På oppdrag fra Elvia har NORSUS, Norsk institutt for bærekraftsforskning, utviklet en metodikk for og gjennomført en klimagassberegning av et regionalnett, og i tillegg utviklet et verktøy for etablering av klimagassbudsjetter for regionalnettsprosjekter. Målet med prosjektet var å etablere grunnlaget som gjør Elvia i stand til å kunne vedta beslutninger basert på klimagassutslipp fra sine utbyggingsprosjekter.
Bygging av en ny transformatorstasjon og regionalnett i Våler ble benyttet som pilotprosjekt. Gjennom datainnsamling fra Elvia, samt kunnskap og metode NORSUS har fra miljøvurdering av kraftnett, ble det utviklet en LCA-modell av Våler-prosjektet. Denne modellen inkludere hele livsløpet til kraftnettet – fra uttak av råmaterialer, produksjon av komponenter, transport, montering, drift med vedlikehold, utskiftninger, energibruk og nettap, tap av SF6, til livsløpets slutt med demontering og avfallshåndtering. På bakgrunn av dette ble de fossile klimagassutslippene for prosjektet beregnet.
Denne klimagassrapporteringen har blitt beregnet i henhold til GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Accounting and Reporting Standard for driftsåret 2022 og inkluderer operasjoner som er under Borregaards kontroll. Det vil si at aktivitet i Norge, Storbritannia, USA, Østerrike og Tyskland er inkludert i beregningene.
Denne rapporten er utarbeidet av Norsk institutt for bærekraftsforskning (NORSUS) på vegne av Matvett.
Matvett er mat- og serveringsbransjens selskap for å forebygge og redusere matsvinn og er ansvarlig for rapporteringen i henhold til bransjeavtalen om reduksjon av matsvinn på vegne av NHO Mat og Drikke, DLF, DMF, NHO Reiseliv og Virke som er deres eiere. Følgende verdikjedeledd er inkludert: Matindustri (eks. sjømatindustrien), grossist, dagligvarehandel, serveringsbransje i tillegg til kvalitativ kartlegging av holdning og adferd hos forbruker.
Jonas Bergh Hagemoen is a master's student at NMBU in the Renewable Energy program. He currently has an internship at Norsus, where he is working on research projects related to food waste.
Jonas is studying at NMBU, where he previously completed bachelor's degrees in both Renewable Energy and Economics and Administration. In the spring of 2024, he will be writing his master's thesis on collection solutions for hazardous waste and how it affects collection rates, climate, and risk. Throughout his academic journey, he has focused on subjects that provide expertise in waste technologies, LCA methodology, and renewable energy systems. Alongside his studies, he is also involved in the climate accounting committee at Samfunnet in Ås and has conducted LCA assignments for private entities.
Lina is a Chemical Engineer (MEng) and Industrial Ecologist (MSc). With studies in Greece, France, Austria and Sweden, she had the chance to interact with people from various disciplines on a variety of topics focusing on environmental technologies and broader sustainability aspects applying a systems’ thinking approach. Her Industrial Ecology thesis was on food waste and climatic impacts of food consumption in Sweden.
She has professional experience in the pharmaceutical industry (clinical research) and the management of EU funded projects, where she had the responsibility of implementing complex projects mainly in the healthcare sector.
Lina started working as a researcher at Norsus in August 2023, being involved in food waste and process engineering projects. She is strongly interested in the Sustainability of AI applications, Biomimicry as a source of inspiration, and Planetary Boundaries as a concept framework for sustainability.
Four of our researchers participated in Arendalsuka, which took place from August 14th to 18th, 2023. We asked them what they took away from a content-rich week with excellent presentations and professional discussions.
"It was heartening to hear that the participants in the panel 'Mission possible: Circular economy involving the whole society!' seemed to agree that broad public involvement will be important in research and innovation projects related to the upcoming societal mission of circular economy," says Director Ellen-Marie Forsberg. "Minister of Climate and Environment Espen Barth Eide expressed that broad involvement was nothing less than a 'mission absolutely necessary'! It was also noted that transitioning society in a more circular direction requires changes in mindset also related to academic indicators and practices." See the panel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Saun-dHvha4
Senior Researcher Ole Jørgen Hanssen highlights that there were many insightful discussions about the circular economy in the Cathedral of Hope, where he organized a panel discussing instruments: "There was a focus on effective instruments at the interface of climate, energy, and waste policies. It's important to view environmental and resource considerations throughout the lifecycle. Comparing paving stones with fly ash content to 'virgin concrete' illustrates in a good way how LCA can be used." See the panel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gu2ScHkojjY.
Researcher Aina Stensgård gave a presentation on how and why food waste occurs in the consumer phase, and she says, "It was interesting to hear how the retailers, represented by Oda, challenged the authorities to impose stricter requirements on the food sector to tackle consumer waste. It was also intriguing to hear the panellists discuss the possibility of banning extra sales, such as '3 for 2' offers, which could be a potential measure to reduce food waste but might also lead to increased food prices. I will bring this with me into the Government’s food waste expert group work, where NORSUS is involved in developing a set of measures, including a food waste law, to halve food waste throughout the value chain."
Research Director Kari-Anne Lyng found the session on Hope in the Cathedral of Hope to be distinct from the other sessions she attended, providing fresh perspectives. "When we aim to address climate and sustainability challenges, it's not enough to simply hope; we must set goals and take action," she says.
Many thanks to Norwegian Centre of Circular Economy (NCCE), The Cathedral of Hope, and Future in Our Hands for collaborating on these events.
