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1
Harasymiuk, Jolanta, Elżbieta Hanna Szafranko, and Jan Tyburski. "Methods of habitat reports’ evaluation." Open Engineering 9, no. 1 (February 26, 2019): 26–33. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/eng-2019-0001.
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AbstractA building investment, especially in nature valuable areas, is almost always inseparable with a bigger or smaller environmental interference. For a few years there are legal regulations created to protect these areas. One of them is the requirement to conduct a habitat evaluation and to prepare a habitat report if there is a indication of significant impact on the Natura 200 site. The quality of such a report is crucial for completion an investment in a chosen localisation as well as for shortening a preparation stage with respect to environmental requirements. A defective report can result in a agreement refusal of investment completion conditions of an investment by an authorised body, and can be a reason for protests of a community which is affected by the planned investment. A well-made report, on the other hand, results in a smooth acceptance of the project without the need for consultation of the investor with the proceeding body and saving the cost of correction of a defective documentation. An review of the literature done by the authors and the talks carried out with the staff making an assessment of reports of an impact on Natura 2000 sites showed the lack of common use in practise of a formalised set of criteria of evaluation of such documents. The aim of the study was to prepare a set of evaluation criteria for reports on environmental impact on Natura 2000 sites. The set was tested on already made reports and it showed their basic omissions and disparities. The set prepared can be used by an investor in the course of making a report. It can be also a useful tool for a verifying clerk while evaluating a report for its completeness and adequacy. On the basis of the prepared set of evaluation criteria, a procedure was proposed allowing an impartial verification of reports. As a result of analyses made, a procedure was worked out which is presented in the diagram concluding this paper.
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Šarkan, Branislav, Marek Jaśkiewicz, and Monika Kiktová. "The impact of the truck loads on the braking efficiency assessment." Open Engineering 10, no. 1 (March 10, 2020): 105–12. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/eng-2020-0014.
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AbstractThe paper deals with possibilities of assessment of braking efficiency during evaluation of braking system at technical inspection of trucks in conditions of the Slovak Republic. The braking efficiency of the vehicle is evaluated by measuring the braking forces at the roller brake tester. The magnitude of these forces also depends on the loads of the measured vehicle. The paper analyses the results of the practical tests of the braking efficiency measurement of a truck of category N3 and of a vehicle combination consisting of vehicles of category N3 and O4. The analysed vehicle combination was gradually loaded in four different ways and a special situation was the measurement of the braking efficiency of the tractor itself. The instantaneous load on each axle was recorded with portable axle weights. The braking efficiency evaluation was carried out in accordance with the valid methodology, which allows the application of the direct evaluation method, the method of linear extrapolation, the method of the reference braking forces and the indicative evaluation. A vehicle with the same braking system may be assessed as roadworthy or not roadworthy. This is due to the application of different methods of evaluating the braking efficiency and different way of loads at the loading area.
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Výtisk, Jan, Vladimír Kočí, Stanislav Honus, and Mojmír Vrtek. "Current options in the life cycle assessment of additive manufacturing products." Open Engineering 9, no. 1 (December 20, 2019): 674–82. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/eng-2019-0073.
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AbstractAdditive manufacturing (AM) is a manufacturing process that allows for the creation of a physical object from a digital model. Additive manufacturing has a number of advantages over the conventional methods, inter alia the production of very complex machinery components, and a lower consumption of raw materials. Thanks to these advantages, the technology has been booming recently. The paper compares the advantages and disadvantages of additive technologies in the context of environmental impacts using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The paper describes the most important aspects of additive manufacturing, reviews the basic principles and phases of LCA method, including its application in AM, and outlines selected publications dealing with LCA and additive technologies. In conclusion, we recommend the most suitable methodologies to assess environmental impacts of additive technologies. To be specific, LCA is suitable to assess AM as for the material and energy flows, and in general, research in this field is considered highly promising.
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Sirina, Natalia, Serge Rohmer, and Ekaterina Fortyguina. "Environmental Impact Assessment: Challenges in Use of Methods and Tools in France and in Russia." Key Engineering Materials 572 (September 2013): 40–43. http://dx.doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/kem.572.40.
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Environmental impact assessment ensures that the environmental considerations are accounted before the decision about an economic activity, the new technology or materials is made. In developed countries, e.g. France different methods and tools are used to assess the environmental impact as life cycle assessment (LCA) etc. In countries with transitional economy, as Russia in site assessment of an activity often prevails. There are number of challenges exist to better account the environmental impact, including legislative constraints, culture of methods and tools.
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Chou, Ya Kuan, and Tien Li Chen. "Environmental Impact Assessment on Lifecycle of Sofa Material." Advanced Materials Research 287-290 (July 2011): 3032–35. http://dx.doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.287-290.3032.
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According to the materials of casing, frame, and cushion, this research aims to investigate the environmental impact assessment of sofas. With reference to this characteristic, this assessment is based on the evaluation model “Eco-indicator 99” of Sima Pro and the results are listed as below: l Regarding sofa materials which are brought about the negative influence to the environment: Sofa casing: polyester fiber > leather > imitation leather > cotton; sofa frame: wood > plastic > metal; sofa cushion: TDI foam > MDI foam. l If we deal with sofa materials by chemical methods, respiratory inorganics are caused from a great quantity of fossil fuels during production and the huge negative influence will result in climate change. l Concerning the waste influence on the environment when sofas are end of life: Sofa casing: To incinerate or landfill polyester fiber is more seriously; sofa frame: To incinerate or landfill wood is more critically; sofa cushion: to incinerate TDI or MDI is more harmfully than to landfill or recycle them. l It will have positive help and decrease garbage if we can recycle sofa waste.
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Bucoń, Robert. "Model supporting decisions on renovation and modernization of public utility buildings." Open Engineering 9, no. 1 (July 11, 2019): 178–85. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/eng-2019-0022.
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AbstractThe aim of the research is to develop a model to support renovation and modernization decisions in the process of maintaining public buildings. The scope of the research includes, first of all, the development of a method of building assessment on the basis of many criteria, applied also in the evaluation of residential buildings, but also specific ones, related to public utility facilities, i.e.: environmental compatibility of buildings, adaptation to the elderly and disabled, fire safety. On the basis of this assessment, a set of proposed renovation and modernisation measures will be determined. In the next stage, knowledge will be acquired from experts (including property managers), who will indicate the ranges of criteria values for the adopted assessments of building utility value. This knowledge will be used to build a rules base of fuzzy inference system for assessing building utility value. The next stage of research will be conducting computer simulations with the use of a mathematical model assessing the impact of the above mentioned decisions on the increase in the building utility value and the renovation cost and modernization activities. All calculations will be carried out in the Matlab Simulink environment with the use of optimization and fuzzy methods. Knowledge of the relationship between decisions on the scope of renovation and modernization solutions and the quality measures of the maintenance process is the basis for decisions in the area of buildings maintenance. The results of these studies can contribute to improving the quality of maintenance of public buildings.
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Wiśniewska, Marta. "Environmental impact assessment of municipal biogas plants – case study." SHS Web of Conferences 57 (2018): 02015. http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/shsconf/20185702015.
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Biogas plants processing the municipal waste are an important element of both municipal and energy management. Planned projects very often face objection from the public. The reluctance of people to accept this type of investment as a project potentially having a significant impact on the environment is caused by the fear of its nuisance. At the end of 2017, eight municipal biogas plants were operating in Poland. Before opening the biogas plants, residents were afraid of the related odours. The research involved the analysis of the occurrence of residents’ complaints regarding the odour nuisance of municipal biogas plants to the authorities. Moreover, potential sources of anthrax associated with the operation of municipal biogas plants were identified. Based on the example of one of the plants, the applied deodorisation methods were presented, as well as the results of the odorimetric tests performed by an external laboratory. The paper presents positive ecological aspects of municipal biogas plants which apart from being a renewable energy source, are also important for reducing the amount of waste disposal.
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Briceño, Carlos M., Andres L. Carrano, Brian K. Thorn, and Marcos Esterman. "A Design Optimization Framework to Estimate Environmental Impact of Design Decisions in Consumer Products." Journal of Green Building 4, no. 2 (May 1, 2009): 141–49. http://dx.doi.org/10.3992/jgb.4.2.141.
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Most products have the potential to negatively impact the environment during all life-cycle stages. However, most environmental impact assessment methods focus on a single product life-cycle and on a specific life-cycle stage. Product design plays a significant role by determining traditional environmental impacts, such as embodied energy of materials, but also by influencing market adoption and production volumes. The main objective of this work is to develop a design optimization framework that estimates the environmental impact of design decisions (e.g. materials choice, etc.) across all life-cycle stages in consumer products. The methodology relies on quality function deployment (QFD), multi-attribute utility theory, non-linear mathematical programming, and life-cycle assessment tools to estimate the utility of the design options to the customer, the producer, and the environment. The proposed framework allows designers and other decision makers to select options that are environmentally sound and also aligned with the business objectives.
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Khan, Md Musharof Hussain, Ivan Deviatkin, Jouni Havukainen, and Mika Horttanainen. "Environmental impacts of wooden, plastic, and wood-polymer composite pallet: a life cycle assessment approach." International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 26, no. 8 (July 13, 2021): 1607–22. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11367-021-01953-7.
