Eva Pongracz

Jenni Ylä-Mella: Strengths and challenges in the Finnish waste electrical and electronic equipment recovery system in Finland. Consumers’ perceptions and participation. Doctoral dissertation. Acta Universitatis Ouluensis, Series C Technica 548.

The national implementation of the WEEE Directive and the development of WEEE recovery infrastructure in Finland were studied

Consumers’ awareness and perceptions toward the WEEE recovery system were assessed through a survey conducted in Oulu

The role of consumer behaviour in storing electronics at home and its impact were considered.

Available on-line

Jean-Nicolas Louis: Dynamic environmental indicators for smart homes. Assessing the role of home energy management systems in achieving decarbonisation goals in the residential sector. Doctoral dissertation. Acta UO, C 599.

This thesis evaluates the impact of home automation for electricity management in residential sector using environmental and economic indicators.

To this end, a life cycle assessment was performed to evaluate the impacts of the manufacturing, use and disposal phases.

Dynamic environmental indicators using the ReCiPe model were also developed

Available on-line

Pablo Piñero: The metabolism of socio-economic systems : combination of input-output analysis and material flow accounting for footprint-type indicators. Doctoral dissertation. Acta Universitatis Ouluensis, Series C Technica 733

This thesis explored innovative ways to improve estimation of material footprint-type indicators in application of Input-Output (IO) analysis to Material Flow Accounting.

The study of material flows at inter- and intra-national level demonstrated that a regional economy can play a twofold role, both as sink or source of raw materials and in value added, depending on its position in the global economic hierarchy.

Available online

Paula Saavalainen: Sustainability assessment tool for the design of new chemical processes. Doctoral dissertation. Acta Universitatis Ouluensis, Series C Technica 767

The main contribution of this research is a sustainability assessment tool, developed to foster the sustainability of chemical processes already in their design phases. There are several assessment tools to assess products; however, there is a gap and a lack of tools to be used at the early design phase of chemical production processes.

The work reviews indicators of chemical process sustainability. Sustainability assessment in this context covered the following dimensions: environmental, social including safety, economic and health. For the assessment of chemical hazards, the latest European chemicals regulations and classification databases were used as a baseline.

The tool can be used as a guideline in the early stages of designing a chemical process, to provide a competitive advantage, and offer guidance in the critical target areas of process design. The developed sustainability assessment tool can also guide chemists and chemical engineers in the piloting and manufacturing stages.

Available online