Papers by Amir Hamzah Sharaai
ABSTRACT It is undeniable that we cannot live without water. Safe and clean water supply is cruci... more ABSTRACT It is undeniable that we cannot live without water. Safe and clean water supply is crucial to human life activities. It is estimated that 80 per cent of all diseases and more than a third of death in this world is caused by using contaminated water. Constant effort that started in the 1980s has brought water services and sanitation to hundreds of millions of the poor population of the world. Among the efforts are the launch of Sanitation Century and International Drinking Water supply in 1981 resulting in the Mar del Plata Action Plan used by the United Nations. But do we know that to produce clean drinking water, chemicals and electricity are needed? Life cycle assessment (LCA) has found that the chemicals and electricity generation in the drinking water production has the potential of releasing green house gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, carbon monoxide and dinitrogen monoxide. Thus raising the dilemma between basic necessity and the issue of saving the world from the impact of climate change. The use of LCA as a tool to achieve sustainable development could detect weaknesses in any system studied. Analysis has shown that the electricity generation using natural gas fuel emits the highest green house gases such as carbon dioxide (95.26%) and methane (4.47%) while PAC contributes the lowest. This situation should be solved by using electricity generated from alternative sources such as photovoltaic and hydroelectric that emits less green house gases.
Palm oil can be considered as a mainstay in the regional development and economic growth of Malay... more Palm oil can be considered as a mainstay in the regional development and economic growth of Malaysia. It is an important raw material for local industries and as an export product. Most recently, palm oil has been referred to as a promising feedstock for the production of biofuel which could lead Malaysia towards a low carbon society. With the growing concern towards the increase of energy demand and global warming, the conversion of palm biomass to biogas for power generation has then been recognized as a feasible option in response to the mentioned problems. Nevertheless, various constraints have come in the way to slow down the biofuel production. Therefore, this paper presents an overview on the existing renewable energy (RE) policy and its current programme status, as well as to identify the challenges facing the Malaysian palm oil mill effluent (POME) and biogas industry in order to propose appropriate measures for further improvement of the programme.
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is known as a tool to evaluate and assessing the impacts of products ... more Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is known as a tool to evaluate and assessing the impacts of products towards the environment. It will include all the process or activities used and waste released into the environment. In detail, LCA involved the collection and evaluation of quantitative data on the inputs and outputs of material, energy and waste flows associated with a product over its entire life cycle. The objective of this study is to identify potential impact of sawmill manufacturing process. This study followed the four phases as stipulated in the International Organization for Standardization (ISO 14040 series of standard) for conducting LCA studies such as goal and scope definition, Life Cycle Inventory analysis (LCI), Life Cycle Impacts Assessment (LCIA), and Interpretation.
Household carbon emission (HCE) is a growing concern among develop countries such as China, Unite... more Household carbon emission (HCE) is a growing concern among develop countries such as China, United States, and United Kingdom. Numerous researches have been done in order to identify the factors contributing to increase of HCE. Among the factors are numbers of occupants, household incomes, transportation fuels, electricity and liquefy petroleum gas (LPG) consumption, and waste generated by households. Unfortunately, results from these researches are possibly inapplicable at Malaysia due to difference in type of study area and climate. Thus, the purpose of this research is to identify the primary factor contributed to HCE at a residential area in Penang with the application of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The independent variables involved in the research are the numbers of households, household total incomes, electricity consumptions, LPG consumptions, and transportation fuel. The samples consist of 52 households using simple random sampling. There are significant positive correlations between total household income, electricity consumption, and transportation fuel with the amount of HCE. Transportation fuel was the main contributors for HCE at the residential area (β = 1.003, C.R. = 301.315, p < 0.05).
Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a method to analyse a particular product or service. It begins wit... more Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a method to analyse a particular product or service. It begins with the process of extraction until the product is exhausted by 'cradle-to-grave' analysis. The LCA includes establishment of an inventory, that is all types of emissions and also waste products. After that, this inventory would be translated or transformed to show the impact on environment in the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA). Two LCIA methods has been accepted such as Midpoint and Endpoint approach. TRACI is one method that uses Midpoint approach. From the analysis on the two stages of potable water production, that is between construction stage and production stage, production stage contributes a higher impact in comparison to the construction stage. At the production stage, the weakness was due to the usage of PAC, lime and electricity. However, at the construction stage, the process of producing steel seems to be the main source of impact such as HH cancer and HH noncancer. The process of producing PAC liberates Nitrogen oxides and Sulfur oxides which contributes to five types of impacts such as acidification, HH criteria air - point, HH criteria air - mobile, euthrophication and smog. In lime production, four impacts are HH cancer ground - surface, HH cancer root - zone, HH noncancer ground - surface and HH noncancer root -zone) results from the emissions during the waste treatment (drilling waste to land farming) such as Arsenic and Aluminum. Whereas in the production of electricity, four very high impacts give rise to global warming, HH cancer, HH noncancer dan ecotoxicity. Even though the impact from construction stage is very low in comparison to the production stage, a few problems have been detected during the process of producing building materials. Among those materials, the production of steel produces the highest impact to the environment. © 2010, INSInet Publication.
Malaysia is a country that is very committed in ensuring a constant development in a sustainable ... more Malaysia is a country that is very committed in ensuring a constant development in a sustainable way by creating a balance between economy, social and environment. It can be proven as Malaysia is ranked in a very good position in Environmental Sustainability Index. But this ranking should be a guideline to ensure the pockets of weaknesses in executing sustainable development in this country should be filled especially in effectively managing the environment. Ozone Depletion Substances (ODS) emission needed an environmental management method that is capable to identify the cause of this problem in order to the right action could be taken in place to mitigate the problem of ozone depletion. Event though drastic measures were taken in this country such as the ban of Halon gas use in fire control sector as a signatory to the Montreal Protocol 1989, it does not mean that this measure is enough to stop ODS from being emitted to the air. The use of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in a water treatment system proves that this method is capable to identify substances that emit ODS. Chemicals and electricity used in the water treatment is found to emits 8 types of ODS and Methane, bromotrifluoro-, Halon 1301 is contributed the most compared to the other 7 types. Aluminium sulphate (alum) is substance that contributed the most Methane, bromotrifluoro- and Halon 1301 in the atmosphere. Life cycle analysis conducted to identify the cause of ODS emission in Alum found that electricity generation using coal and fossil fuel contributed the highest ODS emission. Electricity generation through hydroelectric is found not to emit any ODS at all. The advantage of LCA in identifying weaknesses and shortcomings of a product should not be taken lightly by Malaysia. Malaysia should use LCA as an effective environmental management method that indirectly secures Malaysia's current ranking to a better position in the future.
Eco labeling can be served as an essential tool for environmental protection and sustainable deve... more Eco labeling can be served as an essential tool for environmental protection and sustainable development. However, it depends too much on consumers’ buying power.
Thus, it is crucial to study the awareness, knowledge, and attitude of the consumers towards Eco labeling and Eco label products. A number of 250 students from Faculty of Environmental Studies in UPM were selected as the respondents using random sampling method. Descriptive analysis and Spearman’s correlation between awareness
and attitude, knowledge and attitude, and awareness and knowledge were also used in this study. Results showed that most of the respondents are aware and know about the
Eco labeling. However, most of them are restrained from buying the Eco label products due to the money constraints. It also indicated that those correlations have a significant,
but with different relations. Relation between awareness and attitude (r=0.203) showed a very weak pattern, relation between attitude and knowledge (r=0.360) showed a weak
pattern, while relation between awareness and knowledge (r=0.666) showed a moderate pattern. These significant correlations showed that environmental studies do affect the
Faculty of Environmental Studies students’ lifestyle for better environmental protection and sustainable development.
