• Title/Summary/Keyword: Sustainability and the Environment

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A Study on the Development Task and Element for Creating Sustainable City Street Environment (지속가능한 도시 가로 환경 조성을 위한 개발 과제 및 개발요소에 관한 연구)

  • Park, Sung-Jun;Lee, Hyun-Soo;Lim, Ho-Kyun
    • Korean Institute of Interior Design Journal
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    • v.21 no.1
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    • pp.119-126
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    • 2012
  • The purpose of this study is to suggest a strategy of creating sustainable city's streets by extracting a elements related the task related with society, economic, and environment. The method of this study is as follows. First step, we extract main task for developing sustainable settlements through studying literature review. Second step, based on the task for sustainable settlements, we generate various elements for developing sustainable street environments. Third step, we carry out a survey targeting experts related to field of urban environment. Fourth step, we analyze their priority about developing elements and the difference between groups. Last step, through correlation analysis between three task and elements for developing sustainable streets, we discuss the specific application around developing elements. The result of this study is as follows. Firstly, from a social point of view, the task related to connecting of historical and cultural characteristic is the most important thing. In a environmental view, it illustrates that application of technologies based on IT is more important than use of sustainable land. In a economic paint of view, it presents that the elements of city security & disasters are important.

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Pharmaceuticals in Environment and Their Implication in Environmental Health (의약물질의 환경오염과 환경보건)

  • Choi, Kyung-Ho;Kim, Pan-Gyi;Park, Jeong-Im
    • Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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    • v.35 no.6
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    • pp.433-446
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    • 2009
  • Pharmaceuticals in the aquatic environment are trace contaminants of growing importance in environmental health due to their physiologically active nature. Pharmaceuticals could affect non-target species and might eventually damage sustainability of susceptible populations in the ecosystem. Potentials for health consequences among susceptible human population cannot be ruled out since long-term exposure to cocktails of pharmaceuticals, which might be present in drinking water, is possible. Selection of antibiotic resistant microorganisms is of another concern. In order to understand, and if needed, to properly address the environmental health issues of pharmaceutical residues, knowledge gaps need to be filled. Knowledge gaps exist in many important areas such as prioritization of target pharmaceuticals for further risk studies, occurrence patterns in different environments, chronic toxicities, and toxicities of pharmaceutical mixtures. Appropriate treatment technologies for drinking water and wastewater could be developed when they are deemed necessary. One of the simplest, yet most efficient measures that could be undertaken is to implement a return program for unused or expired drugs. In addition, implementation of environmental risk assessment frameworks for pharmaceuticals would make it possible to efficiently manage potential environmental health problems associated with pharmaceutical residues in the environment.

A Study on Effect of a Designation of "Yangdong Village" in Gyeongju as World Cultural Heritage on Residents' QOL, and Its Sustainable Development (경주 "양동마을"의 세계문화유산 등재가 지역주민의 삶의 질에 미치는 영향과 지속가능한 발전 방안 연구 -QOL/TQOL index를 이용하여-)

  • Oh, Jeong-Hak
    • Journal of Agricultural Extension & Community Development
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    • v.18 no.4
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    • pp.793-824
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    • 2011
  • This study is to explore implications for sustainable development of Yangdong Village in Gyeongju through identifying effect of its designation as a World Cultural Heritage on residents' quality of life. The following are the findings achieved by empirical analysis. First, eight valuable factors of placeness were identified through factor analysis, about which residents were especially conscious in terms of "living condition", "cultural environment", "economic QOL", "natural environment conservation", "sense of community", "cooperative facilities", "control over increasing population", "transport environment". Second, the importance -satisfaction scores of identified 8 factors were found very high in importance showing relatively low level of low level of satisfaction. Especially, what caused residents's low QOL was economic status-concerned factor showing the lowest QOL index, and other factors such as cooperative facilities and transport environment negatively impacted on resident's QOL as well. Also, it was revealed that residents had a positive attitude toward entering of their village into UNESCO world heritage sites with hope that it would improve their economic QOL. Based on these results, implications for sustainability of Yangdong Village and research limitations were discussed, and further research direction was supposed.

