Sustainable management of materials and products requires continuous evaluation of numerous compl... more Sustainable management of materials and products requires continuous evaluation of numerous complex social, ecological, and economic factors. Many tools and methods are emerging to support this. One of the most rigorous is lifecycle assessment (LCA). But LCAs often lack a sustainability perspective and bring about difficult trade-offs between specificity and depth, on the one hand, and comprehension and applicability, on the other. This chapter applies a framework for strategic sustainable development to foster a new general approach to the management of materials and products, here termed "strategic life-cycle management." This includes informing the overall analysis with aspects that are relevant to a basic perspective on (1) sustainability, and (2) strategy to arrive at sustainability. Early experiences indicate that the resulting overview could help avoiding costly assessments of flows and practices that are not critical from a sustainability or strategic perspective and help in identifying strategic knowledge gaps that need further assessment.
Medan Sverige ar en global foregangare inom hallbar utveckling betonar Klimatpolitiska radet 2019... more Medan Sverige ar en global foregangare inom hallbar utveckling betonar Klimatpolitiska radet 2019 att hallbarhetsatgarderna ar for langsamma for att uppfylla de aktuella malen, sarskilt nar det gal ...
Strategic sustainable development is a key research and teaching area at Blekinge institute of te... more Strategic sustainable development is a key research and teaching area at Blekinge institute of technology (BTH). This area involves a generic Framework for strategic sustainable development (FSSD) that helps sustainability practitioners to structure tools and concepts according to their ability to support strategic sustainability planning at five levels: (i) system understanding, (ii) principled success definition, (iii) strategic guidelines, (iv) actions and (v) supporting tools. This structuring capability has been a key element of BTH sustainability courses for several years. Another related key ability of sustainability practitioners is to create 'intersystem' planning frameworks or to adapt the FSSD to a specific organization or context. In 2011 we replaced a tools and concept focused assignment with a new 'intersystems' assignment in the BTH course introduction to strategic sustainable development (MI2407). This paper intended to assess the internal consistency and logics behind the development of the new assignment. It also intended to follow up whether the students who went through the new assignment in 2011 could demonstrate the desired ability to create adapted planning frameworks. If possible this paper was also meant to check to what degree the MI2407 students would still be able to structure tools and concepts on the levels of the FSSD, now that they got less specific training on that skill. We found a clear internal consistency and constructive alignment in how the new intersystems assignment was put together. We also found indications that the students that went through the new assignment, in the MI2407 course in 2011, gained the intended ability to create adapted frameworks, while still gaining an ability to structure tools and concepts on the levels of the FSSD comparable to previous years. If these initial indicative learning outcomes are to be substantiated by further studies then the new intersystems assignment could also become a basis for new consultancy services that The Natural Step and other consultancies could pick up and spread to the business world. This would be much in line with our department's and BTH's general ambition to help sustainability practitioners to improve their strategic sustainability planning capabilities and to promote sustainable growth. Teaching for 'intersystems analysis' : how to create company-specific adaptions of a generic framework for strategic sustainability planning
Sustainable management of materials and products requires continuous evaluation of numerous compl... more Sustainable management of materials and products requires continuous evaluation of numerous complex social, ecological, and economic factors. A number of tools and methods are emerging to support this. One of the most rigorous is life-cycle assessment (LCA). But LCAs often lack a sustainability perspective and bring about difficult trade-offs between specificity and depth, on the one hand, and comprehension and applicability, on the other. This article applies a framework for strategic sustainable development (often referred to as The Natural Step (TNS) framework) based on backcasting from basic principles for sustainability. The aim is to foster a new general approach to the management of materials and products, here termed "strategic life-cycle management. " This includes informing the overall analysis with aspects that are relevant to a basic perspective on (1) sustainability, and (2) strategy to arrive at sustainability. The resulting overview is expected to help avoid costly assessments of flows and practices that are not critical from a sustainability and/or strategic perspective and to help identify strategic gaps in knowledge or potential problems that need further assessment. Early experience indicates that the approach can complement some existing tools and concepts by informing them from a sustainability perspective-for example, current product development and LCA tools.