A huge number of available Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies have shown that data availability ... more A huge number of available Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies have shown that data availability for paper products is enormous regionally. In Malaysia, LCA practices are considered
uncommon attributed to the lack of data availability and LCA practitioner itself. Therefore, a
cradle-to-cradle study has been carried out to determine the potential impacts arise from the recycled paper production in Malaysia. LCA methodology used in this study including goal and scope definition, inventory analysis (LCI), impact assessment (LCIA) and interpretation is based on ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 framework. A series of input-output data collection has been carried out and the collected data was calculated by using Simapro software followed by data evaluation using
Eco-indicator 99 method. The results showed that the most significant impacts generated throughout the system were fossil fuel and resources at the midpoint and endpoint level
respectively. This can be attributed to a high consumption of chemicals and energy in the pulp and paper manufacturing process. As a consequence, a comprehensive practice in mill specifically on chemicals and resources include water and energy consumption, as well as the waste management
and recycling system needs to be addressed explicitly to mitigate the relevant impacts.
Commercial conventional of poultry production at largest scale in this country show escalation ye... more Commercial conventional of poultry production at largest scale in this country show escalation year by year, together with high demand of poultry product in Malaysia market. The aim of this research was to identify environmental impact hotspots in the whole supply chain of quail meat production in Jasin, Melaka. At present, assessment of environmental impact of poultry production in Malaysia is lacking. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate the energy use
and environmental impacts of quail meat production in Jasin, Melaka through life cycle assessment. A cradle-to-gate assessment including distribution stage was conducted based on the ISO 14040/14044 guidelines. Life cycle inventory data was collected from farmers and available literature. Life cycle impact assessment was conducted to identify environmental impacts using the
available method in the openLCA software. Life cycle processes related to feed production, electricity and water were identified as the major hotspots for energy and they also showed the most significant contribution in GWP and acidication potential among the environmental impacts categories. Improving efficiency of energy and water consumption will reduce the environmental
burden associated with quail meat production. Thus, at the end of this research, it will able to make industry player to understand and take into consideration the solutions in order to promote a green quail meat production.
The present study is to identify the effective way to support the Go Green campaign among higher ... more The present study is to identify the effective way to support the Go Green campaign among higher education level students based on their gender. The targeted population for this research is the students of Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) in Serdang. Currently, in Malaysia, there are a lot of initiatives taken to increase the awareness of environmental issues among the public. Thus, UPM has joined in with the effort of trying to save the environment in many possible ways. Among the activities that are being carried out in UPM are promoting to use bicycles instead of cars, reducing the uses of polystyrene and also reducing the uses of plastic bag by constantly reminding the students about the effects that they have on the environment. In determining the most effective way to support the Go Green campaign, a group of students is selected randomly to be the sample of this study. The amount of sample taken is 269 students to represent the whole population. They were to choose what activity that they mostly prefer to do in supporting the campaign through the questionnaire distributed based on the objective of the research. The data collected are analyzed using Chi Square test which shows that there is a significant difference (X² = 23.149, df = 7, p < 0.05). Finally, the difference in choosing the effective way in supporting the Go Green campaign based on the gender of the students have been determined and it showed that the male students chose car pooling with standard residual value of 3.5, which is the highest value of the results.
This Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) study compares two types of drinking water technologies;... more This Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) study compares two types of drinking water technologies; Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) technology and Ultra Filtration technology. The selected plant for this study has both types of technologies in use. Collected data are from the usage of electricity and chemicals used in the water treatment process. The Eco-Indicator 99 was chosen to indicate extent of damage from collected inventories. From the result of impact assessment conducted, it is found that Ultrafiltration technology contributes higher impact to all three categories of damages; damage to environmental quality, damage to human health and damage to source when this technology is compared to DAF technology.
Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a method to analyse a particular product or service. It begins wit... more Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a method to analyse a particular product or service. It begins with the process of extraction until the product is exhausted by 'cradle-to-grave' analysis. The LCA includes establishment of an inventory, that is all types of emissions and also waste products. After that, this inventory would be translated or transformed to show the impact on environment in the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA). Two LCIA methods has been accepted such as Midpoint and Endpoint approach. TRACI is one method that uses Midpoint approach. From the analysis on the two stages of potable water production, that is between construction stage and production stage, production stage contributes a higher impact in comparison to the construction stage. At the production stage, the weakness was due to the usage of PAC, lime and electricity. However, at the construction stage, the process of producing steel seems to be the main source of impact such as HH cancer and HH noncancer. The process of producing PAC liberates Nitrogen oxides and Sulfur oxides which contributes to five types of impacts such as acidification, HH criteria air -point, HH criteria airmobile, euthrophication and smog. In lime production, four impacts are HH cancer ground -surface, HH cancer root -zone, HH noncancer ground -surface and HH noncancer root -zone) results from the emissions during the waste treatment (drilling waste to land farming) such as Arsenic and Aluminum. Whereas in the production of electricity, four very high impacts give rise to global warming, HH cancer, HH noncancer dan ecotoxicity. Even though the impact from construction stage is very low in comparison to the production stage, a few problems have been detected during the process of producing building materials. Among those materials, the production of steel produces the highest impact to the environment.
