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Prof. Stefan Bringezu
Center for Environmental Systems Research, University of Kassel

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Research Keywords & Expertise

0 Socio-industrial metabolism
0 Global land use
0 Indicators and targets for sustainable development
0 Integrated sustainability scenarios
0 Economy-wide resource management

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Socio-industrial metabolism
Indicators and targets for sustainable development

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Journal article
Published: 30 July 2021 in Sustainability
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Rampant loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services undermines the resilience of food systems. Robust knowledge on impacts is the first step to taking action, but long-distance food supply chains and indirect effects on and around farms make understanding impacts a challenge. This paper looks at the tools available for businesses in the food industry, especially retailers, to monitor and assess the biodiversity performance of their products. It groups tools according to their general scope to evaluate what is monitored (processes on-site, pressures on landscapes, impacts on species), at what scale (specific products, company performance, country-wide consumption levels), and compared to which baseline (pristine nature, alternative scenarios, governance targets). Altogether we find major gaps in the criteria for biodiversity or the criteria is weak in certification and standards, business accounting and reporting systems, and scientific modelling and analysis (biodiversity footprints). At the same time, massive investments have been made to strengthen existing tools, develop new ones, increase uptake and improve their effectiveness. We argue that business can and must take a leading role toward mitigating biodiversity impacts in partnership with policy makers and customers. Zero-deforestation commitments, for example, will need to be upheld by supporting changed practices in consumption (e.g., choice editing) and combating degradation within agricultural systems will require a shift toward more regenerative forms of farming (e.g., with norms embedded in robust standard systems). Operational targets are integral to monitoring biodiversity performance across all scales.

ACS Style

Meghan Beck-O’Brien; Stefan Bringezu. Biodiversity Monitoring in Long-Distance Food Supply Chains: Tools, Gaps and Needs to Meet Business Requirements and Sustainability Goals. Sustainability 2021, 13, 8536 .

AMA Style

Meghan Beck-O’Brien, Stefan Bringezu. Biodiversity Monitoring in Long-Distance Food Supply Chains: Tools, Gaps and Needs to Meet Business Requirements and Sustainability Goals. Sustainability. 2021; 13 (15):8536.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Meghan Beck-O’Brien; Stefan Bringezu. 2021. "Biodiversity Monitoring in Long-Distance Food Supply Chains: Tools, Gaps and Needs to Meet Business Requirements and Sustainability Goals." Sustainability 13, no. 15: 8536.

Journal article
Published: 31 May 2021 in Nature Sustainability
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ACS Style

Stefan Bringezu; Martin Distelkamp; Christian Lutz; Florian Wimmer; Rüdiger Schaldach; Klaus Josef Hennenberg; Hannes Böttcher; Vincent Egenolf. Environmental and socioeconomic footprints of the German bioeconomy. Nature Sustainability 2021, 1 .

AMA Style

Stefan Bringezu, Martin Distelkamp, Christian Lutz, Florian Wimmer, Rüdiger Schaldach, Klaus Josef Hennenberg, Hannes Böttcher, Vincent Egenolf. Environmental and socioeconomic footprints of the German bioeconomy. Nature Sustainability. 2021; ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Stefan Bringezu; Martin Distelkamp; Christian Lutz; Florian Wimmer; Rüdiger Schaldach; Klaus Josef Hennenberg; Hannes Böttcher; Vincent Egenolf. 2021. "Environmental and socioeconomic footprints of the German bioeconomy." Nature Sustainability , no. : 1.

Journal article
Published: 01 April 2021 in Sustainability
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The article gives a comprehensive overview of the roundwood equivalents (RE) consumed in the German bioeconomy from Germany and abroad between 1995 and 2015, i.e., the Timber Footprint of final Consumption (TFPcon). The calculation is based on an adapted version of Exiobase 3.4. The sustainability of roundwood procurement for the TFPcon is assessed. A systematic embedding of the tree compartments considered in the TFP in the context of national forest inventories and material flow analysis is presented. The results show that, in 2015, the total volume of the TFPcon of Germany is 90 Mm3 (slightly above the 1995 level) and is composed of 61% coniferous and 39% non-coniferous wood. Germany is strongly dependent on roundwood sourced from abroad and thus was a net importer of RE in 2015. Among the 17 countries with the largest supply of RE for the TFPcon, around one third very likely include large shares of roundwood procured from deforestation or clear-cutting. The self-sufficiency rate in 2015 was only 76%. It would be possible to increase domestic roundwood production by 8–41% (mainly in the hardwood sector) without exceeding the sustainability limits as defined in the WEHAM scenarios.