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Abstract Purpose Waste recycling is one of the essential tools for the European Union’s transition towards a circular economy. One of the possibilities for recycling wood and plastic waste is to utilise it to produce composite product. This study analyses the environmental impacts of producing composite pallets made of wood and plastic waste from construction and demolition activities in Finland. It also compares these impacts with conventional wooden and plastic pallets made of virgin materials. Methods Two different life cycle assessment methods were used: attributional life cycle assessment and consequential life cycle assessment. In both of the life cycle assessment studies, 1000 trips were considered as the functional unit. Furthermore, end-of-life allocation formula such as 0:100 with a credit system had been used in this study. This study also used sensitivity analysis and normalisation calculation to determine the best performing pallet. Result and discussion In the attributional cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment, wood-polymer composite pallets had the lowest environmental impact in abiotic depletion potential (fossil), acidification potential, eutrophication potential, global warming potential (including biogenic carbon), global warming potential (including biogenic carbon) with indirect land-use change, and ozone depletion potential. In contrast, wooden pallets showed the lowest impact on global warming potential (excluding biogenic carbon). In the consequential life cycle assessment, wood-polymer composite pallets showed the best environmental impact in all impact categories. In both attributional and consequential life cycle assessments, plastic pallet had the maximum impact. The sensitivity analysis and normalisation calculation showed that wood-polymer composite pallets can be a better choice over plastic and wooden pallet. Conclusions The overall results of the pallets depends on the methodological approach of the LCA. However, it can be concluded that the wood-polymer composite pallet can be a better choice over the plastic pallet and, in most cases, over the wooden pallet. This study will be of use to the pallet industry and relevant stakeholders.
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Bieser, Jan, and Lorenz Hilty. "Assessing Indirect Environmental Effects of Information and Communication Technology (ICT): A Systematic Literature Review." Sustainability 10, no. 8 (July 29, 2018): 2662. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su10082662.
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Indirect environmental effects of information and communication technology (ICT) are those effects of ICT that change patterns of production or consumption in domains other than ICT, or more precisely, the environmental consequences of these changes. Digitalization as the societal process of ICT-driven change has created increasing interest in the indirect environmental effects of this technology. Assessments of indirect effects face various methodological challenges, such as the definition of the system boundary, the definition of a baseline as a reference or the occurrence of rebound effects. Existing studies use various approaches or methods to assess a spectrum of ICT use cases in several application domains. In view of the large number of assessments that have been conducted, the choices made when applying assessment methods, and the variety of ICT use cases in different application domains investigated, we present a systematic literature review of existing assessments of indirect environmental effects of ICT. The review provides a state-of-the-art overview of the methods used in the research field and is intended to support researchers in designing sound assessments which yield significant results. We identified 54 studies in seven main application domains using 15 different assessment approaches. The most common application domains are virtual mobility (e.g., telecommuting), virtual goods (e.g., digital media), and smart transport (e.g., route optimization). Life-cycle assessment, partial footprint, and the “ICT enablement method” are the most common approaches. The major part of the assessments focuses on patterns of production (e.g., production of paper-based books vs. e-books), a smaller part on patterns of consumption (e.g., changes in media consumption). Based on these results, we identify as a research gap the investigation of ICT impacts on consumer behavior, which could, for example, focus on social practices, and account for the dynamic implications of change. Elaborating such an approach could provide valuable insights into ICT’s impact on society and the resulting environmental consequences.
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Jeppsson, U., and D. Hellström. "Systems analysis for environmental assessment of urban water and wastewater systems." Water Science and Technology 46, no. 6-7 (September 1, 2002): 121–29. http://dx.doi.org/10.2166/wst.2002.0671.
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In this paper, two fundamentally different urban wastewater systems are assessed from an environmental impact perspective. One system represents a centralised, high-tech, end-of-pipe structure whereas the second system is primarily based on source-separation strategies. Using material flow analysis in combination with evaluation methods based on life-cycle assessment the systems are evaluated by means of simulation and the results are discussed. A set of priority indicators for environmental assessments of urban water systems is suggested and applied in the analysis. Energy issues are also commented upon. The main intent of the paper is to present the principles of this type of assessment rather than detailed numbers for all possible environmental effects and hazardous substances emitted to air, water and soil. It represents one of several building blocks for a future multi-criteria decision-support system to evaluate urban water management from a sustainability perspective.
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Balej, Martin, Jiří Anděl, Tomáš Oršulák, and Pavel Raška. "Development of environmental stress in the northwestern part of Czechia: New approaches and methods." Geografie 113, no. 3 (2008): 320–36. http://dx.doi.org/10.37040/geografie2008113030320.
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This article deals with the theoretical background to environmental stress theory that includes a multivariables system of indicators and the application of such theory. The environmental stress lies at the intersection of the stressors in the subsystems of a landscape, that is: natural (e.g. relief topography, air, water, soil, and biota) and/or social (e.g. demographic and economic variables). The methodological concept used can be applied to other areas of study because of its broader spatial and functional applications. In comparison to other methodologies used to evaluate the anthropopressures on the landscape (those that monitor changes in land use), the environmental stress assessment is directed at locating 'stressors' beyond the study areas that can significantly impact on future studies.
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Boyko, Oksana, Nataliya Dorosh, Irena Yermakova, Oleh Dorosh, and Żaklin Grądz. "INFOCOMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES FOR ASSESSMENT AND PREDICTION OF ENVIRONMENT IMPACT ON HUMAN HEALTH." Informatyka, Automatyka, Pomiary w Gospodarce i Ochronie Środowiska 10, no. 3 (September 30, 2020): 22–25. http://dx.doi.org/10.35784/iapgos.2100.
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An innovative concept and the structural organization of a modular system for long-term monitoring, analysis and correction of integrated health indicators of different groups of the population taking into account the impact of environmental factors and extreme conditions is described. The main elements of the system are a module for measuring physiological indicators that characterize the state of human health, a sensor module for selection and registration of environmental indicators, a data transmission module, a database, a module for comprehensive analysis of indicators, a forecasting module, a set of mathematical models, a module for results displaying. Methods of mathematical modelling and statistics were used to predict health state. The mobile application that allows to assign and take into account changes in environmental performance during physical activity, e.g. training weather conditions, such as temperature, relative humidity and wind speed, as well as the distance and duration of running, is developed. The results can be obtained numerically and graphically on the smartphone screen. The proposed system allows to predict the functional state of person in different environmental conditions. It will allow the user to make the right decision about the duration and intensity of physical activity in certain environmental conditions and choose the appropriate level of physical activity.
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Markatos, Dionysios N., Christos V. Katsiropoulos, Konstantinos I. Tserpes, and Spiros G. Pantelakis. "A holistic End-of-Life (EoL) Index for the quantitative impact assessment of CFRP waste recycling techniques." Manufacturing Review 8 (2021): 18. http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/mfreview/2021016.
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In the present study, a holistic End-of-Life (EoL) Index is introduced to serve as a decision support tool for choosing the optimal recycling process among a number of alternative recycling techniques of CFRP waste. For the choice of the optimal recycling process, quality of the recycled fibers as well as cost and environmental impact of the recycling methods under consideration, are accounted for. Quality is interpreted as the reusability potential of the recycled fibers; that is quantified through the equivalent volume fraction of recycled fibers that balances the mechanical properties of a composite composed of a certain volume fraction of virgin fibers. The proposed Index is offering an estimated balanced score, quantifying a trade-off between the reusability potential of the recycled fibers as well as the cost and the environmental impact of the recycling methods considered.
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Rajagopalan, Neethi, Melissa M. Bilec, and Amy E. Landis. "Residential Life Cycle Assessment Modeling: Comparative Case Study of Insulating Concrete Forms and Traditional Building Materials." Journal of Green Building 5, no. 3 (August 1, 2010): 95–106. http://dx.doi.org/10.3992/jgb.5.3.95.
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Innovative, sustainable construction products are emerging in response to market demands. One potential product, insulating concrete forms (ICFs), offers possible advantages in energy and environmental performance when compared with traditional construction materials. Even though ICFs are in part derived from a petroleum-based product, the benefits in the use phase outweigh the impacts of the raw material extraction and manufacturing phase. This paper quantitatively measures ICFs' performance through a comparative life cycle assessment of wall sections comprised of ICF and traditional wood-frame. The life cycle stages included raw materials extraction and manufacturing, construction, use and end of life for a 2,450 square foot house in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Results showed that even though building products such as ICFs are energy intensive to produce and thus have higher environmental impacts in the raw materials extraction and manufacturing phase, the use phase dominated in the life cycle. For the use phase, the home constructed of ICFs consumed 20 percent less energy when compared to a traditional wood-frame structure. The results of the impact assessment show that ICFs have higher impacts over wood homes in most impact categories. The high impacts arise from the raw materials extraction and manufacturing phase of ICFs. But there are a number of embedded unit processes such as disposal of solid waste and transport of natural gas that contribute to this high impact and identifying the top unit process and substance contributors to the impact category is not intuitive. Selecting different unit processes or impact assessment methods will yield dissimilar results and the tradeoffs associated with every building product should be considered after studying the entire life cycle in detail.
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Cordioli, Michele, Andrea Ranzi, Giulio A. De Leo, and Paolo Lauriola. "A Review of Exposure Assessment Methods in Epidemiological Studies on Incinerators." Journal of Environmental and Public Health 2013 (2013): 1–12. http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/129470.
