Dr.-Ing.

Albrecht, Stefan

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The Packaging Index (PIX) - a proposed methodology for packaging assessment and comparison

2022-05-20 , Scagnetti, Carla , Lorenz, Manuel , Keller, Jonas , Albrecht, Stefan

The use of packaging and the related environmental consequences are increasingly under discussion. Despite its advantages, packaging has become the focus of public concern, mainly due to insufficient or inadequate handling of packaging waste. There is plenty of research regarding the sustainability of packaging options; however, multiple quantifiable characteristics have never been combined into a single indicator. The proposed Packaging Index (PIX) offers a tool to evaluate and compare different packaging options for the same product. To achieve these goals, the current evaluation criteria for the PIX are i) packaging quantity, ii) recyclability, and iii) environmental footprint. The resulting assessment is displayed as best to worst case scenario, with a single score for simple comparison. Using life cycle thinking, the environmental footprint of the packaging is accounted from cradle-to-grave. The suggested visualization of the PIX represents a practical comparison of diverse packaging alternatives within a defined product group. In the illustrative example, the PIX serves as an instrument to compare available bags found commonly in German online-retail. This example also shows that the PIX can analyze the packaging value chain from diverse industries and contributes to the circular economy. The usability of the PIX extends from communication (such as customer relations) to other fields like internal supply chain optimization. Lastly, we present the communication strategy of the PIX aimed at two different user groups.

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Reliable design of adaptive load-bearing structures with focus on sustainability

2020 , Ostertag, Andreas , Dazer, Martin , Bertsche, Bernd , Schlegl, Friederike , Albrecht, Stefan , Leistner, Philip , Gienger, Andreas , Wagner, Julia , Tarín, Cristina , Sawodny, Oliver

Nowadays large amounts of raw materials are used in the building industry. Conventional design methods for passive constructions are at the limit of what's permissible according to standard and oversized for most of their design life. In order to reduce the consumption of raw material and the environmental impact caused by its production, an actuation of the load-bearing structure is a possible way forward. Such a structure is able to adapt to different load cases by specifically manipulating internal stresses using actuators installed in the structure. This paper introduces a design procedure applied to an adaptive high-rise load-bearing structure demonstrating reliability and includes the changing environmental impact. The trade-off between oversizing, which leads to high reliability and savings of raw material for minimal environmental impact needs to be solved for unique structures with quantity one. By use of a linear-elastic model the effect of wind loads is simulated and actuator forces and tensions were calculated. In the total balance the energy consumption of the actuators and its related greenhouse gas emissions as well as the intended savings due to the reduced need for raw materials in production is included. In conclusion, replacing building material with energy can be a promising way forward on the condition, that electric energy will become increasingly environmentally friendly in the near future, whereas natural resources for materials are limited.

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Integration of land use aspects in LCA: Determination of land use types as a crucial factor influencing the result

2015 , Arana, Daniel , Bos, Ulrike , Liedke, Alexander , Knüpffer, Eva , Albrecht, Stefan , Lindner, Jan Paul , Kupfer, Thilo

In recent years, scientists worldwide have worked successfully on the implementation of land use aspects into Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). However, there are still challenges to be met to get valuable and comparable results when using different land use calculation methods. In order to calculate land use information, land use types have to be determined and distinguished. The Department Life Cycle Engineering at the University of Stuttgart (LBP-GaBi) conducted a study to analyse the influence of the choice of the classfication system and the respective land use types on the soil quality indicators used in LANCA (Land Use Indicator Value Calculation). Various classfication systems like Global Land Cover 2000, GlobCover or the WWF Terrestrial Ecoregions of the World are investigated and analysed with respect to the application for the particular land use types. Finally, based on these findings an approach for a standardized determination o.f land use types is developed.

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Challenges in the sustainability assessment of historic buildings

2013 , Bos, Ulrike , Kilian, Ralf , Leissner, Johanna , Briana, Niblick , Albrecht, Stefan , Schneider, Sarah , Milch, Christine , Rettberg, Britta von , Sedlbauer, Klaus

