Towards a triple bottom-line sustainability assessment of the U.S. construction industry

2013 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 958-972 ◽  
Author(s):  
Murat Kucukvar ◽  
Omer Tatari
Keyword(s):  
Construction Industry ◽  
Sustainability Assessment ◽  
Triple Bottom Line ◽  
Bottom Line ◽  
The U.S

scholarly journals COMPARATIVE ASSESSMENT OF TRANSPORTATION SUSTAINABILITY RATING SYSTEMS

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Oluwatobi Oluwalaiye ◽  
Mehmet E. Ozbek
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Construction Industry ◽  
New York State ◽  
Triple Bottom Line ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Rating System ◽  
Rating Systems ◽  
Bottom Line ◽  
Environmental Aspect ◽  
Transportation Sustainability

The construction industry contributes a significant amount of greenhouse gas emissions to the environment. This highlights the need for this industry to implement sustainable practices to mitigate its negative effects. Sustainability in the construction industry involves considering project development in terms of economic, social, and environmental aspects (triple bottom line). In the transportation sector of the construction industry, several transportation sustainability rating systems (TSRS) have been developed to measure and promote sustainability. However, studies show that these TSRS have not been developed within a consistent “sustainability scope”. This raises the question of the consistency of these TSRS in measuring sustainability of transportation projects. This study assesses three prominent TSRS to determine how each measures sustainability with respect to the triple bottom line. The TSRS that are in the scope of this study are: (i) Envision-a third-party rating system, (ii) INVEST-a self-assessed rating and, (iii) GreenLITES-an in-house developed self-assessed rating system for the New York State DOT. Results show that while these three rating systems provide different levels of credits/points with respect to the triple bottom line, they all place the highest focus on the environmental aspect.

scholarly journals Leveraging effects of triple bottom lines business model on the building and construction small and medium-sized enterprises’ market performance

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Boniface Okanga ◽  
Darelle Groenewald
Keyword(s):  
Construction Industry ◽  
Business Model ◽  
Research Method ◽  
Market Performance ◽  
Triple Bottom Line ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Financial Sustainability ◽  
Bottom Line ◽  
Kwazulu Natal ◽  
Operational Activities

Orientation: Embracement of triple bottom line reporting as a driver of a firm’s sustainability is a paradox puzzling most contemporary business executives.Research purpose: The purpose of this research is to examine how effective alignment of the triple bottom line business model with building and construction operational activities leverages effective market performance of the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the building and construction industry, so as to identify major paradoxes and the remedial business model that can be suggested.Research design, approach and method: The study uses interpretivist research paradigm and exploratory qualitative research method to explore the opinions and perceptions of 30 judgementally drawn participants comprising managers and supervisors from 30 building and construction SMEs in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal provinces. Thematic analysis was used in the evaluation and interpretation of the interview data collected using a semi-structured interview guide.Main findings: A seemingly greater preponderance to pursue profitability at the expense of people and planet bottom lines was found to be common among most of the SMEs during the initial stages of their establishments and growth because of the need to attain the usually essential initial financial sustainability. Even though on attaining financial sustainability, some of the SMEs strive to achieve all the three bottom lines, most of the undertaken initiatives are often only aimed at improving compliance with relevant building and construction legislations.Managerial implications: The study suggests a modified triple bottom line business model that the SMEs in the building and construction industry can replicate to effectively apply triple bottom line reporting as an edifier for effective market performance.Contributions: The study offers a new theory for measuring the leveraging effects of the triple bottom line business model on the building and construction SMEs’ effective market performance.

scholarly journals Sustainability Identification of Steel and Concrete Construction Frames with Respect to Triple Bottom Line

Buildings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 565
Author(s):  
Amir Oladazimi ◽  
Saeed Mansour ◽  
Seyed Abbas Hosseinijou ◽  
Mohammad H. Majdfaghihi
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Economic ◽  
Construction Industry ◽  
Triple Bottom Line ◽  
Steel Frame ◽  
Social Dimensions ◽  
Bottom Line ◽  
High Importance ◽  
Concrete Frame