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Incineration is a common technology for waste disposal, and there is public concern for the health impact deriving from incinerators. Poor exposure assessment has been claimed as one of the main causes of inconsistency in the epidemiological literature. We reviewed 41 studies on incinerators published between 1984 and January 2013 and classified them on the basis of exposure assessment approach. Moreover, we performed a simulation study to explore how the different exposure metrics may influence the exposure levels used in epidemiological studies. 19 studies used linear distance as a measure of exposure to incinerators, 11 studies atmospheric dispersion models, and the remaining 11 studies a qualitative variable such as presence/absence of the source. All reviewed studies utilized residence as a proxy for population exposure, although residence location was evaluated with different precision (e.g., municipality, census block, or exact address). Only one study reconstructed temporal variability in exposure. Our simulation study showed a notable degree of exposure misclassification caused by the use of distance compared to dispersion modelling. We suggest that future studies (i) make full use of pollution dispersion models; (ii) localize population on a fine-scale; and (iii) explicitly account for the presence of potential environmental and socioeconomic confounding.
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Piotrowska, Katarzyna, Weronika Kruszelnicka, Patrycja Bałdowska-Witos, Robert Kasner, Jacek Rudnicki, Andrzej Tomporowski, Józef Flizikowski, and Marek Opielak. "Assessment of the Environmental Impact of a Car Tire throughout Its Lifecycle Using the LCA Method." Materials 12, no. 24 (December 12, 2019): 4177. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ma12244177.
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There are numerous threats to the natural environment that pose a significant risk both to the environment and to human health, including car tires. Thus, there is a need to determine the impact of the life cycle of car tires on the environment, starting with the processes of raw materials acquisition, production, and ending with end-of-life management. Therefore, the authors of this study chose to do research on passenger car tires (size: P205/55/R16). As part of the research, the life cycle assessment (LCA) of traditional car tires was performed with the use of the Eco-indicator 99, cumulative energy demand (CED), and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) methods. The level of negative effects was determined for the life cycle of a tire and its particular stages: Production, use, and end of life. The negative impact on the atmosphere, soil, and water, as well as on human health, the environment, and natural resources was also investigated. The results show that the most energy-absorbing stage of a car tire life cycle is the use stage. It was found that the most harmful impact involves the depletion of natural resources and emissions into the atmosphere. Recycling car tires reduces their negative environmental impact during all their life cycle stages.
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Li, Zhen, Wei Wei Wang, and Hong Ming Sun. "Life Cycle Assessment of the District Heating Distribution System in China — Network Construction." Applied Mechanics and Materials 256-259 (December 2012): 2662–66. http://dx.doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/amm.256-259.2662.
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In China, the environmental impact from the construction of the distribution system is seldom discussed. In this study, the environmental impact from construction of district pipes is considered. The purpose is to identify environmental significant parts in the construction of district pipes and to use the results in the actual projects including once more parts of the district distribution system have been investigated with LCA methodology.(Methods) Construction of district pipe networks according to the technical specification was studied. The total consumption of energy and materials was calculated based on budget norm for projects. The functional unit used in the study is construction of 100 metres of pipe system. The studied pipes are: pipe of the dimension DN100, DN200 (Seamless steel tubes) and DN500 (spirally welded steel tubes) .Urban environment surroundings were studied. A short description of the inventory, some inventory results and a life cycle impact assessment are presented. Based on the concept of the End-point damage weighting method, the total environment load is given.
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Cortés, Raúl Hernando, Alejandra Riascos López, and William Antonio Idrobo. "Mud, value and welfare. An economic estimation of the impact in the Anchicayá river basin." Cuadernos de Administración 35, no. 63 (March 27, 2019): 42–54. http://dx.doi.org/10.25100/cdea.v35i63.6939.
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The implementation of modernizing projects in the midst of rural societies, in parallel with the great benefits in terms of regional and national growth, generates threats to local socio-ecological sustainability. Such is the case of the discharge of sludge generated by the Bajo Anchicayá dam in the Colombian Pacific in 2001. The economic assessment of the environmental impact is given to address the past, present and future impacts in cases such as the one described above where environmental goods and services as well as supervening exchange relationships are not guided by the logic of the market. However, this article attempts to account for the direction and scope of such effects, based on a pricing chrematistics and compensatory assessment claimed by court litigation by the affected communities under information restrictions and slightly commercialized economic dynamics. At the end, it was possible to establish the operability of the assessment methods, type of stated preferences, which simulate market conditions in favor of alternative strategies such as the transfer of benefits that while not infallible, with the lack of environmental accountancy, try to respect the spatial, time and socio-ecological complexity of territories such as the Pacific Coast.
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Önal, Mehmet, and Gökdeniz Neşer. "End-of-Life Alternatives of Glass Reinforced Polyester Boat Hulls Compared by LCA." Advanced Composites Letters 27, no. 4 (July 2018): 096369351802700. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/096369351802700402.
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Glass reinforced polyester (GRP), as a thermoset polymer composites, dominates boat building industry with its several advantages such as high strength/weight ratio, cohesiveness, good resistance to environment. However, proper recovering and recycling of GRP boats is became a current environmental requirement that should be met by the related industry. In this study, to propose in a cost effective and environmentally friendly way, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has been carried out for six scenarios include two moulding methods (namely Hand Lay-up Method, HLM and Vacuum Infusion Method, VIM) and three End-of-Life (EoL) alternatives(namely Extruding, Incineration and Landfill) for a recreational boat's GRP hulls. A case study from raw materials purchasing phase to disposal/recycling stages has been established taking 11 m length GRP boat hull as the functional unit. Analysis show that in the production phase, the impacts are mainly due to the use of energy (electricity), transport and raw material manufacture. Largest differences between the methods considered (HLM and VIM) can be observed in the factors of marine aquatic ecotoxicity and eutrophication while the closest ones are abiotic depletion, ozon layer depletion and photochemical oxidation. The environmental impact of VIM is much higher than HLM due to its higher energy consumption while vacuum infusion method has lower risk than hand lay-up method in terms of occupational health by using less raw material (resin) in a closed mold. In the comparison of the three EoL techniques, the mechanical way of recycling (granule extruding) shows better environmental impacts except terrestrial ecotoxicity, photochemical oxidation and acidification. Among the EoL alternatives, landfill has the highest environmental impacts except ‘global warming potential’ and ‘human toxicity’ which are the highest in extrusion. The main cause of the impacts of landfill is the transportation needs between the EoL boats and the licenced landfill site. Although it has the higher impact on human toxicity, incineration is the second cleaner alternative of EoL techniques considered in this study. In fact that the similar trend has been observed both in production and EoL phases of the boat. It is obvious that using much more renewable energy mix and greener transportation alternative can reduce the overall impact of the all phases considerably.
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Stephansen, Cathrine, Anders Bjørgesæter, Odd Willy Brude, Ute Brönner, Grethe Kjeilen-Eilertsen, Jean-Marie Libre, Tonje Waterloo Rogstad, et al. "ERA Acute – A Multi-Compartment Quantitative Risk Assessment for Oil Spills." International Oil Spill Conference Proceedings 2017, no. 1 (May 1, 2017): 2017432. http://dx.doi.org/10.7901/2169-3358-2017.1.000432.
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Awareness of environmental risk and the demand for oil spill response planning associated with offshore marine operations has increased during the last decades. Environmental Risk Assessments (ERAs) are a crucial part of planning and execution of oil and gas (O&G) activities offshore. A sound ERA can support the O&G industry in environmental risk management (ERM) of operations. Authorities and Operating companies have requested updated methodology based on more recent research from oil spill events such as the Deep Water Horizon incident, with the possibility to perform more detailed analyses in e.g. sensitive areas. ERA Acute is developed to meet these requirements. It is a transparent method of quantitative analysis for environmental screenings, ERAs and Net Environmental Benefit Analyses (NEBAs) of oil spills in four compartments: Sea surface, shoreline, water column and sea floor. The methodology is grid-cell based and results can therefore be shown in a geographical information system (GIS) for any region globally. The user can identify areas of high risk - for use in decision support and spill response planning - independently of the region. Three levels of detail are defined, depending on availability of VEC data, suitable for screening purposes or more detailed studies. Calculations are carried out in two main steps: First, ERA Acute uses input from an oil spill fate and distribution model of choice to calculate exposure and impact to Valued Ecosystem Components (VECs) in each grid cell and for each simulation. Calculations follow a common methodology framework, applying different mechanisms of impact and recovery for each compartment. Impacts are summarised, and in the second step, potential lag-and/or restitution time and risk are calculated for each VEC. The resulting resource impact factor (RIF) is an index that combines the extent of impact and recovery time. A statistical approach is used, based on numerous oil spill simulations covering each season in order to capture variations in spill drift and fate, species abundance and vulnerability. This paper describes the method. ERA Acute methodology is validated in sensitivity studies, field validations, comparison to relevant ERA methods, and documented in several dissemination steps including a guideline for best industry practice. The ERA Acute project is carried out by a consortium of industry partners (Statoil, Total, Norwegian Oil and Gas Association) and experts in environmental risk analysis (Acona, Akvaplan-niva (project manager), DNV-GL and SINTEF), supported by the Research Council of Norway.
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Pamminger, Rainer, Sebastian Glaser, and Wolfgang Wimmer. "Modelling of different circular end-of-use scenarios for smartphones." International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 26, no. 3 (February 2, 2021): 470–82. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11367-021-01869-2.