ACS Style

Vincent Egenolf; Gibran Vita; Martin Distelkamp; Franziska Schier; Rebekka Hüfner; Stefan Bringezu. The Timber Footprint of the German Bioeconomy—State of the Art and Past Development. Sustainability 2021, 13, 3878 .

AMA Style

Vincent Egenolf, Gibran Vita, Martin Distelkamp, Franziska Schier, Rebekka Hüfner, Stefan Bringezu. The Timber Footprint of the German Bioeconomy—State of the Art and Past Development. Sustainability. 2021; 13 (7):3878.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Vincent Egenolf; Gibran Vita; Martin Distelkamp; Franziska Schier; Rebekka Hüfner; Stefan Bringezu. 2021. "The Timber Footprint of the German Bioeconomy—State of the Art and Past Development." Sustainability 13, no. 7: 3878.

Accepted manuscript
Published: 15 February 2021 in Environmental Research Letters
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To feed future populations on ever-scarcer natural resources, policy initiatives aim to decrease resource footprints of food consumption. While adopting healthier diets has shown great potential to reduce footprints, current political initiatives primarily address strategies to reduce food waste, with the target of halving food waste at retail and consumption levels by 2030. Using Germany as a case study, we compare the resource-saving potential of this political target with three scenarios of nutritionally viable, plant-based dietary patterns and investigate interactions and trade-offs. By using the food and agriculture biomass input-output model, we capture biomass, cropland, and blue water footprints of global supply chains. The results show that dietary changes are particularly effective in reducing biomass and cropland footprints, showing a decrease of up to 61% and 48% respectively, whereas halving food waste decreases biomass and cropland footprints by 11% and 15% respectively. For blue water savings, halving food waste is more effective: water use decreases by 14% compared to an increase of 6% for dietary change with the highest water consumption.Subsequently, a combination of the scenarios shows the highest total reduction potential. However, our findings reveal that despite reduced footprints, a dietary shift can lead to an increased amount of food waste due to the rising consumption of products associated with higher food waste shares. Therefore, policy strategies addressing both targets might be contradicting. We conclude that international and national policies can be most effective in achieving higher resource efficiency by exploiting the reduction potentials of all available strategies while simultaneously considering strategy interactions.

ACS Style

Hanna Helander; Martin Bruckner; Sina Leipold; Anna Petit-Boix; Stefan Bringezu. Eating healthy or wasting less? Reducing resource footprints of food consumption. Environmental Research Letters 2021, 16, 054033 .

AMA Style

Hanna Helander, Martin Bruckner, Sina Leipold, Anna Petit-Boix, Stefan Bringezu. Eating healthy or wasting less? Reducing resource footprints of food consumption. Environmental Research Letters. 2021; 16 (5):054033.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Hanna Helander; Martin Bruckner; Sina Leipold; Anna Petit-Boix; Stefan Bringezu. 2021. "Eating healthy or wasting less? Reducing resource footprints of food consumption." Environmental Research Letters 16, no. 5: 054033.

Journal article
Published: 12 January 2021 in Communications Earth & Environment
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The life cycle water scarcity footprint is a tool to evaluate anthropogenic contributions to regional water scarcity along global supply chains. Here, we complement it by a classification of the risk from human water use, a comprehensive conceptualisation of water use and a spatially-explicit impact assessment to a midpoint approach that assesses the risk of on-site and remote freshwater scarcity. For a 2 MWh Lithium-ion battery storage, the quantitative Water Scarcity Footprint, comprising physically used water, accounts for 33,155 regionally weighted m3 with highest contributions from Chilean lithium mining. The qualitative Water Scarcity Footprint, the virtual volume required to dilute pollutant emissions to safe concentrations, is approximately determined to 52 million m3 of regionally weighted demineralised water with highest contributions from copper and aluminium mining operations. As mining operations seem to have the highest impact, we recommend to consider the spatially-explicit water scarcity footprint for assessment of global material supply.

ACS Style

Anna C. Schomberg; Stefan Bringezu; Martina Flörke. Extended life cycle assessment reveals the spatially-explicit water scarcity footprint of a lithium-ion battery storage. Communications Earth & Environment 2021, 2, 1 -10.

AMA Style

Anna C. Schomberg, Stefan Bringezu, Martina Flörke. Extended life cycle assessment reveals the spatially-explicit water scarcity footprint of a lithium-ion battery storage. Communications Earth & Environment. 2021; 2 (1):1-10.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Anna C. Schomberg; Stefan Bringezu; Martina Flörke. 2021. "Extended life cycle assessment reveals the spatially-explicit water scarcity footprint of a lithium-ion battery storage." Communications Earth & Environment 2, no. 1: 1-10.