Electric vehicles seem to offer a great potential for sustainable transport development. The Swed... more Electric vehicles seem to offer a great potential for sustainable transport development. The Swedish pioneer project GreenCharge Southeast is designed as a cooperative action research approach that aims to explore a roadmap for a fossil-free transport system by 2030 with a focus on electric vehicles. It is the following combination of objectives that puts demand on a new process model adapted for cross-sector and cross-disciplinary cooperation: (i) a fossilfree transport system in Sweden by 2030 and, to avoid sub-optimizations in the transport sector, (ii) assuring that solutions that support (i) also serve other aspects of sustainability in the transport sector and, to avoid that sustainable solutions in the transport sector block sustainable solutions in other sectors, (iii) assuring cohesive creativity across sectors and groups of experts and stakeholders. The new process model was applied in an action-research mode for the exploration of electric vehicles within a fully sustainable transport system to test the functionality of the model in support of its development. To deliver on the above combination of objectives, a framework was needed with principles for sustainability that are universal for any sector as boundary conditions for redesign, and with guidelines for how any organization or sector can create economically feasible step-by-step transition plans. The Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD) is designed to serve such purposes and therefore is embedded into the new process model. The exploration of this new model also helped to identify four interdependent planning perspectives ('Resource base', 'Spatial', 'Technical' and 'Governance') that should be represented by the respective experts and stakeholders using the model. In general, the new process model proved helpful by giving diverse stakeholders with various competences and representing various planning perspectives a common, robust, and easy-to-understand goal and a way of working that was adequate for each of their contexts. Furthermore, the evolving process model likely is relevant and useful not only for transport planning and electric vehicles, but for any other societal sector as well and thus for sustainable community planning in general.
In response to the increasingly competitive global market, there is a growing interest in design ... more In response to the increasingly competitive global market, there is a growing interest in design optimization. Being able to include aspects of socio-ecological sustainability in product design should aid companies to both improve current competitiveness and to identify viable long-term investment paths and new business opportunities in the evolving sustainability-driven market. A case study of a water jet cutting machine is used to illustrate a new iterative optimization procedure that combines a technical assessment with a sustainability assessment. Sustainability assessment methods/tools are first used to identify prominent sustainability problems from present-day flows and practices ("societal indicators") and to generate ideas of long-term solutions and visions. Based on this, preliminary ideas about likely desirable changes in machine properties are obtained. Technical investigations are then performed to assess if/how these particularly desirable changes in machine properties could in principle be realized through changes in design variables. After that, obtainable changes are fed back to a new and more refined sustainability assessment to find out the societal implications of these changes. This may in turn result in other desirable design changes, which may call for a new and more refined technical assessment, etcetera. The experience from the case study indicates that the suggested integrated and iterative working procedure should be able to add information about socio-ecological impacts of product properties and influence design criteria used in prioritisation situations during product development.
About this report. This is the English short version of the report 'Vägval 2030. Färdplan för sna... more About this report. This is the English short version of the report 'Vägval 2030. Färdplan för snabbomställning till HÅLLBARA persontransporter'. The report is written by researchers from Blekinge Institute of Technology (BTH) based on a close cooperation with partners from the first phase of the GreenCharge project (2011-2015). See the report backside for a list of the project partners in Spring 2015. This report and a complete version (in Swedish) are available at www.bth.se/sustaintrans.
Vehicles, infrastructure, fuel systems and other energy-driven systems that serve public transpor... more Vehicles, infrastructure, fuel systems and other energy-driven systems that serve public transport are complex with many resource inputs and outputs, and involve many processes. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life Cycle Costing (LCC) helps analyzing those by quantifying environmental and economic effects, but will not in themselves provide a full systems perspective. Swedish authorities have set ambitious national goals, and many regions targets a 100% increase in public transport by 2020. The medium sized city of Karlskrona (36,000 inhabitants), that is included in this study together with Sundsvall and Jonkoping, embraces those goals too. This study analyzes relevant differences between bus solutions, to investigate a change to more sustainable bus propulsion systems. The study zooms down to compare energy carriers (diesel, biodiesel, biogas, and electricity) in different powertrain combinations (combustion engines, electric hybrids, and pure electric). The Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD) where principles are defining a sustainable future is used to broaden from a cost and environmentally shortsighted perspective to a long-term sustainability perspective with systems thinking. The Strategic Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA) is first used to give a quick full scope of sustainability challenges in each bus life cycle stage from extraction to end of life. Then LCA and LCC approaches are used to” dig deeper” into prioritized identified challenges. Initial study results suggest that electric drivetrains would be preferable in city buses within the coming decade - both from an economic and a sustainability perspective. It not only lowers emissions and energy usage, but also provides a platform for future promising energy carriers.
