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Urban Metal Management The Example of Lead
Abstract
The metal metabolism of an urban region, the City ofVienna, was investigated to discuss urban metal management strategies in view of environmental protection and resource conservation. About 90% of the metal stock is located in Vienna''s buildings and infrastructure, whilst only 10% is in the landfills. The city stock represents a potential source for diffusive emissions. However, the control of the current environmental policy concentrates mainly on landfill emissions. Diffusive emissions resulting from the losses over the use of metal containing goods in the city are widely dispersed and cannot be easily controlled due to numerous non-point sources. First investigations indicate that for certain applications, the diffusive stock emissions are as significant as other sources. At present, Vienna''s known diffusive and point source lead emissions into air and water are about 40 to 50 times higher than comparable past loadings from geogenic Vienna. Furthermore, a life cycle approach from acid car batteries indicates that sustainable lead management should consider flows and stocks in the hinterland of the city too. The city metal stock also represents a potential resource. Leaded water pipes built-in in Vienna''s city stock have the potential to produce 1.6 million traditional car batteries. In future such city mining strategies can partly replace ore mining.
... References to published UM studies Flow analysis 43 Baccini and Brunner, 2012;Baker et al., 2001;Baldasano et al., 1999;Bao, 2010;Barles, 2009Barles, , 2007Billen et al., 2009;Browne et al., 2011Browne et al., , 2009Browne et al., , 2005Codoban and Kennedy, 2008;Cui et al., 2009;Faerge et al., 2001;Femia and Falcitelli, 2009;Fikar, 2009;Forkes, 2007;Garcia et al., 2009;Hammer et al., 2003;Hedbrant, 2001;Hendriks et al., 2000;Kennedy, 2002;Krausmann and Haberl, 2002;Kuskova et al., 2008;Lauver and Baker, 2000;Li et al., 2016;Liang and Zhang, 2011a;Marteleira et al., 2014;Newman, 1999;Nilsson, 1995;Niza et al., 2016Niza et al., , 2009Obernosterer and Brunner, 2001;Pauleit and Duhme, 2000;Rosado et al., 2016Rosado et al., , 2014Sahely et al., 2003;Schulz, 2007;Singh et al., 2001;Van Beers and Graedel, 2003;Villalba and Gemechu, 2011;Zhang et al., 2014aZhang et al., , 2013Zhao, 2012Energy assessment 26 Balocco et al., 2004Campbell et al., 2004;Haberl, 2006Haberl, , 2001Horta and Keirstead, 2016;Huang, 1998;Huang et al., 2007;Huang and Chen, 2009;Lei and Wang, 2008;Liu et al., 2011aLiu et al., , 2011bLiu et al., , 2011cLiu et al., , 2011dLiu et al., , 2011e, 2010Liu et al., , 2009Mellino et al., 2014;Pincetl et al., 2016;Song et al., 2014;Su et al., 2013Su et al., , 2009Yang et al., 2014a;Zhang et al., 2011aZhang et al., ,b, 2009bZhang et al., , 2009cZucchetto, 1975Footprint 11 Barrett, 2001Collins et al., 2006;Folke et al., 1997;Kennedy et al., 2010Kennedy et al., , 2009Moore et al., 2013;Neset and Lohm, 2005;Sovacool and Brown, 2010;Swilling, 2006;Wackernagel et al., 2006;Warren-Rhodes and Koenig, 2001) Input/Output 8 Baynes et al., 2011;Lenzen et al., 2004;Zhang, 2012, 2011b;Ngo and Pataki, 2008;Pom azi and Szab o, 2009;Xia et al., 2015;Yi et al., 2007 Life cycle assessment (LCA) 5 Goldstein et al., 2013;Herfray et al., 2011;Loiseau et al., 2014;Lundin and Morrison, 2002;Peuportier et al., 2012Network analysis 5 Li et al., 2012Xia et al., 2016;Yang et al., 2014a,b;Zhang et al., 2014bZhang et al., , 2009a Integrated (combination of the previous methods) ...
... GHG) are not considered if they happen outside of the region even if they are relevant for the comparison of the environmental sustainability between scenarios. Some studies show valuable findings with respect to a regional scope, although they either only analyze the flows of material(s) (Browne et al., 2011(Browne et al., , 2009 or consider one substance with regional environmental effects like lead (Obernosterer and Brunner, 2001). ...
... References Black-box (BB) 24 Balocco et al., 2004;Browne et al., 2011Browne et al., , 2005Conke and Ferreira, 2015;Cui et al., 2009;Douglas et al., 2002;Faerge et al., 2001;Femia and Falcitelli, 2009;Fikar, 2009;Folke et al., 1997;Forkes, 2007;Hammer et al., 2003;Hendriks et al., 2000;Kennedy, 2002;Mellino et al., 2014;Neset and Lohm, 2005;Newman, 1999;Sahely et al., 2003;Schulz, 2007;Singh et al., 2001;Sovacool and Brown, 2010;Swilling, 2006;Wackernagel et al., 2006;Zhang et al., 2008 Gray-box (GB) 42 Baldasano et al., 1999;Barles, 2009;Barrett, 2001;Baynes et al., 2011;Billen et al., 2009;Browne et al., 2009;Codoban and Kennedy, 2008;Collins et al., 2006;Garcia et al., 2009;Goldstein et al., 2013;Haberl, 2001;Hedbrant, 2001;Hillman and Ramaswami, 2010;Horta and Keirstead, 2016;Huang and Hsu, 2003;Kennedy et al., 2010Kennedy et al., , 2009Krausmann and Haberl, 2002;Kuskova et al., 2008;Lebel et al., 2007;Lenzen et al., 2004;Li et al., 2016;Liang and Zhang, 2012Marteleira et al., 2014;Melaina and Keoleian, 2001;Moore et al., 2013;Ngo and Pataki, 2008;Niza et al., 2016Niza et al., , 2009Obernosterer and Brunner, 2001;Oliver-Sol a et al., 2007;Pincetl et al., 2016;Ramaswami et al., 2008;Rosado et al., 2016;Shahrokni et al., 2015;Van Beers and Graedel, 2003;Villalba and Gemechu, 2011;Warren-Rhodes and Koenig, 2001;Yang et al., 2016;Zhang and Yang, 2007 Network (NE) 38 Baccini and Brunner, 2012;Baker et al., 2001;Barles, 2007;Campbell et al., 2004;Hendriks et al., 2000;Huang, 1998;Huang et al., 2007;Huang and Chen, 2009;Lauver and Baker, 2000;Lei and Wang, 2008;Li et al., 2012;Liu et al., 2011aLiu et al., , 2011cLiu et al., , 2011e, 2010Liu et al., , 2009Lu et al., 2016;Lundin and Morrison, 2002;Nilsson, 1995;Pincetl et al., 2014;Russo et al., 2014;Su et al., 2013Su et al., , 2009Sun et al., 2016;Xia et al., 2016;Yang et al., 2014a,b;Yi et al., 2007;Zhang et al., 2014aZhang et al., , 2014bZhang et al., , 2013Zhang et al., , 2011aZhang et al., ,b, 2009aZhang et al., , 2009bZhang et al., , 2009cZhang et al., , 2006Zhao, 2012;Zheng et al., 2016;Zucchetto, 1975 Total 104 *There is a discrepancy between the total number of reviewed UM studies in Tables 1 and 4 since some studies did not offer enough information to identify the type of system modeling approach currently exists between environmental sustainability assessment in studies. This wide range of methodological choices is linked with a range of questions and goals that are all somewhat related. ...
