Researchers use life-cycle assessment (LCA) as a tool to evaluate the environmental impact of products and technologies across their entire lifetime — from extraction of raw material to end-of-life (disposal or recycling). It is challenging to apply the conventional LCA method to new or emerging technologies, however, due to the sheer quantity of data needed for such studies. This study proposes a screening-to-LCA method that uses available data to systematically evaluate the performance of such technologies, and support the uptake of those that are most environmentally sustainable.

Amid the covid 19 crisis, the Global Inhouse Centre of Canadian financial services company, Sun Life Financial Asia Service Centre India, is baselining projects that can be accelerated, re-scoped and deferred.

Several of Federal Bank’s digital initiatives are finally seeing massive adoption as the Kochi-based bank works on automation and self service tools to boost profits.

The insurance company is planning to make more investments in digital selling and workforce management, thus eyeing the covid-19 situation as an opportunity to strengthen the digital posture than a business challenge.

In an interview with ETCIO, Miao Song, Global CIO & Global VP of MARS, talks about the IT & Digital odyssey of the company in tackling the Covid-19 crisis.

Transaction costs can be incurred during various phases of environmental policy making, from planning through to enforcement. A recent study has examined what influences these costs and concluded that policy selection and evaluation could benefit from a better understanding of the causes of these transaction costs.

Marine litter not only causes environmental damage, but has significant economic costs for industry. A recent study has now estimated that marine litter in the Asia-Pacific region is likely to cost over US$1.26billion per year in damage to marine industries. Policy options for reducing this cost are explored.

The environmental and economic costs of a selection of common crops have been determined by a new study, which hopes to improve agricultural sustainability assessments in Europe. The researchers used life cycle analysis on organically farmed tomatoes and pears, and intensively farmed wheat, apples, and lettuce to show the overall impact of agricultural methods.

The economic costs of replacing energy inefficient high-pressure mercury (HPM) lamps, used in outdoor lighting, with more efficient alternatives have been explored in a recent study. High-pressure sodium (HPS) lamps would be more cost effective than light-emitting-diode (LED) technology, although the researchers say LEDs could become more economical in the future.

Ocean acidification threatens marine ecosystems worldwide, but economic assessments of its impact are lacking. A recent study has predicted the future cost of ocean acidification on mollusc production in Europe and showed that the highest economic impacts would be in France, Italy and Spain. For Europe overall, the annual damage could be in the region of €0.9 billion by 2100.

Consumers are willing to pay more for food that has been produced via sustainable processes and with a reduced environmental impact. A large-scale US survey, that questioned strawberry consumers on aspects of sustainable food production, suggests that food producers could benefit from increased premiums if product ecolabels were to advertise specific environmental virtues.

Agri-environmental measures (AEM) are designed to encourage farmers to protect and enhance the environment on their farmland by paying them for the provision of environmental services. This study suggests that AEM would be more effective if payments were targeted to areas under the greatest environmental pressures, such as intensive agricultural regions — to gain maximum environmental benefits.

If you want to mix drinks for a living, don't expect to have a typical family life.

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Personal tracking tools -- technologies that meticulously count our daily steps, map our runs, account for each purchase - fall in and out of favor in users' lives.

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Quick Claim Settlement will enable the company to settle claims of up to Rs. 20,000/- and release the settlement amount within 30 minutes in customer’s bank account.

Several of Federal Bank’s digital initiatives are finally seeing massive adoption as the Kochi-based bank works on automation and self service tools to boost profits.

In this brave new world, an IP that can help a business quickly adapt to remote working conditions, provide reliable and safe supply chain, and safeguard security, will become the game-changer for businesses to survive and even thrive.

The insurance company is planning to make more investments in digital selling and workforce management, thus eyeing the covid-19 situation as an opportunity to strengthen the digital posture than a business challenge.

In an interview with ETCIO, Miao Song, Global CIO & Global VP of MARS, talks about the IT & Digital odyssey of the company in tackling the Covid-19 crisis.

Curefit, which has come under fire from several of its staff that were laid off, is one of the many startups whose business has been directly impacted due to the virus outbreak

An executive in a large global enterprise claims to be losing 125 minutes per day due to poor communication, collaboration and information flows!*By unifying your voice, instant messaging, collaboration and mobility together, you can boost efficiency and simplify your operations.

Cisco unified communications (UC) give your teams the freedom to be productive from anywhere, on any device. Available as one of our Cisco cloud services using Hosted Collaboration Solution (HCS) or as an on-premises solution, Cisco UC lets you access presence, instant messaging, voice, video, voice messaging, desktop sharing, and conferencing.

A new study of attitudes towards transport and mobility has identified five groups of travellers. The groups differ significantly in their choice of transport, distance travelled and the impact their transport choices have on the environment in terms of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Researchers have identified policies in Denmark, Germany and The Netherlands that have made cycling safe, convenient and mainstream in these countries. Coordinated transport, educational and land use measures have increased the popularity of this sustainable mode of transport over recent decades.

Many workplaces have developed mobility policies to reduce the number of staff commuting to work using single occupant vehicles (SOVs). A new study from Belgium reveals how companies can influence their employees' choice of transport to work and looks at the best ways to promote alternative means of commuting.

Researchers have found that ocean acidification leads to changes in the ways that clownfish normally respond to sound. As many species rely on hearing for orientation, habitat selection, avoiding predators and communication, ocean acidification could compromise auditory behaviour crucial for survival.

Travelling by coach or train has a lower impact on the climate than travelling by air or car, but using a small diesel car to carry several passengers can have similarly low impacts per person, new research suggests. Air travel is the worst form of transport, in terms of global warming impact, the researchers found, but the average percentage occupancy of a mode of transport significantly affects the impact per passenger.