From a theoretical perspective, Electric buses can be more sustainable and can be cheaper than fo... more From a theoretical perspective, Electric buses can be more sustainable and can be cheaper than fossil fuelled buses in city traffic. The authors have not found other studies based on actual urban public transport in Swedish winter climate. Further on, noise measurements from buses for the European market where found old. The aims of this follow-up study was therefore to test and possibly verify in a real-life environment how energy efficient and silent electric buses are, and then conclude on if electric buses are preferable to use in public transport. The Ebusco 2.0 electric bus, fitted with a 311 kWh battery pack, was used and the tests carried out during November 2014 to April 2015 in eight municipalities in the south of Sweden. Six tests took place in urban traffic and two took place in more of a rural traffic setting. The energy use for propulsion was measured via logging of the internal system in the bus and via an external charging meter. The average energy use turned out to be 8 % less (0,96 kWh/km) than assumed in the earlier theoretical study. This rate allows for a 320 km range in public urban traffic. The interior of the bus was kept warm by a diesel heater (biodiesel will probably be used in a future operational traffic situation), which used 0,67 kWh/km in January. This verified that electric buses can be up to 25% cheaper when used in public transport in cities for about eight years. The noise was found to be lower, primarily during acceleration, than for buses with combustion engines in urban bus traffic. According to our surveys, most passengers and drivers appreciated the silent and comfortable ride and preferred electric buses rather than combustion engine buses. Bus operators and passenger transport executives were also positive to start using electric buses for public transport. The operators did however point out that procurement processes need to account for eventual risks regarding this new technology, along with personnel education. The study revealed that it is possible to establish a charging infrastructure for almost all studied bus lines. However, design of a charging infrastructure for each municipality requires further investigations, including electric grid capacity analysis, smart location of charging points, and tailored schedules to allow fast charging. In conclusion, electric buses proved to be a preferable alternative for all stakeholders involved in public bus transport in the studied municipalities. However, in order to electric buses to be a prominent support for sustainable development, they need to be charged either by stand-alone units or via an expansion of the electric grid, and the electricity should be made from new renewable sources
Ambitions within the EU for moving towards sustainable transport include major emission reduction... more Ambitions within the EU for moving towards sustainable transport include major emission reductions for fossil fuel road vehicles, especially for buses, trucks, and cars. The electric driveline seem ...
Products designed for long-life often have significant potential for better sustainability perfor... more Products designed for long-life often have significant potential for better sustainability performance than standard products due to less material and energy usage for a given service provided, which usually also results in a lower total cost. These benefits are not always obvious or appealing to customers, who often focus on price. Long-life products are therefore at an inherent disadvantage: due to lower volume of sales that results from the products' longer-life, the margins (price) often need to be higher. In this paper, we demonstrate that when the revenue base is shifted to be the service of light (instead of the sales of light tubes), there is an opportunity for a "win-win-win" for the light user, the long-life light provider and society. Through a product-service system approach, resulting in a well-communicated total offer, the full array of benefits becomes clearer to the customer, including that they avoid the high initial cost.
Page 1. FORUM Sustainability Constraints as System Boundaries An Approach to Making Life-Cycle Ma... more Page 1. FORUM Sustainability Constraints as System Boundaries An Approach to Making Life-Cycle Management Strategic Henrik Ny, Jamie P. MacDonald, Göran Broman, Ryoichi Yamamoto, and Karl-Henrik Rob`ert Summary ...
who introduced me to the world of systems and modelling. I am deeply grateful to my colleagues at... more who introduced me to the world of systems and modelling. I am deeply grateful to my colleagues at the department of Mechanical Engineering, BTH, for creating a great working climate. Special thanks to my previous and current BTH room mates Kristian Haller, Yogeshwarshing Calleecharan, Sophie Byggeth, Roya Khaleeli, Daniel Johnson. You are all good spirits and I have learned from all of you. David Waldron, thank you for those late nights when we prepared the start of the master's programme and for all those good conversations that always brings me something valuable. Thank you Hördur Haraldsson, Lund Institute of Technology, Lund, Sweden for good brainstorms, cooperation and friendship. I would also like to express my gratitude to all others who have contributed directly or indirectly to my thesis work. I gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the Swedish Knowledge Foundation, NUTEK (the Swedish Business Development Agency), Region Blekinge and the Faculty Board of BTH. v Decision makers seem to need more of an overview and of simplicity around sustainability issues. A general conclusion is, however, that it is important that this is achieved without a loss of relevant aspects and their interrelations. Oversimplifications might lead to sub-optimized designs and investments paths. Combining the BSP framework with more detailed methods/tools seems to be a promising approach to finding the right balance and to get synergies between various methods/tools.
