Chapters authored
Life Cycle Insights for Creating Sustainable Cities
The chapter focuses on the full life cycle of material and energy flows and uses in cities. Most of the impacts and opportunities in making cities more sustainable exist in how and what types of materials and energy source are used. The life cycle perspective of materials used in buildings and infrastructure systems is better addressed at the point of planning and design. The energy aspect touches both the efficiency of utilization and the impact intensity of the energy used to power and heat urban spaces and fuel transport systems. The type of sources of upstream supply of materials and energy is thus crucial. The commendable efficiency measures targeting the operation phase of urban systems should be accompanied by a consideration of the embodied impact of materials used and the end-of-life management of the materials following the end of their service life. The chapter ends with recommendations on best practices that potentially leverage on life cycle assessment results. It also covers the merits of employing the social life cycle perspective together with the environmental life cycle and economic life cycle in a life cycle sustainability assessment framework that seeks to define the triple bottom line space of lower unsustainability conditions.
Part of the book: Sustainable Cities
Simple Is Better When Appropriate: An Innovative Approach to Biowaste Treatment Using Wild Black Soldier Fly
The acknowledgement that “technology is not a panacea” creates opportunities to dialog about appropriate technologies that keep the local context at the forefront of deriving solutions. The Black Soldier Fly (BSF) biowaste treatment method offers one such opportunity, and its simplistic adaptation is critical in locations with waste collection and management challenges. In this chapter, the importance of local context on viable waste solutions will be discussed with the applicability of appropriate technology strategies. First, the Black Soldier Fly waste treatment method will be distinguished as an appropriate technology for low-income communities. Then, a brief history of the nascent BSF method will be traced, followed by the production scales favored by world regions. Finally, an open BSF bioreactor case study will be introduced and analyzed.
Part of the book: Solid Waste Management