Preprint content
Published: 13 November 2020
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Hoping to support sustainability, many countries established policies to foster bioeconomy (BE). While shifting towards more biomass use bears chances and risks, appropriate monitoring is still lacking. Here we show for the first time global key environmental footprints (FPs) of the German BE. From 2000 to 2030, the agricultural biomass FP is dominated by animal-based food consumption, which is slightly declining. Forest biomass FP of consumption could be potentially supplied from domestic territory. Agricultural land use for consumption is triple of domestic agricultural land (which covers half of Germany), having induced significant land use change in other regions from 2000 to 2015. Water FP for irrigation has decreased and might decline in absolute terms, but the share of supply regions with water stress might increase until 2030. The climate FP of BE contributes 20 to 18 % to the total climate FP of domestic consumption, while employment makes up 10 % and value added only 8 % of total.

ACS Style

Stefan Bringezu; Martin Distelkamp; Christian Lutz; Florian Wimmer; Rüdiger Schaldach; Klaus Hennenberg; Hannes Böttcher; Vincent Egenolf. Shifting Hazards: Footprint trends of the German Bioeconomy. 2020, 1 .

AMA Style

Stefan Bringezu, Martin Distelkamp, Christian Lutz, Florian Wimmer, Rüdiger Schaldach, Klaus Hennenberg, Hannes Böttcher, Vincent Egenolf. Shifting Hazards: Footprint trends of the German Bioeconomy. . 2020; ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Stefan Bringezu; Martin Distelkamp; Christian Lutz; Florian Wimmer; Rüdiger Schaldach; Klaus Hennenberg; Hannes Böttcher; Vincent Egenolf. 2020. "Shifting Hazards: Footprint trends of the German Bioeconomy." , no. : 1.

Paper
Published: 03 November 2020 in Green Chemistry
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Principle for the substitution of fossil-based products with products from captured and recycled CO2on a cradle-to-grave basis.

ACS Style

Sebastian Turnau; Caroline Sophie Mignot; Clemens Mostert; Stefan Bringezu. Material or fuel: comparative cradle-to-grave climate and material footprint analysis for the use of methanol from recycled CO2. Green Chemistry 2020, 22, 8423 -8443.

AMA Style

Sebastian Turnau, Caroline Sophie Mignot, Clemens Mostert, Stefan Bringezu. Material or fuel: comparative cradle-to-grave climate and material footprint analysis for the use of methanol from recycled CO2. Green Chemistry. 2020; 22 (23):8423-8443.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Sebastian Turnau; Caroline Sophie Mignot; Clemens Mostert; Stefan Bringezu. 2020. "Material or fuel: comparative cradle-to-grave climate and material footprint analysis for the use of methanol from recycled CO2." Green Chemistry 22, no. 23: 8423-8443.

Paper
Published: 24 July 2020 in Energy & Environmental Science
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This paper reviews methodological approaches for determining the carbon footprint of captured CO2 as carbon feedstock, and shows why some approaches lead to suboptimal choices of CO2 sources and that increased consistency in life cycle assessment (LCA) studies on CCU is needed.

ACS Style

Leonard Jan Müller; Arne Kätelhön; Stefan Bringezu; Sean McCoy; Sangwon Suh; Robert Edwards; Volker Sick; Simon Kaiser; Rosa Cuéllar-Franca; Aïcha El Khamlichi; Jay H. Lee; Niklas von der Assen; André Bardow. The carbon footprint of the carbon feedstock CO2. Energy & Environmental Science 2020, 13, 2979 -2992.

AMA Style

Leonard Jan Müller, Arne Kätelhön, Stefan Bringezu, Sean McCoy, Sangwon Suh, Robert Edwards, Volker Sick, Simon Kaiser, Rosa Cuéllar-Franca, Aïcha El Khamlichi, Jay H. Lee, Niklas von der Assen, André Bardow. The carbon footprint of the carbon feedstock CO2. Energy & Environmental Science. 2020; 13 (9):2979-2992.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Leonard Jan Müller; Arne Kätelhön; Stefan Bringezu; Sean McCoy; Sangwon Suh; Robert Edwards; Volker Sick; Simon Kaiser; Rosa Cuéllar-Franca; Aïcha El Khamlichi; Jay H. Lee; Niklas von der Assen; André Bardow. 2020. "The carbon footprint of the carbon feedstock CO2." Energy & Environmental Science 13, no. 9: 2979-2992.

