Shabbir H. Gheewala

King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi | KMUTT · The Joint Graduate School of Energy and Environment

Biodiesel production from multiple feedstocks, which is currently being carried out on a laboratory scale, has the potential to be scaled up on an industrial scale in the future. Therefore, it is necessary to study the environmental impact of multi-feedstock biodiesel production. This study assesses the environmental performance of the simulated pr...

Available at: http://switch-asia.eu/site/assets/files/3432/regional_indicators_and_database_on_resource_efficiency_in_asia.pdf Abstract: The Asia Pacific region is home to 60% of the world's population, and it is predicted that the region's worldwide yearly gross domestic product (GDP) share would climb to 50% by 2030. The region consumes 60% more...

Available at: http://switch-asia.eu/site/assets/files/3431/regional_assessment_report_examining_the_interlinkage_between_scp_and_regional_issues_in_asia.pdf Abstract: The changing consumption and production patterns have emerged as a critical challenge for the member states of Asia. The region is facing several issues due to the intensive use of re...

Promotion of sustainable maize production in Northern Thailand, the country’s largest maize-producing region, is crucial to securing the supply of the nation’s feed manufacturing, as well as protecting environmental resources, enhancing social welfare, and improving the livelihoods of farmers and communities. This study aimed to investigate the var...

Despite green sugarcane harvesting being promoted in Thailand, with some limitations on the use of harvesting machines, green sugarcane harvesting is practiced manually in many sugarcane fields. Although the environmental benefit seems clear, this harvesting practice’s social implications are yet unknown. This study assessed social performances of...

Groundwater, the world's largest freshwater resource, is critically important for global food security. Excessive groundwater extraction has led to issues such as groundwater sustainability, scarcity, and stress; various indices have been developed for assessing them. The selection of the right index for the assessment is very important. Therefore,...

Releases of excess nitrogen and phosphorus from fertilisers applied in agricultural production cause eutrophication in the aquatic ecosystem. This study assessed the marine and freshwater eutrophication potentials associated with the fertiliser application in rice, maize, cassava, sugar cane and oil palm, cultivation in Thailand using a life cycle...

: Following Thailand’s Alternative Energy Development Plan, lands for sugarcane and oil palm are being expanded to support biofuel production, thus decreasing the availability of land for other crops. Not only does this lead to the change in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) but also environmental consequences. This study assessed the effects of land ex...

The increasing global population leading to increased consumption of finite resources is a major challenge facing the ecosystem. This constraint creates the need for a well-coordinated system for producing a sustainable source of food, water, and clean energy (biofuels) which can be achieved by employing nexus principles. As the Nigerian government...

The appropriate use of limited natural resources for generating basic human needs such as energy, food, and water, is essential to help the society function efficiently. Hence, a new approach called nexus is being considered to resolve the effects of intrinsic trade-offs between the essential needs. A review of different methods and frameworks of t...

This paper studied greenhouse gas inventory data acquisition and analytics for municipalities in Thailand. A complete and transparent GHG inventory of eight municipalities was developed to document the current situation, and to help decision-makers to clarify their priorities for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The Global Protocol for Community-...

While the benefits of organic rice for consumers are obviously seen in terms of nutritional and health aspects, the social effects of conventional and organic rice farming are also important to be investigated. This study compared the social performances of conventional and organic paddy rice in the northeast of Thailand by using the social life cy...

Wood pellets are one of biomass-based energy carriers considered important as renewable energy source. This study considers wood pellets for heat and power generation from fast-growing Leucaena and Acacia trees and para-rubber trees in a life cycle perspective. The objectives of this study are to estimate the actual cost (including environmental ex...

Sustaining the growth of Thailand's bioethanol industry depends markedly on security of feedstock supplies. However, being exposed to crises may impact livelihoods of farmers and discourage them from farming the energy crops. Farmer livelihood sustainability may need to be assessed and monitored. This study was carried out to propose sustainable li...

Life cycle assessment (LCA) and Eco-efficiency were applied to various kinds of riceberry rice products (food and personal care products) for evaluating their environmental and economic performances. The LCA results indicated that raw material stage was the major hotspot significantly contributing to global warming and other impacts. Improvement op...

Life cycle assessment (LCA) has become a widely recognized method for evaluating the environmental performance of a product or system along its supply chain. Nowadays, site-dependent Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) methods have been developed and LCA results could therefore potentially reflect the local, national, and/or regional environmental...

