Authors
Di Carolo, Francesca; Lagioia, Rocco
Abstract
The sustainability assessment of a process, product or service is the must be based on three distinct analyses: the environmental, the economic and the social one. Each of the three areas has reached a different degree of maturity and is more or less widespread and in demand; nevertheless, in the modern production context, the new challenge is precisely the integration of environmental, economic and social sustainability. It is to address this problem that the ISAT tool was born. ISAT is based on the methodology developed by ITRB for the assessment of environmental and economic sustainability (LCA and LCC) of three ongoing H2020 projects on the Aluminium production and by-products valorisation, which are: SCALE, ENSUREAL and REMOVAL. The tool is based on python code and uses SIMULINK, the graphical environment integrated in MATLAB for dynamics simulations. ISAT aims at integrating existing methodologies and tools, including but not limited to the Product Environmental Footprint defined by the Copper Alliance for Copper; the methodology defined by NTNU Social Science Institute; the Social LCA Methodology defined by Universita’ della Tuscia; the B-Corporation assessment. An optimization algorithm also helps the users in the identification and evaluation of potential improvements. ISAT will thus act as Decision Support System useful for the shift towards more circular economies, supporting industrial and social innovation. ISAT is now tested in a large Integrated Energy System, which includes wind energy production, storage, transport and trading.