As one of the most prominent industries in developed and developing countries, the construction industry has had substantial impacts on different aspects of the environment, society, and economy. In recent years, sustainable construction has been introduced as an approach to evaluate the various construction phases based on environmental, economic, and social dimensions, also known as the triple bottom line (TBL). To conduct a sustainability analysis of the buildings in Tehran, the capital city of Iran, two conventional construction frames were selected, namely steel frame and concrete frame. In this research, three conventional approaches for the evaluation of the TBL, namely the life cycle assessment (LCA), life cycle cost (LCC), and social life cycle assessment (SLCA), were, respectively, used for the study of environmental, economic, and social impacts. The main results of the study are summarized as the following: Overall, based on the LCA results, the concrete frame led to almost 38% more environmental pollution than steel frame. In terms of the total prices of the buildings, considering their LCC and with respect to the present value (PV) method, the steel frame was almost 152,000 USD more expensive than the concrete frame. The quantified results of the social dimension by the SLCA method showed that concrete and steel buildings had a score of 0.199 and 0.189, respectively, which indicates that concrete had a slightly better social performance based on expert opinions. A multi-criteria assessment and sensitivity analysis of the results were conducted by a graphical tool, namely the mixing triangle, and showed that the overall preference of each alternative depends mainly on the importance weights given to each aspect of the assessment. However, one of the main findings of the research was that overall, giving a high importance weight to environmental dimension leads to sustainability preference of steel over concrete frame, while giving high importance weights to economic or social dimensions leads to sustainability preference of concrete over steel frame. Findings of the study are beneficial to decision-makers in the construction industry since they can decide on the best alternative among concrete and steel frames based on their strategies.

scholarly journals B Corps’ Social Media Communications during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Through the Lens of the Triple Bottom Line

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (17) ◽  
pp. 9634
Author(s):  
Manveer Mann ◽  
Sang-Eun Byun ◽  
Whitney Ginder
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Qualitative Method ◽  
Triple Bottom Line ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Bottom Line ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Media Communications ◽  
Social Environmental ◽  
The U.S

The COVID-19 pandemic and rising demand for transparency has heightened the importance of sustainability communications on social media to generate deeper stakeholder engagement. Although B Corporations (B Corps), businesses committed to the triple bottom line (TBL), could serve as a catalyst for sustainable development, little is known about how they communicate on social media during a crisis. Therefore, we examined social media communications of B Corps to (1) identify salient topics and themes, (2) analyze how these themes align with the TBL, and (3) evaluate social media performance against industry benchmarks. We focused on the apparel, footwear, and accessories (AFA) sectors in the U.S. and chose Twitter, a platform known for crisis communication. Using a qualitative method, we found four topics and 21 underlying themes. Topics related to social/environmental issues and COVID-19 were most dominant, followed by product/brand promotions. Further classification of specific themes and cases from a TBL perspective demonstrated that, overall, B Corps in the AFA sectors leveraged various approaches to promote balance between each TBL dimension. Lastly, although collectively B Corps exceeded some of the Twitter industry benchmarks, at an individual level, most brands had room for improvement to build a stronger community and promote synergy among the three pillars of the TBL.

scholarly journals MEASURING UP: A CASE FOR REDRAWING THE SYSTEM BOUNDARIES OF SUSTAINABILITY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 159-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brent Sturlaugson ◽  
Rebekah Radtke ◽  
Anita Lee-Post
Keyword(s):  
Academic Success ◽  
Built Environment ◽  
Impact Analysis ◽  
Sustainability Assessment ◽  
Triple Bottom Line ◽  
Academic Excellence ◽  
Prototype System ◽  
Bottom Line ◽  
University Of Kentucky ◽  
The University

The primary goal of this paper is to examine the role that sustainability assessment and reporting plays in creating a sustainable campus for academic excellence. A prototype sustainability assessment and reporting system is developed for triple bottom line impact analysis of the built environment of the newly expanded and renovated Gatton College of Business and Economics at the University of Kentucky. The prototype system utilizes a toolkit to collect environmental, social, and economic data of the building's built environment for sustainable design performance analyses. The system also employs a comprehensive set of sustainability metrics to measure and report the building's triple bottom line impacts on academic success. In sum, our study succeeds in (1) expanding the definition and evaluation of campus buildings' sustainability to include environmental, social, and economic factors, (2) providing campus stakeholders with a toolkit for assessing the sustainability of campus buildings, and (3) creating a comprehensive sustainability metric for benchmarking and tracking campus buildings' triple bottom line impacts on academic success.

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