The concept of urban metabolism has often been used to model and analyze urban regions to provide insights on their environmental sustainability. However, no consensus exists on the assessment methods that should be used to analyze the sustainability of these complex systems. This lack of consistency prevents data sharing and comparison between most studies. Past and current publications are therefore surveyed to identify key methodological aspects that could be favored to harmonize the sustainability assessment of urban metabolism. This investigation is structured around the common aspects of environmental assessment methods that have been used for the past forty years. It suggests that a network system modeling approach, a global life-cycle perspective, and a multi-criteria assessment are strategic choices for environmental sustainability assessment. While challenging in their implementations, these choices can offer common grounds to capitalize on the knowledge brought forth by new studies. The investigation also discusses basic principles to propose developments like the use of a functional equivalent as a basis of comparison and the use of specific uncertainty assessment methods. These propositions could help to improve the clarity of future studies that tackle the question of environmental sustainability in urban metabolism.
... Dissipated stocks are hard or impossible to recover, as metals emitted in the air, soil, or water during life cycle steps of consumer goods production (Johansson et al. 2013). Evidence show that dissipated stocks are higher than geologic ores for some metals (Obernosterer and Brunner 2001). Figure 1 summarizes the types. ...
... However, a lot of knowledge is needed for locating and recognizing these cables, which are in hibernation. Metal stocks represent a potential resource -90% of Pb is stocked in building and infrastructure, while 10% in landfills in Vienna city (Obernosterer and Brunner 2001). The biggest barriers to recycling are separation techniques and social behavior, as products have to be correctly disposed, as "in-use" WEEE can quickly become hibernated (Reck and Graedel 2012). ...
... Despite its significant value in system assessment and planning, UM only has limited implementation in quantitative ways (Decker et al., 2000;Golubiewski, 2012;Pincetl et al., 2012;Rosado et al., 2014). Data limitations have been consistently identified as primary barriers for implementing empirical analysis, validating quantitative methods, and revealing policy references (Niza et al., 2009;Wiegand et al., 2010). While researchers (Codoban and ...
... In the context of the UM framework, several quantitative methods have been employed for urban sustainability assessment. Commonly used methods include Material Flow Analysis (Bailey et al., 2004a;Bailey et al., 2004b;Barles, 2009;Browne et al., 2011;Hendriks et al., 2000;Villarroel Walker et al., 2014), Energy, Exergy, and Emergy analysis (Decker et al., 2000;Leduc and Van Kann, 2013;Sahely et al., 2003;Stanhill, 1976;Vega-Azamar et al., 2015), Ecological Footprinting (Chen and Chen, 2006;Folke et al., 1997;Luck et al., 2001;Luck et al., 2001Luck et al., , 2001Moore et al., 2013), Eco-Network Analysis Liu et al., 2011Lu et al., 2012;Zhang et al., 2010Zhang et al., , 2011Zhang et al., , 2014, Life Cycle Assessment (Brecheisen and Theis, 2013;Emmenegger et al., 2004;Hendrickson et al., 1998;Li and Wang, 2009;Obernosterer and Brunner, 2001;Venkatesh et al., 2014), and Environmentally Extended Input-Output Models (Liu and Zhang, 2012;Kerkhof et al., 2009;Liang and Zhang, 2012;Wang et al., 2013). All these methods can capture stocks and flows in multiple sectors and transform multi-variables into one uniform "output." ...
This study aims to identify and implement appropriate techniques for a sustainability assessment, which corresponds to the optimal balance between efficiency and resilience. Strategies are discussed to fill two important gaps: (1) applicable methods for identifying and analyzing multiple variables for a “metabolic” assessment of urban systems over time; and (2) empirical data that can characterize multiple sub-components (e.g., environmental, financial, and institutional) of an urban system, especially at a refined geographic scale where data challenges are significant. With a specific focus on data integration, two methods, Fisher Information (FI) and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), were chosen for this study. Data analyses were implemented in an urban university, which provides valuable opportunities for enhancing our understanding of this type of urban system and enabling data-driven studies of neighborhood sustainability. Based on the strengths and weakness of FI and DEA identified in the empirical study, it is concluded that these two methods can be valuable yet complementary for an integrated system analysis.
... In industrial countries, the use of bulk materials (e.g. metal, wood, plastic and concrete) has continually increased, resulting in huge stocks accumulated in the technosphere (The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA), 1996; Hendriks et al., 2000;Obernosterer and Brunner, 2001). A recognised problem is that virtually all of these bulk materials also involve stocks and flows of hazardous substances (Lohm et al., 1997;Kleijn et al., 2000;Sörme et al., 2001). ...
... Despite decreased concentrations, however, total flows of heavy metal might still be substantial, posing pollution concerns (cf. paper IV; Obernosterer and Brunner, 2001). The fact that these substances are non-degradable also means that even small emissions will over time increase the concentrations in the environment, though at a very slow rate ( Van der Voet et al., 2000). ...
... Today, large amounts of material contaminated by hazardous substances have accumulated in the technosphere, posing environmental and health problems (Bergbäck et al., 2001; Obernosterer and Brunner, 2001; van der Voet et al., 2000). Hence, to prevent dispersal of hazardous substances into the environment, it is important to develop strategies for managing these waste flows. ...
... in, 1999). Other biofuels such as forest residues contain less heavy metal than RWW why the calculated concentrations in the ashes presented in this study shall be regarded as a worst-case scenario. When evaluating reuse of by-products it is important to not only consider concentrations but also to discuss the total metal flows and final sinks (cf. Obernosterer and Brunner, 2001). At present, the generated slag from the biofuel boiler contains approximately 20% of the total metal flow in RWW. However, if the identified pollution sources were efficiently separated, only a minor share of this flow (2%) would end up in earth constructions due to reuse of the slag. It must be stated that the evaluation of the envir ...
In Sweden recovered waste wood (RWW) is used for heat production, which reduces the share of waste that is landfilled and recovers the energy content of the waste. However, this waste contains contaminated materials that pollute RWW with heavy metals, causing downstream environmental problems. The main objective of this study was to analyse how different upstream-oriented strategies to manage RWW, influence the arising of environmental pressures downstream the waste management system. Today, the contaminated materials in RWW are handled together with the main waste flow. This upstream approach was compared with a separation strategy that removes contaminants from the main waste flow thereby handling these materials separately downstream the waste management system. An extended substance flow analysis (SFA) methodology that also includes resource issues was applied for the analysis. The results show that the upstream separation strategy exhibits potential environmental benefits. However, to accurately prevent environmental pollution also in a long time perspective, upstream separation strategies must be combined with downstream measures aimed to immobilise the contaminants in by-products. Otherwise, such separation strategies, as the current handling of RWW, may cause temporal and spatial shifting of problems. To enable immobilising measures, however, upstream separation strategies are important since they decrease the volume problem.
... The first level focuses on the political boundaries of cities, but this restricted approach may omit relevant impacts occurring beyond their borders [24]. The second level, at the regional level, examines the connections between cities and their immediate surroundings, while the third level analyses the overall impact of urban activities, which provides a more holistic view, although often difficult to pin down due to a lack of detailed data [25]. ...
