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.

At present, the optic memory media are the most frequent portable medium for data saving, even though the new media using the Blue Ray technology are entering the market. There is an uncertainty regarding the period after which it is still possible to read data saved on this optic medium. This report deals with the forms of degradation of this medium and the possibilities of diagnosis of the state of DVD data layer using the Olympus LEXT confocal leaser microscope.

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 Assesment (LCA) is a method for valuation of the product environmental impact during its whole life cycle. Over the last years, this method developed quickly, mainly due to the application of the software support of the life cycle modelling and to the enlargement of the material and process databases. This report deals with the process of preparation of the LCA Study with the application of SimaPro programme. There is also a critical analyses of the LCA Study of a transformer created at our workplace three years ago.

The amendment of waste act number 7/2005/Sb has come in force in 2005. It gives several duties to the producers and to the users of electronic equipment. This is mainly the question of electronics waste prevention, minimization as a part of unsorted municipal waste and electronics waste reusing. There are possible technological procedures, which can be applied in the electronics waste liquidation, presented in this article.

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.

An effort to minimize the product's negative impact on the environment, which is determined in the design phase, has become a target of Directives of the European Parliament and of the Council: 2002/95/EC - on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment, 2002/96/EC - on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) and 2005/32/EC - on the Eco-design Requirements for Energy-using Products (EuPs). This contribution deals with universal principles of the product design with respect to its environmental impact.

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

Failures of CDs caused by their degradation have been investigated