Journal article
Published: 29 June 2020 in Journal of Cleaner Production
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This article explores how far the use of CO2 as raw material could enable the German chemical and polymer industries to contribute to a circular economy. Material Flow Analysis was conducted for all carbon flows for material use in Germany, comprising chemical production, polymer production, domestic use and waste management. For scenario modelling, Carbon Capture and Utilization technologies were included, and key parameters determining carbon flows were altered to show potential corridors for the future development. The results show that current carbon flows are dominated by fossil sources and are highly linear, with a secondary input rate of only 6%. Additionally, 12% (2 Mt/a) of the primary carbon input is lost due to dissipation. Currently available Carbon Capture and Utilization technologies would allow reaching a secondary input rate of 65% for the chemical industry. However, to achieve this rate between 80% (processes of direct synthesis) and 103% (methanol-based processes) of the total net supply for renewable electricity in Germany would be required in 2030 and between 41% and 50% in 2050. In contrast, the unavoidable substance related CO2-point sources in Germany could probably fulfill the carbon requirement for material use of the chemical industry in 2050. The authors conclude that the utilization of CO2 as a carbon source is necessary to close the carbon cycle where material or chemical recycling is technically not feasible or reasonable. The very high demand for renewable electricity indicates that the required production facilities for CO2-based chemicals will probably not be completely based in Germany.

ACS Style

Simon Kaiser; Stefan Bringezu. Use of carbon dioxide as raw material to close the carbon cycle for the German chemical and polymer industries. Journal of Cleaner Production 2020, 271, 122775 -122775.

AMA Style

Simon Kaiser, Stefan Bringezu. Use of carbon dioxide as raw material to close the carbon cycle for the German chemical and polymer industries. Journal of Cleaner Production. 2020; 271 ():122775-122775.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Simon Kaiser; Stefan Bringezu. 2020. "Use of carbon dioxide as raw material to close the carbon cycle for the German chemical and polymer industries." Journal of Cleaner Production 271, no. : 122775-122775.

Journal article
Published: 06 August 2019 in Resources
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The article discusses key aspects to be considered for the orientation of sustainable resource policies. Resource management at the local scale needs to be supplemented by governmental action in order to adjust production and consumption toward acceptable levels of global resource use. What is acceptable is being informed by scientific findings on environmental degradation and relevant cause–effect relationships. However, the desired state of the environment, the tolerable level of uncertainties about environmental impacts, risks of societal conflicts, and ethical considerations all involve normative considerations. Policy decisions for sustainable global resource use must be taken on the basis of imperfect information. A wider systems perspective, longer time horizon, and broader involvement of available knowledge could provide a sufficiently valid basis to derive directionally safe targets. Possible proxy targets for global biotic and abiotic resource use, considering land, biodiversity, and water issues, are presented on a per-person basis for 2050 for further discussion and research. These values could be used to assess the resource footprints of countries with regard to sustainability, providing orientation for governments and industry.

ACS Style

Stefan Bringezu. Toward Science-Based and Knowledge-Based Targets for Global Sustainable Resource Use. Resources 2019, 8, 140 .

AMA Style

Stefan Bringezu. Toward Science-Based and Knowledge-Based Targets for Global Sustainable Resource Use. Resources. 2019; 8 (3):140.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Stefan Bringezu. 2019. "Toward Science-Based and Knowledge-Based Targets for Global Sustainable Resource Use." Resources 8, no. 3: 140.

Research and analysis
Published: 15 April 2019 in Journal of Industrial Ecology
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Understanding how a circular economy (CE) can reduce environmental pressures from economic activities is crucial for policy and practice. Science provides a range of indicators to monitor and assess CE activities. However, common CE activities, such as recycling and eco‐design, are contested in terms of their contribution to environmental sustainability. This article assesses whether and to what extent current approaches to assess CE activities sufficiently capture environmental pressures to monitor progress toward environmental sustainability. Based on a material flow perspective, we show that most indicators do not capture environmental pressures related to the CE activities they address. Many focus on a single CE activity or process, which does not necessarily contribute to increased environmental sustainability overall. Based on these results, we suggest complementing CE management indicators with indicators capturing basic environmental pressures related to the respective CE activity. Given the conceptual linkage between CE activities, resource extraction, and waste flows, we suggest that a resource‐based footprint approach accounting for major environmental inputs and outputs is necessary—while not sufficient—to assess the environmental sustainability of CE activities. As footprint approaches can be used across scales, they could aid the challenging process of developing indicators for monitoring progress toward an environmentally sustainable CE at the European, national, and company levels.