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Abstract Purpose Repairing, refurbishing and remanufacturing are three strategies of the Circular Economy (CE), aiming at closing product cycles and maintaining materials and resources in the product cycle as long as possible. This paper analyses the environmental impacts of these three circular end-of-use scenarios (repairing, refurbishing and part remanufacturing) when performed on a common, “non-circular” smartphone. The underlying data used for this paper partly have been result of the Horizon 2020 project sustainablySMART, where circular product concepts have been developed and analysed in detail. Methods To analyse the environmental impacts of different circular end-of-use scenarios of smartphones, a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is performed. For considering the impact of a smartphone’s first life (e.g. materials, production), an economic allocation is used. Since the goal of the study was to better understand the environmental impacts of processing routes that enable multiple life cycles of a product, allocation according to the economic value is applied instead of applying system expansion. As system expansion provides just an aggregated view of the first and second product life cycles and no decision support at the end of the first life regarding the relevant CE strategy can be given. The economic allocation is based on the ratio between the residual market value and the original price from the scenario’s input stream of smartphones of the respective end-of-use scenario. To reach comparability of the results, a second-use-time-parameter is defined for each scenario. This parameter takes into account that the second use time reaches only a certain share from the average smart phone use time. Results This study shows that through all three circular strategies, a reduction in the investigated impact categories—Global Warming Potential (GWP) and Abiotic Depletion Potential (ADP)—can be achieved. Conclusions The analysed end-of-use scenarios repairing and refurbishing show the highest potential for smartphones in terms of Circular Economy, as most of the environmental impacts can be allocated to the device production, and the impact of additional steps to perform CE-strategies (e.g. collection of discarded phones, refurbishing) is rather low.
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Katarzyna, Piotrowska, Piasecka Izabela, Bałdowska-Witos Patrycja, Kruszelnicka Weronika, and Tomporowski Andrzej. "LCA as a Tool for the Environmental Management of Car Tire Manufacturing." Applied Sciences 10, no. 20 (October 9, 2020): 7015. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/app10207015.
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Car tire manufacturing can be the cause of numerous environmental hazards. Harmful emissions from the production process are an acute danger to human health as well as the environment. To mitigate these unwanted consequences, manufacturers employ the eco-balance analysis at the product designing and development stage, when formulating general development strategies, and increasingly when investigating the entire product lifecycle management process. Since the negative effects of products are considered in a broader range of implications, it has become necessary to extend the traditional scope of analytical interest onto the production, use, and end-of-life stages. This work investigates the manufacturing of passenger car tires executed with traditional and modern manufacturing technologies. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of tires reported in this study involved three LCA methods: Eco-Indicator 99, Cumulative Energy Demand (CED) and the scientific assessment methods developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Global Warming Potential (IPCC). LCA as a tool for environmental analysis can be carried out for the entire life cycle or its individual phases. The implementation of the work made it possible to demonstrate that as a result of the identification of the main sources of negative impacts, it is possible to propose ways to minimize these impacts in the car tire manufacturing process. The results indicate that the most damaging impact is the depletion of natural resources, which play a key role in the production process of car tires.
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Ferro, Gustavo, Carlos A. Romero, and Exequiel Romero-Gómez. "Efficient courts? A frontier performance assessment." Benchmarking: An International Journal 25, no. 9 (November 29, 2018): 3443–58. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/bij-09-2017-0244.
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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to build performance indicators to assess efficiency for First Instance Federal Courts in Argentina and study the determinants of efficiency in Criminal Instruction Courts. Design/methodology/approach The efficiency scores were determined using data envelopment analysis with a database for the period 2006–2010. Then, a search of the efficiency determinants in the Criminal Instruction Courts was performed. Four output-oriented models were developed based on various explanatory and environmental variables. Findings Workload is an environmental variable that significantly increased the average levels of efficiency. When analyzing explanatory factors of the efficiency levels of the Criminal Instruction Courts, surrogate judges and temporary staff are more efficient on average than tenured judges and staff. Research limitations/implications The method chosen permits flexibility in the analysis. Future research would be interesting to develop the underlying economic model using econometric methods. Practical implications This paper’s contribution is twofold: first, to estimate the relative efficiency for all First Instance Federal Courts in every jurisdiction; and second, to explain the differences in efficiency in the Criminal Instruction Courts. Social implications This study has the potential to greatly impact the discussion of how to structure judicial procedures (from the benchmarking between different branches of Federal justice) and in the design of incentives in a judicial career (e.g. tenured vs temporary judges and clerical employees, the role of seniority of judges and clerical employees and the impact of gender in performance). Originality/value To the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first scholarly article to measure efficiency in Argentine justice system using mathematical programming and econometric methods. It has academic interest since it advances on the comprehension of the underlying production function of justice service provision. The paper also has social and practical implications since it permits contributing to the institutional design and opens the discussion for further sequels with other methods and complementary purposes.
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STRAPAZAN, Carina, Ionel HAIDU, and Ioan Aurel IRIMUS. "A COMPARATIVE ASSESSMENT OF DIFFERENT LOSS METHODS AVAILABLE IN MIKE HYDRO RIVER-UHM." Carpathian Journal of Earth and Environmental Sciences 16, no. 1 (2021): 261–73. http://dx.doi.org/10.26471/cjees/2021/016/172.
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Hydrologic modelling studies usually involve data series with a large temporal scale, especially in Romania, focusing on a long-term impact analysis. Nevertheless, event-based runoff models are essential tools for short-term purposes such as flash flood forecasting. Suitable methods or models must be considered in order to ensure the validity of such research based on parameter calibration to a particular area. Therefore, a comparative analysis of methods must be conducted first, in order to determine the optimal ones that can be used for future data prediction. The aim of the present study is to apply and validate the MIKE HYDRO River modeling system - the UHM module, through a comparative analysis of the SCS, Generalized SCS and Proportional Loss methods available, to a small-sized mountainous watershed, where no research has been conducted in this field. To this end, three spring rainfall events were chosen, but with different antecedent moisture conditions, in order to examine how well the chosen methods can reproduce the available observations in such circumstances. The SCS method yielded the highest quality performance, but the Proportional Loss method has also proven effective under these conditions.
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Bergström, Pauline, Christopher Malefors, Ingrid Strid, Ole Jørgen Hanssen, and Mattias Eriksson. "Sustainability Assessment of Food Redistribution Initiatives in Sweden." Resources 9, no. 3 (March 9, 2020): 27. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/resources9030027.
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Food banks that redistribute surplus food from retailers and the food industry to people in need are not a new concept globally, but their connection to food waste prevention is new. As a result, new types of food redistribution units are emerging and diversifying to find new target groups and distribution methods. The aim of this study was to identify and study surplus food redistribution units in Sweden, and then to assess the impact on several sustainability indicators for selected redistribution units, in order to increase knowledge on the types of values these redistribution concepts generate. The methods used for analyzing the scenarios were Environmental Life Cycle Assessment, Life Cycle Costing and Social Life Cycle Assessment. The results showed that providing food bags to socially exposed people generated the largest reduction of greenhouse gas emissions per kg of redistributed food (−1.2 kg CO2 eq./FU). Reprocessing surplus food to a high-quality end-product was attributed a high social value, due to job creation effects in the high number of working hours required per kg of redistributed food. With regard to economic impacts, all but two scenarios studied had monthly financial losses, and therefore needed other sources of financial support.
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Tonini, Davide, Dieuwertje Schrijvers, Simone Nessi, Pelayo Garcia-Gutierrez, and Jacopo Giuntoli. "Carbon footprint of plastic from biomass and recycled feedstock: methodological insights." International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 26, no. 2 (January 21, 2021): 221–37. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11367-020-01853-2.
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Abstract Purpose A circular (bio)economy is sustained through use of secondary raw material and biomass feedstock. In life cycle assessment (LCA), the approach applied to address the impact of these feedstocks is often unclear, in respect to both handling of the recycled content and End-of-Life recyclability and disposal. Further, the modelling approach adopted to account for land use change (LUC) and biogenic C effects is crucial to defining the impact of biobased commodities on global warming. Method We depart from state-of-the-art approaches proposed in literature and apply them to the case of non-biodegradable plastic products manufactured from alternative feedstock, focusing on selected polymers that can be made entirely from secondary raw material or biomass. We focus on global warming and the differences incurred by recycled content, recyclability, LUC, and carbon dynamics (effects of delayed emission of fossil C and temporary storage of biogenic C). To address the recycled content and recyclability, three formulas recently proposed are compared and discussed. Temporary storage of biogenic C is handled applying methods for dynamic accounting. LUC impacts are addressed by applying and comparing a biophysical, global equilibrium and a normative-based approach. These methods are applied to two case studies (rigid plastic for packaging and automotive applications) involving eight polymers. Results and discussion Drawing upon the results, secondary raw material is the feedstock with the lowest global warming impact overall. The results for biobased polymers, while promising in some cases (polybutylene succinate), are significantly affected by the formulas proposed to handle the recycled content and recyclability. We observe that some of the proposed formulas in their current form do not fully capture the effects associated with the biogenic nature of the material when this undergoes recycling and substitutes fossil materials. Furthermore, the way in which the recycled content is modelled is important for wastes already in-use. LUC factors derived with models providing a combined direct and indirect impact contribute with 15–30% of the overall life cycle impact, which in magnitude is comparable to the savings from temporary storage of biogenic C, when included. Conclusion End-of-Life formulas can be improved by addition of corrective terms accounting for the relative difference in disposal impacts between the recycled and market-substituted product. This affects the assessment of biobased materials. Inclusion of LUCs effects using economic/biophysical models in addition to (direct) LUC already embedded in commercial datasets may result in double-counting and should be done carefully. Dynamic assessment allows for detailed modelling of the carbon cycle, providing useful insights into the impact associated with biogenic C storage.
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Vrouhakis, Ioannis, Evangelos Tziritis, Andreas Panagopoulos, and Georgios Stamatis. "Hydrogeochemical and Hydrodynamic Assessment of Tirnavos Basin, Central Greece." Water 13, no. 6 (March 11, 2021): 759. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/w13060759.