Malaysia is a country that is very committed in ensuring a constant development in a sustainable ... more Malaysia is a country that is very committed in ensuring a constant development in a sustainable way by creating a balance between economy, social and environment. It can be proven as Malaysia is ranked in a very good position in Environmental Sustainability Index. But this ranking should be a guideline to ensure the pockets of weaknesses in executing sustainable development in this country should be filled especially in effectively managing the environment. Ozone Depletion Substances (ODS) emission needed an environmental management method that is capable to identify the cause of this problem in order to the right action could be taken in place to mitigate the problem of ozone depletion. Event though drastic measures were taken in this country such as the ban of Halon gas use in fire control sector as a signatory to the Montreal Protocol 1989, it does not mean that this measure is enough to stop ODS from being emitted to the air. The use of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in a water treatment system proves that this method is capable to identify substances that emit ODS. Chemicals and electricity used in the water treatment is found to emits 8 types of ODS and Methane, bromotrifluoro-, Halon 1301 is contributed the most compared to the other 7 types. Aluminium sulphate (alum) is substance that contributed the most Methane, bromotrifluoro-and Halon 1301 in the atmosphere. Life cycle analysis conducted to identify the cause of ODS emission in Alum found that electricity generation using coal and fossil fuel contributed the highest ODS emission. Electricity generation through hydroelectric is found not to emit any ODS at all. The advantage of LCA in identifying weaknesses and shortcomings of a product should not be taken lightly by Malaysia. Malaysia should use LCA as an effective environmental management method that indirectly secures Malaysia's current ranking to a better position in the future.
Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a method use to analyze a product or a service from the beginning ... more Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a method use to analyze a product or a service from the beginning of the process where it is extracted until it is not useful anymore or it is known as cradle-to-grave analysis. LCA analysis includes the inventory collecting all types of emission and waste. After it is done, the inventory will be interpreted to the environmental impacts in life cycle impact assessment (LCIA). Two LCIA methods identified were "midpoint and endpoint" approaches. The ecological scarcity (ecopoints) is an LCIA method using "midpoint" approach. From the analysis to both life cycle stages, analysis for potable water production which was construction stage and production stage indicated that both stages contributed two main impacts namely: NOx and SOx. In the production stage, NOx and SOx were released from PAC production. On the other hand, for the construction stage, NOx and SOx were released from steel production process.