ACS Style

Hanna Helander; Anna Petit‐Boix; Sina Leipold; Stefan Bringezu. How to monitor environmental pressures of a circular economy: An assessment of indicators. Journal of Industrial Ecology 2019, 23, 1278 -1291.

AMA Style

Hanna Helander, Anna Petit‐Boix, Sina Leipold, Stefan Bringezu. How to monitor environmental pressures of a circular economy: An assessment of indicators. Journal of Industrial Ecology. 2019; 23 (5):1278-1291.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Hanna Helander; Anna Petit‐Boix; Sina Leipold; Stefan Bringezu. 2019. "How to monitor environmental pressures of a circular economy: An assessment of indicators." Journal of Industrial Ecology 23, no. 5: 1278-1291.

Journal article
Published: 02 April 2019 in Resources
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The global economy is using growing amounts of natural resources such as raw materials, water, and land by making and using goods, services, and infrastructure. Aspirations on international, regional, and national levels e.g., the Sustainable Development Goals, the EU flagship initiative Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe or the German Program for Resource Efficiency are showing an urgent need to bring the global raw material use down to sustainable levels. An essential prerequisite to identify resource efficient options and to implement resource efficiency measures and solutions is the ability to compare different products or services regarding their raw material use. Until today, there is no internationally standardized approach defined and no software supported calculation method including the necessary data basis available to measure the raw material intensity of products. A new life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) method Product Material Footprint PMF is described. Two indicators are used to quantify the PMF: the Raw Material Input RMI and the Total Material Requirement TMR. The calculation of global median values for the characterization factors CFRMI and CFTMR of abiotic materials was done based on different databases. This article presents the methodological approach of the PMF, the calculation results for CFRMI of 42 abiotic materials and CFTMR of 36 abiotic materials, and the implementation of the LCIA method into the software openLCA for use with the ecoinvent database.

ACS Style

Clemens Mostert; Stefan Bringezu. Measuring Product Material Footprint as New Life Cycle Impact Assessment Method: Indicators and Abiotic Characterization Factors. Resources 2019, 8, 61 .

AMA Style

Clemens Mostert, Stefan Bringezu. Measuring Product Material Footprint as New Life Cycle Impact Assessment Method: Indicators and Abiotic Characterization Factors. Resources. 2019; 8 (2):61.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Clemens Mostert; Stefan Bringezu. 2019. "Measuring Product Material Footprint as New Life Cycle Impact Assessment Method: Indicators and Abiotic Characterization Factors." Resources 8, no. 2: 61.

Journal article
Published: 13 March 2019 in Materials
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There is a common understanding that the environmental impacts of construction materials should be significantly reduced. This article provides a comprehensive environmental assessment within Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) boundaries for Ultra-High-Performance Concrete (UHPC) in comparison with Conventional Concrete (CC), in terms of carbon, material, and water footprint. Environmental impacts are determined for the cradle-to-grave life cycle of the UHPC, considering precast and ready-mix concrete. The LCA shows that UHPC has higher environmental impacts per m3. When the functionality of UHPC is considered, at case study level, two design options of a bridge are tested, which use either totally CC (CC design) or CC enhanced with UHPC (UHPC design). The results show that the UHPC design could provide a reduction of 14%, 27%, and 43% of carbon, material, and water footprint, respectively.

ACS Style

Husam Sameer; Viktoria Weber; Clemens Mostert; Stefan Bringezu; Ekkehard Fehling; Alexander Wetzel. Environmental Assessment of Ultra-High-Performance Concrete Using Carbon, Material, and Water Footprint. Materials 2019, 12, 851 .

AMA Style

Husam Sameer, Viktoria Weber, Clemens Mostert, Stefan Bringezu, Ekkehard Fehling, Alexander Wetzel. Environmental Assessment of Ultra-High-Performance Concrete Using Carbon, Material, and Water Footprint. Materials. 2019; 12 (6):851.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Husam Sameer; Viktoria Weber; Clemens Mostert; Stefan Bringezu; Ekkehard Fehling; Alexander Wetzel. 2019. "Environmental Assessment of Ultra-High-Performance Concrete Using Carbon, Material, and Water Footprint." Materials 12, no. 6: 851.

