Materialising dematerialisation: Integrated energy and materials systems engineering for greenhouse gas emission mitigation

On April 13, 1999, Dolf Gielen of ECN Policy Studies earned his Ph.D. degree with a thesis titled:
Materialising dematerialisation: Integrated energy and materials systems engineering for greenhouse gas emission mitigation.

Abstract

Current environmental policy initiatives strive to achieve a reduction in the emission of greenhouse gas (GHG). Different strategies can be applied to achieve this goal. Significant greenhouse gas emissions arise during the production of materials and materials waste handling. These emissions can be reduced by changing the quality and quantity of material flows in our economy (called "materials strategies"). Partly because of methodological problems, these emission reduction strategies have not yet been analysed properly. A new MARKAL model application (MATTER) is developed for the analysis of materials strategies. This approach is applied for the Netherlands and for western Europe.

A summary of the thesis is available.

For the full thesis or more information, please contact: Dolf Gielen.