This research article conducts a comprehensive literature review on the concept of urban metabolism (UM), with a special focus on the transition from a linear to a circular model. In the context of climate change, increasing urbanisation, and resource depletion, cities are recognised as playing a crucial role in environmental sustainability. A bibliometric analysis of scientific literature shows an increasing interest in circular UM as a comprehensive approach to managing energy and material flows in urban settings. This article aims to further explore the transition from a linear to a circular model by reviewing the evolution of the urban metabolism concept, its key components, and relevant case studies from cities that have successfully implemented circular strategies. By identifying barriers and challenges cities face in adopting circular practices within their urban metabolism, the article proposes recommendations to overcome these obstacles. Furthermore, it examines the interrelationships between circular UM and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly in terms of sustainable urban planning and energy transition. However, important challenges remain, such as the lack of standardised and accessible data that hinder comparisons between cities and their evolution. Finally, future lines of research are proposed that focus on the integration of new technologies, such as artificial intelligence and neural networks, as well as the development of circular urban models that can tangibly measure their impact on climate change. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the current state of the art of UM while enriching the existing body of knowledge on emerging trends in this field.
... When data are not available for all, or most of a city's metabolic flows, tracking the specific data streams for which appropriate data were available could be used to determine the metabolism of an area (Baker et al., 2001;van Beers and Graedel, 2003;Billen et al., 2009;Wang et al., 2011). Patterns of those studies include Pb concentration in Vienna (Obernosterer and Brunner, 2001), concentration of Ni in Toronto (Forkes, 2007), heavy metals deliberation in Stockholm (Cui et al., 2009) and absorption of P in Hefei (Li et al., 2011). Ulgiati and Zucaro (2019) highlight the fact that, although numerous KPIs have been established, constructed on well-known assessment methods such as Emergy analysis, MFA and EF, these KPIs independently or in grouping do not inevitably deliver any explanation of an urban system, since they did not intend to judge the whole system and offer information concerning the level of sustainability and circular economy (Yong et al., 2012;Yong et al., 2013). ...
The interconnection of urbanization trends and environmental pressures, are due to the rising demand for resource consumption, waste production and greenhouses gas emissions. Taking into consideration the massive reduction of natural resources, the deprivation of the life quality and the climate change, the scientific community indicates the necessity to emphasis and understand the relationship between cities and the environment as a dynamic concept. Consequently, cities are facing the challenge to implement alternative strategies towards more sustainable management of urban resources. This research aims to shed light on the concept of urban metabolism, the methods that are been used to gauge urban metabolism (i.e Emergy Analysis, Material Flow Analysis, Ecological Footprint etc.), as well as the assessment of the proposed methodologies through SWOT analysis and Analytical Hierocracy Process, considering multi-criteria analysis and how those reflect to Circular Economy and European Green Deal Strategy. The results showed that, the existing methodologies needs refreshment to cover the needs for the cities of tomorrow and a new hybrid approach which will include new set of Key Performed Indicators is essential. Furthermore, the results could serve as a beneficial reference point for policy makers, consultants, rural developers as the new hybrid approach can be used to measure and assess the level of metabolism in one area in order to prevent future expansion.
... It provides a quantitative partitioning of a material in its different life stages for a given region or time period and may serve as a solid basis for sustainability assessments (Dittrich, Bringezu, and Schütz 2012;van der Voet et al. 2009), urban planning (Müller 2005;Cherubini, Bargigli, and Ulgiati 2009;Obernosterer and Brunner 2001) or policy-making (Reimann et al. 2010). When performed on a local level, they offer information on the social mechanisms of management systems and the economic interactions with neighbouring regions, whereas analyses performed on a global scaleusually collected from several more local studies -portray general tendencies for material consumption and scarcity (Ermelinda M. Harper, Johnson, and Graedel 2006). ...
In the last decades, many tools have been developed to understand and manage the anthropogenic cycles of materials, with different approaches. Each handles the material flows in society in different ways and each possesses its respective databases that fuel their uses. Yet there seems to be no common ground of communication between design activities and cycling activities, as well as their respective stakeholders, which hinders the information exchanges required for a proper management of discarded products (and their materials). This thesis provides two original contributions to circular product design: a tool for the integration of material circularity in product design and a framework to characterize material cycling networks. The tool is composed of a multi-criteria indicator for circular material value that is used in the Design for Material Circularity method. The framework is based on an extensive literature review enhanced by industry experts’ interviews and provides a basis for data collection and knowledge capitalization on cycling activities. The open-loop recycling networks of eight materials, from the three main material classes, are characterized using this framework (steel, aluminium, copper, precious metals, specialty metals, rare earth elements, plastics and glass). Two case studies detail the deployment of these contributions. The first focuses on the optimal choice of material and end-of-life scenario for a 1,5-litre bottle container. The second is aimed at identifying material circularity hotspots and ideal end-of-life scenarios for a vehicular lithium-ion battery pack.
... Ещё одна школа СЭМ изучает метаболизм города на основе анализа потоков городских материалов: например, Оберностер и Бруннер [Obernosterer, 2001]; Оберностер [Obernosterer, 2002]. Согласно методике Евростата главный «входящий» индикатор потока материаловдобыча на территории страны, который включает ежегодное потребление сырья (за исключением воды и воздуха) для экономических нужд. ...
В статье автор предлагает обзор оригинальных источников в отношении изучения концептуальных основ социально-экологического метаболизма городов, также анализируя его основные школы, представителей и направления современных научных исследований. Автор приходит к выводу, что само понятие «социально-экологический метаболизм» имеет разнообразные коннотации в англоязычной литературе в зависимости от методологических позиций и дисциплинарных границ учёных. В зарубежных источниках основное внимание уделяется количественным исследованиям, в противоположность работам, которые выполнены в контексте политологических наук или в качественно-историческом ключе. Большинство работ направлены на изучение потоков материалов и построения математических моделей. Вместе с тем ощущается дефицит исследований, ориентированных на инкорпорацию подхода социального метаболизма к городскому планированию и выработке релевантной городской политики.
... Different theoretical concepts have already been developed by Obernosterer and Weber-Blaschke. (Obernosterer et al. 2001, Weber-Blaschke et al. 2005. Both studies investigate the built environment of existing buildings and their material output at the end of life and therefore analyze it retrospectively based on material flow accounting and life cycle indicators. ...
... These measures have significantly reduced the input of energy, water, materials, and nutrients. (Kennedy, Pincetl, & Bunje, 2011) Resources that were investigated as part of the urban metabolism process in cities included: nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) with a focus on individual substances (Faerge, Magid, & Penning de Vries, 2001;Burstrom, Frostell, & Mohlander, 2003), water issues (Hermanowicz & Asano, 1999;Gandy, 2004;Thériault & Laroche, 2009;Sahely & Kennedy, 2007;Baker, 2009), urban material stocks and flows (Niza, Rosado, & Ferrão, 2009;Schulz, 2007;Barrett, Vallack, Jones, & Haq, 2002) and specific metals in relation to their environmental burden and potential future resource (Sörme, Bergbäck, & Lohm, 2001;Svidén & Jonsson, 2001;Obernosterer, 2002;Obernosterer & Brunner, 2001). ...
