Publications related to Low-carbon diet

Decarbonizing the fertilizers sector: an alternative pathway for urea and nitric acid production

François Maréchal, Daniel Alexander Florez Orrego, Meire Ellen Gorete Ribeiro Domingos

In order to alleviate the environmental impact that nitrogen fertilizers production is responsible for, several efforts have been addressed to incentivize the partial or total decarbonization of the supply chains of ammonia and its derivatives. The decarbo ...

2024

Multi-gas processing and transport system

François Maréchal

A gas processing and transport system comprising a natural gas pipeline (1), a plurality of gas conditioning stations (4) connected to the natural gas pipeline between an upstream main natural gas supply and a downstream consumer end, the gas processing st ...

2024

Metabolic Performance and Fate of Electrons during Nitrate-Reducing Fe(II) Oxidation by the Autotrophic Enrichment Culture KS Grown at Different Initial Fe/N Ratios

Natalia Jakus

Autotrophic nitrate-reducing Fe(II)-oxidizing (NRFeOx) microorganisms fix CO2 and oxidize Fe(II) coupled to denitrification, influencing carbon, iron, and nitrogen cycles in pH-neutral, anoxic environments. However, the distribution of electrons from Fe(II ...

AMER SOC MICROBIOLOGY2023

River ecosystem metabolism and carbon biogeochemistry in a changing world

Tom Ian Battin, Enrico Bertuzzo, Luis Gómez Gener

River networks represent the largest biogeochemical nexus between the continents, ocean and atmosphere. Our current understanding of the role of rivers in the global carbon cycle remains limited, which makes it difficult to predict how global change may al ...

NATURE PORTFOLIO2023

Comparative Exergy and Economic Assessment of Fossil and Biomass-Based Routes for Ammonia Production

François Maréchal, Daniel Alexander Florez Orrego

Due to the increasing concerns about the marked dependence on fossil resources and their intrinsic economic uncertainty, as well as motivated by more stringent environmental regulations, the pursuit of alternative energy resources for the synthetic fertili ...

Silesian University of Technology2023

Carbon budgets at the component scale and their impacts on design choices: the façade as a case study

Marilyne Andersen, Thomas Bernard Paul Jusselme, Nazanin Rezaei Oghazi

In accordance with the Paris agreement, the Swiss Climate Strategy (SCS) defines the net-zero target to be reached before 2050, which demands for a thoughtful carbon budget allocation between the different contributors. Ongoing normalization tasks are curr ...

2023

The carbon intensity of integrated photovoltaics

Christophe Ballif, Alessandro Francesco Aldo Virtuani, Nicolas Würsch, Alejandro Borja Block

To assess the meaningfulness of installing solar photovoltaics in buildings and infrastructures, we consider a carbon intensity (CI) balance perspective and assess whether installing PV at different orientations acts as a net CO2 sink or source, when compa ...

2023

Integrated production of urea and nitric acid in the pulp industry: techno-economic and environmental analysis of black liquor gasification-based processes

François Maréchal, Daniel Alexander Florez Orrego, Shivom Sharma, Meire Ellen Gorete Ribeiro Domingos

The pursuit of alternative energy sources for the nitrogen fertilizers sector has recently earned renewed interest due to increasing concerns regarding the world dependence on non-renewable energy resources and also motivated by the more stringent environm ...

2022

Regionalized Life Cycle Assessment of Food and Energy Systems

Xun Liao

To steer the sustainable transition in the food and energy sectors, reliable environmental data is required to answer environmental questions related to single agricultural crop, food product or energy technologies. Life cycle assessment (LCA) has been wid ...

EPFL2022

Drivers and Barriers Toward Healthy and Environmentally Sustainable Eating in Switzerland: Linking Impacts to Intentions and Practices

Claudia Rebeca Binder Signer, Ivo Philippe Baur, Ralph Hansmann

Food consumption is among the activities with the most significant environmental impacts, and furthermore contributes to rising health costs. We explored the factors that foster or hinder healthy and sustainable eating in Switzerland. Based on an online ho ...

2022

Towards a negative-emission society

Xiang Li

Negative carbon emissions are proved necessary to limit global temperature increase below 1.5C compared to pre-industrial levels. (a) Reducing carbon sources and (b) increasing negative emissions are two effective ways to achieve this goal. (a) involves th ...

EPFL2022

Unravelling the mechanism of ultrafast photoinduced charge generation in organic and hybrid photovoltaic systems

George Cameron Fish

At the current time, the world as we know it is at a crossroads; there is an urgent need to lower greenhouse gas emissions to limit the global rise in temperature. However, this is at odds with the increasing energy demands of the world's growing populatio ...

EPFL2022

Life cycle efficiency of solar shading systems: a proof-of-concept

Marilyne Andersen, Sergi Aguacil Moreno, Thomas Bernard Paul Jusselme, Nazanin Rezaei Oghazi

Solar control strategies are essential for the glare control and decreasing cooling needs or overheating risks (in the absence of active cooling system), however, they come with their own embodied energy. With the carbon neutrality objective looking at the ...

2021

The effect of alkali hydroxides and equilibration time on Al uptake by calcium silicate hydrates (C-S-H)

Sonya Barzgar

Cement production accounts for approximately 8% of man-made CO2 emissions. Lowering these CO2 emissions is currently one of the most important and urgent research topics within the cement community. To reduce these emissions, the Portland cement (PC) is pa ...

EPFL2021

The challenges of studying change in carbon-intensive urban consumption practices: Exploring the dynamics of practice change and of normative considerations in knowledge production

Franziska Meinherz

Problem. To reach international greenhouse gas (GHG) emission targets, the carbon intensity of urban resource and energy consumption must be reduced. Technological innovation alone is not sufficient: The practices that constitute urban household demand for ...

EPFL2021

Geotechnical and environmental performance of retaining structures in unsaturated soils

Gianluca Speranza

Presently, environmental issues are considered as critical aspects concerning the market competitiveness in the building and construction sector. However, the construction sector is regarded as one of the main areas contributing to CO2 emissions and resour ...

EPFL2020

Life cycle assessment integration into energy system models: An application for Power-to-Methane in the EU

François Maréchal, Victor Codina Gironès, Alexis Laurent

As the EU energy system transitions to low carbon, the technology choices should consider a broader set of criteria. The use of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) prevents burden shift across life cycle stages or impact categories, while the use of Energy System ...

2020

Imbalance and drivers of carbon emissions embodied in trade along the Belt and Road Initiative

Qinli Lu

A continuous growth of international trade, especially between developing countries, has greatly increased carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions associated with energy consumption over the past two decades. Given the more intensified intraregional cooperation and ...

ELSEVIER SCI LTD2020

Energy, indoor air quality, occupant behavior, self-reported symptoms and satisfaction in energy-efficient dwellings in Switzerland

Dusan Licina, Shen Yang

We performed the first large-scale investigation of indoor air quality (IAQ), energy and occupant behavior and satisfaction, in 650 energy-efficient dwellings in western Switzerland. The investigation included comparative assessment of 217 green-certified ...

2020

Towards Win-Win Policies for Healthy and Sustainable Diets in Switzerland

Arnaud Dauriat, Suren Erkman

The first Swiss national dietary survey (MenuCH) was used to screen disease burdens and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) of Swiss diets (vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, slimming), with a focus on gender and education level. The Health Nutritional Index (HENI ...

MDPI2020