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A combined hydrogeochemical and hydrodynamic characterization for the assessment of key aspects related to groundwater resources management was performed in a highly productive agricultural basin of the Thessaly region in central Greece. A complementary suite of tools and methods—including graphical processing, hydrogeochemical modeling, multivariate statistics and environmental isotopes—have been applied to a comprehensive dataset of physicochemical analyses and water level measurements. Results revealed that the initial hydrogeochemistry of groundwater was progressively impacted by secondary phenomena (e.g., ion exchange and redox reactions) which were clearly delineated into distinct zones according to data processing. The progressive evolution of groundwater was further verified by the variation of the saturation indices of critical minerals. In addition, the combined use of water level measurements delineated the major pathways of groundwater flow. Interestingly, the additional joint assessment of environmental isotopes revealed a new pathway from E–NE (which had never before been validated), thus highlighting the importance of the joint tools/methods application in complex scientific tasks. The application of multivariate statistics identified the dominant processes that control hydrogeochemistry and fit well with identified hydrodynamic mechanisms. These included (as dominant factor) the salinization impact due to the combined use of irrigation water return and evaporitic mineral leaching, as well as the impact of the geogenic calcareous substrate (mainly karstic calcareous formations and dolostones). Secondary factors, acting as processes (e.g., redox and ion exchange), were identified and found to be in line with initial assessment, thus validating the overall characterization. Finally, the outcomes may prove to be valuable in the progression toward sustainable groundwater resources management. The results have provided spatial and temporal information for significant parameters, sources, and processes—which, as a methodological approach, could be adopted in similar cases of other catchments.
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Rohács, József, and Dániel Rohács. "TOTAL IMPACT EVALUATION OF TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS." Transport 35, no. 2 (May 11, 2020): 193–202. http://dx.doi.org/10.3846/transport.2020.12640.
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Impact assessment, in general, includes the environmental safety and security considerations, and cost/cost-benefit analysis of the used sources. As usual, the impact is evaluated at two levels: (1) impact during operation (usage) related to a chosen operational unit (e.g., running distance [km], operational time [h] or calendar time [h]), (2) the life-cycle (project life-cycle) impact. The environmental impact is characterized by the chemical and noise emissions. Safety and security are estimated by risks. Costs are calculated based on the required financial support and caused losses. All these calculations are related to the individual vehicles or vehicles with average behaviours. The investigation of sustainability impact requires a wider evaluation and approach, for example, by also including production and recycling beside the operational aspects. This paper generalizes the impact analysis. At first, it considers all types of impacts including the direct (e.g., accidents) and indirect long-term effects (e.g., health problems caused by emissions). All the impacts are expressed as costs. The defined Sustainable Transportation Performance Index (STPI) is the Total Life-Cycle Cost (TLCC) related to the unit of transport work. As such, it combines the life-cycle emissions evaluation and transport costing methods. It contains the total operational and total impact costs. The proposed approach introduces three new specific features in the impact analysis: (1) the impact is evaluated on the transportation system level, (2) the impact is estimated as the total value (including all the related sub-systems and elements, like vehicles, transport infrastructure, transport flow control, etc.), (3) proposes a unique index to describe the total impact. The paper describes the general equations and the developed methodology for the estimation of the total impact and analyses its applicability. The preliminary results demonstrate the applicability of the defined index and its evaluation methodology. It also shows the limitations of traditional cost models. Further test results and wider application of the methodology will be provided in a series of follow up papers by the research team.
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Choi, Jiyoung, and Sangdon Lee. "Application of Habitat Evaluation Procedure with Quantifying the Eco-Corridor in the Process of Environmental Impact Assessment." International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 16, no. 8 (April 23, 2019): 1437. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16081437.
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In contrast to other fields, environmental protection (e.g., habitat protection) often fails to include quantitative evaluation as part of the existing environmental impact assessment (EIA) process, and therefore the EIA is often a poor forecasting tool, which makes selecting a reasonable plan of action difficult. In this study, we used the Habitat Evaluation Procedure (HEP) to quantify the long-term effects of a road construction project on an ecosystem. The water deer (Hydropotes inermis) was selected as the species of study since it uses an optimum habitat; water deer habitat data were collected on vegetation cover, stream water density, geographic contour, land use class, and road networks. The Habitat Suitability Index (HSI) and Cumulative Habitat Unit (CHU) values for the water deer were estimated to investigate the major land cover classes, the national river systems, and vegetation cover. Results showed that the environmental impact in the road construction project area would result in a net ecological loss value of 1211 without installation of an eco-corridor, which reduced to 662 with an eco-corridor, providing a 55% increase in the net value after 50 years of the mitigation plan. Comparing the 13 proposed ecological mitigation corridors, the corridor that would result in the highest net increase (with an increase of 69.5), was corridor #4, which was regarded as the most appropriate corridor to properly connect water deer habitat. In sum, the study derived the net increase in quantitative values corresponding with different mitigation methods over time for a road construction project; this procedure can be effectively utilized in the future to select the location of ecological corridors while considering the costs of constructing them.
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Lloyd, Amanda J., Thomas Wilson, Naomi D. Willis, Laura Lyons, Helen Phillips, Hayley G. Janssen, Martina Stiegler, et al. "Developing community-based urine sampling methods to deploy biomarker technology for the assessment of dietary exposure." Public Health Nutrition 23, no. 17 (June 11, 2020): 3081–92. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s136898002000097x.
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AbstractObjective:Obtaining objective, dietary exposure information from individuals is challenging because of the complexity of food consumption patterns and the limitations of self-reporting tools (e.g., FFQ and diet diaries). This hinders research efforts to associate intakes of specific foods or eating patterns with population health outcomes.Design:Dietary exposure can be assessed by the measurement of food-derived chemicals in urine samples. We aimed to develop methodologies for urine collection that minimised impact on the day-to-day activities of participants but also yielded samples that were data-rich in terms of targeted biomarker measurements.Setting:Urine collection methodologies were developed within home settings.Participants:Different cohorts of free-living volunteers.Results:Home collection of urine samples using vacuum transfer technology was deemed highly acceptable by volunteers. Statistical analysis of both metabolome and selected dietary exposure biomarkers in spot urine collected and stored using this method showed that they were compositionally similar to urine collected using a standard method with immediate sample freezing. Even without chemical preservatives, samples can be stored under different temperature regimes without any significant impact on the overall urine composition or concentration of forty-six exemplar dietary exposure biomarkers. Importantly, the samples could be posted directly to analytical facilities, without the need for refrigerated transport and involvement of clinical professionals.Conclusions:This urine sampling methodology appears to be suitable for routine use and may provide a scalable, cost-effective means to collect urine samples and to assess diet in epidemiological studies.
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Chang, K. T., C. Lin, Y. C. Lin, and J. K. Liu. "ACCURACY ASSESSMENT OF CROWN DELINEATION METHODS FOR THE INDIVIDUAL TREES USING LIDAR DATA." ISPRS - International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences XLI-B8 (June 23, 2016): 585–88. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/isprsarchives-xli-b8-585-2016.
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Forest canopy density and height are used as variables in a number of environmental applications, including the estimation of biomass, forest extent and condition, and biodiversity. The airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) is very useful to estimate forest canopy parameters according to the generated canopy height models (CHMs). The purpose of this work is to introduce an algorithm to delineate crown parameters, e.g. tree height and crown radii based on the generated rasterized CHMs. And accuracy assessment for the extraction of volumetric parameters of a single tree is also performed via manual measurement using corresponding aerial photo pairs. A LiDAR dataset of a golf course acquired by Leica ALS70-HP is used in this study. Two algorithms, i.e. a traditional one with the subtraction of a digital elevation model (DEM) from a digital surface model (DSM), and a pit-free approach are conducted to generate the CHMs firstly. Then two algorithms, a multilevel morphological active-contour (MMAC) and a variable window filter (VWF), are implemented and used in this study for individual tree delineation. Finally, experimental results of two automatic estimation methods for individual trees can be evaluated with manually measured stand-level parameters, i.e. tree height and crown diameter. The resulting CHM generated by a simple subtraction is full of empty pixels (called "pits") that will give vital impact on subsequent analysis for individual tree delineation. The experimental results indicated that if more individual trees can be extracted, tree crown shape will became more completely in the CHM data after the pit-free process.
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Chang, K. T., C. Lin, Y. C. Lin, and J. K. Liu. "ACCURACY ASSESSMENT OF CROWN DELINEATION METHODS FOR THE INDIVIDUAL TREES USING LIDAR DATA." ISPRS - International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences XLI-B8 (June 23, 2016): 585–88. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-xli-b8-585-2016.
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Forest canopy density and height are used as variables in a number of environmental applications, including the estimation of biomass, forest extent and condition, and biodiversity. The airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) is very useful to estimate forest canopy parameters according to the generated canopy height models (CHMs). The purpose of this work is to introduce an algorithm to delineate crown parameters, e.g. tree height and crown radii based on the generated rasterized CHMs. And accuracy assessment for the extraction of volumetric parameters of a single tree is also performed via manual measurement using corresponding aerial photo pairs. A LiDAR dataset of a golf course acquired by Leica ALS70-HP is used in this study. Two algorithms, i.e. a traditional one with the subtraction of a digital elevation model (DEM) from a digital surface model (DSM), and a pit-free approach are conducted to generate the CHMs firstly. Then two algorithms, a multilevel morphological active-contour (MMAC) and a variable window filter (VWF), are implemented and used in this study for individual tree delineation. Finally, experimental results of two automatic estimation methods for individual trees can be evaluated with manually measured stand-level parameters, i.e. tree height and crown diameter. The resulting CHM generated by a simple subtraction is full of empty pixels (called "pits") that will give vital impact on subsequent analysis for individual tree delineation. The experimental results indicated that if more individual trees can be extracted, tree crown shape will became more completely in the CHM data after the pit-free process.