In our study we provide a case study of implementing sustainability aspects into the product deve... more In our study we provide a case study of implementing sustainability aspects into the product development process of a Small and Medium Enterprise (SME). The objective of the study is to, together with the company, co-create a product development process that represents a step towards sustainability. For this a tool called the Method for Sustainable Product Development (MSPD) is used. The methodology of the study includes mapping the current product development process in the organization, adapting the MSPD based on criteria set by the organization, implementing the MSPD into the product development process of the organization in a co-creative way and finally applying the new product development process to a test case within the organization. Various participatory action techniques including workshops and interviews are used to ensure co-creation of the results. It was found that raising questions on sustainability aspects in product development can be seen as a first step of an organizational move towards sustainability. With this the MSPD worked as intended. The practical application showed that further steps were necessary. Particularly additional education in sustainability and theinvolvement of entities in the organization external to the product development process were found as crucial next steps
Planning in modern urban environments requires skills to address complexity in order to move towa... more Planning in modern urban environments requires skills to address complexity in order to move towards sustainability. Co-production of knowledge in transdisciplinary groups represents a useful tool in such contexts. Using the concepts of epistemic communities, linguistic diversity and culture, the article proposes a conceptual framework for analysing complexity of co-production settings, as an indispensable means of managing complex challenges, thus making these complexities visible for the project leader (facilitator) and the participants of the co-production process. We evaluate the framework on the basis of inclusivity, cross-sectoral understanding, applicability in different contexts and time perspectives. Based on the framework, we identify several aspects that a process leader (facilitator) would need to address when preparing for a coproduction process: linguistic equality between participants, disciplinary integrity, a working culture of mutual respect, simultaneous mitigation and informed facilitation. Finally, the article suggests possible future research areas related to development of the framework, including (i) identification of levels of complexity and mapping specific tools to address complexity at each level; (ii) integration of other factors of complexity, such as political and institutional contexts, as well as diversity of gender and age in the facilitated group.
The current public transport offers in the South Baltic region seldom meet customer expectations ... more The current public transport offers in the South Baltic region seldom meet customer expectations for easiness and attractivity of cross-border/regional journeys and rarely include integrated tickets for multimodal rides. To address that, stakeholders from six regions around the southern Baltic Sea developed the INTERCONNECT project that was guided by a holistic perspective on sustainability. Informed by that, this paper's objective was to propose a tool/method containing a planning process with a comprehensive and on-line open-access catalogue of solutions for sustainable cross-border/regional public transport services to inspire and guide planning and decision-making. The tool/method that was developed in this paper include a 7-step process and a catalogue of 42 solutions that were developed through several workshops and discussions among the authors and other experts in the field. The findings were compared and integrated with literature findings, practical experiences, then assessed against a principled definition of sustainability, and finally scrutinized and reviewed by project partners and external experts. The authors expect the results to sufficiently cover possible solutions for strategic sustainable development of cross-border/regional public transport and to inspire further development in other regions with similar infrastructure and financial means.
Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, Feb 1, 2014
This is an author produced version of a conference paper. The paper has been peer-reviewed but ma... more This is an author produced version of a conference paper. The paper has been peer-reviewed but may not include the final publisher proof-corrections or pagination of the proceedings.
Sustainability related challenges in mobility planning have been recognised at the international ... more Sustainability related challenges in mobility planning have been recognised at the international level, and the urgency for change has been widely discussed among scholars. However, there seems to be no general agreement on the best ways to pursue such change. To seek answers to the question of how to pursue change, this study analysed the development of the broad research fields of mobility, urban planning and transitions, and the overlap of these bodies of literature. Both academic and non-academic literatures were covered. By means of a systematic literature review, as well as bibliometric studies, several prominent research themes that address change from planning and transition perspectives were identified. Moreover, these themes describe different viewpoints and challenges in mobility planning. These include planning and policy for sustainable mobility and accessibility, backcasting and scenario planning, indicators in planning, modes of transport, decision-making, studies of global North and global South, as well as overarching themes of equity, equality and justice, roles of institutions, and co-production of knowledge. Strategies for staying up to date with these fields were also identified. In the literature covered, the temporal dimension in mobility planning was described in four different ways, but little was found about how accelerated transitions towards sustainable mobility can be achieved. Further knowledge gaps were identified in relation to behavioural change, policy development, institutionalisation of planning capacity, and social sustainability in mobility planning. This created an outline for possible future studies.