In this study, we developed user-friendly software (CF-Rice) for calculating the carbon footprints (CF) of rice products. The approach follows the principles of Life Cycle Assessment while incorporating more flexibility for activities specific to rice production. The graphical user interface provides empirical emission and conversion factors obtain...

Ambient Particulate Matter; PM2.5, with an aerodynamic diameter smaller than or equal to 2.5 µm, has emerged as the most critical health hazard concerning air pollution. The small size enables ambient particulate matter to go through the respiratory system, easily entering the lung or blood stream. Chiang Mai is one of the cities with the highest l...

The promotion of biodiesel from palm oil for on-road transportation during the past decade has led to the expansion of oil palm plantations, including in Thailand. Hence, it is necessary to study the effects of land use for oil palm and the linkage between each impact for a holistic understanding. Besides, the consideration of various impact aspect...

Expansion of oil palm plantation areas in Thailand, the world's third-largest oil palm producer, for food and fuel may sometimes encroach on forest areas, leading to biodiversity loss. Thailand is in the Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot, which contains high species richness. This study assesses the impacts of oil palm plantations on bird and insect...

This study evaluates the performance of 13 global climate models (GCMs) from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) for simulating the temperature over Thailand during 2000–2014, for land-only, sea-only, and both land and sea. Both observation and reanalysis datasets are employed to compare with the GCMs, evaluated by five perfor...

In Sri Lanka, the management of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) is a challenge. Composting is an environmentally and economically friendly treatment method for reducing the quantity of waste going to landfills. Although composting has many advantages, it has unavoidable environmental impacts, such as atmospheric emissions and...

Life cycle assessment was applied to a riceberry rice product to support decisions on the development of an innovative, healthy, and low-carbon product to move toward a low-carbon society. The cultivation and processing stages were identified as the key activities generating substantial greenhouse gas emissions. To reduce the life cycle greenhouse...

Fine Particulate Matter (PM2.5) is an important environmental factor contributing to human disease burden. In Bangkok Metropolitan Region, concentrations of PM2.5 continuously exceed the World Health Organization standards. To mitigate this, Thailand's Pollution Control Department introduced a number of operating guidelines. In this study, these gu...

This study provides insight into the sustainability performance of bioenergy systems for providing cooking and electricity-enabled energy services in the rural growth centres of Zambia. This is achieved by modeling and optimizing a bioenergy supply chain for the provision of these services, and then comparing its sustainability performance to that...

In Thailand, many municipalities lack the information to guide decision-making for improving environmental performance. They need tools to systematize the collection and analysis of data, and then to self-assess environmental performance to increase efficiency in environmental management toward a sustainable city. The aim of this study is to develo...

Bioethanol is promoted as a transportation fuel due to its perceived benefits; reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, substituting fossil fuels, enhancing energy security, and promoting the rural economy. This study aims to evaluate the availability potential, energy performance, and environmental sustainability of bioethanol from sugarcane molas...

Sugarcane and cassava are major economic crops in Thailand. They are usually grown in similar geographical conditions, so they effectively compete for the same land. This paper analyzes the social performance of sugarcane and cassava products using Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA), together with an analysis of product yields and expected demand...

The low adoption rates of modern bioenergy systems in the rural areas of Zambia indicate shortcomings within the existing institutional arrangements for a conducive enabling environment for their deployment. To address them, this study employed the SWOT–AHP (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats-Analytic Hierarchy Process)-TOWS (Threats, Op...

Oil palm plantations have been expanded in all regions of Thailand during the past decade to support the higher consumption of palm oil for food and fuel. It is, however, imperative to expand in those areas that have soil quality suitable for oil palm cultivation. Therefore, this study aimed to assess land suitability for the different regions of T...

The public transportation system in Bangkok, Thailand relies on environmentally costly diesel buses that contribute daily to Bangkok's air quality problem. Two potential improvements to this highly polluting public transportation system are the implementation of electric or compressed natural gas buses. This paper analyzes the life-cycle environmen...

Product-as-a-service business models have been strongly promoted to support a transition to a circular economy. Prams for babies are an ideal product for this type of business model since they are widely used, are mature products, have established design cycles, and are very durable. A cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment was conducted to compare...

Climate and land use land cover (LULC) changes play a vital role in the hydrology of any river basin. This study was aimed to investigate the impact of climate and LULC changes on streamflow in the Kunhar river basin, Pakistan. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), calibrated on a monthly basis, was used as a hydrological model to study the im...