The 21st century is known as the century of urbanization. Numerous debates are currently taking place to
define cities and what they should aspire to be. A number of terms have appeared in this arena,such as
sustainable city, eco-city and green city to name a few. However, the main question remains how to measure
the performance of a city in regards to these aims. In addition, it is vital to note that major urbanization
activities take part in cities of the developing world, where informalization is synonym to urbanization, thus
necessitating a profound study of informal areas and their potential role in achieving sustainable cities. This
paper studies how a city performs in terms of consuming and producing resources and how they flow through
its various systems, described as urban metabolism. The paper particularly discusses how informal areas
perform regarding their metabolism, focusing on water flow through these areas as a priority identified by
the residents. Imbaba district, one of the largest informal areas in Cairo, is investigated as a case study to
determine the actual quality of life of local residents and their ecological footprint and to provide practical
insights. The whole process depends on a multidisciplinary participatory research where the citizens and
local community based organization are the focal point. In addition, the process depends on open source data
and data sharing as a way to empower local communities to identify their needs and issues and hence their
appropriate interventions. This is conducted through questionnaires and interviews to identify what the
current conditions and processes in informal areas provide for the residents. The paper concludes with
identifying points of leakages in the resources flows and the possible interventions to improve the quality of
life in the area while maintaining an efficient use of local resources and minimizing the impact of
urbanization of the ecological footprint of cities. This will assist cities to become more resilient in the face of
water scarcity, and provide a more vibrant life for its residents.
... MFA is considered a fundamental industrial ecology tool and has many applications due to its very synthetic display of an element's -or substance's, in the case of Substance Flow Analysis -transformations and exchanges in society or with the environment. It provides a quantitative partitioning of a material in its different life stages for a given region or time period and may serve as a solid basis for sustainability assessments [23], [24], urban planning [25]- [27] or policy making [28]. When performed on a local level, they offer information on the social mechanisms of management systems and the economic interactions with neighboring regions, whereas analyses performed on a global scale -usually collected from several more local studies -portray general tendencies for material consumption and scarcity [29]. ...
Sustaining the material needs of society is an increasingly complex task, as demand grows for sophisticated materials. Concerns regarding material availability are rising, thus many studies following material stocks and flows in the economy and defining material criticality are being conducted. These assessments provide information that can be decisive for the industrial implementation of sustainable and innovative technologies. Disruption risks to the supply chains must be predicted to prevent material shortages at the corporate, national and global scale. Designers can play a major role for the preservation of material resources by considering the evolution of availability at the material selection stage. With the product lifecycle in mind, material recyclability will progressively become a key factor for the design process, in order to foresee potential vulnerabilities and foster material recycling. This paper is part of an on-going research being conducted at the G-SCOP lab of the Grenoble Institute of Technology, whose aim is to provide dynamic resource scenarios and additional input to Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methods and Design for Recycling guidelines, so as to assist material selection in the design process. It presents a framework and the research methodology employed to identify the parameters that determine the evolution of recycling chains, based on material flow data and historical accounts of the shifts, ascent and decline of recycling activities. This should allow designers to incorporate material criticality and recyclability to their Life Cycle Assessments and fill an important gap since there are very few wide-ranging compilations of data describing the history of the recycling processes and industry in literature.
... Explicit calculations on quantities of recovered wooden material in building sector have not yet been done. No exact evaluation is confirmed on how much recyclable wood exists in our urban mines in general and in which building age class or type of building and how high the potential of reuse or recycling is from this material source [9][10][11]. There is already a small amount from recovered wood used in the production of particle boards or wood fibre products but it is a small share [9]. ...
Up to now, reuse and recycling of existing buildings have not been examined widely. This paper discusses the theories, methods and practicalities of buildings' end of life with a main focus on planning and managing reuse and recycling of existing buildings. Our aim is the realistic modelling of theoretical scenarios for end of life based on a case study. The methods of building survey, material classification and documentation for reuse, recycling and disposal of existing constructions are presented. Investigations and calculations were done on an existing cottage in the Alps. The ecologically most beneficial disposal phase of the old wooden hut is our main objective. Critical questions arise from the quality of the material and how it can be extracted, separated and balanced in an appropriate way. A systematic survey of the building by inspection of constructions and materials in iterative steps allows a detailed material balance with condition and property information. This information is crucial for scenarios and material flow analysis of demolished and rebuilt building in environmental system analysis. For future planning, the reuse and recycling of existing buildings should be integrated quite early in the planning process so that we can use the materials in the best way.
... These studies include data on the transfer of these metals between countries and the stocks in each, but the most detailed level at which data is presented is in production and manufacturing. These metals also reside in products or infrastructure within a country, as part of the anthroposphere [8,105], but this level of detail is generally not included in large-scale national or multinational material flow models. Studies like the material flow analysis of Matthews [91] have focused on the total inputs and releases of materials (including some heavy metals) from the U.S. economy, but only separated goods into long-lived durable goods and those that exit the economy quickly as wastes. ...
... Region Year In-Use Stock a [kg Pb/capita] TD/BU b Reference Japan 2004 25 TD Murakami (2006) Stockholm 1995 73 (∼30) BU Sörme and colleagues (2001) The Netherlands 1998 115 (∼90) BU Elshkaki and colleagues (2004c) United States 2000 146 (∼50) TD Sullivan (2003) Vienna 1991 120–210 (50–80) BU Obernosterer and Brunner (2001) ...
Summary The 20th century was a time of rapidly escalating use of lead (Pb). As a consequence, the standing stock of lead is now substantial. By linking lead extraction and use to estimates of product lifetimes and recycling, we have derived an estimate of the standing stock of lead throughout the century by top-down techniques. We find that the stock of in-use lead is almost entirely made up of batteries (68%), lead sheet (10%), and lead pipe (10%). Globally, about 200 teragrams (Tg) Pb was mined in the 20th century, and about 25 Tg Pb now makes up the in-use stock, so some 87% has been lost over time. Nonetheless, about 11% of all lead entering use was added to in-use stock in 2000, so the stock continues to increase each year. Currently, most of the stock is in Europe (32%), North America (32%), and Asia (24%). On a per capita basis, the global stock is about 5.6 kilograms (kg) Pb, and regional in-use stock ranges from 2.0 kg Pb (Africa) to 19.7 kg Pb (Europe). From a sustainability perspective, we estimate that the global lead resource is around 415 Tg Pb. Were the entire world to receive the services of lead at the level of the developed countries, some 130 Tg Pb would be needed, so there do not appear to be significant long-term limitations to the lead supply.
... where N it is the quantity of the final goods i at time t and m it is the content of the relevant substance in the goods i at time t (Gerst and Graedel 2008). Many studies on the city level have been published (e.g., Obernosterer and Brunner 2001). With the top-down approach, the in-use stock at time T, S(T), is estimated in discrete time steps, ...
Lifespan is an essential parameter for the accounting and analysis of material stocks and flows, one of the main research topics in industrial ecology. Lifespan is also important as a parameter that portrays the current and historical situation of industrial metabolism, which is an area of interest to industrial ecologists.
In the present article, the available information from various reports on product lifespan was reviewed. Although we found a large number of data for many durables, the definition of lifespan in published articles varied, which limited our ability to compare reported values. We therefore first defined lifespan and then compared the international and historical data.
We compiled more than 1,300 data sets from various sources and identified some differences among the types of goods and among regions. With the reviewed data noted in this article, we established a database, named LiVES (Lifespan Database for Vehicles, Equipment, and Structures), and will disclose it on the Internet to share the information.
... In applications of the UM-G1 methodology single material flows through cities (e.g. nutrient balances) [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] or more comprehensive lists of metabolic flows (e.g. food, water, fuels, electricity, construction materials) [11][12][13][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44] have been accounted over the period of a year. ...
