FRM -Producción en Investigación, Desarrollo e Innovación
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Item The GWP-Chart: an environmental tool for guiding urban planning processes. Application to concrete sidewalks(2011-05-01) Arena, PabloThe systematized study of urban morphology has led to the development of integrated tools based on the knowledge of the relation between physical density and urban form. These tools do help planners and decision makers; however, environmental data is rarely included in them. This paper presents the GWP-Chart, a method that combines urban planning tools with environmental data, obtained through the use of the life cycle assessment (LCA) results. In order to explain its use, three urban fabrics have been selected. According to their morphology and their ground space index (GSI) and public space ratio (PSR) values, the contribution of the sidewalk subsystem to the global impact per square meter of urban development can be quantified and communicated. The GWP-Chart is applicable to all types of urban fabrics and scales (street or square, island, fabric or district), as well as adaptable to any urban infrastructure or subsystem and can be extended to other environmental impacts. Its advantages lie in its accurateness, adaptability and ease of interpretation.Item Evaluación técnica y ambiental de un calefón solar de bajo costo(2013-01-01) Arena, Pablo; Gardey Merino, María; Rivarola, DoraSe presenta un calefón solar de bajo costo construido con materiales reciclables y de reuso. Midiendo tanto la temperatura ambiente, como la de entrada y salida del colector solar, se provee una estimación del rendimiento del sistema en la que se alcanzó una interesante cobertura energética cercana al 70%. Se llevó a cabo el Análisis de Ciclo de Vida del calefón solar usando el software SimaPro, permitiendo cuantificar la carga ambiental asociada con cada componente del sistema. Los mayores impactos están asociados con el combustible requerido para transporte y compra de los materiales, al proceso de generación de electricidad y de caños de PVC, todos expresados en kg de CO2 . Se propusieron también algunas modificaciones sobre el modelo original con el objeto de mejorar el rendimiento y vida útil del dispositivo, pero el impacto ambiental de este último sistema es mayor que el del modelo construidoItem Indicadores de sostenibilidad. Huella de carbono y huella hídrica de un viñedo considerando distintos sistemas de riego en Mendoza, Argentina(2012-01-01) Arena, Pablo; Piastrellini, RoxanaArgentina es el quinto productor de vinos a nivel internacional y el 70% de los viñedos argentinos están localizados en Mendoza. Los vinos mendocinos han conquistado mercados internacionales donde los requerimientos de sostenibilidad son cada vez más exigentes. Este estudio presenta el cálculo de la huella de carbono y la huella hídrica en la etapa de cultivo de vid en una finca situada en Mendoza. En él se consideran las actividades de mantenimiento del suelo, irrigación, fertilización, control de plagas y malezas y cosecha. La huella hídrica se determinó contemplando tres sistemas de riego y sus eficiencias correspondientes. Los resultados obtenidos constituyen una contribución significativa al uso sostenible de los recursos para las condiciones locales. El etapa agrícola es uno de los puntos relevantes donde se deben tomar medidas para disminuir las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero y el consumo de agua.Item Energy life-cycle analysis of soybean biodiesel : effects of tillage and water management(2017-03-17) Arena, Pablo; Piastrellini, Roxana; Civit, BárbaraThe purpose of this paper is to carry out an updated energy Life-Cycle Assessment of soybean biodiesel produced in the Pampean region of Argentina and to analyze the influence of different tillage systems on the Energy Return on Investment (EROI). It aims to identify the processes, materials and methodological aspects that significantly affect biofuel EROI. The procedure considers the main processes and operations of both the agriculture and industrial stages of biofuel production system, but the main novelty of this study is linking EROI with farming and conservation practices and not in the chemical processing of the oil. The results obtained represent the current average energetic performance of soy-based biodiesel produced in the considered region. The EROI values are very encouraging, demonstrating that this biodiesel provides a net energy gain. The results also show that conservation agriculture and the implementation of practices that improve crop yield do not always determine better energetic performance. Sensitivity analysis confirms that EROI values of soybean biodiesel are more responsive to methodological choices such as the system's boundary definition and the choice of the allocation method rather than to the physical aspects of the productive system such as tillage and water management practices.Item Life cycle assessment of energy and environmental implications 3 of the implementation of conservation technologies in school buildings in Mendoza-Argentina(2002-02-21) Arena, PabloThe energy and environmental implications of applying di/erent conservative technologies in school buildings in arid Andean regions of Mendoza—Argentina have been assessed in this work using life cycle assessment. The case studied is a school building which has 11 recently been built in Lavalle, a county in northern Mendoza’s province. The obtained results show that almost all the environmental e/ects investigated are improved when the conservative technologies are implemented, except for the photochemical ozone formation 13 potential. The use of wood in an uncontrolled combustion as the energetic source for brick baking has been identi4ed as the responsible process of that unintended negative e/ect. ? 