SustainableTech - A Holistic Framework for Integrated Techno-Economic and Sustainability Assessments

A methodology is proposed to perform integrated techno-economic and life-cycle assessments of new technologies and processes. The methodology consists of a framework for decision-support considering both economic and environmental aspects in a streamlined way. This can support decision-makers to identify optimal value chains for products and activities with the aim of yielding improved economic margins and good environmental performance. Further, because of its holistic and systematic approach, the framework may provide customers with an increased awareness of trade-offs between environmental indicators and economic earnings along the value chains for different market scenarios. The developed methodology is applied to a case study involving the optimal planning for sustainable energy generation in buildings. The research expanded the original case study by incorporating additional 16 life-cycle assessment midpoint impact categories, using an updated background database, and improved techno-economic assumptions. Through this expanded analysis, alternative solutions were identified, specifically targeting improvements in the climate change impact by exploring different permissible variances from the economic optimum. Copyright (C) 2024 The Authors. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)