Cities now consume resources and produce waste in amounts that are incommensurate with the populations they contain. Quantifying and benchmarking the environmental impacts of cities is essential if urbanization of the world's growing population is to occur sustainably. Urban metabolism (UM) is a promising assessment form in that it provides the annual sum material and energy inputs, and the resultant emissions of the emergent infrastructural needs of a city's sociotechnical subsystems. By fusing UM and life cycle assessment (UM–LCA) this study advances the ability to quantify environmental impacts of cities by modeling pressures embedded in the flows upstream (entering) and downstream (leaving) of the actual urban systems studied, and by introducing an advanced suite of indicators. Applied to five global cities, the developed UM–LCA model provided enhanced quantification of mass and energy flows through cities over earlier UM methods. The hybrid model approach also enabled the dominant sources of a city's different environmental footprints to be identified, making UM–LCA a novel and potentially powerful tool for policy makers in developing and monitoring urban development policies. Combining outputs with socioeconomic data hinted at how these forces influenced the footprints of the case cities, with wealthier ones more associated with personal consumption related impacts and poorer ones more affected by local burdens from archaic infrastructure.
... Although many papers discuss the usefulness of measuring humanity's impact on nature for regional sustainable development and environmental protection using several instruments such as material flow analyses (Brunner and Baccini 1992), the ecological footprint (Wackernagel and Rees 1996), human appropriation of net primary production (Haberl et al. 2004), empirical studies on the impact of growth centres on the physical flows of metals are scarce, with the exception of studies on Stockholm, Sweden (Bergbäck et al. 2001) and Vienna, Austria (Obernosterer and Brunner 2001). The long-term imprint of Paris has already been studied in terms of food production (Barles 2007;Billen et al. 2009). ...
The aim of this study is to explore the urban and/or industrial needs for non-ferrous metals (lead (Pb), copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn)) of Paris (France), a highly developed city conurbation, from the beginning of the nineteenth century to the present. Pb was necessary for the development of urban networks (Pb pipes), Zn for Parisian roofs and Cu for the development of boiler making and electricity. This study is based on economic statistics and shows that the situation evolved from a city transforming ores, having its smelters and transforming metal into goods, to a city where metal smelting has been more or less quickly banned, and where only a small activity of metal transformation into metal-containing goods remains. The patterns of the three metals showed slight differences. The deindustrialization of Paris is also accompanied by a change of the supplying areas over time. Ores were always imported from abroad, because of the lack of French non-ferrous metal mines. But foundries, which were first abroad, had developed in France between the late nineteenth and late twentieth century and were again found abroad at the end of the twentieth century. The transformation of metal into goods left Paris to the benefit of other parts of France first, then of abroad, over time. In a second part, the evaluation of Pb consumption per capita in Paris conurbation shows that Pb needs of Paris conurbation were higher than those of France in the nineteenth century. Then, the Paris demand was satisfied and it became lower than that of France. Both the deindustrialisation of Paris conurbation and its lower needs led to a decrease in the relative weight of Paris for non-ferrous metals, compared to other parts of France.
... When this data was not available for all or most of a city's metabolic flows, some scholars have tracked the flows of specific elements for which suitable data was available and used those flows as a proxy for other flows or to focus on the flows of a key resource. Such studies included accounting for the flows of iron, titanium, and vanadium in the Dukou (Panzhihua) region (Chen et al., 1983); of lead in Vienna (Obernosterer and Brunner, 2001); of heavy metals in Stockholm (Cui et al., 2009;Hedbrant, 2001); of nitrogen in Toronto (Forkes, 2007), Phoenix (Baker et al., 2001), and Paris (Barles, 2007;Billen et al., 2009); of copper in Cape Town (van Beers and Graedel, 2003) and Tongling (Wang et al., 2011b); and of phosphorus in Hefei . ...
... In Stockholm, Sweden, the stock of Cd resulted to be 0.2 kg per capita together with 8 kg Cr, 170 kg Cu, 0.01 kg Hg, 4 kg Ni, 73 kg Pb, and 40 kg Zn (Sörme et al. 2001). In the city of Vienna, the stock of Pb in goods was calculated to be 230 kg per capita and as much as 1,840 kg of lead per square meter of floorspace (Obernosterer and Brunner 2001). More recently, Drakonakis et al. (2007) reported an average 238 kg Cu per capita in the USA. ...
Urban soils are an essential element of the city environment. However, studies on urban soils are scattered in terms of geographical
distribution, sampling pattern, analytical dataset, etc. One of the major issues arising from the studies on this ecosystem
is the diffusion of its contamination. In cities, in fact, the proximity to humans may cause a serious danger for citizens.
In the present study, results from the literature about trace elements in urban soils are presented to compare methodologies
and results and to offer a basis for the harmonization of investigation approaches and establishment of remediation thresholds.
A total of 153 studies on the urban ecosystem published in the last 10years were collected and data on trace elements in
soils of 94 world cities were compared and discussed. Data highlights the discrepancies among different studies (sampling
strategies, analytical procedures) and the extreme variability of urban soils. Most cities are contaminated by one or more
trace elements, revealing the environmental relevance of the urban soil system. While Pb is still one of the major concerns
in many locations, new contaminants are on the rise and would deserve more attention from the researchers. While in fact some
contaminants are almost ubiquitous in world cities and could be used as tracers for urban contamination, some traffic-related
elements such as platinum, rhodium, and palladium, whose reactivity and toxicity is still unknown, are becoming of concern.
Collation of literature data highlights the need for the harmonization of sampling, analytical, and rendering procedures for
regulatory purposes and provides a useful dataset for environmental scientists dealing with the urban ecosystem and for city
planners. A sampling design adapted to local urban patterns, a prescribed sampling depth, and a minimum set of elements that
deserve to be measured could be the core of a common methodology.
KeywordsUrban soils-Trace elements-Contamination-Cities
... In the most recent period of island expansion between 1997 and 2002 also the import of Section 6 (crude minerals) is visible as large net importing sector for embodied emissions. Concerns have been raised about the long term legacy of pollutants beyond GHGs embodied in the urban infrastructure stock (Obernosterer and Brunner, 2001; Brunner and Rechberger, 2002). Life-cycle and material flow oriented studies can be useful to identify and quantify those stocks. ...
Small and open economic systems like cities face specific challenges for greenhouse gas accounting. They typically import most of their energy requirements as secondary energy products based on conversion processes which caused emissions elsewhere. Emission estimates therefore already require attention not only to direct on-site activities. Moreover, for a comprehensive approach it is suggested to include upstream and downstream processes of connected socioeconomic systems and the indirect life-cycle related emissions of imported and exported goods.Singapore is used in this longitudinal study as an example of an urban scale economy. Accounts for direct emissions are compared with trade corrected estimates of indirect emissions. Results indicate that direct emissions account for only about 20% of the overall upstream emissions necessary to sustain the input side of the economic production process (domestic emissions plus indirect emissions embodied in imported goods). If indirect emissions embodied in exports are considered and subtracted from the previous figure, the trade corrected accounts for direct and indirect emissions still exceed direct emission accounts, although by less than 40%. Given the increasing trends in world trade and urbanisation, indirect pressures of urban systems should be included in discussions of effective and fair adaptation and mitigation strategies.
... Hammer and Giljum (2006) quantified material flows for Hamburg, Vienna and Leipzig. Some researchers have studied specific metals in the urban metabolism, recognizing them to be both environmental burdens, but also potentially future resources (Sörme et al., 2001;Svidén and Jonsson, 2001;Obernosterer and Brunner, 2001;Obernosterer, 2002). Further material flow studies for Shenzhen, China (Zhang and Yang, 2007) and Limerick, Ireland (Browne et al., 2009) are notable for the development of measures of efficiency of the urban metabolism. ...
