one product during its life cycle depends on the length of its technical lifetime.

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) je metoda hodnocení vlivu výrobku na životní prostředí v celém jeho životním cyklu. V posledních letech se tato metoda rychle rozvíjí, zejména s využitím softwarové podpory pro modelování životních cyklů výrobků a rozšiřujícími se materiálovými a procesními databázemi. Tento příspěvek je věnován problematice zpracování studie LCA s využitím softwarového nástroje SimaPro. Zároveň je zde proveden kritický rozbor studie LCA transformátoru, zpracované na našem pracovišti před třemi lety.

A possible way, how to approximate the sustainable consumption is to include the environmental impact of the product's life-cycle to the price of the product. Each product is made from some materials and after the use phase, some other materials are given back to the environment. The environment might be considered as a subject to which everybody has to pay the "environmental price", whenever taking something from the environment and also whenever putting something to the environment as if the material is bought from the environment or as if it is paid for the disposal of the waste given back to the environment. The "environmental price" should be set down according to the environmental impact of the material taken from or put back to the nature, based on internationally accomplished coefficients, e.g. Eco Indicator 99. This approach leads to offset the prices of non-ecological and ecological products.

Snaha o minimalizaci negativního vlivu výrobků na životní prostředí, který je dán již ve fázi návrhu výrobku, se stala cílem směrnic Evropského Parlamentu a Rady: 2002/95/ES - o omezení používání některých nebezpečných látek v elektrických a elektronických zařízeních, 2002/96/ES - o odpadních elektrických a elektronických zařízeních (OEEZ) a 2005/32/ES - o stanovení rámce pro určení požadavků na ekodesign energetických spotřebičů. Tento příspěvek přináší obecné zásady návrhu výrobků zohledňující jejich ekologický dopad.

V r. 2005 vstoupila v platnost novela zákona o odpadech č. 7/2005/Sb, která ukládá výrobci a uživateli elektrotechnických zařízení několik povinností. Jedná se zejména o prevenci vzniku elektroodpadu, minimalizaci elektroodpadu jako součásti netříděného komunálního odpadu a uplatňování opětovného využití elektroodpadu. V článku jsou rozebrány možné technologické postupy, které by se mohly uplatňovat při likvidaci elektroodpadu.

This paper deals with the situations, where computer simulation can be beneficial while examining the conformity to EMC standards.

Kompaktní disky jsou pro svou kapacitu a cenovou dostupnost běžnými medii pro uchovávání dat. Při jejich čtení se ale mohou objevit chyby, způsobené degradací základních komponent CD. Předmětem tohoto příspěvku je proveření vlivu vybraných klimatických činitelů na kvalitu datového záznamu na CD.