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Martinez-Gonzalez, Aldemar, Oscar-Mauricio Casas-Leuro, Julia-Raquel Acero-Reyes, and Edgar-Fernando Castillo-Monroy. "Comparison of potential environmental impacts on the production and use of high and low sulfur regular diesel by life cycle assessment." CT&F - Ciencia, Tecnología y Futuro 4, no. 4 (December 1, 2011): 123–36. http://dx.doi.org/10.29047/01225383.233.
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This paper provides a comparative analysis using the concept of life cycle assessment (LCA), between high-sulfur (3000 ppm) and low-sulfur diesel (500 ppm) diesel. The comparative LCA considers the stages of production, transport and oil refining , as well as the transport of refined products and their respective end use. This last stage of the life cycle is important for the analysis of potential environmental impacts, due to sulfur oxide (SOx) emissions, which contribute to the formation of acid rain, damage air quality and the ecosystem (land and water acidification), causing gradual damage to human health and the environment. Therefore, comparative LCA identifies critical points from the environmental perspective, weighing the contributions of pollutants (NO2, CH4 and CO2) known as greenhouse gases (GHG) and criteria pollutants (CO, SOX, NOX, VOC's and PM). Simapro 7.2® was used to simulate and evaluate potential environmental impacts generated during the production and use by end consumers of the two fossil fuels. In order to evaluate the impact categories, two methods available in said calculation tool were selected: the first is the IPCC-2007 (GWP-100years), which estimates the carbon footprint and the contributions of each stage of the production chain to the "Global Warming" effect. The second method of evaluation is the Impact 2002+, which assesses the various contributions to the categories of toxicity to "Human Health", "Ecosystem Quality", "Climate Change" and "Depletion of Natural Resources". Thus, the preliminary results of comparative LCA show a slight increase in the carbon footprint (total emissions of CO2 equivalent in the productive chain) of low-sulfur diesel, approximately 3.8% compared to high-sulfur diesel, as a result of the increased emissions generated by the operation of the hydrogenation plant. However, low-sulfur diesel achieves a significant reduction of about 80% in comparison with high-sulfur diesel, in terms of damage to "Human Health" and "Ecosystem Quality". On the contrary, there was an increase of 2% and 6% in the categories of "Climate Change" and "Depletion of Natural Resources", respectively. Finally, despite the minor increase in the carbon footprint, although with remarkable reductions in "Ecosystem Quality" and "Human Health", the production and use of low-sulfur diesel has a single score of environmental impact equivalent to 0.23 milli points (mPt) compared to the single score obtained by high-sulfur diesel of 1.23 (mPt).
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Malinowski, Mateusz, and Katarzyna Wolny-Koładka. "Microbiological and Energetic Assessment of the Effects of the Biodrying of Fuel Produced from Waste." Ecological Chemistry and Engineering S 24, no. 4 (December 1, 2017): 551–64. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/eces-2017-0036.
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AbstractBiological drying (biodrying) is one of the methods of biological processing of waste, used mainly as part of the mechanical biological treatment of mixed municipal waste. Biological drying uses the heat released during the decomposition of organic matter to reduce the amount of water in dried waste. The aim of the analyses was to provide a microbiological and energetic (fuel) assessment of the process of biodrying of alternative fuel (RDF) obtained by mechanical sorting of mixed municipal waste. The resulting alternative fuel (obtained with just sorting) is characterised by varied moisture content and the presence of diverse groups of microorganisms. The analyses were intended to assess 3 alternative methods of biodrying of alternative fuel in order to produce a stable end product for utility power generation and the cement industry. The analyses were performed using special bioreactors equipped with custom (innovative) fluidised bed, aeration system (air flow rate 500 m3· h−1), effluents drain systems, post-process air offtake and 4 temperature sensors. The assessment of the impact of the employed bed aeration methods on the quality of the alternative fuel was performed in 3 repetitions with the same external parameters. The obtained results show that after 8 days of biodrying, in the most favourable option, the moisture content in the fuel was reduced to the level of 18.7%, i.e. by 39%, the resulting fuel was microbiologically stable and the calorific value of the fuel was increased on average by 3.2 MJ · kg−1.
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Pešta, Jan, Tereza Pavlů, Kristina Fořtová, and Vladimír Kočí. "Sustainable Masonry Made from Recycled Aggregates: LCA Case Study." Sustainability 12, no. 4 (February 20, 2020): 1581. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su12041581.
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For a sustainable building industry, reusable construction with a low demand for primary resources is needed. Moreover, if we want to reduce the amount of construction and demolition waste, construction with recycled aggregate should be considered. To investigate the environmental impacts of such concrete construction, life cycle assessment (LCA) was used to compare the following types of concrete construction: Reusable blocks with recycled brick aggregate, reusable blocks with recycled concrete, reusable blocks with natural aggregate, and regular concrete wall. Firstly, the properties of new concrete with recycled aggregate were measured, such as physical, mechanical, and thermal properties. Then, different constructions were designed and assessed using the method of Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML2001) and the method of National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (ReCiPe 2016) as characterization methods. Unsurprisingly, the regular concrete wall had a higher impact on most of the impact categories, e.g., 113 kg CO2 eq. (in the first scenario, using CML2001). In accordance with the circular principles, the reusability of blocks and recycling of aggregate are the main factors that affect the environmental impact of the constructions. Thus, the global warming potential (GWP) of construction with reusable recycled concrete blocks was only 53 kg CO2 eq. (in the second scenario). Moreover, we show differences in the results of CML2001 and ReCiPe 2016, e.g., in the Photochemical Oxidant Creation category.
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Morrison, Penny, Patricia W. Nishimoto, John B. Kim, Carolina Medina-Dupaix, and Erin O’Carroll Bantum. "Perceived Impact of Participation in a One-Time Expressive Arts Workshop." Military Medicine 184, no. 5-6 (September 25, 2018): e242-e247. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/milmed/usy240.
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Abstract Introduction This 2015 study examined the use of art to express the experience of the cancer journey of military cancer patients/cancer survivors, family and friends, caregivers, volunteers, and staff members through a one-time art-making workshop, administered by non-art therapists. Using art to express a medical/cancer journey may give participants, who cannot express their feelings in words, the ability to articulate their experience through art that looks at the creative process rather than the end result – expressive art. Materials and Methods This mixed methods study examined the use of art to express the cancer journey of participants. Twenty-eight adults participated in a one-time expressive arts workshop conducted by non-professional art therapists at a military medical center. The five domains of the Emotion Thermometer were analyzed to determine if the pre-event and post-event assessment results would differ. The Silver Drawing Test and Draw-a-Story assessment tools were used to identify emotions and attitudinal stance on six separate five-point scales. A qualitative analysis was done using the phenomenological method of the post-interviews that facilitated open expression to identify themes. Results A significant difference was found between the pre-event and post-event analyses using the Emotion Thermometer, with post-assessment results revealing lower levels in the three domains of distress, anxiety, and depression. The Silver Drawing Test and Draw-a-Story were analyzed for six components using a five-point scale, with the highest scores being content/meaning, ability to combine, and creativity. A qualitative analysis was done using the phenomenological method; post-interviews provided information to categorize the experience into four key themes: environment, connection, emotions, and discoveries. Conclusions Using art to express one’s journey through cancer allows participants to articulate that journey “beyond language.” This mixed methods study was administered by five non-professional art therapists with three having no expressive arts background. This study established that an expressive arts workshop can effectively be conducted by non-professional art therapists. The team of non-professional art therapists, who facilitated this one-time art-making workshop, demonstrated that a military member’s stress can be decreased by giving them “a voice” through expressive art.
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Zou, Min, Yves Barmaz, Melissa Preovolos, Leszek Popko, and Timothé Ménard. "Using Statistical Modeling for Enhanced and Flexible Pharmacovigilance Audit Risk Assessment and Planning." Therapeutic Innovation & Regulatory Science 55, no. 1 (August 17, 2020): 190–96. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s43441-020-00205-4.
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Abstract Background The European Medicines Agency Good Pharmacovigilance Practices (GVP) guidelines provide a framework for pharmacovigilance (PV) audits, including limited guidance on risk assessment methods. Quality assurance (QA) teams of large and medium sized pharmaceutical companies generally conduct annual risk assessments of the PV system, based on retrospective review of data and pre-defined impact factors to plan for PV audits which require a high volume of manual work and resources. In addition, for companies of this size, auditing the entire “universe” of individual entities on an annual basis is generally prohibitive due to sheer volume. A risk assessment approach that enables efficient, temporal, and targeted PV audits is not currently available. Methods In this project, we developed a statistical model to enable holistic and efficient risk assessment of certain aspects of the PV system. We used findings from a curated data set from Roche operational and quality assurance PV data, covering a span of over 8 years (2011–2019) and we modeled the risk with a logistic regression on quality PV risk indicators defined as data stream statistics over sliding windows. Results We produced a model for each PV impact factor (e.g. 'Compliance to Individual Case Safety Report') for which we had enough features. For PV impact factors where modeling was not feasible, we used descriptive statistics. All the outputs were consolidated and displayed in a QA dashboard built on Spotfire®. Conclusion The model has been deployed as a quality decisioning tool available to Roche Quality professionals. It is used, for example, to inform the decision on which affiliates (i.e. pharmaceutical company commercial entities) undergo audit for PV activities. The model will be continuously monitored and fine-tuned to ensure its reliability.