Journal article
Published: 16 January 2019 in Sustainability
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The increased use of biogenic resources is linked to expectations of “green” economic growth, innovation spurts through biotechnology, development options for rural areas, and an increasingly regenerative resource base that is also climate-neutral. However, for several years the signs for unintentional and unwanted side effects have been increasing. In 2015, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was published at the international level in order to address this problem and deliver a starting point for a comprehensive sustainability criteria evaluation catalogue. Impact indicators to quantify the environmental burden induced by national activities in foreign countries are especially lacking. In this article a comprehensive framework for the evaluation of the sustainability of the bioeconomy, considering key objectives and relevant criteria for environmental, economic, and social sustainability is developed. A special focus is set to the intersection area of the three pillars of sustainability, where the particularly important integrative key objectives and the indicators assigned to them (e.g., resource footprints) apply. This indicator set can be used as a basis for bio-economy monitoring, which uses and produces differently aggregated information on different levels of action, with a focus at the national level but also including global impacts of domestic production and consumption.

ACS Style

Vincent Egenolf; Stefan Bringezu. Conceptualization of an Indicator System for Assessing the Sustainability of the Bioeconomy. Sustainability 2019, 11, 443 .

AMA Style

Vincent Egenolf, Stefan Bringezu. Conceptualization of an Indicator System for Assessing the Sustainability of the Bioeconomy. Sustainability. 2019; 11 (2):443.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Vincent Egenolf; Stefan Bringezu. 2019. "Conceptualization of an Indicator System for Assessing the Sustainability of the Bioeconomy." Sustainability 11, no. 2: 443.

Journal article
Published: 03 December 2018 in Energies
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The need for electrical energy storage technologies (EEST) in a future energy system, based on volatile renewable energy sources is widely accepted. The still open question is which technology should be used, in particular in such applications where the implementation of different storage technologies would be possible. In this study, eight different EEST were analysed. The comparative life cycle assessment focused on the storage of electrical excess energy from a renewable energy power plant. The considered EEST were lead-acid, lithium-ion, sodium-sulphur, vanadium redox flow and stationary second-life batteries. In addition, two power-to-gas plants storing synthetic natural gas and hydrogen in the gas grid and a new underwater compressed air energy storage were analysed. The material footprint was determined by calculating the raw material input RMI and the total material requirement TMR and the carbon footprint by calculating the global warming impact GWI. All indicators were normalised per energy fed-out based on a unified energy fed-in. The results show that the second-life battery has the lowest greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and material use, followed by the lithium-ion battery and the underwater compressed air energy storage. Therefore, these three technologies are preferred options compared to the remaining five technologies with respect to the underlying assumptions of the study. The production phase accounts for the highest share of GHG emissions and material use for nearly all EEST. The results of a sensitivity analysis show that lifetime and storage capacity have a comparable high influence on the footprints. The GHG emissions and the material use of the power-to-gas technologies, the vanadium redox flow battery as well as the underwater compressed air energy storage decline strongly with increased storage capacity.

ACS Style

Clemens Mostert; Berit Ostrander; Stefan Bringezu; Tanja Manuela Kneiske. Comparing Electrical Energy Storage Technologies Regarding Their Material and Carbon Footprint. Energies 2018, 11, 3386 .

AMA Style

Clemens Mostert, Berit Ostrander, Stefan Bringezu, Tanja Manuela Kneiske. Comparing Electrical Energy Storage Technologies Regarding Their Material and Carbon Footprint. Energies. 2018; 11 (12):3386.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Clemens Mostert; Berit Ostrander; Stefan Bringezu; Tanja Manuela Kneiske. 2018. "Comparing Electrical Energy Storage Technologies Regarding Their Material and Carbon Footprint." Energies 11, no. 12: 3386.

Journal article
Published: 25 October 2018 in Journal of Building Engineering
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Suitable methods and indicators to address the sustainability of resource use in the buildings sector are still in their infancy. Indicators and sustainability assessment schemes so far focus on the availability of natural resources, while the efficiency of their use is widely neglected. This article focuses on the assessment of the material resource use in buildings (abiotic raw material including energetic material), and the applicability of material input indicators, Raw Material Input (RMI) and Total Material Requirement (TMR), within life cycle assessment (LCA) using a contemporary database. The indicators cover the life-cycle-wide cumulative input of raw materials (RMI) and the total primary materials requirements (TMR) which in relation to the functionality of buildings ought to be minimized when resource efficiency shall be increased. The applicability of the resource use indicators in addition to the corresponding Global Warming Impact (GWI) is tested for a virtual design of a multi-family building. Use of resources and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are determined per square meter of usable floor area. The calculations comprised the production phase of the construction materials and the use phase of the building with five alternatives of exterior walls using GaBi XIV construction materials database. Results show that accounting for material input indicators i.e. RMI and TMR could significantly contribute to the reduction of a building's material resource use and explicitly define the actual input weight of each material resource taken from nature and the accompanied ecological rucksack within LCA framework.