LCA is a systematic procedure which assesses the lifecycle of a product to analyze the extent of ... more LCA is a systematic procedure which assesses the lifecycle of a product to analyze the extent of its environmental impact contribution. In this LCA study comparison between three different water treatment plants in Malaysia have been conducted. Conventional Plant (using Dissolved Air Floatation (DAF) and Pulsatube ® Clarifier Technology) must undergo treatment process uses a standard system of screening, coagulation and flocculation, sedimentation, filtration and disinfection processes. While nonconventional plant using Ultrafiltration (UF) not does go through processes like conventional plant. In reviewing the water treatment process by using LCA procedures, detailed information of every process involved is needed, including acquiring the energy information and materials consumed during the entire treatment process. The LCA procedure applied in this research uses the ISO 14040 series. Data inventory from selected month will be analyzed to gauge the impact to the environment using Eco-indicator 99 method. The high consumption of electricity in UF and DAF technologies is the contributing factors to the depletion of natural resources. Even though the electricity consumption in pulsatube ® clarifier technology is seen as efficient, but its PAC chemical usage is seen as the major contributor to the reduction of environmental quality and human health. Keyword: life cycle assessment (LCA); life cycle impact assessment (LCIA): potable water; dissolved air floatation (DAF): pulsatube ® clarifier; ultrafiltration (UF) Available online at www.tshe.org/EA EnvironmentAsia 3(1) (2010) 95-102
LCA is a systematic procedure which assesses the lifecycle of a product to analyze the extent of ... more LCA is a systematic procedure which assesses the lifecycle of a product to analyze the extent of its environmental impact contribution. In this LCA study comparison between three different water treatment plants in Malaysia have been conducted. Conventional Plant (using Dissolved Air Floatation (DAF) and Pulsatube ® Clarifier Technology) must undergo treatment process uses a standard system of screening, coagulation and flocculation, sedimentation, filtration and disinfection processes. While nonconventional plant using Ultrafiltration (UF) not does go through processes like conventional plant. In reviewing the water treatment process by using LCA procedures, detailed information of every process involved is needed, including acquiring the energy information and materials consumed during the entire treatment process. The LCA procedure applied in this research uses the ISO 14040 series. Data inventory from selected month will be analyzed to gauge the impact to the environment using Eco-indicator 99 method. The high consumption of electricity in UF and DAF technologies is the contributing factors to the depletion of natural resources. Even though the electricity consumption in pulsatube ® clarifier technology is seen as efficient, but its PAC chemical usage is seen as the major contributor to the reduction of environmental quality and human health. Keyword: life cycle assessment (LCA); life cycle impact assessment (LCIA): potable water; dissolved air floatation (DAF): pulsatube ® clarifier; ultrafiltration (UF) Available online at www.tshe.org/EA EnvironmentAsia 3(1) (2010) 95-102
The world climate change is a phenomenon that is widely discussed in recent times. It causes a hu... more The world climate change is a phenomenon that is widely discussed in recent times. It causes a huge impact to the population of the world. Global warming causes the world's rainfall pattern to change including Malaysia. Today wet and dry season is very hard to be accurately predicted. Rainy season is getting more frequent and causing destruction to properties and halting economic growth of a nation. Evidence shows that climate change and global warming is caused by human's own lifestyle and activities. Man's savage way is the main caused for global climate change. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a tool that could be used to assess a product or service from cradleto-grave. This tool is capable of proving that every human invention has weaknesses and is threatening human life. In water treatment process, chemicals and electricity is needed. A sudden increase in water level in river caused by heavy rain resulted in higher usage of chemicals to treat water. Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) which uses ecoindicator 99 evaluation method to assess the chemicals and electricity, shows that the production of Polyaluminium chloride (PAC) causes damage to human health (respiratory inorganic) while electricity generation is fast depleting the natural resource of fossil fuel such as natural gas. These situation show that the irregular rate of rainfall resulted from the world's climate change not only affect human (eg. Inorganic respitory) but also indirectly causing destruction to the environment (depletion of natural gas) during the treatment of water. To overcome this problem the use of PAC as coagulant can be substituted with Alum. From the impact analysis, it is found that by replacing PAC with Alum, damage is reduced to more than 90% in damage to human health and ecosystem quality. This the same if electricity generation using natural gas is replaced with the combination of natural gas and renewable energy technologies such as solar panels and hydroelectric. Impact analysis also shows that there is 50% reduction in damage to resources when 50% natural gas and 50% renewable energy (solar panel and hydroelectric) without affecting human health and the environment.
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Papers by Amir Hamzah Sharaai
Thus, it is crucial to study the awareness, knowledge, and attitude of the consumers towards Eco labeling and Eco label products. A number of 250 students from Faculty of Environmental Studies in UPM were selected as the respondents using random sampling method. Descriptive analysis and Spearman’s correlation between awareness
and attitude, knowledge and attitude, and awareness and knowledge were also used in this study. Results showed that most of the respondents are aware and know about the
Eco labeling. However, most of them are restrained from buying the Eco label products due to the money constraints. It also indicated that those correlations have a significant,
but with different relations. Relation between awareness and attitude (r=0.203) showed a very weak pattern, relation between attitude and knowledge (r=0.360) showed a weak
pattern, while relation between awareness and knowledge (r=0.666) showed a moderate pattern. These significant correlations showed that environmental studies do affect the
Faculty of Environmental Studies students’ lifestyle for better environmental protection and sustainable development.