Following formative work in the 1970s, disappearance in the 1980s, and reemergence in the 1990s, a chronological review shows that the past decade has witnessed increasing interest in the study of urban metabolism. The review finds that there are two related, non-conflicting, schools of urban metabolism: one following Odum describes metabolism in terms of energy equivalents; while the second more broadly expresses a city's flows of water, materials and nutrients in terms of mass fluxes. Four example applications of urban metabolism studies are discussed: urban sustainability indicators; inputs to urban greenhouse gas emissions calculation; mathematical models of urban metabolism for policy analysis; and as a basis for sustainable urban design. Future directions include fuller integration of social, health and economic indicators into the urban metabolism framework, while tackling the great sustainability challenge of reconstructing cities.
Material Stock Accounting/Analysis（MSA）is the one of the emerging areas, which aims to capture the situation of the material accumulation in our society. Material stocks should be one of our main objects of management, in the sense both of resource and waste management in the future. In this paper, 1）the importance of studies associated with material stocks is discussed; 2）the types and categorizations of material stocks are reviewed; 3）the methodologies for estimating material stocks and their characteristics are summarized; and 4）the recent studies in the area are reviewed with potential applications of the MSA results. We found out increasing number of outcomes from MSA studies, though more detailed analysis will lead to more detailed and useful applications.
El metabolismo socio-ecológico de las relaciones entre grupos sociales y el entorno
natural a nivel local, es la perspectiva teórica que se aborda en este estudio. Partiendo
de un recuento histórico del desarrollo de esta novedosa visión de la sustentabilidad se
genera una discusión teórica en torno a ella. A continuación, el estudio se centra sobre
los sistemas socio-ecológicos urbanos, los cuales se plantean como sistemas híbridos
que transforman su metabolismo de acuerdo a sus dinámicas e interrelaciones propias,
se analizan los cerca de 90 estudios que se han realizado a nivel mundial sobre esta
temática, a escala local, municipal y regional. En seguida, se describe desde una
perspectiva ambiental, la co-evolución histórica de los cerros orientales de Bogotá, como
símbolo, proveedora de materiales y espacio para el asentamiento de la población
bogotana. Finalmente, se realiza el perfil metabólico de los sistemas extractivos de los
cerros nororientales para el año de 1976, mediante el uso del análisis del flujo de
materiales y energía, dando como resultado la extracción de 1’485.000 metros cúbicos
de agregados pétreos y la transformación energética de 144,97 GBTU en forma de calor
desprendido o 153.016,33 GJ de energía transformada.
One of the key sustainability challenges for the coming decades will be to improve the management of natural resources in order to reduce current levels of anthropogenic environmental pressure and respect the biological and physical limits and the carrying capacity of the planet. The first step towards meeting this challenge is an enhancement of the understanding of the material basis of our society. In the past 15 years, scientists in several research institutes have created a fast growing field of research, a new family of different methods, named material flow analysis (MFA). These instruments have an increasing policy relevance: international organizations (UN, EU, OECD) have encouraged member states to establish MFA accounting in their statistical programmes and urged governments and economic actors to use these tools. In this paper I present selected examples to reveal how the MFA approach and derived material flow indicators can be used for the evaluation of sustainability policies at municipality level.
Built environment stocks (buildings and infrastructures) play multiple roles in our socio-economic metabolism: they serve as the backbone of modern societies and human well-being, drive the material cycles throughout the economy, entail temporal and spatial lock-ins on energy use and emissions, and represent an extensive reservoir of secondary materials. This review aims at providing a comprehensive and critical review of the state of the art, progress, and prospects of built environment stocks research which has boomed in the past decades. We include 249 publications published from 1985 to 2018, conducted a bibliometric analysis, and assessed the studies by key characteristics including typology of stocks (status of stock and end-use category), type of measurement (object and unit), spatial boundary and level of resolution, and temporal scope. We also highlighted the strengths and weaknesses of different estimation approaches. A comparability analysis of existing studies shows a clearly higher level of stocks per capita and per area in developed countries and cities, confirming the role of urbanization and industrialization in built environment stock growth. However, more spatially refined case studies (e.g., on developing cities and non-residential buildings) and standardization and improvement of methodology (e.g., with geographic information system and architectural knowledge) and data (e.g., on material intensity and lifetime) would be urgently needed to reveal more robust conclusions on the patterns, drivers, and implications of built environment stocks. Such advanced knowledge on built environment stocks could foster societal and policy agendas such as urban sustainability, circular economy, climate change, and United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
The rapid urbanization in China since the 1970s has led to an exponential growth of metal stocks (MS) in use in cities. A retrospect on the quantity, quality, and patterns of these MS is a prerequisite for projecting future metal demand, identifying urban mining potentials of metals, and informing sustainable urbanization strategies. Here, we deployed a bottom-up stock accounting method to estimate stocks of iron, copper, and aluminum embodied in 51 categories of products and infrastructure across ten Chinese megacities from 1980 to 2016. We found that the MS in Chinese megacities had reached a level of 2.6-6.3 t/cap (on average 3.7 t/cap for iron, 58 kg/cap for copper, and 151 kg/cap for aluminum) in 2016, which still remained behind the level of western cities or potential saturation level on the country level (e.g., approximately 13 t/cap for iron). Economic development was identified as the most powerful driver for MS growth based on an IPAT decomposition analysis, indicating further increase in MS as China’s urbanization and economic growth continues in the next decades. The latecomer cities should therefore explore a wide range of strategies, from urban planning to economy structure to regulations, for a transition towards more “metal-efficient” urbanization pathways.
The last decade has witnessed increasing interest in the study of urban stocks and flows. This paper provides a literature review for different studies of urban stocks and flows. The review shows that urban stocks and flows studies can be categorized according to their output and spatial resolution: The first type of studies uses a lower scale of spatial resolution and focuses on the city as one unit. The second type of studies uses a higher spatial resolution to analyze stocks and flows of sub-areas of the city and is therefore able to produce maps to visualize their results. Both types of studies can either use recent data in a non-dynamic way, or use a time series of data, which allows for the investigation of the city’s development over time. Information about input and output data per study was determined. The literature review also identifies problems associated with current studies, which are related to data availability and accuracy, assumptions, simplifications, and errors. The paper proposes that stocks and flows studies could benefit greatly from the linkage with a standardized semantic 3D city model, such as defined by the CityGML standard. Feedback on CityGML and its ADE capabilities to model urban metabolism is provided.
All cities depend on large imports of energy and other natural resources to satisfy consumption of their inhabitants as well as local production. These resource flows are closely linked to global and regional sustainability issues such as resource scarcity, pollution and competition for land or water as well as local health, environmental, and distributional issues. How resources are consumed and managed in the expanding cities have strong implications for the global resource flows and related pressures in different scales. The goal of “sustainable development” puts into question many traits of current urbanization and city development, and calls for a sustainable urban transformation. Such a sustainable urban transformation needs to rely on sound, efficient and sustainable resource management and sustainable urban structures in terms of the built environment, transport systems, and green and blue structures. The handling of resources in cities and urban areas are in the core of this challenge. For increasing the capacity of local strategic action toward a more sustainable use of resources, it is essential to develop improved understanding of the urban resource flows.
