TY - GEN
T1 - Greening the service industries
T2 - 2011 IEEE International Symposium on Sustainable Systems and Technology, ISSST 2011
AU - Shrake, Scott O.
AU - Landis, Amy E.
AU - Bilec, Melissa M.
PY - 2011
Y1 - 2011
N2 - The shift towards service based economic growth in developed countries is typically viewed positively with respect to environmental impact. Research in the past decade, however, has shown that service industries actually account for a large portion of environmental loadings in terms of emissions and energy use. Recently, more research has focused upon the development of tools and methods to properly assess the impacts of service industries. This paper discusses the environmental and economic performance of one service based company, a civil engineering consulting firm. This analysis employed a hybrid-based life cycle assessment (LCA) model to analyze the impacts of the aforementioned case study firm. The evaluation also included an energy audit, waste audit, and a personnel survey. This paper primarily focuses on the findings and results of the energy and waste audits, the survey, and the LCA as well as programs and initiatives that came as a result of the study. The findings point to both the difficulty and the importance of improving staff awareness of the environmental impacts associated with their work habits.
AB - The shift towards service based economic growth in developed countries is typically viewed positively with respect to environmental impact. Research in the past decade, however, has shown that service industries actually account for a large portion of environmental loadings in terms of emissions and energy use. Recently, more research has focused upon the development of tools and methods to properly assess the impacts of service industries. This paper discusses the environmental and economic performance of one service based company, a civil engineering consulting firm. This analysis employed a hybrid-based life cycle assessment (LCA) model to analyze the impacts of the aforementioned case study firm. The evaluation also included an energy audit, waste audit, and a personnel survey. This paper primarily focuses on the findings and results of the energy and waste audits, the survey, and the LCA as well as programs and initiatives that came as a result of the study. The findings point to both the difficulty and the importance of improving staff awareness of the environmental impacts associated with their work habits.
KW - environmental management
KW - industrial ecology
KW - life cycle assessment (LCA)
KW - service industries
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=79960738397&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=79960738397&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/ISSST.2011.5936881
DO - 10.1109/ISSST.2011.5936881
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:79960738397
SN - 9781612843926
T3 - Proceedings of the 2011 IEEE International Symposium on Sustainable Systems and Technology, ISSST 2011
BT - Proceedings of the 2011 IEEE International Symposium on Sustainable Systems and Technology, ISSST 2011
Y2 - 16 May 2011 through 18 May 2011
ER -