Sustainable management of materials and products requires continuous evaluation of numerous compl... more Sustainable management of materials and products requires continuous evaluation of numerous complex social, ecological, and economic factors. Many tools and methods are emerging to support this. One of the most rigorous is lifecycle assessment (LCA). But LCAs often lack a sustainability perspective and bring about difficult trade-offs between specificity and depth, on the one hand, and comprehension and applicability, on the other. This chapter applies a framework for strategic sustainable development to foster a new general approach to the management of materials and products, here termed "strategic life-cycle management." This includes informing the overall analysis with aspects that are relevant to a basic perspective on (1) sustainability, and (2) strategy to arrive at sustainability. Early experiences indicate that the resulting overview could help avoiding costly assessments of flows and practices that are not critical from a sustainability or strategic perspective and help in identifying strategic knowledge gaps that need further assessment.
Medan Sverige ar en global foregangare inom hallbar utveckling betonar Klimatpolitiska radet 2019... more Medan Sverige ar en global foregangare inom hallbar utveckling betonar Klimatpolitiska radet 2019 att hallbarhetsatgarderna ar for langsamma for att uppfylla de aktuella malen, sarskilt nar det gal ...
Strategic sustainable development is a key research and teaching area at Blekinge institute of te... more Strategic sustainable development is a key research and teaching area at Blekinge institute of technology (BTH). This area involves a generic Framework for strategic sustainable development (FSSD) that helps sustainability practitioners to structure tools and concepts according to their ability to support strategic sustainability planning at five levels: (i) system understanding, (ii) principled success definition, (iii) strategic guidelines, (iv) actions and (v) supporting tools. This structuring capability has been a key element of BTH sustainability courses for several years. Another related key ability of sustainability practitioners is to create 'intersystem' planning frameworks or to adapt the FSSD to a specific organization or context. In 2011 we replaced a tools and concept focused assignment with a new 'intersystems' assignment in the BTH course introduction to strategic sustainable development (MI2407). This paper intended to assess the internal consistency and logics behind the development of the new assignment. It also intended to follow up whether the students who went through the new assignment in 2011 could demonstrate the desired ability to create adapted planning frameworks. If possible this paper was also meant to check to what degree the MI2407 students would still be able to structure tools and concepts on the levels of the FSSD, now that they got less specific training on that skill. We found a clear internal consistency and constructive alignment in how the new intersystems assignment was put together. We also found indications that the students that went through the new assignment, in the MI2407 course in 2011, gained the intended ability to create adapted frameworks, while still gaining an ability to structure tools and concepts on the levels of the FSSD comparable to previous years. If these initial indicative learning outcomes are to be substantiated by further studies then the new intersystems assignment could also become a basis for new consultancy services that The Natural Step and other consultancies could pick up and spread to the business world. This would be much in line with our department's and BTH's general ambition to help sustainability practitioners to improve their strategic sustainability planning capabilities and to promote sustainable growth. Teaching for 'intersystems analysis' : how to create company-specific adaptions of a generic framework for strategic sustainability planning
Sustainable management of materials and products requires continuous evaluation of numerous compl... more Sustainable management of materials and products requires continuous evaluation of numerous complex social, ecological, and economic factors. A number of tools and methods are emerging to support this. One of the most rigorous is life-cycle assessment (LCA). But LCAs often lack a sustainability perspective and bring about difficult trade-offs between specificity and depth, on the one hand, and comprehension and applicability, on the other. This article applies a framework for strategic sustainable development (often referred to as The Natural Step (TNS) framework) based on backcasting from basic principles for sustainability. The aim is to foster a new general approach to the management of materials and products, here termed "strategic life-cycle management. " This includes informing the overall analysis with aspects that are relevant to a basic perspective on (1) sustainability, and (2) strategy to arrive at sustainability. The resulting overview is expected to help avoid costly assessments of flows and practices that are not critical from a sustainability and/or strategic perspective and to help identify strategic gaps in knowledge or potential problems that need further assessment. Early experience indicates that the approach can complement some existing tools and concepts by informing them from a sustainability perspective-for example, current product development and LCA tools.
