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A Causal Model of the Sustainable Use of Resources: A Case Study on a Woodworking Process

Author

Listed:
  • Tomas Macak

    (Department of Management, Faculty of Economics and Management, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, 16500 Prague, Czech Republic)

  • Jan Hron

    (Department of Management, Faculty of Economics and Management, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, 16500 Prague, Czech Republic)

  • Jaromir Stusek

    (Department of Management, Faculty of Economics and Management, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, 16500 Prague, Czech Republic)

Abstract

Controlling the life cycle of natural resources, from extraction within the design and the production of products to handling waste, is crucial to green growth and is a part of advancing a resource-efficient, circular economy where everything is fully utilised. One way of using resources more efficiently for a greener economy is to design a production process that takes cost and energy savings into account. From this point of view, the goal of the article is to create a causal description of sustainable woodworking—especially using renewable and non-renewable resources—in relation to changes in the concentration levels of CO 2 in the atmosphere. After estimating the partial parameters, this model can be used to predict or simulate different CO 2 concentration levels in the atmosphere—for example, based on the ratio of renewable to non-renewable sources. After a theoretical description, the subsequent practical goal is to identify the optimal settings of wood-milling process parameters for either minimising energy consumption per workpiece and unit variable costs or for maximising the overall customer benefit. For this purpose, a complete factorial design was used, and based on this, the consumption energy (direct cost) optimisation of the production process was supplemented by a profitable production calculation. The effect of reducing variability was verified using a statistical F-test. The impact of minimising energy consumption (economically expressed as the mean profit) was then validated using a Student’s t -test.

Suggested Citation

  • Tomas Macak & Jan Hron & Jaromir Stusek, 2020. "A Causal Model of the Sustainable Use of Resources: A Case Study on a Woodworking Process," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-22, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:21:p:9057-:d:437858
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    References listed on IDEAS

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