RFF Arctic has awarded Forregion funding to SoBOS,, et forskningsprosjekt med Grayn og NORSUS, som setter sosial livssyklusanalyse (S-LCA) i fokus i utvikling av et digitalt system for bærekraftsregnskap.
Social sustainability is about identifying and managing the impacts, both positive and negative, that businesses have on people - including employees, local communities, and supply chains. Factors that promote employee well-being, attract and retain talent, contribute to sustainable social development, ensure ethical supply chains, reduce risk, and build consumer trust will have increasing importance in the years to come. By integrating social sustainability into their practices now, businesses can create positive ripple effects and promote sustainable growth.
Den økende interessen for sosial bærekraft, både nasjonalt og internasjonalt, samt mangel på lettforståelige digitale løsninger for systematisering og kvantifisering av S-LCA har dannet grunnlaget for SoBOS. Prosjektpartner, Grayn, is already developing digital solutions for collecting, systematizing, and analyzing sustainability data. The company operates in the B2B market and aims to make it easier for businesses to achieve their sustainability goals. This is achieved through the use of easy and time-saving solutions that visualize the impact of implemented measures and include automatic data harvest, machine learning, the use of digital twins, and big data.
Stina Skånhoff is one of the founders of Grayn and the company's CTO. Regarding the project, she says:
"Grayn works to highlight the connection between sustainability, profitability, and a company's impact on the environment and society. We see that there is a great need for user-friendly and concrete tools for transparent and traceable sustainability data. The project with NORSUS gives us the opportunity to expand the current system with indicators for social sustainability to quantify the positive ripple effects a company creates internally among its own employees, and externally, for example, in local communities and in the supply chain."
Clara Valente, project manager at NORSUS, has long been involved in the development of LCA methodology for socio-economic aspects. In SoBOS, she, along with senior researcher Mehrdad Ghorbani Mooselu, is responsible for defining indicators and frameworks that will be used to measure social sustainability in Grayn's platform.
Clara explains that «LCA is a tool that has traditionally been used to evaluate environmental impacts, but S-LCA expands this approach by including assessments of social conditions and impacts. The method also takes into account the entire value chain, from resource extraction and production to distribution, use, and disposal. It can be very useful for businesses, decision-makers, and stakeholders to gain insight into the social consequences of their actions and contribute to more sustainable and responsible decisions.». Important aspects highlighted include equality, diversity, and human rights.
SoBOS includes project partners from across the country and will be completed by the first quarter of 2024. The goal is to use the knowledge from the preliminary project to develop a main project that will have even greater ripple effects and positive impacts on the project partners.
NORSUS continues with a high success rate in developing new research projects.
In mid-June, the Norwegian Research Council announced which of the proposals submitted in February have passed through the eye of the needle and will receive funding. NORSUS is involved in several of them.
NORSUS will lead the Circulizer project. It was granted 12.1 million NOK from the agriculture and food industry research funds. The project will develop valuable knowledge about using marine waste resources for biogas production and how this affects fertilizer quality and environmental impacts when bio residue is to be used as bio-fertilizer.
In addition, NORSUS will participate in numerous other projects which have received funding from the Norwegian Research Council
From June 12th to June 15th, 2023, the 27th CIRED conference took place, this time in Rome. CIRED is the leading conference and exhibition on electricity distribution. It brings together distribution system operators (DSOs), suppliers, researchers, and other stakeholders to present and discuss important topics in the industry.
I år var det et spesielt stort fokus på nettselskapenes og bransjens rolle i overgangen til det grønne skiftet – som krever en overgang til fornybar energi, en storstilt utbygging av kraftnettet og en omstilling i hvordan nettselskapene opererer. I år deltok NORSUS med to konferanseartikler.
Irmeline de Sadeleer participated in a roundtable conference with her contribution titled "Environmental impacts from power distribution," where she presented results from various life cycle assessment (LCA) analyses of grid components and the power grid. She particularly emphasized that the industry should focus on reducing network losses and procuring low-carbon materials with a long lifespan. This generated significant interest among the participants.
Regina Skattenborg presented the paper titled "What Should DSOs Focus On For Reducing The Impacts On Climate Change When Developing And Operating Electricity Networks? A Case Study Of The Power Distribution Network In A Rural Area In Central Norway." The paper was developed as part of the ongoing Innovation Project “BmB” (Power Distribution with Sustainability). These contributions stood out at the conference as they were the only ones addressing the environmental consequences of power grid development and operation in a comprehensive manner by conducting an LCA of an entire electricity network. We recognize the importance of this in order to make knowledge-based decisions to reduce the environmental impact of the grid.
Fabiana Frota de Albuquerque Landi was born in São Paulo, Brazil in 1984. She earned a degree in Architecture and Urban Planning from Mackenzie University in 2006. From 2007 to 2015, she worked as an architect and was responsible for analyzing and coordinating projects for state public schools (2009-2015). From 2011 to 2013, she completed her specialization at Getulio Vargas Foundation, and in 2018, she obtained a master’s degree in Energy Efficient Built Environment from Sweden. In 2018, she received a scholarship from the CIRIAF inter-university research center and began her Ph.D. in Energy and Sustainable Development at the University of Perugia in Italy. During her studies, she collaborated with private companies and conducted research and experimental activities for her master's thesis at the university. Fabiana has published and reviewed papers and book chapters in international publications. In 2022, she completed her doctoral studies with the thesis "Life cycle assessment as a holistic path driving human-centered carbon neutrality" and worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the EAP LAB, focusing on environmental studies in various topics. In 2023, Fabiana joined NORSUS as a researcher.
NORSUS AS | Postal address: Stadion 4, N-1671 Kråkerøy, Norway | Email: post@norsus.no