Electric vehicles seem to offer a great potential for sustainable transport development. The Swed... more Electric vehicles seem to offer a great potential for sustainable transport development. The Swedish pioneer project GreenCharge Southeast is designed as a cooperative action research approach that aims to explore a roadmap for a fossil-free transport system by 2030 with a focus on electric vehicles. It is the following combination of objectives that puts demand on a new process model adapted for cross-sector and cross-disciplinary cooperation: (i) a fossilfree transport system in Sweden by 2030 and, to avoid sub-optimizations in the transport sector, (ii) assuring that solutions that support (i) also serve other aspects of sustainability in the transport sector and, to avoid that sustainable solutions in the transport sector block sustainable solutions in other sectors, (iii) assuring cohesive creativity across sectors and groups of experts and stakeholders. The new process model was applied in an action-research mode for the exploration of electric vehicles within a fully sustainable transport system to test the functionality of the model in support of its development. To deliver on the above combination of objectives, a framework was needed with principles for sustainability that are universal for any sector as boundary conditions for redesign, and with guidelines for how any organization or sector can create economically feasible step-by-step transition plans. The Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD) is designed to serve such purposes and therefore is embedded into the new process model. The exploration of this new model also helped to identify four interdependent planning perspectives ('Resource base', 'Spatial', 'Technical' and 'Governance') that should be represented by the respective experts and stakeholders using the model. In general, the new process model proved helpful by giving diverse stakeholders with various competences and representing various planning perspectives a common, robust, and easy-to-understand goal and a way of working that was adequate for each of their contexts. Furthermore, the evolving process model likely is relevant and useful not only for transport planning and electric vehicles, but for any other societal sector as well and thus for sustainable community planning in general.
In response to the increasingly competitive global market, there is a growing interest in design ... more In response to the increasingly competitive global market, there is a growing interest in design optimization. Being able to include aspects of socio-ecological sustainability in product design should aid companies to both improve current competitiveness and to identify viable long-term investment paths and new business opportunities in the evolving sustainability-driven market. A case study of a water jet cutting machine is used to illustrate a new iterative optimization procedure that combines a technical assessment with a sustainability assessment. Sustainability assessment methods/tools are first used to identify prominent sustainability problems from present-day flows and practices ("societal indicators") and to generate ideas of long-term solutions and visions. Based on this, preliminary ideas about likely desirable changes in machine properties are obtained. Technical investigations are then performed to assess if/how these particularly desirable changes in machine properties could in principle be realized through changes in design variables. After that, obtainable changes are fed back to a new and more refined sustainability assessment to find out the societal implications of these changes. This may in turn result in other desirable design changes, which may call for a new and more refined technical assessment, etcetera. The experience from the case study indicates that the suggested integrated and iterative working procedure should be able to add information about socio-ecological impacts of product properties and influence design criteria used in prioritisation situations during product development.
About this report. This is the English short version of the report 'Vägval 2030. Färdplan för sna... more About this report. This is the English short version of the report 'Vägval 2030. Färdplan för snabbomställning till HÅLLBARA persontransporter'. The report is written by researchers from Blekinge Institute of Technology (BTH) based on a close cooperation with partners from the first phase of the GreenCharge project (2011-2015). See the report backside for a list of the project partners in Spring 2015. This report and a complete version (in Swedish) are available at www.bth.se/sustaintrans.
Vehicles, infrastructure, fuel systems and other energy-driven systems that serve public transpor... more Vehicles, infrastructure, fuel systems and other energy-driven systems that serve public transport are complex with many resource inputs and outputs, and involve many processes. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life Cycle Costing (LCC) helps analyzing those by quantifying environmental and economic effects, but will not in themselves provide a full systems perspective. Swedish authorities have set ambitious national goals, and many regions targets a 100% increase in public transport by 2020. The medium sized city of Karlskrona (36,000 inhabitants), that is included in this study together with Sundsvall and Jonkoping, embraces those goals too. This study analyzes relevant differences between bus solutions, to investigate a change to more sustainable bus propulsion systems. The study zooms down to compare energy carriers (diesel, biodiesel, biogas, and electricity) in different powertrain combinations (combustion engines, electric hybrids, and pure electric). The Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD) where principles are defining a sustainable future is used to broaden from a cost and environmentally shortsighted perspective to a long-term sustainability perspective with systems thinking. The Strategic Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA) is first used to give a quick full scope of sustainability challenges in each bus life cycle stage from extraction to end of life. Then LCA and LCC approaches are used to” dig deeper” into prioritized identified challenges. Initial study results suggest that electric drivetrains would be preferable in city buses within the coming decade - both from an economic and a sustainability perspective. It not only lowers emissions and energy usage, but also provides a platform for future promising energy carriers.