ACS Style

Husam Sameer; Stefan Bringezu. Life cycle input indicators of material resource use for enhancing sustainability assessment schemes of buildings. Journal of Building Engineering 2018, 21, 230 -242.

AMA Style

Husam Sameer, Stefan Bringezu. Life cycle input indicators of material resource use for enhancing sustainability assessment schemes of buildings. Journal of Building Engineering. 2018; 21 ():230-242.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Husam Sameer; Stefan Bringezu. 2018. "Life cycle input indicators of material resource use for enhancing sustainability assessment schemes of buildings." Journal of Building Engineering 21, no. : 230-242.

Journal article
Published: 26 July 2018 in Journal of CO2 Utilization
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Carbon dioxide (CO2) could be used as carbon source for chemical production. Compared with the environmental assessment, the economic assessment is related with several open questions. Particularly, it still remains unclear when and under which conditions the CO2-based production might become profitable. Besides production costs, the cost drivers and options to stimulate the CO2-based production of methane, methanol and polyoxymethylene (POM) in Germany are analyzed. In order to consider the CO2-based production in a realistic way, various options of operation and give an outlook for a potentially cost-effective development in the next decades are analyzed. The approach is based on life cycle costing. Raw biogas, waste gases of a cement plant, and flue gases of a waste incineration plant are considered as CO2-sources. The energy needed to convert CO2 into hydrocarbons via electrolysis is assumed to be supplied by wind power from negative residual load, a dedicated wind park, or by power from the grid based on a low-price deal at the electricity exchange. Economic data originates from both industrial processes and process simulations. The results indicate that CO2-based production technologies are not competitive with conventional production methods under present conditions. This is mainly due to high electricity generation costs, high investment costs for electrolysis, and regulative factors like the German Renewable Energy Act (EEG) in case of energy supply from grid. A CO2-based polymer would closer to economic competitiveness than CO2-based platform chemicals. While the decrease in production costs of CO2-based chemicals may be limited in the next decades, a modification of relevant regulative factors could potentially promote an earlier commercialization. Relatively low prices for renewable energy supply may lead to commercialization options of CO2-based products until 2030.

ACS Style

Wieland Hoppe; Stefan Bringezu; Nadine Wachter. Economic assessment of CO2-based methane, methanol and polyoxymethylene production. Journal of CO2 Utilization 2018, 27, 170 -178.

AMA Style

Wieland Hoppe, Stefan Bringezu, Nadine Wachter. Economic assessment of CO2-based methane, methanol and polyoxymethylene production. Journal of CO2 Utilization. 2018; 27 ():170-178.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Wieland Hoppe; Stefan Bringezu; Nadine Wachter. 2018. "Economic assessment of CO2-based methane, methanol and polyoxymethylene production." Journal of CO2 Utilization 27, no. : 170-178.

Chapter
Published: 14 April 2018 in Managing Water, Soil and Waste Resources to Achieve Sustainable Development Goals
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The chapter introduces a systems perspective on the physical economy and its interactions with the environment. Indicators on the use of materials, land, water, and GHG emissions (the “Four Footprints”) play a central role in linking human activities with environmental impacts. A basic goal of sustainable development is to foster social progress within environmental limits, and to enhance the safety of humans while reducing their dependence from constraints. Both intentions are reflected in existing resource policies of countries, where both supply security and the decoupling of welfare and social progress from natural resource use are central goals. The chapter summarises the state-of-the-art of the application of accounting methods and data provision for national material flow derived indicators, including the material footprints, as well as land and water footprints. In a systematic manner, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are discussed with regard to their relation to resource use, and it is argued that the information on resource use, in particular the four footprints (including carbon footprint), across levels will be necessary for a consistent implementation of the SDGs. Improving the knowledge base on global resource use will require further institutional development also on the international level. Towards this end, options are outlined comprising the build-up of regular monitoring, a global resource data base, the development of an international competence centre, and an international programme for global sustainable resource management.

ACS Style

Stefan Bringezu. Key Strategies to Achieve the SDGs and Consequences for Monitoring Resource Use. Managing Water, Soil and Waste Resources to Achieve Sustainable Development Goals 2018, 11 -34.

AMA Style

Stefan Bringezu. Key Strategies to Achieve the SDGs and Consequences for Monitoring Resource Use. Managing Water, Soil and Waste Resources to Achieve Sustainable Development Goals. 2018; ():11-34.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Stefan Bringezu. 2018. "Key Strategies to Achieve the SDGs and Consequences for Monitoring Resource Use." Managing Water, Soil and Waste Resources to Achieve Sustainable Development Goals , no. : 11-34.

