scholarly journals Environmental, Economic and Social Impact Assessment: Study of Bridges in China’s Five Major Economic Regions

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 122
Author(s):  
ZhiWu Zhou ◽  
Julián Alcalá ◽  
Víctor Yepes
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Impact Assessment ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Comprehensive Evaluation ◽  
Highway Bridges ◽  
Evaluation Framework ◽  
Life Assessment ◽  
Theoretical Modelling

The construction industry of all countries in the world is facing the issue of sustainable development. How to make effective and accurate decision-making on the three pillars (Environment; Economy; Social influence) is the key factor. This manuscript is based on an accurate evaluation framework and theoretical modelling. Through a comprehensive evaluation of six cable-stayed highway bridges in the entire life cycle of five provinces in China (from cradle to grave), the research shows that life cycle impact assessment (LCIA), life cycle cost assessment (LCCA), and social impact life assessment (SILA) are under the influence of multi-factor change decisions. The manuscript focused on the analysis of the natural environment over 100 years, material replacement, waste recycling, traffic density, casualty costs, community benefits and other key factors. Based on the analysis data, the close connection between high pollution levels and high cost in the maintenance stage was deeply promoted, an innovative comprehensive evaluation discrete mathematical decision-making model was established, and a reasonable interval between gross domestic product (GDP) and sustainable development was determined.

scholarly journals Environmental and Social Impact Assessment of Optimized Post-Tensioned Concrete Road Bridges

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 4265 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vicent Penadés-Plà ◽  
David Martínez-Muñoz ◽  
Tatiana García-Segura ◽  
Ignacio J. Navarro ◽  
Víctor Yepes
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Impact Assessment ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Sustainability Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle Stage ◽  
Social Impact Assessment ◽  
Weighting Method ◽  
Ecoinvent Database ◽  
The Social ◽  
Post Tensioned

Most of the definitions of sustainability include three basic pillars: economic, environmental, and social. The economic pillar has always been evaluated but not necessarily in the sense of economic sustainability. On the other hand, the environmental pillar is increasingly being considered, while the social pillar is weakly developed. Focusing on the environmental and social pillars, the use of methodologies to allow a wide assessment of these pillars and the integration of the assessment in a few understandable indicators is crucial. This article is structured into two parts. In the first part, a review of life cycle impact assessment methods, which allow a comprehensive assessment of the environmental and social pillars, is carried out. In the second part, a complete environmental and social sustainability assessment is made using the ecoinvent database and ReCiPe method, for the environmental pillar, and SOCA database and simple Social Impact Weighting method, for the social pillar. This methodology was used to compare three optimized bridges: two box-section post-tensioned concrete road bridges with a variety of initial and maintenance characteristics, and a pre-stressed concrete precast bridge. The results show that there is a high interrelation between the environmental and social impact for each life cycle stage.

scholarly journals Does Indigenous Knowledge Occur in and Influence Impact Assessment Reports? Exploring Consultation Remarks in Three Cases of Mining Projects in Greenland

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (0) ◽  
pp. 165
Author(s):  
Parnuna Petrina Egede Dahl ◽  
Anne Merrild Hansen
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Impact Assessment ◽  
Indigenous Knowledge ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Assessment Process ◽  
Final Report ◽  
Local Environments ◽  
Adaptive Processes ◽  
Mining Projects

Mineral extraction is pursued in Greenland to strengthen the national economy. In order that new industries promote sustainable development, environmental impact assessments and social impact assessments are legally required and undertaken by companies prior to license approval to inform decision-making. Knowledge systems in Arctic indigenous communities have evolved through adaptive processes over generations, and indigenous knowledge (IK) is considered a great source of information on local environments and related ecosystem services. In Greenland the Inuit are in the majority, and Greenlanders are still considered indigenous. The Inuit Circumpolar Council stresses that utilizing IK is highly relevant in the Greenland context. Impact assessment processes involve stakeholder engagement and public participation, and hence offer arenas for potential knowledge sharing and thereby the utilization of IK. Based on the assumption that IK is a valuable knowledge resource, which can supplement and improve impact assessments in Greenland thus supporting sustainable development, this paper presents an investigation of how IK is utilized in the last stages of an impact assessment process when the final report is subject to a hearing in three recent mining projects in Greenland.

scholarly journals Steel-Concrete Composite Bridges: Design, Life Cycle Assessment, Maintenance, and Decision-Making

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Martínez-Muñoz ◽  
J. V. Martí ◽  
V. Yepes
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Impact Assessment ◽  
Concrete Bridges ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Preliminary Design ◽  
Design Constraints ◽  
Sustainable Solutions ◽  
Design Life ◽  
Composite Bridges

Steel-concrete composite bridges are used as an alternative to concrete bridges because of their ability to adapt their geometry to design constraints and the possibility of reusing some of the materials in the structure. In this review, we report the research carried out on the design, behavior, optimization, construction processes, maintenance, impact assessment, and decision-making techniques of composite bridges in order to arrive at a complete design approach. In addition to a qualitative analysis, a multivariate analysis is used to identify knowledge gaps related to bridge design and to detect trends in research. An additional objective is to make visible the gaps in the sustainable design of composite steel-concrete bridges, which allows us to focus on future research studies. The results of this work show how researchers have concentrated their studies on the preliminary design of bridges with a mainly economic approach, while at a global level, concern is directed towards the search for sustainable solutions. It is found that life cycle impact assessment and decision-making strategies allow bridge managers to improve decision-making, particularly at the end of the life cycle of composite bridges.

