Within the past years, there has been a growing demand for sustainable, cost-efficient on-line sensing of chemical and physical properties and locations of products. Measuring of products’ physical properties, such as temperature and humidity, could improve product safety and efficiency of logistic operations. In the future measurement of temperature of food items could also aid in reducing food wastage. The aim of this study was to calculate the life cycle environment impacts of a temperature logger, hereafter called smart label, primarily targeted for the monitoring of the packed food products. According to the results, the largest normalised impacts of the smart label production are resource use (both use of fossil fuels and use of minerals and metals), eutrophication and particulate matter formation. The main materials causing these impacts were the printed electronics inks and adhesives. In addition, energy used in the production, and plastics used as substrates had large impacts on the results. It should be noted that the present calculations have mainly been made on a laboratory scale. The impacts are likely to get smaller on an industrial scale with more efficient production. In the future, the label could potentially bring environmental benefits through product savings when used in products with high environmental load.

Objective: The rapid digitalization of healthcare has implications for its carbon footprint. The goal of this scoping review was to identify how digitalization is proceeding in healthcare and the mechanisms through which it can affect the climate impacts of healthcare. Methods: The scoping review was conducted following PRISMA guidelines and utilized the databases Web of Science and PubMed to identify literature on the climate impacts of digitalization in healthcare. The literature search identified 32 relevant studies. In addition, diagnostics, overdiagnosis, self-tracking technologies, and artificial intelligence (AI) were identified as key topics not sufficiently represented in the literature review, and related articles were added into the material. Results: Most carbon footprint analyses focused on telemedicine solutions, but research topics also included health informatics, education, diagnoses, overdiagnosis, treatments, medical appliances, robotics, and AI. Regarding telemedicine, the carbon footprint of the virtual consultations ranged between 0·005 and 3 kgCO2e, while the in-person healthcare clinic visits ranged between 0·57 and 178 kgCO2e depending on the mode of transport used, the difference in the carbon footprint being 79–99%. Although the transparency of carbon footprint analyses was often low, system boundaries were often different, and the evidence for digitalization decreasing or increasing climate impacts was limited. Conclusions: The findings highlight the need for future research on these topics and that leadership and setting strategic goals in particular were missing in the literature. Our scoping review also presents a framework for digitalization-related topics and means for advancing a lower carbon footprint in healthcare.

This paper presents a sustainability benchmarking tool, the GreenTool, to compare different electronic product concepts, specifically printed ones, with each other from the sustainability perspective. The purpose is to increase awareness of different aspects of sustainability and support the design of more sustainable electronics. This tool is built on European and global sustainability regulations and recommendations, and it considers environmental, economic, and social sustainability aspects in seven different criteria, each with several sub-criteria that are the actual categories used in the comparison. The tool uses scientific and industrial information as input, as well as a technical understanding of the new and baseline concepts to be compared to properly support sustainability benchmarking. In this paper, we further present an example comparison of four smart label product concepts, one of which is the commercial baseline concept, and the other three are developmental concepts. The biggest differences among the product concepts were found in the categories of ‘raw materials’, ‘manufacturing’, and ‘logistics’ criteria, where the developmental concepts based on manufacturing by printing and bio-based materials gave environmental benefits over the baseline. In the other criteria, the differences were smaller, but the developmental concepts also provided slight improvements in sustainability. The GreenTool can be considered suitable for qualitative sustainability comparisons in product concept design.

Printed electronics (PE) have provided new material and application opportunities for devices and systems as well as new manufacturing routes that all need to be considered for commercialization. This paper introduces a case study with universally relevant manufacturing processes and applications in the PE area, focusing on the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life Cycle Costing (LCC) of the Personal Activity Monitor (PAM) device. In the study, the PAM device's most important costs and environmental impacts during the prototype pilot production and device use phases are identified and assessed. Additionally, the potential environmental impacts of post‐consumption scenarios are considered. The LCA results indicate that the roll‐to‐roll (R2R) assembly of electronics and the R2R injection over‐molding are generally the most prominent production process steps affecting the results. From the LCC perspective, the capitial expenditure (CAPEX) contributor is the R2R assembly pilot line, due to its high investment cost and long operating time compare to other production assets. The traditional electronic components are the major operating expenditures (OPEX), especially the microcontroller units (MCUs) and accelerometers, in contrast to the low impact from the printed electronics. There are several advantages to applying LCA and LCC since they provide explanations of the relationships between cost, environmental, design, and manufacturing characteristics.

The LDR-50 low-temperature nuclear reactor is designed for the Finnish and European district heating markets, as an environmentally sustainable heating option for the 2030s. While the carbon footprint of conventional electricity-producing reactors is known to be small, there have been no comprehensive studies on the emission reduction potential when the technology is applied to the heating sector. This paper aims to fill this knowledge gap by means of life cycle assessment (LCA) analysis. The carbon footprint of the LDR-50 heating plant is evaluated, and compared to conventional heating fuels, direct electric heating, and heat pumps. The results of the analysis show that the life cycle CO₂ emissions are low, although there are still significant uncertainties related to the construction phase, due to missing data. In addition to carbon footprint, the analysis is also extended to other adverse environmental impacts. It is concluded that significant reductions in CO₂ emissions can be achieved by replacing fossil heating fuels with nuclear energy. The technology is considered a viable option alongside biofuels and heat pumps. The overall environmental impacts are low, and the production does not compete for low-carbon electricity or scarce natural resources.

The global temperature has increased over 1 degree since the pre-industrial period. Within the Barents Region, the increase has been ca. 2 degrees, and warming is expected to continue over the next century. Based on energy system analysis with the TIMES-VTT model on the one hand, and a literature review on the other, this study identifies how different economic sectors in the Barents Region are affected by changes in climate, and by the climate change mitigation and adaptation actions in the region. According to the results, the Barents region is likely to be strongly affected by the impacts of climate change despite high spatial variation in the impacts across the Barents region. Changing climate will have severe impacts especially on the more vulnerable sectors, societies, and local environments that have less possibility for adaptation. Political action is needed on national, regional, and municipal levels, but these levels should work together and complement each other. As adaptation is unavoidably required, it is important to highlight and suggest priority areas to national adaptation plans from the Barents region’s perspective. Moreover, collection and utilization of local knowledge in adaptation is crucial.