Refrigerated Cabinets

This is a PDF file of an article that has undergone enhancements after acceptance, such as the addition of a cover page and metadata, and formatting for readability, but it is not yet the definitive version of record. This version will undergo additional copyediting, typesetting and review before it is published in its final form, but we are providing this version to give early visibility of the article. Please note that, during the production process, errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.

This is a PDF file of an article that has undergone enhancements after acceptance, such as the addition of a cover page and metadata, and formatting for readability, but it is not yet the definitive version of record. This version will undergo additional copyediting, typesetting and review before it is published in its final form, but we are providing this version to give early visibility of the article. Please note that, during the production process, errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.

This is a PDF file of an article that has undergone enhancements after acceptance, such as the addition of a cover page and metadata, and formatting for readability, but it is not yet the definitive version of record. This version will undergo additional copyediting, typesetting and review before it is published in its final form, but we are providing this version to give early visibility of the article. Please note that, during the production process, errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.

This is a PDF file of an article that has undergone enhancements after acceptance, such as the addition of a cover page and metadata, and formatting for readability, but it is not yet the definitive version of record. This version will undergo additional copyediting, typesetting and review before it is published in its final form, but we are providing this version to give early visibility of the article. Please note that, during the production process, errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.

District heating networks are commonly addressed in the literature as one of the most effective solutions for decreasing the greenhouse gas emissions from the building sector. These systems require high investments which are returned through the heat sales. Due to the changed climate conditions and building renovation policies, heat demand in the future could decrease, prolonging the investment return period. The main scope of this paper is to assess the feasibility of using the heat demand -outdoor temperature function for heat demand forecast. The district of Alvalade, located in Lisbon (Portugal), was used as a case study. The district is consisted of 665 buildings that vary in both construction period and typology. Three weather scenarios (low, medium, high) and three district renovation scenarios were developed (shallow, intermediate, deep). To estimate the error, obtained heat demand values were compared with results from a dynamic heat demand model, previously developed and validated by the authors. The results showed that when only weather change is considered, the margin of error could be acceptable for some applications (the error in annual demand was lower than 20% for all weather scenarios considered). However, after introducing renovation scenarios, the error value increased up to 59.5% (depending on the weather and renovation scenarios combination considered). The value of slope coefficient increased on average within the range of 3.8% up to 8% per decade, that corresponds to the decrease in the number of heating hours of 22-139h during the heating season (depending on the combination of weather and renovation scenarios considered). On the other hand, function intercept increased for 7.8-12.7% per decade (depending on the coupled scenarios). The values suggested could be used to modify the function parameters for the scenarios considered, and improve the accuracy of heat demand estimations.

Environmental footprinting is widely used in the academic, industrial and political circles alike. But it is in the product centric category of environmental footprinting techniques that Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) emerged as pivotal instruments in response to the climate change and sustainability imperatives. In addition, these techniques have been the object of several international assessment guidelines and according to Carbonostics (2011) and Fishwick (2012) they can be evaluated in terms of international acceptance, time/cost involvement and comparability. In contrast, little literature discusses the dissimilarities inherent in the use of different environmental measurements for an identical product. That is the reason why this paper presents a comparison between the results obtained from a Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) against that of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for an identical Refrigerated Display Cabinets (RDC). Results of the study show ...

The design of refrigerated display cabinets greatly affects their subsequent environmental impact. To control this impact, a designer must primarily consider the operating efficiency of a cabinet. However, less account is taken of the materials used to make the cabinet, nor the construction techniques used. These both have a significant effect on the environmental impact of different cabinets outside the use phase of their life cycle. Initial construction impact, remanufacturability and recyclability are all affected. Given the ubiquity of the display cabinet in the retail sector, it is important to assess their lifetime impact in toto. This is particularly so with the increasing implementation of the WEEE directive in member states. Three typical refrigerated display cabinets are examined in this paper, all offering the same function, but manufactured with quite different constructions and materials. The mass of materials in each cabinet was determined experimentally and the methods of assembly examined. The stages in the life of each cabinet were then modelled and life cycle analyses performed. To compare the efficiency of the cabinets in terms of their environmental impact, the Eco Indicator Points/litre of refrigerated space/day were determined in each case. When combined with the energy performance (kWh/litre/day) this provides a good measure of the overall environmental impact of a cabinet and a way of choosing between different models that nominally provide the same refrigeration function. Different end of life scenarios, and improvements in the choice of materials, were also investigated depending on the type of construction.

With the pursuit of embracing the circular economy, having upward trend in vehicle sales and environmental concern, sustainability has become an imperative part of the global automotive manufacturing strategies. One of the tactics to achieve this sustainable goal is to conserve and enhance the resource base by salvaging the embedded values from end-of-life product and for which, the remanufacturing can be considered as one of the most prominent epitome. Even though many of the auto parts like engine, transmissions, starters, alternators and etc. have been assessed for remanufacturability since last few decades, being a major component of a car body the Catalytic Converter (CC) still remains unfocused in literature. However, to examine the remanufacturability of CC, a comprehensive study for assessing its economic, social, and environmental impact is inevitable. Therefore, with an underlying aim of designing the remanufacturable CC, in this endeavour an attempt has made to evaluate t...

District heating networks are commonly addressed in the literature as one of the most effective solutions for decreasing the greenhouse gas emissions from the building sector. These systems require high investments which are returned through the heat sales. Due to the changed climate conditions and building renovation policies, heat demand in the future could decrease, prolonging the investment return period. The main scope of this paper is to assess the feasibility of using the heat demand-outdoor temperature function for heat demand forecast. The district of Alvalade, located in Lisbon (Portugal), was used as a case study. The district is consisted of 665 buildings that vary in both construction period and typology. Three weather scenarios (low, medium, high) and three district renovation scenarios were developed (shallow, intermediate, deep). To estimate the error, obtained heat demand values were compared with results from a dynamic heat demand model, previously developed and validated by the authors. The results showed that when only weather change is considered, the margin of error could be acceptable for some applications (the error in annual demand was lower than 20% for all weather scenarios considered). However, after introducing renovation scenarios, the error value increased up to 59.5% (depending on the weather and renovation scenarios combination considered). The value of slope coefficient increased on average within the range of 3.8% up to 8% per decade, that corresponds to the decrease in the number of heating hours of 22-139h during the heating season (depending on the combination of weather and renovation scenarios considered). On the other hand, function intercept increased for 7.8-12.7% per decade (depending on the coupled scenarios). The values suggested could be used to modify the function parameters for the scenarios considered, and improve the accuracy of heat demand estimations.

Environmental footprinting is widely used in the academic, industrial and political circles alike. But it is in the product centric category of environmental footprinting techniques that Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) emerged as pivotal instruments in response to the climate change and sustainability imperatives. In addition, these techniques have been the object of several international assessment guidelines and according to Carbonostics (2011) and Fishwick (2012) they can be evaluated in terms of international acceptance, time/cost involvement and comparability. In contrast, little literature discusses the dissimilarities inherent in the use of different environmental measurements for an identical product. That is the reason why this paper presents a comparison between the results obtained from a Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) against that of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for an identical Refrigerated Display Cabinets (RDC). Results of the study show that the proportions (embodied/operational) derived from a PCF and that an LCA for an identical RDC are dissimilar; and the implications of those results warrant the need for further research but strengthens the case for LCA over PCF because the former offers a more holistic environmental assessment. Moreover, initial results show that the ratio of embodied and operational impact are 5% and 95% while that of the LCA are 20% and 80% respectively. This paper will present in turn an overview of the RDC studied, the set of assumptions made, and breakdowns of the results for PCF and LCA as well as avenues for further research.