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.Item Assessing potential desertification environmental impact in life cycle assessment. Part 2 : agricultural case study in Spain and Argentina(2013-04-09) Arena, Pablo; Civit, BárbaraPurpose Land use in dry lands can result in a final stage where land is completely depleted or entirely degraded causing the desertification phenomenon. The first part (part 1) of this series of two articles proposed a methodology to include desertification in life cycle assessment (LCA). A set of variables to be measured in the life cycle inventory, characterization factors, and an impact assessment method for the life cycle impact assessment phase were proposed. This second part (part 2) aims at showing the application of the model proposed in part 1 on two case studies of agricultural activities. Methods The impact model proposed is applied to plots of land devoted to agricultural activities in two countries: Argentina and Spain. In the agricultural plots of Spain (1SP to 9SP), two crops were analyzed: winter wheat (Triticum aestivum) and rapeseed (RS, Brassica napus). Two crops were considered in the Argentinean case study: rapeseed (RS, B. napus) and digit grass (Digitaria eriantha) (10AR to 17AR). A bare soil state is considered in both countries as a reference state. Both case studies consider only the agricultural stage in the inventory of a complete life cycle assessment study. Both also consider only one impact category in life cycle environmental assessment: desertification impact due to land occupation. Results and discussion On the basis of the obtained results, it can be inferred that cultivating 1 ha of rapeseed and 1 ha of wheat has the same impact on the analyzed plots in Spain and improves the reference state conditions in 50 % of the cases. Moreover, rapeseed grown in Mendoza produces almost the same impact as in some of the Spanish plots. Normalized areas of plots could be useful to compare results in different regions of the world to avoid the influence of the area of occupation in results. Conclusions The proposed model implies a contribution of significant importance because so far there has not been an impact assessment tool for land use in dry lands within the LCA framework. The main strength of the proposed model is that it allows a simple way to quantify the desertification impact. Also, it is emphasized that the model can be adapted virtually without difficulty to the evaluation of all types of crops with different management practices in different regions in the life cycle impact assessment stage.Item Assessing potential desertification environmental impact in life cycle assessment Part 1 : methodological aspects(2009-10-21) Arena, Pablo; Civit, BárbaraBackground, aim and scope Life cycle assessment (LCA) enables the objective assessment of global environmental burdens associated with the life cycle of a product or a production system. One of the main weaknesses of LCA is that, as yet, there is no scientific agreement on the assessment methods for land-use related impacts, which results in either the exclusion or the lack of assessment of local environmental impacts related to land use. The inclusion of the desertification impact in LCA studies of any human activity can be important in high-desertification risk regions. Main features This paper focuses on the development of a methodology for including the desertification environmental impact derived from land use in LCA studies. A set of variables to be measured in the life cycle inventory (LCI), their characterisation factors (CFs) and an impact assessment method for the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) phase are suggested. The CFs were acquired using a geographical information system (GIS). Results For the LCI stage it is necessary to register information on: (1) the four biophysical variables of aridity, erosion, aquifer overexploitation and fire risk, with a created scale of values; (2) the geographical location of the activity and (3) the spatial and temporal extension of the activity. For the CFs, the four LCI biophysical variables in (1) were measured for the main terrestrial natural regions (ecoregions) by means of GIS. Discussion Using GIS, calculation of the CF for the aridity variable shows that 38% of the world area, in eight out of 15 existing ecoregions, is at risk of