An analytical framework of lead elemental flow was established based on substance flow analysis and aimed at solving lead metal pollution during the lead bullion smelting process. The sources and endpoints of lead flow in liquid high-lead slag direct reduction process were researched by monitoring and analyzing both sampled and accounting data of batching system, bottom-blown furnace, reduction furnace and fuming furnace. The results showed that the equilibrium coefficient and recovery ratio of lead bullion smelting system were 98.61% and 98.28%, respectively. However, its direct obtain rate was only 74.39%. Hence, there was more room to improve the process compared with the internationally advanced level. The dust and lead dust generation per unit crude lead were 0.636 and 0.308 t/t, respectively. The highest contributing emitter was the chimney of reduction-fuming furnace, followed by the post environmental chimney and the bottom-blown furnace chimney, which accounted for 69.06%, 25.81% and 5.13% of the exhaust emissions of lead, respectively. Several improvements that would provide theoretical references to further study on reducing lead metal emission were put forward regarding the existing problems in lead bullion smelting process, including optimizing the lead direct obtain rate, reducing dust yield and the fugitive emission, and applying the cooperative technique integrating desulfurization with dust separation. ©, 2014, Editorial Department of Molecular Catalysis. All right reserved.
MS Thesis coupling life cycle assessment and urban metabolism accounting. Dated: September 2012.
Increasing urbanization and concurrent economic growth are shifting the scale and profile of global material and energy consumption regimes. Urban metabolism (UM) is well situated to identify the scale, components and direction of these flows, and has been instrumental in benchmarking and monitoring the key levers of urban environmental pressure such as transport, space conditioning and electricity. Notwithstanding, urban food consumption has garnered scant attention both in UM studies (typically lumped in with ‘biomass’) and on the urban policy agenda (typically only focused on distance from ‘farm to fork’), despite the heavy burdens embedded within the food supply-chain. Globally food production causes more than 25% of greenhouse gas emissions, commandeers 38% of ice-free land, and imposes local environmental burdens (soil erosion, eutrophication, etc.) The majority of these impacts stem from cities by virtue of their wealth and population. With future growth expected in both of these indicators, an accounting of the environmental footprint from urban food demand (‘foodprint’) is necessary. This literature review covered 60 UM studies (mass, ecological footprint, carbon footprint, nutrient balances, etc.), including 105 cities, and a total of 155 foodprints. We framed the scale of the foodprint relative to other significant environmental drivers (transport, energy, etc.) finding that in all metrics the foodprint competed in scale with them. The foodprint was typically the 3rd largest source of mass flows (average – 1 ton/capita/annum) and carbon footprint (average – 2.3 tons CO2 equivalents/capita/annum) in the reviewed cities, while it was generally the largest driver of urban ecological footprints (average - 1.2 global hectares/capita/annum), with large deviations seen based on level of economic development and city maturity. A positive relationship existed between wealth and foodprint (and food waste), hinting at the need to curb the foodprint in concert with expected global demographic shifts. Urban agriculture (herein ‘UA’ - food produced in cities utilizing existing UM flows) was then introduced as an underutilized opportunity to leverage urban energy and material profiles to reduce foodprints. A lack of quantitative assessments of UA systems was identified, and a systematics of UA types developed based on estimated material and energy needs of the systems was developed to assuage this. A coupled life-cycle-assessment UM methodology was then suggested as a way forward to account for the larger potential for UA to affect foodprints globally in the future.
Urban mining is increasingly being recognised as an important component of resource strategies of public authorities, not only because it contributes to environmental protection, but also because it is a source of valuable recyclable materials. We demonstrate that the sustainable livelihoods (SL) framework can be used for public policy making in waste management by presenting the approach and experiences of a review study termed 'urban mining potential analysis' and its application to antimony, copper, gypsum, gold and rare earth elements. This article uses the rare earth element (REE) group to illustrate and present an overview over information and knowledge gaps concerning urban mining. The analysis shows that rare earth element recycling can be more environmentally friendly than primary production, particularly if the latter comes from countries with weak enforcement of environmental legislation. On the other hand REE recycling often cannot compete with large scale primary production because market prices do not reflect the social and environmental impacts of production, and because the avoided impacts of waste decontamination and reduced waste production are not considered. The urban mining potential analysis can be used to support decision making and the setting of priorities for future research and public action. The findings of the study and expert opinions based thereon contribute to the selection of measures and the formulation of public waste management and resource strategies in general.
Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Eco town is one kind of eco industrial parks constituted by Japanese government. The eco industrial park comprises companies and their coalition which are located in specific area. They exchange material and energy to reduce environmental impact. On the other hand Eco town includes not only specific companies but also all companies in region. Such stakeholders distributed widely in the region often play essential roles on environmental problem, so they are required to be embedded in Eco town. Eco town has to supply substantial information to suffice them. In this paper, we propose an environmental management system for Eco town. It comprises two parts, material flow analysis (MFA) and database. MFA reveals some characteristic indicators, such as resource consumption, production and waste discharge. We combine these indicators and offer new indicators to comprehend current situation. The database includes recycle technology and waste discharge. Companies who want to treat their own waste refer the database to look for adequate treatment method. Companies who want to begin recycle business refer detail of targeted waste for marketing. By supplying such information, we can help to bridge between demand and supply. We also show application this system to Eco town in Aichi prefecture, Japan.
For two centuries, each surge of city-building has consumed massive amounts of raw materials and restructured flows of materials, as merchants and manufacturers reached out to capture resources from greater distances but persisted in accumulating a large share of the wastes close to home. Eight such surges of growth can be seen, and synchronized, in Baltimore, Maryland, and Montreal, Quebec. The environmental impacts are marshalled to appeal for more attention to material flows at scales that reflect the boom-and-bust context of urban decision making.
Comprehensive annual cycles for flows of lead in 2000, based on statistical data and incorporating information on lead production, fabrication & manufacture of products, use, and discard management, were characterized at three discrete geographical levels: 52 countries, 8 regions and the world as a whole. Among the most interesting results are the following: (1) worldwide, aboust 3500 Gg Pb was extracted from the lithosphere and around 2840 Gg Pb was discharged into the environmental repositories; (2) about 3500 Gg Pb was recycled in 2000; (3) approximately, 11% of the lead entering the Use phase accumulated as in-use stock; (4) around two-thirds of the lead entering global Waste Management & Recycling was returned to production for recycling, although this ratio varies among regions and countries; (5) lead ore was mainly extracted in Asia, North America and Oceania, and lead products were chiefly used in North America, followed by Europe and Asia; (6) lead emissions mainly occurred in Asia, followed by North America and Europe. These results provide a framework for complementary studies in lead resources, energy use, lead discard management, and environmental implications.
A cycle is the quantitative characterization of the flows of a specific material into, within, and from a given system. An anthropogenic elemental cycle can be static (for a point in time) or dynamic (over a time interval). The about 350 publications collected for this review contain a total of 1074 individual cycle determinations, 989 static and 85 dynamic, for 59 elements; more than 90% of the publications have appeared since 2000. The cycles are of varying quality and completeness, with about 80% at country- or territory-level, addressing 45 elements, and 5% at global-level, addressing 30 elements. Despite their limitations, cycles have often been successful in revealing otherwise unknown information. Most of the elements for which no cycles exist are radioactively unstable or are used rarely and in small amounts. For a variety of reasons, the anthropogenic cycles of only perhaps a dozen elements are well characterized. For all the others, with cycles limited or nonexistent, our knowledge of types of uses, lifetimes in those uses, international trade, losses to the environment, and rates of recycling is quite limited, thereby making attempts to evaluate resource sustainability particularly problematic.