uncommon attributed to the lack of data availability and LCA practitioner itself. Therefore, a
cradle-to-cradle study has been carried out to determine the potential impacts arise from the recycled paper production in Malaysia. LCA methodology used in this study including goal and scope definition, inventory analysis (LCI), impact assessment (LCIA) and interpretation is based on ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 framework. A series of input-output data collection has been carried out and the collected data was calculated by using Simapro software followed by data evaluation using
Eco-indicator 99 method. The results showed that the most significant impacts generated throughout the system were fossil fuel and resources at the midpoint and endpoint level
respectively. This can be attributed to a high consumption of chemicals and energy in the pulp and paper manufacturing process. As a consequence, a comprehensive practice in mill specifically on chemicals and resources include water and energy consumption, as well as the waste management
and recycling system needs to be addressed explicitly to mitigate the relevant impacts.
and environmental impacts of quail meat production in Jasin, Melaka through life cycle assessment. A cradle-to-gate assessment including distribution stage was conducted based on the ISO 14040/14044 guidelines. Life cycle inventory data was collected from farmers and available literature. Life cycle impact assessment was conducted to identify environmental impacts using the
available method in the openLCA software. Life cycle processes related to feed production, electricity and water were identified as the major hotspots for energy and they also showed the most significant contribution in GWP and acidication potential among the environmental impacts categories. Improving efficiency of energy and water consumption will reduce the environmental
burden associated with quail meat production. Thus, at the end of this research, it will able to make industry player to understand and take into consideration the solutions in order to promote a green quail meat production.
Thus, it is crucial to study the awareness, knowledge, and attitude of the consumers towards Eco labeling and Eco label products. A number of 250 students from Faculty of Environmental Studies in UPM were selected as the respondents using random sampling method. Descriptive analysis and Spearman’s correlation between awareness
and attitude, knowledge and attitude, and awareness and knowledge were also used in this study. Results showed that most of the respondents are aware and know about the
Eco labeling. However, most of them are restrained from buying the Eco label products due to the money constraints. It also indicated that those correlations have a significant,
but with different relations. Relation between awareness and attitude (r=0.203) showed a very weak pattern, relation between attitude and knowledge (r=0.360) showed a weak
pattern, while relation between awareness and knowledge (r=0.666) showed a moderate pattern. These significant correlations showed that environmental studies do affect the
Faculty of Environmental Studies students’ lifestyle for better environmental protection and sustainable development.
uncommon attributed to the lack of data availability and LCA practitioner itself. Therefore, a
cradle-to-cradle study has been carried out to determine the potential impacts arise from the recycled paper production in Malaysia. LCA methodology used in this study including goal and scope definition, inventory analysis (LCI), impact assessment (LCIA) and interpretation is based on ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 framework. A series of input-output data collection has been carried out and the collected data was calculated by using Simapro software followed by data evaluation using
Eco-indicator 99 method. The results showed that the most significant impacts generated throughout the system were fossil fuel and resources at the midpoint and endpoint level
respectively. This can be attributed to a high consumption of chemicals and energy in the pulp and paper manufacturing process. As a consequence, a comprehensive practice in mill specifically on chemicals and resources include water and energy consumption, as well as the waste management
and recycling system needs to be addressed explicitly to mitigate the relevant impacts.
and environmental impacts of quail meat production in Jasin, Melaka through life cycle assessment. A cradle-to-gate assessment including distribution stage was conducted based on the ISO 14040/14044 guidelines. Life cycle inventory data was collected from farmers and available literature. Life cycle impact assessment was conducted to identify environmental impacts using the
available method in the openLCA software. Life cycle processes related to feed production, electricity and water were identified as the major hotspots for energy and they also showed the most significant contribution in GWP and acidication potential among the environmental impacts categories. Improving efficiency of energy and water consumption will reduce the environmental
burden associated with quail meat production. Thus, at the end of this research, it will able to make industry player to understand and take into consideration the solutions in order to promote a green quail meat production.