Sustainability Evaluation for Shellfish Production in Gamak Bay Based on the Systems Ecology 2. Environmental Accounting for the Improvement of the Natural Environment Based on the Emergy Evaluation (시스템 생태학적 접근법에 의한 가막만 패류생산의 지속성평가 2. 가막만 환경개선에 관한 환경회계)

  • Oh, Hyun-Taik;Lee, Suk-MO;Lee, Won-Chan;Jung, Rae-Hong;Hong, Suk-Jin;Kim, Nam-Kook;Tilburg, Charles
    • Journal of Environmental Science International
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    • v.17 no.8
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    • pp.857-869
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    • 2008
  • The objective of this research is to apply more scientific, quantitative methods and procedures of environmental investigation to the development of the natural environment and the improvement of the human environment during the establishment of a sewage treatment plant and special facilities using environmental accounting. This research was performed to develop a method of strategic environmental assessment on the operation of sewage treatment plant and reuse of shellfish seeding areas through the use of environmental accounting based on EMERGY evaluation. The result was applied to marine environment policy in order to evaluate the real wealth of the regional environment and economy for both the present phase and the proposed developed phase. Using results from the comparison of EMERGY indices between the present situation and future scenarios, cost benefit analysis was performed for three different scenarios: (I) construction of a new sewage treatment plant, (2) relocation and recovery of the shellfish seeding area, and (3) relocation and re-seeding of shellfish area and construction of a new sewage treatment plant. Cost-benefit ratios of the three scenarios are 1.88, 0.94, and 1.38, respectively.

Evaluation of Sustainability for Olive Flounder Production by the Systems Ecology I. EMERGY Analysis of Olive Flounder Production (시스템 생태학적 접근법에 의한 넙치생산의 지속성 평가 I. 넙치생산에 대한 EMERGY 분석)

  • KIM Nam Kook;SON Ji Ho;KIM Jin Lee;LEE Suk Mo
    • Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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    • v.34 no.3
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    • pp.218-224
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    • 2001
  • Olive flounder is one of the most important aquaculture species in Korea. Interest in the aquaculture of olive flounder has increased recently because of its good growth characteristics and high market price, However, the productivity of olive flounder aquaculture depends on economic inputs such as fuels, facilities, and labor, In this study, EMERGY concepts was used to compare the environment and economy of two olive flounder production methods, fishing fisheries and aquaculture, and to evaluate the sustainability of olive flounder production, EMERGY spelled with an 'm' is a universal measure of real wealth of the work of nature and society made on a common basis. Calculations of EMERGY production and storage provide a basis for making choices about environment and economy following. the general public policy to maximize real wealth, production and use. EMERGY flows from environment were $94.13\%$ for olive flounder fishing fisheries, and $2.20\%$ for aquaculture. EMERGY yield ratio, environmental loading ratio and sustainability index were 17.05, 1.02 and 274 for fishing fisheries and 0.06, 44.41 and 0.023 for aquaculture, respectively. These ratios indicate that the fishing fisheries will yield more net EMERGY, while the aquaculture requires a lower investment of EMERGY.

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Impact of future climate change on UK building performance

  • Amoako-Attah, Joseph;B-Jahromi, Ali
    • Advances in environmental research
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    • v.2 no.3
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    • pp.203-227
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    • 2013
  • Global demand for dwelling energy and implications of changing climatic conditions on buildings confront the built environment to build sustainable dwellings. This study investigates the variability of future climatic conditions on newly built detached dwellings in the UK. Series of energy modelling and simulations are performed on ten detached houses to evaluate and predict the impact of varying future climatic patterns on five building performance indicators. The study identifies and quantifies a consistent declining trend of building performance which is in consonance with current scientific knowledge of annual temperature change prediction in relations to long term climatic variation. The average percentage decrease for the annual energy consumption was predicted to be 2.80, 6.60 and 10.56 for 2020s, 2050s and 2080s time lines respectively. A similar declining trend in the case of annual natural gas consumption was 4.24, 9.98 and 16.1, and that for building emission rate and heating demand were 2.27, 5.49 and 8.72 and 7.82, 18.43 and 29.46 respectively. The study further analyse future heating and cooling demands of the three warmest months of the year and ascertain future variance in relative humidity and indoor temperature which might necessitate the use of room cooling systems to provide thermal comfort.

When sustainable technologies are ignored. Socio-technical systems thinking, construction and sustainable development.

  • William Henry COLLINGE
    • International conference on construction engineering and project management
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    • 2024.07a
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    • pp.1160-1167
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    • 2024
  • Achieving sustainable futures requires the construction industry to employ digitalization processes, appropriate procurement methods and innovative technologies. However, sustainable technologies in the built environment are often ignored and under-used by clients and users of buildings and facilities, meaning the benefits of sustainable technologies can be missed. This paper provides reflections of one such technology as experienced by the author: a digital toilet installed in a hotel. Through an autoethnographic approach, the paper mobilises socio-technical systems thinking to examine and analyze the digital technology in-situ to identify factors leading to a negative experience from the authors' perspective. The socio-technical systems analysis identifies several issues to explain its' non-functioning status: these revolving around people; goals; culture; technology; processes/procedures and buildings/infrastructure. The analysis provides a framework for both retrospective review and upgrading of existing technologies and an assistive tool to assist in the planning, design and installation of new sustainable technologies in the future. A discussion explores the issues further in respect to construction project industries and their role in addressing the issues identified. It is contended that achieving sustainable futures requires both predictive analysis of new technologies in the built environment and retrospective review and adaptation of technologies already in our built environment.