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Colucci, Vitantonio, Giampaolo Manfrida, Barbara Mendecka, Lorenzo Talluri, and Claudio Zuffi. "LCA and Exergo-Environmental Evaluation of a Combined Heat and Power Double-Flash Geothermal Power Plant." Sustainability 13, no. 4 (February 11, 2021): 1935. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su13041935.
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This study deals with the life cycle assessment (LCA) and an exergo-environmental analysis (EEvA) of the geothermal Power Plant of Hellisheiði (Iceland), a combined heat and power double flash plant, with an installed power of 303.3 MW for electricity and 133 MW for hot water. LCA approach is used to evaluate and analyse the environmental performance at the power plant global level. A more in-depth study is developed, at the power plant components level, through EEvA. The analysis employs existing published data with a realignment of the inventory to the latest data resource and compares the life cycle impacts of three methods (ILCD 2011 Midpoint, ReCiPe 2016 Midpoint-Endpoint, and CML-IA Baseline) for two different scenarios. In scenario 1, any emission abatement system is considered. In scenario 2, re-injection of CO2 and H2S is accounted for. The analysis identifies some major hot spots for the environmental power plant impacts, like acidification, particulate matter formation, ecosystem, and human toxicity, mainly caused by some specific sources. Finally, an exergo-environmental analysis allows indicating the wells as significant contributors of the environmental impact rate associated with the construction, Operation & Maintenance, and end of life stages and the HP condenser as the component with the highest environmental cost rate.
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Katus, Laura, Nathan J. Hayes, Samantha McCann, Luke Mason, Anna Blasi, Momodou K. Darboe, Michelle de Haan, Sophie E. Moore, Sarah Lloyd-Fox, and Clare E. Elwell. "Implementing neuroimaging and eye tracking methods to assess neurocognitive development of young infants in low- and middle-income countries." Gates Open Research 3 (April 5, 2019): 1113. http://dx.doi.org/10.12688/gatesopenres.12951.1.
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Infants and children in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are frequently exposed to a range of environmental risk factors which may negatively affect their neurocognitive development. The mechanisms by which factors such as undernutrition and poverty impact development and cognitive outcomes in early childhood are poorly understood. This lack of knowledge is due in part to a paucity of objective assessment tools which can be implemented across different cultural settings and in very young infants. Over the last decade, technological advances, particularly in neuroimaging, have opened new avenues for research into the developing human brain, allowing us to investigate novel biological associations. This paper presents functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), electroencephalography (EEG) and eye tracking (ET) as objective, cross-cultural methods for studying infant neurocognitive development in LMICs, and specifically their implementation in rural Gambia, West Africa. These measures are currently included, as part of a broader battery of assessments, in the Brain Imaging for Global Health (BRIGHT) project, which is developing brain function for age curves in Gambian and UK infants from birth to 24 months of age. The BRIGHT project combines fNIRS, EEG and ET with behavioural, growth, health and sociodemographic measures. The implementation of these measures in rural Gambia are discussed, including methodological and technical challenges that needed to be addressed to ensure successful data acquisition. The aim is to provide guidance to other groups seeking to implement similar methods in their research in other LMICs to better understand associations between environmental risk and early neurocognitive development.
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Katus, Laura, Nathan J. Hayes, Luke Mason, Anna Blasi, Samantha McCann, Momodou K. Darboe, Michelle de Haan, Sophie E. Moore, Sarah Lloyd-Fox, and Clare E. Elwell. "Implementing neuroimaging and eye tracking methods to assess neurocognitive development of young infants in low- and middle-income countries." Gates Open Research 3 (August 27, 2019): 1113. http://dx.doi.org/10.12688/gatesopenres.12951.2.
Full textAbstract:
Infants and children in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are frequently exposed to a range of environmental risk factors which may negatively affect their neurocognitive development. The mechanisms by which factors such as undernutrition and poverty impact development and cognitive outcomes in early childhood are poorly understood. This lack of knowledge is due in part to a paucity of objective assessment tools which can be implemented across different cultural settings and in very young infants. Over the last decade, technological advances, particularly in neuroimaging, have opened new avenues for research into the developing human brain, allowing us to investigate novel biological associations. This paper presents functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), electroencephalography (EEG) and eye tracking (ET) as objective, cross-cultural methods for studying infant neurocognitive development in LMICs, and specifically their implementation in rural Gambia, West Africa. These measures are currently included, as part of a broader battery of assessments, in the Brain Imaging for Global Health (BRIGHT) project, which is developing brain function for age curves in Gambian and UK infants from birth to 24 months of age. The BRIGHT project combines fNIRS, EEG and ET with behavioural, growth, health and sociodemographic measures. The implementation of these measures in rural Gambia are discussed, including methodological and technical challenges that needed to be addressed to ensure successful data acquisition. The aim is to provide guidance to other groups seeking to implement similar methods in their research in other LMICs to better understand associations between environmental risk and early neurocognitive development.
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McKee, Anna M., Daniel L. Calhoun, William J. Barichivich, Stephen F. Spear, Caren S. Goldberg, and Travis C. Glenn. "Assessment of Environmental DNA for Detecting Presence of Imperiled Aquatic Amphibian Species in Isolated Wetlands." Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management 6, no. 2 (September 1, 2015): 498–510. http://dx.doi.org/10.3996/042014-jfwm-034.
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Abstract Environmental DNA (eDNA) is an emerging tool that allows low-impact sampling for aquatic species by isolating DNA from water samples and screening for DNA sequences specific to species of interest. However, researchers have not tested this method in naturally acidic wetlands that provide breeding habitat for a number of imperiled species, including the frosted salamander (Ambystoma cingulatum), reticulated flatwoods salamanders (Ambystoma bishopi), striped newt (Notophthalmus perstriatus), and gopher frog (Lithobates capito). Our objectives for this study were to develop and optimize eDNA survey protocols and assays to complement and enhance capture-based survey methods for these amphibian species. We collected three or more water samples, dipnetted or trapped larval and adult amphibians, and conducted visual encounter surveys for egg masses for target species at 40 sites on 12 different longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) tracts. We used quantitative PCRs to screen eDNA from each site for target species presence. We detected flatwoods salamanders at three sites with eDNA but did not detect them during physical surveys. Based on the sample location we assumed these eDNA detections to indicate the presence of frosted flatwoods salamanders. We did not detect reticulated flatwoods salamanders. We detected striped newts with physical and eDNA surveys at two wetlands. We detected gopher frogs at 12 sites total, three with eDNA alone, two with physical surveys alone, and seven with physical and eDNA surveys. We detected our target species with eDNA at 9 of 11 sites where they were present as indicated from traditional surveys and at six sites where they were not detected with traditional surveys. It was, however, critical to use at least three water samples per site for eDNA. Our results demonstrate eDNA surveys can be a useful complement to traditional survey methods for detecting imperiled pond-breeding amphibians. Environmental DNA may be particularly useful in situations where detection probability using traditional survey methods is low or access by trained personnel is limited.
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LaRochelle, Jeffrey S., Ting Dong, and Steven J. Durning. "Preclerkship Assessment of Clinical Skills and Clinical Reasoning: The Longitudinal Impact on Student Performance." Military Medicine 180, suppl_4 (April 1, 2015): 43–46. http://dx.doi.org/10.7205/milmed-d-14-00566.
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ABSTRACT Purpose: Many medical schools across the United States are undergoing curriculum reform designed, in part, to integrate basic sciences and clinical skills. Evidence has suggested that preclerkship courses in clinical skills and clinical reasoning are predictive of student performance on the clerkship. We hypothesized that a combination of outcome measures from preclerkship clinical skills and clinical reasoning courses (Objective Structured Clinical Examination scores, preceptor evaluations, National Board of Medical Examiners subject examination scores, and small group participation grades) would be correlated to performance in internship (program director [PD] evaluation form at end of first postgraduate year). Methods: Outcome measures from preclerkship clinical skills and clinical reasoning courses and PD evaluation forms from 514 medical students graduating between 2009 and 2011 were analyzed in a multiple linear regression model. Results: Preclerkship clinical skills and clinical reasoning outcome measures were significant contributors to the linear regression model and were able to explain 13.9% of the variance in expertise and 7.6% of the variance in professionalism as measured by the PD evaluation form. Conclusion: Clinical skills and clinical reasoning courses during the preclerkship period explained a significant amount of performance at the graduate medical education level. Our data suggest that these courses provide valuable information regarding student abilities in internship. Early recognition of struggling students may provide an opportunity to break a cycle of poor performance that can persist into residency training.
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Pearson, Leonie J., and Kerry Collins. "Does social-ecological context influence state-based water management decisions? Case study from Queensland, Australia (1980–2006)." Water Policy 12, no. 2 (November 9, 2009): 186–202. http://dx.doi.org/10.2166/wp.2009.055.
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The past several decades have seen significant changes in how governments approach water management decisions. This paper reviews 12 major water management decisions in Queensland, Australia, during 1980–2006. The resilience paradigm was used to place the water management decisions in a social-ecological systems context rather than the traditional water resource context. The social-ecological context was interrogated through three parameters: scientific knowledge, environment and institutions for each of the decisions. Results indicate: (a) a trend for increased adoption of formalised integrative (social, economic and environmental factors) evaluation methods (such as benefit cost analysis and environmental impact assessment) in the scientific knowledge parameter of social-ecological context; (b) the environmental parameter (e.g. drought) influenced the timing of water decisions; and (c) a possible threshold was found within the institutional context, i.e. change of State leadership, which determined the regime or type of water decision under consideration e.g. supply or demand dominated management. These findings provide insight to policy makers and scientists on the importance of social-ecological context in the assessment of State water decisions.