From a theoretical perspective, Electric buses can be more sustainable and can be cheaper than fo... more From a theoretical perspective, Electric buses can be more sustainable and can be cheaper than fossil fuelled buses in city traffic. The authors have not found other studies based on actual urban public transport in Swedish winter climate. Further on, noise measurements from buses for the European market where found old. The aims of this follow-up study was therefore to test and possibly verify in a real-life environment how energy efficient and silent electric buses are, and then conclude on if electric buses are preferable to use in public transport. The Ebusco 2.0 electric bus, fitted with a 311 kWh battery pack, was used and the tests carried out during November 2014 to April 2015 in eight municipalities in the south of Sweden. Six tests took place in urban traffic and two took place in more of a rural traffic setting. The energy use for propulsion was measured via logging of the internal system in the bus and via an external charging meter. The average energy use turned out to be 8 % less (0,96 kWh/km) than assumed in the earlier theoretical study. This rate allows for a 320 km range in public urban traffic. The interior of the bus was kept warm by a diesel heater (biodiesel will probably be used in a future operational traffic situation), which used 0,67 kWh/km in January. This verified that electric buses can be up to 25% cheaper when used in public transport in cities for about eight years. The noise was found to be lower, primarily during acceleration, than for buses with combustion engines in urban bus traffic. According to our surveys, most passengers and drivers appreciated the silent and comfortable ride and preferred electric buses rather than combustion engine buses. Bus operators and passenger transport executives were also positive to start using electric buses for public transport. The operators did however point out that procurement processes need to account for eventual risks regarding this new technology, along with personnel education. The study revealed that it is possible to establish a charging infrastructure for almost all studied bus lines. However, design of a charging infrastructure for each municipality requires further investigations, including electric grid capacity analysis, smart location of charging points, and tailored schedules to allow fast charging. In conclusion, electric buses proved to be a preferable alternative for all stakeholders involved in public bus transport in the studied municipalities. However, in order to electric buses to be a prominent support for sustainable development, they need to be charged either by stand-alone units or via an expansion of the electric grid, and the electricity should be made from new renewable sources
Ambitions within the EU for moving towards sustainable transport include major emission reduction... more Ambitions within the EU for moving towards sustainable transport include major emission reductions for fossil fuel road vehicles, especially for buses, trucks, and cars. The electric driveline seem ...
Products designed for long-life often have significant potential for better sustainability perfor... more Products designed for long-life often have significant potential for better sustainability performance than standard products due to less material and energy usage for a given service provided, which usually also results in a lower total cost. These benefits are not always obvious or appealing to customers, who often focus on price. Long-life products are therefore at an inherent disadvantage: due to lower volume of sales that results from the products' longer-life, the margins (price) often need to be higher. In this paper, we demonstrate that when the revenue base is shifted to be the service of light (instead of the sales of light tubes), there is an opportunity for a "win-win-win" for the light user, the long-life light provider and society. Through a product-service system approach, resulting in a well-communicated total offer, the full array of benefits becomes clearer to the customer, including that they avoid the high initial cost.
Page 1. FORUM Sustainability Constraints as System Boundaries An Approach to Making Life-Cycle Ma... more Page 1. FORUM Sustainability Constraints as System Boundaries An Approach to Making Life-Cycle Management Strategic Henrik Ny, Jamie P. MacDonald, Göran Broman, Ryoichi Yamamoto, and Karl-Henrik Rob`ert Summary ...
who introduced me to the world of systems and modelling. I am deeply grateful to my colleagues at... more who introduced me to the world of systems and modelling. I am deeply grateful to my colleagues at the department of Mechanical Engineering, BTH, for creating a great working climate. Special thanks to my previous and current BTH room mates Kristian Haller, Yogeshwarshing Calleecharan, Sophie Byggeth, Roya Khaleeli, Daniel Johnson. You are all good spirits and I have learned from all of you. David Waldron, thank you for those late nights when we prepared the start of the master's programme and for all those good conversations that always brings me something valuable. Thank you Hördur Haraldsson, Lund Institute of Technology, Lund, Sweden for good brainstorms, cooperation and friendship. I would also like to express my gratitude to all others who have contributed directly or indirectly to my thesis work. I gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the Swedish Knowledge Foundation, NUTEK (the Swedish Business Development Agency), Region Blekinge and the Faculty Board of BTH. v Decision makers seem to need more of an overview and of simplicity around sustainability issues. A general conclusion is, however, that it is important that this is achieved without a loss of relevant aspects and their interrelations. Oversimplifications might lead to sub-optimized designs and investments paths. Combining the BSP framework with more detailed methods/tools seems to be a promising approach to finding the right balance and to get synergies between various methods/tools.