The continued increase in the use of metals over the 20th century has led to the phenomenon of a substantial shift in metal stocks from the lithosphere to the anthroposphere. Such a shift raises social, economic, and environmental issues that cannot be addressed without quantifying the amount of stock of "metal capital" utilized by society. Estimation of the in-use stock of metals has occurred for at least 70 years, with over 70% of the publications occurring after the year 2000. Despite the long history, this is the first critical review to consolidate current findings, critique methods, and discuss future avenues of research. Only aluminum, copper, iron, lead, and zinc have been studied to any extent Nonetheless, it is clear that for the more-developed countries, the typical per capita in-use metal stock is between 10 and 15 t (mostly iron). Comparison of the per capita stocks in more-developed countries with those in less-developed countries suggests that if the total world population were to enjoy the same per capita metal stock levels as the more-developed countries, using a similar suite of technologies, the amount of global in-use metal stocks required would be 3-9 times those existing at present.
This study aimed to identify the metal flow in a municipal solid waste (MSW) management system. Outputs of a resource recovery facility, refuse derived fuel (RDF) production facility, carbonization facility, plastics liquefaction facility, composting facility, and bio-gasification facility were analyzed for metal content and leaching concentration. In terms of metal content, bulky and incombustible waste had the highest values. Char from a carbonization facility, which treats household waste, had a higher metal content than MSW incinerator bottom ash. A leaching test revealed that Cd and Pb in char and Pb in RDF production residue exceeded the Japanese regulatory criteria for landfilling, so special attention should be paid to final disposal of these substances. By multiplying metal content and the generation rate of outputs, the metal content of input waste to each facility was estimated. For most metals except Cr, the total contribution ratio of paper/textile/plastics, bulky waste, and incombustible waste was over 80%. Approximately 30% of Cr originated from plastic packaging. Finally, several MSW management scenarios showed that most metals are transferred to landfills and the leaching potential of metals to the environment is quite small.
This study reports the spatio-temporal changes in water quality of Nullah Aik, tributary of the Chenab River, Pakistan. Stream water samples were collected at seven sampling sites on seasonal basis from September 2004 to April 2006 and were analyzed for 24 water quality parameters. Most significant parameters which contributed in spatio-temporal variations were assessed by statistical techniques such as Hierarchical Agglomerative Cluster Analysis (HACA), Factor Analysis/Principal Components Analysis (FA/PCA), and Discriminant Function Analysis (DFA). HACA identified three different classes of sites: Relatively Unimpaired, Impaired and Less Impaired Regions on the basis of similarity among different physicochemical characteristics and pollutant level between the sampling sites. DFA produced the best results for identification of main variables for temporal and spatial analysis and separated eight parameters (DO, hardness, sulphides, K, Fe, Pb, Cr and Zn) that accounted 89.7% of total variations of spatial analysis. Temporal analysis using DFA separated six parameters (E.C., TDS, salinity, hardness, chlorides and Pb) that showed more than 84.6% of total temporal variation. FA/PCA identified six significant factors (sources) which were responsible for major variations in water quality dataset of Nullah Aik. The results signify that parameters identified by statistical analyses were responsible for water quality change and suggest the possibility of industrial, municipal and agricultural runoff, parent rock material contamination. The results suggest dire need for proper management measures to restore the water quality of this tributary for a healthy and promising aquatic ecosystem and also highlights its importance for objective ecological policy and decision making process.
The Rhine Basin provides an excellent case study of the complex relationships between economic activities and their environmental impacts. The region covers 200,000 km[sup 2] and comprises most of Switzerland and the southwestern provinces of Germany, the north-eastern corner of France, all of Luxembourg, and most of the Netherlands. In this article the authors summarize some results of research on cadmium, lead, and zinc pollution in the Basin from 1950 to 2010. They conducted historical analysis of the pollutants for two reasons. First, it has allowed them to determine long-term trends in the levels and sources of pollution, as well as to attribute these trends to changes in industrial structure or the implementation of pollution control technologies. A second advantage of the historical analysis is that it allows for the modeling of emissions and deposition to the environment in previous decades. As discussed later, such a model is necessary for estimating cumulative inputs of heavy metals in environmental compartments, such as soils and sediments, where the residence times of the metals are long. Two major issues highlighted in this paper are: the increasing importance of diffuse-source emissions and how to reduce them, and, second, the environmental implications of large-scale changes in land use, and management strategies for mitigating potential impacts on soil and groundwater quality. 30 refs., 4 figs., 2 tabs.
By identifying the main product categories and quantifying the pools of metals; the amounts, flows and uses of lead and zinc in the city of Stockholm have been studied. The emissions of metals into different environmental media are estimated. The pools and flows in the biosphere are introduced, and compared with the anthropogenic pools and emissions. Finally, the product emissions are compared with the measured dissipative use, based on the metal concentrations in the sludge at the main waste water treatment plant and in storm water.The amount of lead that is recorded in the waste water treatment plants can mainly be explained by deposition. However, emissions from many of the product categories quantified for lead in Stockholm are not likely to collect at sewage treatment plants. Instead, the emissions are more likely to be noticed in the storm water, the soil and the sediments around the city. In total, about 45 000 tonnes of lead and about 6000 tonnes of metallic zinc are quantified in the study. The product emissions were roughly estimated to be 30 tonnes of lead each year. There are however, large uncertainties in the emission factors. The city can definitely be regarded as a source of zinc pollution. This can be seen in the flows that are registered in the waste water treatment plants, and the estimated storm water flows. From these estimates, the city appears to contribute about 30 tonnes of metallic and biogenic zinc each year to surrounding waters and to sludge. For the product groups and the emission factors used in this study, a zinc emission of about 17 tonnes per year was estimated, with the main contributions coming from street furniture, tyres and buildings.
Vergleich der Umwelteinwirkungen von linearen versus zyklischen Bleiflüssen anhand der Verwendung von Bleiakkumulatoren in Wien
- R Smutny
Methodisches Vorgehen zur Erfassung und Bewertung diffuser Emissionen aus metallischen urbanen Lagern am Beispiel von Blei und Zink
- R Obernosterer
Vergleich der Umwelteinwirkungen von linearen versus zyklischen Bleiflüssen anhand der Verwendung von Bleiakkumulatoren in Wien Institut für Wassergüte und Abfall-wirtschaft
- R Smutny
- Tu-Wien
- Wien
- W M Stigliani
- P R Jaffé
- S Anderberg
Smutny, R.: 1998, Vergleich der Umwelteinwirkungen von linearen versus zyklischen Bleiflüssen anhand der Verwendung von Bleiakkumulatoren in Wien. Institut für Wassergüte und Abfall-wirtschaft, TU-Wien, Wien. Stigliani, W. M., Jaffé, P.R. and Anderberg, S.: 1993, Heavy Metal Pollution in the Rhine Basin, Environ. Sci. Technol. 27(5), 786–793.
Mass Balance Determinations for Pollutants in Urban Regions Methodology with Applications to Lead, Zinc, Cadmium, and Arsenic
- Caltech
Linking Economic Models to Physical Substance Flow Models. From Paradigm to Practice of Sustainability
- J Guinée
- P Kandelaars
- G Huppes
Blyspridning fran blymantlade telekablar i mark
- S Forsberg
Durch Daten gut belegt
- M F Kalina
- H Puxbaum
- P Biebl
Bodenkorrosion und ihre Verhütung
- T Markovic
Databasen Stockhome. Flöden och ackumulation av metaller i Stockholms teknosfär
- U Lohm
- B Bergbäck
- J Hedbrant
- A Jonsson
- J Svidén
- L Sörme
- C Östlund
Metalle in der Umwelt —Verteilung —Analytik und biologische Relevanz
- E Merian
Emission Factors Manual Parcom-Atmos
- P F J Veldt