In recent years, several methods and certification systems have been established to assess the sustainability of buildings. However, these methods often neglect historic buildings due to their non-standard characteristics. Such characteristics, often rooted in long cultural traditions, can be found in a wide variety of traditional structures, from rural homes, to houses and buildings in small towns to churches, cathedrals, and even castles. The lack of a standard method by which to assess the sustainability of historic buildings is a major gap in the field of green building and has led to an increasing number of researchers and practitioners asking how to best sustainably preserve these historic buildings, in the absence of any standard approach. The Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics is conducting a project entitled "Energetic analysis and optimization of internal wall insulation (abbreviated "Internal Wall lnsulation") in which diverse thermal insulation materials will be tested and evaluated for historical buildings. The objective of this project is to find thermal insulation materials and constructions that are suitable for historic buildings. The materials should ideally be reversible and should have both an excellent physical and environmental performance. The project is located at the Fraunhofer Centre Benediktbeuern and experimental work will happen in both the historic building of the Old Cooperage and at the Outdoor Test Facility of Fraunhofer IBP at Holzkirchen. The IBP Department of Life Cycle Engineering (GaBi), together with experts for building conservation from Fraunhofer IBP group of Preventive Conservation and Preservation of Cultural Heritage in Holzkirchen, will conduct a life cycle assessment (LCA) of the various thermal insulation materials tested over the course of the project in order to assess the materials' sustainability as a new, additional part of the historic building. This paper gives an overview of the challenges associated with assessing the sustainability of historic buildings and examines a case study via the project "Internal Wall Insulation". Sustainability of heritage preservation, life cycle assessment and its applicability in the building sector, and possible solutions for the challenges in the sustainability assessment of historic buildings are all discussed.

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Rating, Credit Decision and Pricing - How Sustainability and Life Cycle Assessments are Changing Credit Practice

2022 , Ender, Manuela , Wimmer, Konrad , Ilg, Robert , Albrecht, Stefan , Fischer, Matthias , Sedlbauer, Klaus Peter

Investment decisions by bank customers are increasingly linked to the demand for green investments. Without a meaningful life-cycle costing approach, the danger remains that both bank and customer are exposed to the risk of green washing. The same applies to lending decisions: here, the bank must ultimately assess the business model of the borrower as well as the subject of the loan. Without monetary integration of environmental indicators, the existing rating systems lose their ability to make accurate assessments of creditworthiness. Investment objects like real estate would be assessed with incorrect market values and, accordingly, the lending decision would be based on inadequate data. Based on this, the practice of lending is facing considerable adjustments.

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Die Bedeutung von Anlagentechnik für die Ökobilanz von Nichtwohngebäuden - Ergebnisse eines neuen Anlagenkonfigurators

2020 , Chuchra, David , Bari, Roberta di , Jorgji, Olivia , Albrecht, Stefan

Gebäude leisten einen erheblichen Beitrag zur globalen Erwärmung, dem Ressourcenverbrauch und der Produktion von Abfällen. Mit verbesserten Energiestandards steigt der Anteil der Herstellung und des Lebensendes gebäudetechnischer Komponenten an den Umweltwirkungen des Lebenszyklus. Aufgrund der Komplexität liegt der Anteil gebäudetechnischer Komponenten an den gesamten Treibhausgasemissionen eines Gebäudes bei bis zu 25%. In den derzeit angewendeten Bewertungsverfahren werden die Verteilung und Übergabe oft vereinfacht oder nicht abgebildet. Es wurde daher ein Anlagenkonfigurator entwickelt, der flexibel im Planungsprozess eingesetzt werden kann und an die verfügbaren Informationen angepasst ist. Erste Ergebnisse zeigen, dass der Anteil der Verteil- und Übergabesysteme bis zu 80 % an den gesamten Treibhausgasemissionen einer Kostengruppe betragen kann und daher nicht wie bisher vernachlässigbar ist.

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Waste2Go - Innovative MSW-Recycling for production of chemical substances

2014 , Gehring, Florian , Illner, Maike , Kearney, Jonathan , Albrecht, Stefan , Brandstetter, Christian Peter