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Wei, Yang, Hao Wang, Kim Fung Tsang, Yucheng Liu, Chung Kit Wu, Hongxu Zhu, Yuk-Tak Chow, and Faan Hei Hung. "Proximity Environmental Feature Based Tree Health Assessment Scheme Using Internet of Things and Machine Learning Algorithm." Sensors 19, no. 14 (July 15, 2019): 3115. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s19143115.
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Improperly grown trees may cause huge hazards to the environment and to humans, through e.g., climate change, soil erosion, etc. A proximity environmental feature-based tree health assessment (PTA) scheme is proposed to prevent these hazards by providing guidance for early warning methods of potential poor tree health. In PTA development, tree health is defined and evaluated based on proximity environmental features (PEFs). The PEF takes into consideration the seven surrounding ambient features that strongly impact tree health. The PEFs were measured by the deployed smart sensors surrounding trees. A database composed of tree health and relative PEFs was established for further analysis. An adaptive data identifying (ADI) algorithm is applied to exclude the influence of interference factors in the database. Finally, the radial basis function (RBF) neural network (NN), a machine leaning algorithm, has been identified as the appropriate tool with which to correlate tree health and PEFs to establish the PTA algorithm. One of the salient features of PTA is that the algorithm can evaluate, and thus monitor, tree health remotely and automatically from smart sensor data by taking advantage of the well-established internet of things (IoT) network and machine learning algorithm.
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Whitmyre, Gary K., Jeffrey H. Driver, Michael E. Ginevan, Robert G. Tardiff, and Scott R. Baker. "Human Exposure Assessment I: Understanding the Uncertainties." Toxicology and Industrial Health 8, no. 5 (September 1992): 297–320. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/074823379200800507.
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Exposure estimates produced using predictive exposure assessment methods are associated with a number of uncertainties that relate to the inherent variability of the values for a given input parameter (e.g., body weight, ingestion rate, inhalation rate) and to unknowns concerning the representativeness of the assumptions and methods used. Despite recent or ongoing consensus-building efforts that have made significant strides forward in promoting consistency in methodologies and parameter default values, the potential variability in the output exposure estimates has not been adequately addressed from a quantitative aspect. This is exemplified by remaining tendencies within federal and state agencies to use worst-case approaches for exposure assessment. In this study, range-sensitivity and Monte Carlo analyses were performed on several different exposure scenarios in order to illustrate the impact of the variability in input parameters on the total variability of the exposure output. The results of this study indicate that the variability associated with the example scenarios range up to more than four orders of magnitude when just some of the parameters are allowed to vary. Comparison of exposure estimates obtained using Monte Carlo simulations (in which selected parameters were allowed to vary over their observed ranges) to exposure estimates obtained using standard parameter default assumptions demonstrate that a default value approach can produce an exposure estimate that exceeds the 95th percentile exposure in an exposed population.
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D’Agostino, Sophia R., Sarah N. Douglas, and Ana D. Dueñas. "Practitioner-Implemented Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Interventions: Systematic Review of Social Validity Practices." Topics in Early Childhood Special Education 39, no. 3 (July 16, 2019): 170–82. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0271121419854803.
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Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Interventions (NDBIs) are evidence-based interventions implemented by the adults in a child’s natural environment (e.g., by practitioners in classrooms). The social validity of this body of research may have an impact on the maintenance of practitioner implementation of NDBIs. We conducted a systematic review to evaluate the components (i.e., goals, procedures, and outcomes) and features of social validation assessment practices within studies where researchers trained practitioners to implement an NDBI with young children with disabilities in early childhood classroom contexts. Results of the systematic review indicated that social validity assessment within practitioner-implemented NDBI studies is lacking. Of the 23 studies identified, only 12 studies reported social validity assessment(s). Findings also highlight a lack of comprehensive social validity assessment and frequent use of biased respondents. An in-depth analysis of social validity assessment methods and features, as well as recommendations for the field, is provided.
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Demikhov, Oleksii. "Intersectoral component of the structural and functional management model: a methodology for developing regional prevention programs and evaluating its effectiveness (for example, the child population of certain administrative regions of Ukraine)." Public administration aspects 8, no. 2 (July 8, 2020): 53–62. http://dx.doi.org/10.15421/152019.
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Modern ideas about comprehensive assessments of the level of health are based on synthetic (complex, integral, multidimensional) indicators, the requirement for which is the need to take into account various (by origin and methods of obtaining) health indicators both at the individual and population, regional levels. In recent years, many methodological methods have been processed to obtain a comprehensive qualitative and quantitative assessment of the state of individual health. Obtaining a generalized qualitative and quantitative assessment remains the most important methodological task of modern theory and practice of public administration and public health. The purpose of the study was to develop a methodology for substantiating intersectoral regional prevention programs and an algorithm for evaluating their effectiveness using the example of a dysplastic-dependent pathology of the bronchopulmonary system in children. In developing and justifying population-based management models for early diagnosis and primary prevention, we used systematic population modeling methods. The expected indicators of the pathogenic and sanogenic effects of the most significant regional and environmental factors of the dysplastic-dependent pathology of the bronchopulmonary system among children are determined. Substantiated models of end results for modification of risk factors and the expected effectiveness of the N-factor regional and environmental program for the primary prevention of dysplastic dependent pathology of the bronchopulmonary system in children. Priority areas for the implementation of regional-population programs for the prevention of dysplastic-dependent pathology of the bronchopulmonary system in children due to the impact on controlled environmental environmental factors are determined. An example of calculating the expected effectiveness of children's health management through interdepartmental interaction at the regional level is given. Prospects for further research on this issue related to a prospective evaluation of the effectiveness of intersectoral programs to reduce the influence of regional environmental factors on the health status of the child population, in particular, dysplastic-dependent pathology of the bronchopulmonary system.
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Jones, F. Chris. "Cumulative effects assessment: theoretical underpinnings and big problems." Environmental Reviews 24, no. 2 (June 2016): 187–204. http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/er-2015-0073.
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Cumulative effects assessment (CEA) is a sub-discipline of environmental impact assessment that is concerned with appraising the collective effects of human activities and natural processes on the environment. Aspirations for CEA have been expressed by many authors since 1969, when the foundation of environmental appraisal was laid by the US National Environmental Policy Act. This paper’s purposes are (i) to review aspirations for CEA, relative to current practice; and (ii) to fully explain and critique the logic that connects CEA’s operational steps and underlying philosophies. A literature review supports the following statements: Some conceptualizations emphasize the delivery of information to support decision making as the key purpose of CEA; others deem collaboration, debate, and learning as most important. Consensus on CEA’s operational steps has been reached, but each step requires practitioners to make analytical decisions (e.g., about the scope of issues to include or the time horizon to consider) and objective rules for how to approach those decisions are lacking. Numerical methods for assessing cumulative effects are largely available, meaning that CEA’s biggest problems are not scientific. CEA cannot succeed without substantive public engagement, monitoring, and adaptive management. CEA is best undertaken regionally, rather than project-by-project. CEA and planning are complementary, and should be merged. In its most enlightened form, CEA is a useful tool for ensuring that human undertakings ultimately conform to Earth’s finite biosphere, but current practice falls short of the ideal, and CEA’s logical derivation is not entirely sound. As regards CEA’s big problems, sustainability has not been defined clearly enough to make criteria for judging the significance of cumulative effects indisputable; legal, regulatory, and institutional frameworks are poorly aligned for CEA; and objective criteria for judging the adequacy of CEA’s scope, scale, and thresholds do not exist, which makes the question of how to provide general guidance to practitioners intractable. Recommendations call for sustainability goals to be clearly expressed as measurable targets. Furthermore, precaution in human enterprise should be exercised by avoiding, minimizing, restoring, and offsetting negative cumulative effects. CEA can assist by quantifying and optimizing trade-offs.
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Siemiątkowski, Piotr, Patryk Tomaszewski, Joanna Marszałek-Kawa, and Janusz Gierszewski. "The Financing of Renewable Energy Sources and the Level of Sustainable Development of Poland’s Provinces in the Area of Environmental Order." Energies 13, no. 21 (October 26, 2020): 5591. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/en13215591.
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The overall purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of financing renewable energy sources on the assessment of sustainable development in Poland’s provinces. There are also two detailed objectives: (1) define how Polish policies are being passed on to local authorities; (2) realize a Poland’s provinces ranking, taking into account the indicators of sustainable development, thanks to the taxonomic measure of development in the area of environmental order. This study deals with the taxonomic assessment of local sustainable development in the local administration units of Poland. To this end, the methods of linear ordering were applied for the assessment of the level of objects differentiation with the use of a closed set of statistical features. The presented analysis proved that the taxonomic distances between synthetic measures for particular provinces are considerable. The highest values of the integrated measure in 2018 were obtained by the following provinces: Podlaskie, Subcarpathian and Lubusz. It is noteworthy to point to the big changes in the ranking between 2018 and 2016. The cluster analysis showed some progress in achieving the goals of sustainable development. The group of provinces with an average level of sustainable development in 2018 included six provinces compared to two provinces in 2016. Removing one indicator from the integrated measure (the financing of renewable energy sources (RES)) led to a moderate increase in the integrated measure across all the provinces. This implies that, on average, the financing of renewable energy sources exerts increasingly smaller impacts on the level of sustainable development in Poland.