A Spatial Analysis of the Causal Factors Influencing China's Air Pollution

  • Kim, Yoomi;Tanaka, Katsuya;Zhang, Xinxin
    • Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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    • v.11 no.3
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    • pp.194-201
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    • 2017
  • This study investigates the factors that affect China's air pollution using city-level panel data and spatial econometric models. We address three air pollutants ($PM_{10}$, $SO_2$, and $NO_2$) present in 30 cities in China between 2004-2012 using global OLS and spatial models. To develop the spatial econometric analysis, we create a spatial weights matrix to define spatial patterns based on two neighborhood criteria - the queen contiguity and k nearest neighbors. The results show that the estimated coefficients are relatively consistent across different spatial weight criteria. The OLS models indicate that the effect of green spaces is statistically significant in decreasing the concentrations of all air pollutants. In the $PM_{10}$ and $SO_2$ analyses, the OLS models find that the number of buses and population density are also positively related to a reduction in the concentration of air pollutants. In addition, an increase in the temperature and the presence of secondary industries increase $SO_2$ and $NO_2$ concentrations, respectively. All spatial models capture a positive and significant effect of green spaces on reducing the concentration of each air pollutant. Our results suggest that green spaces in cities should receive priority consideration in local planning aimed at sustainable development. Furthermore, policymakers need to be able to discern the differences among pollutants when establishing environmental policies.

Approaching Green Buildings Using Eco-Efficient Construction Materials: A Review of the state-of-the-art

  • Aghdam, Karim Aligholizadeh;Rad, Alireza Foroughi;Shakeri, Hamed;Sardroud, Javad Majrouhi
    • Journal of Construction Engineering and Project Management
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    • v.8 no.3
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    • pp.1-23
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    • 2018
  • Since the protection the of human being from natural disaster and atmospheric factors have become an essential requirement, some attempts have been taken place to provide shelter and create a safe environment to a more comfortable life with welfare. For this purpose, using existing resources in nature and exploiting them in a different manner have been taken into account. Initially, the performed exploitations for construction had the least damage to the environment, but over time and as a result of population growth, aggressive exploitation of nature has led to destroying effects on the environment and resulted in consequences such as pollution and environmental destruction. Thus, the construction industry has been identified as the top pollutant factors of the environment. Among various construction factors, the building materials used in this industry are considered as the most important effective factors on the environment, as they have direct influences on the environment from the beginning of construction of the final steps. This research focuses on the review of the most of the existing green materials definitions and various approaches towards using eco-efficient construction materials. It presents and discusses possible ways of reducing the destructive effects on the environment by selecting and using green materials, review current literature and highlight the necessity of applying such materials in future constructions in all communities. This paper provides a base for this purpose that sustainable development communities and environment is realized by elimination of environmental pollution and approaching the criteria of green building by using sustainable materials.

The Dynamic Modeling of Conflicting Issues in Public Organization : The System Simulation of Dynamic Interaction Between Environmental System and Regional Development System. (조직의 상충적 이슈에 관한 동태적 모델링 : 환경 시스템과 경제 시스템 간의 동태적 상호작용 분석과 시스템 시뮬레이션)

  • 홍민기
    • Korean System Dynamics Review
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    • v.1 no.1
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    • pp.159-183
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    • 2000
  • How to protect the environment without sacrificing the human environment and economy at the level of region is on of the most difficult issues of recent times. The dynamic Interactions between economic activities and environmental pollution control activities determine whether social welfare is increased of decreased by such activities and provides a basis for saying whether they help or hurt the economy. Bureaucratic Approach of Local government has failed, and an Impetus has arisen to develop new tools of analysis, useful for finding policy leverages focused on sustainability. This paper focus on understanding dynamic relationships between regional economic system and environmental system, and presenting possible framework for finding policy leverages in dynamic interaction behaviors. The case, selected in this study, is Nacdong river regions case, which is related many meaningful issues about sustainable development: two big metropolitan government and dwellers have different opinion with regard to construction of large scale Industrial pack, drinking water supply, and environment model consisting of three sectors: regional economy sector, river pollution and drinking water sector, environmental protection and investment policy sector Finally, this paper deal with how to link policy leverage to causal loop structure for the sustainable development of two regions.

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