Wood is an increasingly demanded renewable resource and an important raw material for construction and materials. Demands are rising, with a growing attention for re-use and upcycling. This opens opportunities for new business models, empowered by the use of digital design and technologies. A KPI-framework has thus been developed to assess the impact of waste wood upcycling, to provide new business perspectives. It is conceived as a tool to enable circular businesses to select the most appropriate circular wood applications for their portfolio. The framework currently consists of eight indicators addressing circularity, environment, society and economics. This paper presents these indicators and shares insights for further development and enhancement of the framework.
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Spectral imaging has many applications, from methane detection using satellites to disease detection on crops. However, spectral cameras remain a costly solution ranging from 10 thousand to 100 thousand euros for the hardware alone. Here, we present a low-cost multispectral camera (LC-MSC) with 64 LEDs in eight different colors and a monochrome camera with a hardware cost of 340 euros. Our prototype reproduces spectra accurately when compared to a reference spectrometer to within the spectral width of the LEDs used and the ±1σ variation over the surface of ceramic reference tiles. The mean absolute difference in reflectance is an overestimate of 0.03 for the LC-MSC as compared to a spectrometer, due to the spectral shape of the tiles. In environmental light levels of 0.5 W m−2 (bright artificial indoor lighting) our approach shows an increase in noise, but still faithfully reproduces discrete reflectance spectra over 400 nm–1000 nm. Our approach is limited in its application by LED bandwidth and availability of specific LED wavelengths. However, unlike with conventional spectral cameras, the pixel pitch of the camera itself is not limited, providing higher image resolution than typical high-end multi- and hyperspectral cameras. For sample conditions where LED illumination bands provide suitable spectral information, our LC-MSC is an interesting low-cost alternative approach to spectral imaging.
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Wie aan de slag wil als sociaal ondernemer of meer wil weten over sociaal ondernemerschap, vindt in Sociaal ondernemerschap: impact eerst een uitgebreide gids vol inzichten en praktische adviezen. Het boek bestaat uit drie delen. Het eerste deel, ‘Impact eerst’, laat zien hoe sociaal ondernemerschap past binnen nieuw economisch denken en hoe het zich verhoudt tot andere concepten, zoals maatschappelijk verantwoord of duurzaam ondernemen. Heldere voorbeelden en gedetailleerde analyses tonen hoe sociale ondernemingen maatschappelijke problemen aanpakken. Tevens gaat het in op het begrip impact: wat betekent dit nu precies en hoe kun je impact creëren en meten?Het tweede deel, ‘Sociaal ondernemen in de praktijk’, biedt praktische richtlijnen voor het starten en organiseren van een sociale onderneming. Het bespreekt kenmerken en vaardigheden van sociaal ondernemers, het opzetten en organiseren van een sociale onderneming en het functioneren van het ecosysteem rond sociaal ondernemerschap.In het derde deel, ‘De toekomst van sociaal ondernemerschap’, staan tien kansen voor de toekomst centraal. Hierin geeft de auteur aan hoe je als sociaal ondernemer kunt bijdragen aan beter onderwijs, sociale inclusie en duurzaamheid. Het boek wordt gecompleteerd met een lijst met tips voor verder lezen, kijken en luisteren.Sociaal ondernemerschap: impact eerst is een waardevolle bron voor ondernemers, beleidsmakers, studenten en iedereen die geïnteresseerd is in ondernemen met een maatschappelijke missie. Het boek presenteert de inzichten en tools om positieve verandering te realiseren door middel van sociaal ondernemerschap.
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In 2017, renowned Prof Kate Raworth from Oxford University and Amsterdam University introduced Doughnut Economics, an economic model to enable humans to thrive within the planetary boundaries and resources. Several private and public actors, including the city of Amsterdam, adopted the model in their circular economy development's strategies. Doughnut-Architecture aims to develop further the AREA (Atelier for Resilient Environmental Architecture) Framework, a tool designed by graduating students Charlotte Uiterwaal, Isabella van der Griend, Ryan McGaffney, Karolina Bäckman, at the faculty of Architecture, Delft University of Technology (TU-Delft), under the supervision of Henri van Bennekom. AREA-Framework support architects to intervene in the built environment taking as a reference the Doughnut Economics model. The AREA-Framework is at an initial stage, and its categories and subcategories are only qualitative. TU-Delft, the architectural practices Space&Matter and SuperuseStudios, in collaboration with the interdepartmental research group Circular Built Environment Hub (CBEH) and architectural practices from the network of 400 construction companies belonging to the Ex'tax project, the advice from Kate Raworth and the Amsterdam-Donut-Coalitie will further develop the AREA-Framework primarily quantitatively and also qualitatively. TU-Delft, Space&Matter, SuperuseStudios, other architectural practices from the Ex'tax-network will test the framework on different phases of real projects, interdepartmental research and education. The ultimate goal is to develop the framework further, to increase the number of architectural practices successfully implementing the Doughnut Economics in the built environment at a national level. The framework will contribute to positioning the architectural practices concerning Doughnut Economics and the Circular Economy. The project results are firstly an online open-access publication about the further developed Framework to be applied by architects; secondly, the preparation and submission of a follow-up research proposal about the extended development and implementation of the Framework applicable to the built environment by all the Ex'tax construction sector companies.