In our study we provide a case study of implementing sustainability aspects into the product deve... more In our study we provide a case study of implementing sustainability aspects into the product development process of a Small and Medium Enterprise (SME). The objective of the study is to, together with the company, co-create a product development process that represents a step towards sustainability. For this a tool called the Method for Sustainable Product Development (MSPD) is used. The methodology of the study includes mapping the current product development process in the organization, adapting the MSPD based on criteria set by the organization, implementing the MSPD into the product development process of the organization in a co-creative way and finally applying the new product development process to a test case within the organization. Various participatory action techniques including workshops and interviews are used to ensure co-creation of the results. It was found that raising questions on sustainability aspects in product development can be seen as a first step of an organizational move towards sustainability. With this the MSPD worked as intended. The practical application showed that further steps were necessary. Particularly additional education in sustainability and theinvolvement of entities in the organization external to the product development process were found as crucial next steps
Planning in modern urban environments requires skills to address complexity in order to move towa... more Planning in modern urban environments requires skills to address complexity in order to move towards sustainability. Co-production of knowledge in transdisciplinary groups represents a useful tool in such contexts. Using the concepts of epistemic communities, linguistic diversity and culture, the article proposes a conceptual framework for analysing complexity of co-production settings, as an indispensable means of managing complex challenges, thus making these complexities visible for the project leader (facilitator) and the participants of the co-production process. We evaluate the framework on the basis of inclusivity, cross-sectoral understanding, applicability in different contexts and time perspectives. Based on the framework, we identify several aspects that a process leader (facilitator) would need to address when preparing for a coproduction process: linguistic equality between participants, disciplinary integrity, a working culture of mutual respect, simultaneous mitigation and informed facilitation. Finally, the article suggests possible future research areas related to development of the framework, including (i) identification of levels of complexity and mapping specific tools to address complexity at each level; (ii) integration of other factors of complexity, such as political and institutional contexts, as well as diversity of gender and age in the facilitated group.
The current public transport offers in the South Baltic region seldom meet customer expectations ... more The current public transport offers in the South Baltic region seldom meet customer expectations for easiness and attractivity of cross-border/regional journeys and rarely include integrated tickets for multimodal rides. To address that, stakeholders from six regions around the southern Baltic Sea developed the INTERCONNECT project that was guided by a holistic perspective on sustainability. Informed by that, this paper's objective was to propose a tool/method containing a planning process with a comprehensive and on-line open-access catalogue of solutions for sustainable cross-border/regional public transport services to inspire and guide planning and decision-making. The tool/method that was developed in this paper include a 7-step process and a catalogue of 42 solutions that were developed through several workshops and discussions among the authors and other experts in the field. The findings were compared and integrated with literature findings, practical experiences, then assessed against a principled definition of sustainability, and finally scrutinized and reviewed by project partners and external experts. The authors expect the results to sufficiently cover possible solutions for strategic sustainable development of cross-border/regional public transport and to inspire further development in other regions with similar infrastructure and financial means.
Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, Feb 1, 2014
This is an author produced version of a conference paper. The paper has been peer-reviewed but ma... more This is an author produced version of a conference paper. The paper has been peer-reviewed but may not include the final publisher proof-corrections or pagination of the proceedings.
Sustainability related challenges in mobility planning have been recognised at the international ... more Sustainability related challenges in mobility planning have been recognised at the international level, and the urgency for change has been widely discussed among scholars. However, there seems to be no general agreement on the best ways to pursue such change. To seek answers to the question of how to pursue change, this study analysed the development of the broad research fields of mobility, urban planning and transitions, and the overlap of these bodies of literature. Both academic and non-academic literatures were covered. By means of a systematic literature review, as well as bibliometric studies, several prominent research themes that address change from planning and transition perspectives were identified. Moreover, these themes describe different viewpoints and challenges in mobility planning. These include planning and policy for sustainable mobility and accessibility, backcasting and scenario planning, indicators in planning, modes of transport, decision-making, studies of global North and global South, as well as overarching themes of equity, equality and justice, roles of institutions, and co-production of knowledge. Strategies for staying up to date with these fields were also identified. In the literature covered, the temporal dimension in mobility planning was described in four different ways, but little was found about how accelerated transitions towards sustainable mobility can be achieved. Further knowledge gaps were identified in relation to behavioural change, policy development, institutionalisation of planning capacity, and social sustainability in mobility planning. This created an outline for possible future studies.
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