Derzeit werden in Europa (EU28) jedes Jahr rund 220 Millionen Tonnen Siedlungsabfall in privaten Haushalten erzeugt. Pro Bürger sind dies 1,2 Kilogramm am Tag. Zusammen mit der Industrie beläuft sich das jährliche Müllaufkommen insgesamt auf ca. 2,5 Milliarden Tonnen. Knapp 300 Millionen Tonnen davon sind Restmüll (Eurostat 2010). Aufgrund sehr heterogener Zusammensetzung und verschiedener länderspezifischer Gegebenheiten wird europäischer Siedlungsabfall heutzutage verbrannt, mechanisch-biologisch behandelt oder deponiert. Siedlungsabfall enthält jedoch wertvolle Ressourcen, deren ökologisches und ökonomisches Potential nicht ungenutzt bleiben sollte. Jährlich fallen über 180 Millionen Tonnen Siedlungsabfall (engl. Municipal Solid Waste, MSW)in den 27 EU Staaten an. Das entspricht der Masse von über einem Kilo pro Einwohner und Tag (UNDESA 2010). Bei MSW handelt es sich um den gesamten kommunalen Abfall, der im Haushalt und bei gewerblichen Unternehmen anfällt (UNEP 2010). Der Abfall- und Recyclingsekto rwird dominiert von Kleinen und Mittelständischen Unternehmen (KMU) die dort zwar nur einenprozentual kleinen Anteil an Leistung in Bezug auf den gesamten Umsatz des Sektor erbringen, aber mit 2,4% p.a. (2000-2007) (Eurostat 2009) immer noch eine starke Wachstumsrate und ein großes Potential aufweisen. Der europäische Chemiesektor ist mit 526 Billionen $e Gesamtumsatz und mehr als 1,15 Millionen Beschäftigten der größte weltweit. Zusätzlich zu den bewährten multinationalen Konzernen beinhaltet der Sektor auch mehr als 36.000 KMUs, die 28% der EU Chemieprodukte produzieren (European Commission 2009).

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Consideration of reliability and sustainability in mechanical and civil engineering design to reduce oversizing without risking disasters

2022 , Dazer, Martin , Ostertag, Andreas , Herzig, Thomas , Borschewski, David , Albrecht, Stefan , Bertsche, Bernd

Technical systems have to be designed that the requirements regarding service life are met with high reliability to ensure safe product operation. In many cases, the design is still based on single events, such as extreme load levels and additional safety factors, in order to ensure reliability, which is accompanied by a high degree of oversizing. This means that significantly more resources are consumed than actually needed in order to ensure the reliability requirement. To prevent reliability from being ensured solely by oversizing, reliability criteria must be supplemented by the claim for sustainability starting with the product design. On the one hand, profound reliability considerations make safety factors obsolete. On the other hand, oversizing is limited by the claim for sustainability. The overall result is a sustainable design while ensuring reliability at the same time. Within this work, two case studies from two different industrial sectors are introduced to show the trade-off in which the design has to be developed and how an overall solution proposal can look like. In both case studies, the savings in terms of resources and greenhouse gases emitted are shown while considering reliability and sustainability during the product design phase.

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Effect of different technological and energy supply related measures on the primary energy demand of CFPR production

2016 , Wehner, Daniel , Hohmann, Andrea , Schwab, Bernhard , Albrecht, Stefan , Ilg, Robert , Sedlbauer, Klaus , Leistner, Philip , Drechsler, Klaus

Carbon reinforced plastics (CFRP) are well-known for their excellent weight specific properties, resulting in energy reduction and emission savings during the use phase. Due to the required amount of raw materials and energy in the production phase, the holistic sustainability of these materials significantly depends on the manufacturing method, the achieved weight reduction and the respective application. One important key performance indicator to describe the sustainability of products over their whole life cycle is the primary energy demand (PED). The PED includes all sources of primary energy that have to be withdrawn from the environment in order to provide the function of a process, a product or a service. The presented study provides both manufacturers and users of CFRP with the means to effectively reduce the PED of CFRP production by investigating the effect of different technologically and energy supply related measures and their interdependencies along the process chain of CFRP production. The results show a great variance of the PED depending on particular, partly interdependent parameters in the process chains and highlight the importance of a detailed investigation of the state of the process chains subject to optimization.

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Environmental aspects of lightweight construction in mobility and manufacturing

2013 , Albrecht, S. , Baumann, M. , Brandstetter, C.P. , Horn, R. , Krieg, H. , Fischer, M. , Ilg, R.

In automotive, mechanical, medical and plant engineering, and the construction industry, lightweight construction is considered one of the most important future technologies, providing good market opportunities for small and medium-sized companies. Due to the increasing relevance of energy and resource efficiency, not only technical and economic, but also environmental aspects have to be considered when assessing lightweight construction. Only with the consideration of environmental and economic aspects modern technologies can succeed in different fields of application and gain societies acceptance. In the study commissioned by the e-mobil BW GmbH in Germany, the topic of sustainability in lightweight construction is analyzed on basis of environment and health (Rommel et al. 2012). This article gives an overview on the most important findings and results of this study with special focus on the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of lightweight construction considering the light weight materials steel, high performance steel, aluminum and carbon fiber composites.

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