scholarly journals Active Investment: Evaluating the Benefits and Costs of Investing in Active Travel in the Urban New Zealand Context

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Mark Grams
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Qualitative Analysis ◽  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Active Travel ◽  
Project Managers ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Northern European ◽  
District Council ◽  
Community Outcomes

<p>Increased uptake of active travel is widely acknowledged to promote improved health, environmental and community outcomes. Although active travel participation rates in New Zealand compare favourably to other Anglo-Saxon countries, many northern European countries report active travel rates that are many fold higher.  In response to declining rates of active travel across New Zealand, the New Zealand Transport Agency created the Model Communities Programme. The goal of this programme was to boost walking and cycling rates in two demonstration cities, Hastings and New Plymouth, by improving walking and cycling infrastructure, as well as funding promotional and educational initiatives.  This study evaluates the effectiveness of the Model Communities Programme. This evaluation includes a quantitative appraisal in the form of a cost-benefit analysis. In addition to evaluating the economic efficiency of the programme, this study provides qualitative analysis derived from user intercept surveys and interviews with district council project managers to further assess the effectiveness of the intervention.  This study has found the Model Communities Programme to be cost-beneficial under several evaluative frameworks. In addition to this, the qualitative analysis has also presented largely positive feedback from both users and project managers. This study concludes that the Model Communities Programme has indeed boosted active travel in the demonstration cities, and that similar interventions are likely to be effective at promoting active travel across urban New Zealand.</p>

scholarly journals Active Investment: Evaluating the Benefits and Costs of Investing in Active Travel in the Urban New Zealand Context

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Mark Grams
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Qualitative Analysis ◽  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Active Travel ◽  
Project Managers ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Northern European ◽  
District Council ◽  
Community Outcomes

<p>Increased uptake of active travel is widely acknowledged to promote improved health, environmental and community outcomes. Although active travel participation rates in New Zealand compare favourably to other Anglo-Saxon countries, many northern European countries report active travel rates that are many fold higher.  In response to declining rates of active travel across New Zealand, the New Zealand Transport Agency created the Model Communities Programme. The goal of this programme was to boost walking and cycling rates in two demonstration cities, Hastings and New Plymouth, by improving walking and cycling infrastructure, as well as funding promotional and educational initiatives.  This study evaluates the effectiveness of the Model Communities Programme. This evaluation includes a quantitative appraisal in the form of a cost-benefit analysis. In addition to evaluating the economic efficiency of the programme, this study provides qualitative analysis derived from user intercept surveys and interviews with district council project managers to further assess the effectiveness of the intervention.  This study has found the Model Communities Programme to be cost-beneficial under several evaluative frameworks. In addition to this, the qualitative analysis has also presented largely positive feedback from both users and project managers. This study concludes that the Model Communities Programme has indeed boosted active travel in the demonstration cities, and that similar interventions are likely to be effective at promoting active travel across urban New Zealand.</p>

We Never Built Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), but What Do We Know About Modularization in Construction?

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benito Mignacca ◽  
Giorgio Locatelli ◽  
Mahmoud Alaassar ◽  
Diletta Colette Invernizzi
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Project Managers ◽  
Schedule Compression ◽  
Small Modular Reactors ◽  
Key Characteristics ◽  
Additional Costs ◽  
Structured Knowledge ◽  
The Cost

The key characteristics of small modular reactors (SMRs), as their name emphasized, are their size and modularity. Since SMRs are a family of novel reactor designs, there is a gap of empirical knowledge about the cost/benefit analysis of modularization. Conversely, in other sectors (e.g. Oil & Gas) the empirical experience on modularization is much greater. This paper provides a structured knowledge transfer from the general literature (i.e. other major infrastructure) and the Oil & Gas sector to the nuclear power plant construction world. Indeed, in the project management literature, a number of references discuss the costs and benefits determined by the transition from the stick-built construction to modularization, and the main benefits presented in the literature are the reduction of the construction cost and the schedule compression. Additional costs might arise from an increased management hurdle and higher transportation expenses. The paper firstly provides a structured literature review of the benefits and costs of modularization divided into qualitative and quantitative references. In the second part, the paper presents the results of series of interviews with Oil & Gas project managers about the value of modularization in this sector.