Journal article
Published: 02 December 2017 in Land
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The growing demand for wood to meet EU renewable energy targets has increasingly come under scrutiny for potentially increasing EU import dependence and inducing land use change abroad, with associated impacts on the climate and biodiversity. This article builds on research accounting for levels of primary timber consumption—e.g., toward forest footprints—and developing reference values for benchmarking sustainability—e.g., toward land use targets—in order to improve systemic monitoring of timber and forest use. Specifically, it looks at future trends to assess how current EU policy may impact forests at an EU and global scale. Future demand scenarios are based on projections derived and adapted from the literature to depict developments under different scenario assumptions. Results reveal that by 2030, EU consumption levels on a per capita basis are estimated to be increasingly disproportionate compared to the rest of the world. EU consumption scenarios based on meeting around a 40% share of the EU renewable energy targets with timber would overshoot both the EU and global reference value range for sustainable supply capacities in 2030. Overall, findings support literature pointing to an increased risk of problem shifting relating to both how much and where timber needed for meeting renewable energy targets is sourced. It is argued that a sustainable level of timber consumption should be characterized by balance between supply (what the forest can provide on a sustainable basis) and demand (how much is used on a per capita basis, considering the concept of fair shares). To this end, future research should close data gaps, increase methodological robustness and address the socio-political legitimacy of the safe operating space concept towards targets in the future. A re-use of timber within the economy should be supported to increase supply options.

ACS Style

Meghan O’Brien; Stefan Bringezu. Assessing the Sustainability of EU Timber Consumption Trends: Comparing Consumption Scenarios with a Safe Operating Space Scenario for Global and EU Timber Supply. Land 2017, 6, 84 .

AMA Style

Meghan O’Brien, Stefan Bringezu. Assessing the Sustainability of EU Timber Consumption Trends: Comparing Consumption Scenarios with a Safe Operating Space Scenario for Global and EU Timber Supply. Land. 2017; 6 (4):84.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Meghan O’Brien; Stefan Bringezu. 2017. "Assessing the Sustainability of EU Timber Consumption Trends: Comparing Consumption Scenarios with a Safe Operating Space Scenario for Global and EU Timber Supply." Land 6, no. 4: 84.

Journal article
Published: 12 May 2017 in Sustainability
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Renewable energy targets in the European Union (EU) have raised the demand for timber and are expected to increase dependence on imports. However, EU timber consumption levels are already disproportionally high compared to the rest of the world. The question is, how much timber is available for the EU to sustainably harvest and import, in particular considering sustainable forest management practices, a safe operating space for land-system change, and the global distribution of “common good” resources. This article approaches this question from a supply angle to develop a reference value range for the current as well as future sustainable supply of timber at the EU-27 and global levels. For current supply estimates, national-level data on forest area available for wood supply, productivity in that area, as well as the rate available for harvest were collected and aggregated into three potential supply scenarios. For future supply estimates, a safe operating space scenario halting land use change, a sensitivity analysis, and a literature review were performed. To provide both a comparison of global versus EU sustainable supply capacities and to develop a benchmark toward evaluating and comparing levels of consumption to sustainable supply capacities, per capita calculations were made. Results revealed that the per capita sustainable supply potential of EU forests is estimated to be around three times higher than the global average in 2050. Whether a global or EU reference value is more appropriate for EU policy orientation, considering both strengthened economic and cultural ties to the forest in forest-rich countries as well as the need to prevent problem shifting associated with exporting land demands abroad, is discussed. Further research is needed to strengthen and harmonize data, improve methods for modeling future scenarios and incorporate interdisciplinary and multi-stakeholder perspectives toward the development of robust and politically relevant reference values for sustainable consumption levels.

ACS Style

Meghan O’Brien; Stefan Bringezu. What Is a Sustainable Level of Timber Consumption in the EU: Toward Global and EU Benchmarks for Sustainable Forest Use. Sustainability 2017, 9, 812 .

AMA Style

Meghan O’Brien, Stefan Bringezu. What Is a Sustainable Level of Timber Consumption in the EU: Toward Global and EU Benchmarks for Sustainable Forest Use. Sustainability. 2017; 9 (5):812.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Meghan O’Brien; Stefan Bringezu. 2017. "What Is a Sustainable Level of Timber Consumption in the EU: Toward Global and EU Benchmarks for Sustainable Forest Use." Sustainability 9, no. 5: 812.