July Shift 2020

July 2020
Sustainability News and Views Newsletter

• Conversation with Our New Senior Analyst

• Student Winners of ISIE Americas 2020

• Free Rescheduled Webinar: Reconciling Values and Facts in Comparative LCAs

• Ikebana, Anyone?

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A Get-Acquainted Conversation with David Evers, EarthShift Global’s
New Senior Sustainability Analyst

The newest member of EarthShift Global’s analysis team, Senior Sustainability Analyst David Evers, brings over three decades (!) of life cycle assessment experience and a strong engineering background to our organization.

We’re glad to have caught up with him early in his tenure for this brief interview; you can also...

Read More Here...

 

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We are proud to sponsor the student winners from the International Society for Industrial Ecology (ISIE) Americas 2020!

The first prize went to Venkata Sai Gargeya Vunnava for his oral presentation of “Multi-regional economic and energy impacts of wind energy expansion in the US”

Brief abstract:
Multi-regional input output (MRIO) analysis was performed to quantify the economic and energy impacts of wind energy expansion in the US. The study modeled wind energy expansion in 10 US regions. However, MRIO analysis enabled us to quantify both direct and indirect impacts across all 52 regions in the US. Total direct impact of 24 billion USD was accounted in the 10 regions that had new wind energy deployment and the remaining regions accounted for 3 billion USD of indirect impacts. The study also narrowed down the manufacturing sub-sectors that saw an increase in energy consumption to facilitate wind energy expansion.

The second place for oral presentation went to Eduardo Parodi Gonzales Prada for “Urban stocks quantification through remote sensing. Case Study: Flood zone in Piura during the El Niño phenomenon”

Brief abstract:
This research proposes a method that combines the supervised classification of Sentinel 2 satellite images in combination with the use of free software, to map urban stocks, as a basis for calculating exposure to disaster risk and other useful aspects for various environmental disciplines.


Claudia Alicia Bustamante Gutierrez won the Student Poster Session with her:
Life Cycle Assessment of Building Materials in the US Virgin Islands.

In September 2017, the US Virgin Islands were hit by two Category 5 storms, Hurricanes Irma and Maria. They destroyed everything, from buildings and power lines to trees and coral reefs. Claudia wanted to develop a roadmap for mitigating the damage from future hurricanes. The first part found the wastes generated by the hurricane - 27% were building materials - and determined the best way to manage them. The second part performed a life cycle assessment for three building materials - cement, ferrock, and wood. She analyzed the cradle to grave life cycle impacts over four life cycle stages - raw materials acquisition, manufacturing, transportation, and disposal - and three categories - energy use, global warming potential, and respiratory effects as the impact categories. Results show that wood and ferrock are the most sustainable options in different scenarios. This can be used to make better decisions on reducing the environmental impacts caused by building materials. 
 

 

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Thursday, August 27, 2020 — 1:00pm EDT 

Rescheduled Free Webinar from June 18th:
Reconciling Values and Facts in Comparative LCAs

Weights in LCA are used to reflect values and priorities in a decision and can help a selection process of comparative LCAs where there are tradeoffs. Weights, and specifically, weight factors can be used in LCA to generate single scores and facilitate a decision. While there are several studies delving into the evaluation and extraction of such weight values, few study the role of weights in the single score.

This webinar delves deeper into the analysis of aggregation of indicators for comparative LCAs. It evaluates the role of weight factors in two forms of aggregation: conventional single score consisting of a linear weighted sum, and outranking, a non-linear aggregation method based on mutual differences between alternatives and inclusive of uncertainty.

Learn about the challenges of aggregation, the problems with existing practices and an alternative method that takes into account uncertainty, is independent of normalization references and is more sensitive to weights.

Presenter: 
Valentina Prado, Senior Sustainability Analyst, EarthShift Global
 

Register Today !

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A Passion for Ikebana Provides Insights into Sustainability

Practicing ikebana has been especially helpful while self-quarantining during the pandemic here in New Hampshire. In self-isolating ourselves, we are making a similar choice to the monks who helped create ikebana. We, too, go out into our surroundings to gather plant materials for our arrangements.

Read More Here...

 

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Confused About Sustainability Terms?

Check Out Our Sustainability Glossary!

Definitions for Executives, Strategic Planners, Practitioners

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Explore EarthShift Global's 2020 Complete Course Offerings

FREE Impact Assessment Course, available in (PDF)

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https://www.earthshiftglobal.com/about/news

Recent Blog Posts

Welcoming Our New Intern, UNH Engineering Student Giovanni Guglielmi

 

In Unsettled Times, Unprecedented Opportunity for Progress on Sustainability

A Request from Lise Laurin:
Please Help Review the Newest Segment of the LCA Capability Roadmap

Thankfulness During a Pandemic

Happy 10th Anniversary to Senior Sustainability Analyst Nathan Ayer

EarthShift Global LLC
37 Route 236, Suite 112 • Kittery, ME 03904 USA
Call:  +1 (207) 608-6228, Fax:  +1 (207) 613-7437
[email protected]

 

— TheShift Sustainability News and Views masthead image was provided by Brooks Campbell (Reflections on Smith River, Wolfeboro NH)

 

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