The measures available to reduce the noise and vibration produced by trains have been outlined in a recent study. The researchers say the most appropriate mitigation should be determined on a case-by-case basis and life-cycle assessments can help analyse the economic costs and carbon footprint of different methods.

Electric vehicles (EVs) could play a role in future power supply, but face issues surrounding the longevity of their batteries. This study reconciles two recent contradictory results on the effects of vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology on battery life-time, and shows that V2G — a process via which EVs would exchange energy with the power grid to provide ancillary services, such as supplying power during peak periods, and helping to regulate grid frequency — could actually extend the lifespan of commercial lithium-ion batteries.

Waiting for a computer or cluster to finish a task is about as exciting as watching paint dry. XKCD even has a comic about it.... read more >>

Frank, Philipp, 1884-1966

A recent paper suggests that the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification scheme has not reduced deforestation, as originally intended, but acts instead as a market governance tool, which may become a barrier to international trade. However, it may develop a conservation role in conjunction with market initiatives which value ecosystem services, such as carbon sequestration through the Clean Development Mechanism.

A recent study has proposed changes to the way REDD+ strategies are categorised, from an implementation perspective. This will simplify the monitoring, reporting and verification of the schemes. In addition, to encourage countries to make an early start on the REDD+ programmes, the study suggests that monitoring should initially focus on forests where it is easiest to implement REDD+ actions.

According to a new analysis by Swedish researchers, action to reduce the impact of several serious forest diseases is typically taken too late. The researchers call for better communication by biologists of how and why diseases spread, to help minimise economic and ecological losses.

The impact of climate change on the distribution of tree species is likely to have economic implications for the timber industry. A new study has estimated that climate-induced shifts in range could reduce the value of European forest land for the timber industry by between 14 and 50% by 2100. At the higher end of this estimate, this could equate to a potential loss of several hundred billions of euros.

Trefil, James, 1938- author

A new study has clarified the concept of the popular phrase 'energy security'. It suggests that measurements of energy security for a country or area should be multi-dimensional and include figures that represent fuel prices, the diversity of the energy market and political stability.

Third party certification (TPC) uses independent auditors to ensure certain environmental standards are met. New research in Indonesia has indicated that TPC is not an objective process and is based on Western values and beliefs. It may need to incorporate different cultural practices and forms of knowledge to be globally effective.

A recent study recommends a new approach to classifying Europe’s rural landscapes that accounts for their diversity and provides better consistency across EU rural policies. This framework can be used to analyse past and present trends in landscapes, and to make future projections.

Researchers have proposed a new approach to identifying sustainability indicators for Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM). It consists of three steps: identify the most important factors in ICZM for coastal stakeholders, model relationships between these factors, and analyse these factors to identify the most relevant for use as indicators.

Although most energy in homes is used for heating and hot water, significant amounts of energy are also used when a house is built. A lifecycle assessment of a low-energy, affordable timber house indicates that large energy and carbon savings can be made when alternatives to traditional methods of construction are used.

As buildings become increasingly energy-efficient in terms of heating and operation, researchers are highlighting the importance of reducing the energy needed to construct the buildings. However, there is a lack of accurate, consistent data, or a standard methodology to properly assess energy requirements at this stage, a new study has found.

Progress towards achieving a sustainable urban environment may be measured by sustainability indicators (SIs), which can be chosen to represent values that are important to local communities. A recent study has assessed a set of SIs developed by both sustainability experts and local citizens and suggests that local communities can attach different values to SIs to reflect local values and understandings of sustainability.

Researchers have explored the influence of indicators in transport policy in two case studies at the EU and Member State levels. In both cases indicators were widely used, however, this did not always translate into direct influence on policies. Involvement of policymakers themselves in the development of the indicators and good links to achievable goals were thought to increase the likelihood of policy influence.

Improving the efficiency of industries and products has not led to overall reductions in the consumption of goods and services, a new study has found. The research looked at the historical relationship between efficiency improvements and resource consumption across 10 different activities, including electricity generation and passenger air travel. However, shorter decade-long periods, where efficiency improvements outpaced resource consumption, suggested that legislation and price pressures could be effective at reducing resource consumption.

A new five-step method has been developed for assessing the resource efficiency of products and improving the reuse, recycling and recovery of material at a product’s end of life. The Resource Efficiency Assessment of Products (REAPro) method allows the identification and testing of practical measures to improve resource efficiency at both the product and policy level.

Urban green spaces provide important ecosystem services in cities, from recreation to the mitigation of noise and air pollution. This study quantified the ecosystem services (ES) provided by green spaces in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, using new methods to evaluate high-resolution land-cover data. The findings show that different types of green space provide different ES, highlighting the importance of careful design during city planning. The authors say their method to map ES supply will aid the design of healthy, climate-resilient cities.

When broken down, ships can release hazardous substances into the environment. This study investigated the environmental impact of shipbreaking in one of Europe’s few ship recycling yards, based in Portugal. The results reveal large differences between assessment methods and show that environmental impact depends on composition rather than size or class.

The uncertain economic climate has severely affected companies’ decisions on whether to renew Eco Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) certification in Spain, a recent survey indicates. The study suggests that a company is less likely to renew if initial certification was mainly motivated by government subsidies and grants than if certification is believed to improve business performance.

Climate change is expected to increase the intensity and occurrence of regional floods in Europe. A recent study has examined existing natural and constructed retention (or holding) basins that can be adapted to provide flood defences. As part of the study, a classification system for flood defence structures was developed to help Member States design sustainable flood risk management plans.