scholarly journals Improving Domestic Space Heating: A Cost Benefit Analysis Based on a Randomised Community Trial

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Nicholas Jonathan Preval
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Domestic Space ◽  
Health Study ◽  
Temperate Climate ◽  
Space Heating ◽  
Baseline Scenario ◽  
Benefit Analysis ◽  
Community Trial

<p>Despite New Zealand's temperate climate, New Zealand homes are generally cold, primarily as the result of a historical lack of insulation. Many New Zealand households also suffer fuel poverty and have inadequate domestic space heating, including unflued gas heaters which emit harmful gases directly into the indoor environment. There is a large body of evidence correlating improved domestic space heating and respiratory health outcomes such as asthma. There is also evidence of connections between improved domestic space heating and mental health, COPD, rheumatism, ischaemic heart disease and strokes. Improvements in domestic space heating have the potential to improve occupant health via increased temperatures and reduced dampness, mould, and harmful emissions and also have the potential to reduce household energy bills and CO2 emissions. This potential was the basis of the Housing, Heating and Health Study, a randomised community trial carried out by He Kainga Oranga, the Housing and Health Research Programme of the School of Medicine and Health Sciences of the University of Otago, Wellington, which involved the installation of energy efficient and healthy heaters in the dwellings of families who used ineffective heating and included an asthmatic child aged seven to twelve. This thesis is a cost benefit analysis based primarily on energy use and health outcome related data from the Housing, Heating and Health Study. It concludes that the outcome of the intervention was equivocal from a societal perspective, due in part to limitations of the data and analysis, with a negative "net present value" (NPV) for the baseline scenario, but positive NPVs for a number of alternative scenarios and a strong suggestion that if the full benefits of the intervention were captured that the NPV of the intervention is likely to be positive. Predicted changes to the New Zealand economy resulting from climate change mitigation policies and increasing real energy costs also increase the likelihood that similar future interventions may have a positive NPV.</p>

scholarly journals Project Management for Computer-Based Training Development

2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard A. Schwier
Keyword(s):  
Project Management ◽  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Project Managers ◽  
Computer Based Training ◽  
Training Development ◽  
Computer Based ◽  
Novel Interactions ◽  
Management Approaches

This article deals with the management of instructional developmentprojects for computer-based training (CBT), and is primarily aimed at project managers working with a team of instructional developers for a corporate client. Two issues are discussed: a) estimating the size of a CBT project, and b) performing a cost-benefit analysis. These issues are important for projecting costs, tracking performance and justifying development expenditures.This is a fictionalized case study. The methodology, examples, concepts and estimates are composite sketches drawn from several projects, based upon the author's experiences while working as a CBT project manager. Actual figures and clients have been intentionally obscured to protect the proprietary rights of all parties involved.The reader should be cautioned that the article presents only one approach to project development and estimation. Wholesale application of the approach described is not recommended, as every project will introduce novel interactions of resources and variables which mandate different treatment. Still, it is hoped that the reader will draw upon the ideas presented to refine project management approaches already used.

scholarly journals A Cost Benefit Analysis of Secondary Glazing as a Retrofit Alternative for New Zealand Homes

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Nick Smith
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Thermal Performance ◽  
Energy Savings ◽  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Housing Stock ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Cost Benefits ◽  
Acrylic Sheet ◽  
Thin Plastic

<p>Homes with single glazing represent a large majority of the New Zealand housing stock. With the recent changes to the NZ Building Code Clause H1 Energy Efficiency, new homes require higher glazing thermal performance. This will lead to an increased need for cost effective methods to improve window thermal performance in existing single glazed homes without completely replacing the windows, which includes 'secondary' glazing. There are several secondary glazing options available including 'stick-on' plastic glazing as well as aluminium framed glass solutions that are installed inside the existing joinery. Secondary glazing is marketed as a cost effective alternative to insulated glazing units, providing both improved acoustic and thermal insulation to existing windows. There is little information regarding the in-use performance and cost benefits of secondary glazing in New Zealand. This thesis explores the efficacy of the secondary glazing products when installed in existing single pane frames. A guarded hotbox was used to make thermal resistance measurements on a typical single glazed aluminium window with timber reveal liner. Four common secondary glazing systems were retrofitted into the window - (1) thin plastic film; (2) magnetically-attached acrylic sheet; (3) aluminium framed secondary glazing; and (4) aluminium framed low emissivity (low-E) secondary glazing. Models of 'typical' New Zealand homes created in the ALF building thermal simulation programme were used to explore the heating energy savings and cost benefits provided by the different secondary glazing systems in a range of locations. Of the tested products, the low-E secondary glazing produces the largest cost-benefits. At current energy and material costs, secondary glazing was found to not be a financially viable solution in warmer climates such as Auckland. In cooler climates such as Christchurch and Dunedin, secondary glazing was found to be a cost effective retrofit alternative for existing single glazed homes</p>