Thailand has developed a national roadmap on sustainable consumption and production (SCP) and implemented green product procurement (GPP), but the effects of GPP on achieving SCP have not yet been evaluated. The strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats associated with policies and practices of 15 key institutions were analyzed to identify...

This study analyzed the impacts from multi-crystalline silicon (m-Si), organic thin-film (OPV), and perovskite thin-film (PSC) panels over each products’ lifetime using a cradle-to-grave system model. The rate of panel installation each year was modeled to account for efficiency, functional lifetime, and degradation. Landfill and recycling scenario...

Improving access to modern energy in rural areas through the electrification of rural growth centres (RGCs) mainly by grid extension remains a challenge in Zambia. During the last 15 years, electrification rates have marginally increased from 3 to 11% for rural areas. This does not only represent the status quo of access to modern energy in these a...

Addressing the increasing burden on land use requires effective policy for sustainable land use along with economic development. Analysis of local and global indicators based on land use maps could reveal information on the progress of sustainable development. This study proposes a method that reduces the time and cost of creating land use maps app...

Riceberry rice has been encouraged especially in the health and wellness niche market via the Thailand 4.0 national policy as it contains high nutrients and antioxidants. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and eco-efficiency of various riceberry rice products – riceberry porridge, riceberry snack bar, and riceberry soap – were evaluated to provide support...

Cement manufacturing is an energy-intensive industry which uses a large amount of resources and contributes environmental impacts at both small and large scales. The growth of key world economies has led to an increase in the use of construction materials and therefore in the demand for cement, particularly in the Asian region. With increasing inte...

The development of new bio-based diesel substitutes can improve their compatibility with diesel engines. Nevertheless, for actual implementation, their environmental and economic performance needs to be studied. This study quantified the eco-efficiency of three bio-based diesels, viz., fatty acid methyl ester (FAME), partially hydrogenated FAME (H-...

In the millions of years of evolution, nature has developed very efficient systems that move all elements and substances in cycles so that there is no waste. Humans, on the other hand, have recently developed industrial systems in the last few centuries that have a linear flow, extracting resources from nature and discarding them as waste after a b...

Increasing population and affluence have had a direct influence on increasing the energy demand of nations across the globe. Energy from non-renewable fossil resources has associated emissions of greenhouse gases contributing to climate change, a major challenge facing us today. The governments of many countries have tried to address the twin issue...

Bagasse-based electricity is gaining attention as an affordable, reliable, sustainable, and promising renewable energy source in Pakistan. Therefore, the focus of this analysis was to identify the environmental burdens associated with bagasse-based electricity production via high-pressure cogeneration. The scope of this study was defined as cradle...

The performance of floating photovoltaics (FPV) was assessed by this study, a technology with rising popularity in the sustainable energy sector, by comparing its economic and environmental benefits to various types of photovoltaic technologies by utilizing Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Cost-Benefit Analysis. The largest impacts were shown from t...

This paper evaluated the carbon footprint of the papaya supply chain to Yasothon Market in Yasothon province, Thailand. There is high consumption of papaya in Yasothon municipality but a lack of papaya plantations in the area lead to a vast amount import of papaya. The study developed a green supply chain and logistics model, using network analysis...

Thailand has been implementing its Alternative Energy Development Plan aiming to replace 20–25% of fossil fuels with locally produced biofuels by 2036. The partial substitution of fossil diesel with fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) derived from palm oil is one of the major options but blending beyond 20% of FAME is a concern for use in conventional d...

Purpose Cement manufacturing is associated with global and local environmental issues. Many studies have employed life cycle assessment (LCA) to evaluate the environmental impacts from cement production and investigate measures to improve environmental performance. However, there have not been any scientific studies assessing the impacts of the Mya...

Thailand is one of the upcoming wood pellet exporters in the Southeast Asia region. Wood pellet production has been gradually increasing in Thailand; however, the recent trend is more rapid. Therefore, the objective of this study is to analyze the feedstock security for wood pellet production in Thailand. The important issue of feedstock security a...

The recent increase of fine particulate matter in Bangkok, Thailand has become a widespread public health concern. Wearing a particulate respirator is one method to reduce particulate inhalation and therefore mitigate the adverse health effects of ambient air pollution. This study provides an integrated assessment of seven particulate respirator mo...