desertification. The most affected is the tropical/subtropical desert. The LCIA model has been developed to identify scenarios without desertification impact. Conclusions The developed method makes possible the inclusion of the desertification impact derived from land use in LCA studies, using data generally available to LCA users. Recommendations and perspectives While this LCIA model may be a simplified approach, it can be calibrated and Responsible editor: Llorenç Milà i Canals Preamble In this series of two papers, methodological aspects related to the assessment of desertification environmental impact in life cycle assessment (LCA) are discussed (Part 1), and the operational method and characterisation factors suggested are put into practise in a case study of energy crops in different regions worldwide (Part 2). M. Núñez (*) : P. Muñoz IRTA, SosteniPrA, Ctra. de Cabrils, Km 2 Cabrils, 08348 Barcelona, Spain e-mail: Montserrat.nunez@irta.cat A. Antón SosteniPrA (UAB-IRTA), Ctra. de Cabrils, Km 2 Cabrils, 08348 Barcelona, Spain B. Civit : A. P. Arena Universidad Tecnológica Nacional—Facultad Regional Mendoza/CONICET, Rodríguez 273, 5500 Mendoza, Argentina J. Rieradevall ICTA, SosteniPrA. Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain J. Rieradevall Chemical Engineering Department, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain Int J Life Cycle Assess (2010) 15:67–78 DOI 10.1007/s11367-009-0126-0 improved for different case studies. The model proposed is suitable for assessing the desertification impact of any type of human activity and may be complemented with specific activity indicators, and although we have considered biophysical factors, the method can be extended to socioeconomic vectors.Item Avances en Análisis de Ciclo de Vida y Huellas Ambientales en Argentina: selección de trabajos ENARCIV 2014(Universidad Tecnológica Nacional. Facultad Regional Mendoza, 2023-03-03) Piastrellini, Roxana; Arena, Pablo; Civit, BárbaraEl presente volumen contiene una selección de trabajos presentados en el III Encuentro Argentino de Ciclo de Vida y II Encuentro de la Red Argentina de Huella Hídrica - ENARCIV 2014. Los trabajos aquí incluidos representan una porción significativa de los avances recientes en análisis de ciclo de vida y huellas ambientales de productos, procesos y organizaciones en Argentina. Este encuentro tiene como principales objetivos: • Difundir las actividades que se realizan en el contexto nacional, y fortalecer las capacidades existentes para la utilización de las herramientas concebidas con óptica de ciclo de vida, tales como las huellas de carbono e hídrica, el análisis de costo de ciclo de vida, el análisis social de ciclo de vida, y el análisis ambiental de ciclo de vida. • Contribuir al establecimiento de sinergias entre los individuos e instituciones participantes, promoviendo el establecimiento de proyectos de cooperación, dirección conjunta de trabajos de tesis de distinto nivel académico, intercambio de datos, etc. • Avanzar en el establecimiento de criterios comunes para el desarrollo de inventarios de ciclo de vida, tendientes a desarrollo de una base de datos nacionalItem Atlas de energía solar y de biomasa: una herramienta para la valoración de fuentes renovables de energía en la provincia de Mendoza(Universidad Tecnológica Nacional. Facultad Regional Mendoza, 2021-03-03) Piastrellini, Roxana; Rodríguez, Paula; Henderson, Germán; Arena, PabloEl potencial de aprovechamiento de la energía solar y de biomasa en la Provincia de Mendoza es significativamente mayor a su actual uso, y para su desarrollo futuro es menester realizar una importante tarea de difusión de las posibilidades existentes. El objetivo de esta obra es poner a disposición información que posibilite identificar y valorar con un alto nivel de precisión las potencialidades (o limitaciones) de cada región y departamento de la Provincia de Mendoza para el aprovechamiento de la energía solar y de biomasa. El libro hace referencia a un Atlas web desarrollado por el grupo CLIOPE (UTN-FRM), de acceso libre y gratuito, que permite al usuario visualizar de manera interactiva información geográfica sobre irradiancia solar en superficie, disponibilidad de biomasa de distinto origen y potencial bioenergético, y combinarla con información sobre aspectos político-administrativos, físico-naturales, infraestructura y servicios. El Atlas cuenta actualmente con un total de 106 mapas: 36 sobre energía solar, 56 sobre energía de biomasa y 14 sobre información de base. Para su confección se desarrolló un modelo de irradiancia solar que permite una notable mejora en la resolución espacial, alcanzando los 4 kilómetros frente a las resoluciones de decenas de kilómetros de los modelos preexistentes. Además, se consideró un amplio espectro de fuentes de biomasa las cuales, a diferencia de las plataformas web disponibles para Mendoza, se muestran de manera desagregada. El Atlas de Energía Solar y de Biomasa permite al usuario contar con información de gran precisión, reduciendo la incertidumbre al momento de definir sitios óptimos para el desarrollo de proyectos energéticos.