scholarly journals Life Cycle Analysis Methods on Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Procedures in the Perspective of Sustainable Development

2018 ◽  
Vol 74 ◽  
pp. 11003
Author(s):  
Andreas Pramudianto
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Impact Assessment ◽  
Environmental Impact Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle Analysis ◽  
Environmental Science ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Environmental Damage ◽  
The Impact

Basically each product or service has its own life cycle. Life Cycle Analysis Method can be used to assess the impact of an activity both production and service activities. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) or Analisis Mengenai Dampak Lingkungan (AMDAL) is one of the activities that must be fulfilled in order to obtain an environmental permit. EIA activities have a life cycle process that needs to be known and understood so that environmental permits can be obtained. Therefore this study aims to find out the use of the LCA method in EIA procedures. In addition, with the LCA method, EIA activities are expected to be well studied according to the function of this service. LCA can provide to reduce the least impact from environmental damage. This research will be useful for the development of environmental science, especially related to the study of environmental impacts, especially EIA. It is expected that the results of the study will provide a complete picture of the relevance of the LCA method with EIA and the benefits that can be taken. The results of this study will be an important recommendation for decision makers regarding the importance of EIA in development, especially sustainable development through the method used, namely LCA.

Life Cycle Cost Accessment of Thermal Power Project under Sustainable Development

2010 ◽  
Vol 26-28 ◽  
pp. 20-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Jun Wang ◽  
Chang Huan Tu
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Life Cycle Cost ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Comprehensive Evaluation ◽  
Thermal Power ◽  
Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation ◽  
Analytic Hierarchy ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Ecological Conservation

Enterprise sustainable development emphasizes coordination of the development of economy, environment and society. The life cycle cost based on the sustainable development controls the engineering cost as well as environmental pollution and damage. The thermal power plant burns large amount of fossil fuels and discharge pollutants which cause serious pollution. Therefore the pollution control and ecological conservation make up important parts of construction and production cost, both of which are key parts of life cycle cost. This paper uses analytic hierarchy process and fuzzy comprehensive evaluation to estimate the life cycle cost and helps the enterprise to make social or temporal comparison and potentiality exploitation and to improve its sustainable development capability.

scholarly journals Social Impact Analysis of Products under a Holistic Approach: A Case Study in the Meat Product Supply Chain

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (21) ◽  
pp. 12163
Author(s):  
Juan Aranda ◽  
David Zambrana-Vásquez ◽  
Felipe Del-Busto ◽  
Fernando Círez
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Impact Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle Impact Assessment ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Impact Analysis ◽  
Social Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
The Social ◽  
Life Cycle Impact

Social impact assessment of products can be approached through different methodologies that need to be adapted to the particularities and features of the studied subject. Thus, the Social Life Cycle Assessment methodology can be used to assess different innovative practices of product manufacturing, under a circular economy approach, by identifying potential positive as well as negative impacts along products’ life cycle. This paper presents the results of the Social Life Cycle Impact Assessment of a reference product from the Spanish meat industry using existing and new innovative methods of social impact analysis. Worker discrimination, health and safety for workers, consumers and local community were identified as the social aspects with relevant significance into the business or for the influence on customer’s perception of the products studied. Therefore, results can represent a reference scenario for the future assessment of innovative solutions in the Spanish meet sector. Despite the scarce use of Social Life Cycle Impact Assessment, this case study is a good example of how this innovative kind of assessment can be helpful for companies to identify their weak and strong social performance areas and design strategies to improve in Social Responsibility Management.

scholarly journals An Evaluation Framework to Support Optimisation of Scenarios for Energy Efficient Retrofitting of Buildings at the District Level

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 2448 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel Á. García-Fuentes ◽  
Víctor Serna ◽  
Gema Hernández ◽  
Alberto Meiss
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Energy Efficient ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Comprehensive Evaluation ◽  
Evaluation Framework ◽  
Core Element ◽  
Environmental Objectives ◽  
Effective Decision ◽  
Effective Decision Making ◽  
The Eu

Energy-efficient retrofitting of buildings has become essential to achieve the environmental objectives of the European Union’s (EU) strategies towards reducing carbon emissions and energy dependency on fossil fuels. When tackling retrofitting projects, the issue of scale becomes essential as sometimes this can determine the sustainability of the project. Therefore, a comprehensive approach is essential to ensure effective decision-making. A platform has been designed within the EU funded OptEEmAL project to support stakeholders in this process, providing functionalities that can automatically model and evaluate candidate retrofitting alternatives considering their priorities, targets and boundary conditions. A core element of this platform is the evaluation framework deployed which implements a multi-criteria decision-making approach to transform the priorities of stakeholders into quantifiable weights used to compare the alternatives. As a result, more informed decisions can be made by the stakeholders through a comprehensive evaluation of the candidate retrofitting scenarios. This paper presents the approach followed to develop and integrate this evaluation framework within the platform as well as its validation in a controlled environment to ensure its effectiveness.

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