Field data collected from agriculture systems are often associated with large variability and uncertainty. Ignoring these uncertainties and using tentative single values of the parameters and the associated environmental impacts may lead to misleading results for policymakers. In Thailand, sugarcane production has been intensified to promote the su...

This research developed an analysis tool on nexus resource efficiency and management towards bioeconomy. Its application has been demonstrated in the Thai cassava and sugarcane supply chains combining Material Flow Analysis, nexus assessment, and Eco-efficiency. The results revealed that doubling the feedstock and maximizing biochemical/biomaterial...

The study aimed to assess the socio-economic impacts via employment and paid wage/income for sugarcane production in Thailand due to the mechanization of the harvesting system. The results indicated that the employment level and income of the workers depend on the yield, employment types (temporary or permanent worker) and the skill of workers. The...

Thailand has increased wood pellet production for export and domestic use. The variations in production processes, raw materials, and transportation related to wood pellet production make it necessary to evaluate the environmental impacts assessment. The objective of this study was to compare via Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), eight different cases o...

Climate change is a challenging global issue for the sustainable production of various crops around the world as change in climatic patterns can create a stressful environment for plant growth. This study assesses the impact of climate change on future water demand and sugarcane yield in Pakistan for the baseline (1981–2005) and future timescales (...

Thailand has a strategic national policy to increase organic rice farming. This study firstly applied Life Cycle Assessment for evaluating the quantitative environmental impacts at the regional and national levels to facilitate the national policy decision on the expansion of organic rice cultivation areas. The impact categories of interest include...

Purpose Bioethanol demands for transport face uncertainty; additionally, the emergence of electric vehicles is raising concerns among the ethanol producers towards the future demand and viability of the industry. Thus, there is a need to look for new pathways of sugar and ethanol utilization. However, the environmental and economic implications of...

Climate change is one of the major threats to humanity in recent times. It has a significant potential to disturb the water cycle which additionally accelerates many problems i.e. water availability, agriculture yields, damage to the ecosystem, etc. That is why it is important to understand the climatic changes in the rural and agrarian-based basin...

Climate change is a global challenge having a significant potential to alter crop yields worldwide. Thus, the determination of crop yield is important in the prospect of food security for agro-economic regions like Pakistan especially in the upcoming decades. Therefore, the focus of this research was to investigate the historical and projected spat...

Many locations in the world have been changing their main economic activity from agriculture to tourism pursuing more favorable opportunities for their development. Such a change in economic structure also leads to a significant alteration in the provincial greenhouse gas emissions. In order to investigate these differences, this study compares the...

Being an agrarian country, Pakistan is facing an agricultural waste disposal problem which has led to environmental and health issues due to the open burning. Rice straw is one of the notable farm residues which is currently being unutilized in the country. On the other hand, the power sector of Pakistan is heavily reliant on thermal energy. Rice s...

A life cycle assessment (LCA)-based environmental sustainability evaluation conceptual framework of biogas production has been proposed to improve the sustainability of biogas supply chains. The conceptual framework developed in this study can be used as a guideline for the related stakeholders and decision makers to improve the quality and enhance...

Sufficient quantity of raw materials is a critical factor for wood pellet production. The recommendations from past research on biomass have indicated that the cultivation of fast growing trees should be encouraged in wasteland. Leucaena and Acacia are the popular fast growing trees in Thailand because they are resistant to drought and can grow in...

Traditional biomass remains the primary energy source in rural Zambia – providing 98% of the energy needs. Its use is unsustainable, inefficient, and leads to harmful emissions with serious health implications, and deforestation. Modern bioenergy systems offer viable energy supply alternatives - but only if sustainably developed. Among other causes...

The transportation sector is growing rapidly in a developing country like Pakistan and it mostly depends on imported petroleum products. To substitute these limited and environment-offending fuels with renewable and more sustainable fuels, ethanol has been recognized as one of the possible solutions. However, the economic competitiveness of ethanol...

Biofuels have often been considered to have an advantage towards global warming but have caused controversy over competition for the limited availability of natural resources and the adverse impacts on other environmental aspects. This study evaluates the environmental benefits and impacts of biofuels in Thailand by using life cycle assessment with...

Biofuels for use in on-road transportation have been promoted in Thailand over the past decade to reduce dependence on imported fossil resources as well as possibly reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This has led to an increase in production of biodiesel which is produced from palm oil. However, as palm oil is also used for food, it is important to...