scholarly journals A cost benefit analysis of an active travel intervention with health and carbon emission reduction benefits

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ralph Chapman ◽  
M Keall ◽  
P Howden-Chapman ◽  
M Grams ◽  
K Witten ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Motor Vehicle ◽  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Skills Training ◽  
Active Travel ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Cost Ratio ◽  
Sensitivity Testing ◽  
Life Years

© 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Active travel (walking and cycling) is beneficial for people’s health and has many co-benefits, such as reducing motor vehicle congestion and pollution in urban areas. There have been few robust evaluations of active travel, and very few studies have valued health and emissions outcomes. The ACTIVE before-and-after quasi-experimental study estimated the net benefits of health and other outcomes from New Zealand’s Model Communities Programme using an empirical analysis comparing two intervention cities with two control cities. The Programme funded investment in cycle paths, other walking and cycling facilities, cycle parking, ‘shared spaces’, media campaigns and events, such as ‘Share the Road’, and cycle-skills training. Using the modified Integrated Transport and Health Impacts Model, the Programme’s net economic benefits were estimated from the changes in use of active travel modes. Annual benefits for health in the intervention cities were estimated at 34.4 disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) and two lives saved due to reductions in cardiac disease, diabetes, cancer, and respiratory disease. Reductions in transport-related carbon emissions were also estimated and valued. Using a discount rate of 3.5%, the estimated benefit/cost ratio was 11:1 and was robust to sensitivity testing. It is concluded that when concerted investment is made in active travel in a city, there is likely to be a measurable, positive return on investment.

scholarly journals Project Management for Computer-Based Training Development

1986 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard A. Schwier
Keyword(s):  
Project Management ◽  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Project Managers ◽  
Computer Based Training ◽  
Training Development ◽  
Computer Based ◽  
Novel Interactions ◽  
Management Approaches

This article deals with the management of instructional development projects for computer-based training (CBT), and is primarily aimed at project managers working with a team of instructional developers for a corporate client. Two issues are discussed: a) estimating the size of a CBT project, and b) performing a cost-benefit analysis. These issues are important for projecting costs, tracking performance and justifying development expenditures.This is a fictionalized case study. The methodology, examples, concepts and estimates are composite sketches drawn from several projects, based upon the author's experiences while working as a CBT project manager. Actual figures and clients have been intentionally obscured to protect the proprietary rights of all parties involved.The reader should be cautioned that the article presents only one approach to project development and estimation. Wholesale application of the approach described is not recommended, as every project will introduce novel interactions of resources and variables which mandate different treatment. Still, it is hoped that the reader will draw upon the ideas presented to refine project management approaches already used.

Tele-Medicine

2005 ◽  
pp. 193-206
Author(s):  
Nabeel A.Y. Al-Qirim
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Care Delivery ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Health Information Systems ◽  
Continuous Quality ◽  
Adoption And Diffusion ◽  
Rural Patients ◽  
And Diffusion

This chapter reviews the strategic planning of health information systems in New Zealand. This step is deemed necessary to identify the main accelerators and/or impediments that influence technology adoption and diffusion in health organisations in New Zealand. This research introduces the tele-medicine technology as one possible solution to provide continuous, quality, and immediate medical care to rural patients and to encourage networking among the different hospitals in New Zealand. This research suggests that in order to realise tele-medicine benefits in health care delivery in New Zealand, certain issues need to be addressed such as implementing comprehensive cost-benefit analysis and identifying the benefits sought from adopting the tele-medicine technology. The New Zealand context is unique and this perspective with respect to tele-medicine adoption and success is addressed in this research.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document