• Title/Summary/Keyword: environmental cost

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Understanding and Attitude to Sustainable Development of College Students for a Nuclear Power Plant Construction in Education for Sustainable Development through Panel Discussion (패널토론을 적용한 지속가능발전교육에서 대학생의 원자력발전소 건립에 대한 지속가능발전 인식과 태도)

  • MOON, Sungchae
    • Journal of Fisheries and Marine Sciences Education
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    • v.27 no.5
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    • pp.1236-1251
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    • 2015
  • This study examined understanding and attitude of sustainable development(SD) of 38 college students in a nuclear power plant construction after education for sustainable development(ESD) through panel discussion. The results were as follows: First, after lesson 66% of students were expected that SD is possible if scientific technology is developed and a frugal life for the protection of environment is carried out. However, the remaining students regarded SD as an ideal concept, because they thought it is not possible to pursue environmental sustainability and socio-economic development simultaneously. Second, students' opinions in the evaluation of constructing a nuclear power plant in three aspects(environment, society and economy) before and after panel discussion were changed as follows; 1) After panel discussion, the objectors increased to 21% in economic evaluation, while the supporters increased to 11% in environmental evaluation. 2) Students majoring in engineering or natural sciences changed their opinions to agree in environmental evaluation because they considered a nuclear power plant safe and eco-energy. However students majoring in social science/business or liberal arts/arts changed their opinions to disagree in economic evaluation because they considered a nuclear power plant as high-cost energy when assessing danger-accidents cost, public consensus cost, operation and maintenance cost, and waste disposal cost. 3) This change of decision-making in students majoring in social science/business or liberal arts/arts after panel discussion was statistically significant(p<0.05). Implications of panel discussion as a teaching and learning method in ESD are also discussed.

A study on Applying Hyperbolic Social Discount Rate onto the Benefit-Cost Analysis: Focused on Appropriate Analytical Time Span (쌍곡선함수 방식의 사회적할인율 적용에 대한 연구: 적정 분석기간의 설정을 중심으로)

  • Kim, Sang Kyum
    • Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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    • v.24 no.1
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    • pp.85-107
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    • 2015
  • This study analyzes the effect of applying hyperbolic social discount rate onto the results of benefit-cost analysis of environmental public investment projects in Korea. In order to check the application possibility to the actual feasibility study, the discount factors generated by hyperbolic function, rather than traditional exponential one, would be applied to the benefit and cost data from the pre-feasibility studies which peformed for environmental public investment projects. The results of this study shows that using hyperbolic social discount rate is effective for enhancing test results, only under the condition of which the full expansion of the time periods of analysis is satisfied. According to the simulation results of this study, to achieve higher benefit/cost ratio by using hyperbolic social discount rate, the period should be increased up to 120 to 150 years at least.

The Effect of Eco-friendly Characteristics on the Price of Office Buildings (친환경 특성이 오피스 빌딩 가격에 미치는 영향)

  • So, Soung Kue;Cho, Joo Hyun
    • Korea Real Estate Review
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    • v.28 no.2
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    • pp.49-64
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    • 2018
  • The purpose of this study is to analyze the effect of eco-friendly building certification grade on the price and cost of office in Seoul office building. For this purpose, multiple regression analysis is used to examine the prices of buildings. In order to identify the effect of environmental cost reduction of buildings with high eco-friendly certification, we also performed LCC (Life Cycle Cost) + LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) analysis. Results of our analysis show that office buildings with a higher level of eco-friendly certification are priced significantly higher. Through LCC analysis, it was also found that buildings with high levels of eco-friendly certification cost less than those with lower-level certification. Furthermore, it was confirmed that office buildings with higher-level environmental certification have total lower environmental load costs (TCA = LCC+LCA) than buildings without certification. According to the TCA analysis, buildings with a high level eco-certification generated lower social costs than buildings with lower-level or no certification.

Multi-objective optimization of stormwater pipe networks and on-line stormwater treatment devices in an ultra-urban setting

  • Kim, Jin Hwi;Lee, Dong Hoon;Kang, Joo-Hyon
    • Membrane and Water Treatment
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    • v.10 no.1
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    • pp.75-82
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    • 2019
  • In a highly urbanized area, land availability is limited for the installation of space consuming stormwater systems for best management practices (BMPs), leading to the consideration of underground stormwater treatment devices connected to the stormwater pipe system. The configuration of a stormwater pipe network determines the hydrological and pollutant transport characteristics of the stormwater discharged through the pipe network, and thus should be an important design consideration for effective management of stormwater quantity and quality. This article presents a multi-objective optimization approach for designing a stormwater pipe network with on-line stormwater treatment devices to achieve an optimal trade-off between the total installation cost and the annual removal efficiency of total suspended solids (TSS). The Non-dominated Sorted Genetic Algorithm-II (NSGA-II) was adapted to solve the multi-objective optimization problem. The study site used to demonstrate the developed approach was a commercial area that has an existing pipe network with eight outfalls into an adjacent stream in Yongin City, South Korea. The stormwater management model (SWMM) was calibrated based on the data obtained from a subcatchment within the study area and was further used to simulate the flow rates and TSS discharge rates through a given pipe network for the entire study area. In the simulation, an underground stormwater treatment device was assumed to be installed at each outfall and sized proportional to the average flow rate at the outfall. The total installation cost for the pipes and underground devices was estimated based on empirical formulas using the flow rates and TSS discharge rates simulated by the SWMM. In the demonstration example, the installation cost could be reduced by up to 9% while the annual TSS removal efficiency could be increased by 4% compared to the original pipe network configuration. The annual TSS removal efficiency was relatively insensitive to the total installation cost in the Pareto-optimal solutions of the pipe network design. The results suggested that the installation cost of the pipes and stormwater treatment devices can be substantially reduced without significantly compromising the pollutant removal efficiency when the pipe network is optimally designed.

ESTIMATING COSTS DURING THE INITIAL STAGE OF CONCEPTUAL PLANNING FOR PUBLIC ROAD PROJECTS: CASE-BASED REASONING APPROACH

  • Seokjin Choi;Donghoon Yeo;Seung H. Han
    • International conference on construction engineering and project management
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    • 2009.05a
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    • pp.1183-1188
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    • 2009
  • Estimating project costs during the early stage of conceptual planning is very important when deciding whether to approve the project and allocate an appropriate budget. However, due to greater uncertainties involved in a project, it is challenging to estimate costs during this initial stage within a reasonable tolerance. This paper attempts to develop a cost-estimate model for public road projects under these circumstances and limitations. In the conceptual planning stage of a road project, there is only limited information for cost estimation, for example, such input data as total length of the route, origin and destination, number of lanes, general geographic characteristics of the route, and other basic attributes. This implies that the model should individuate suitable but restricted information without considering detailed features such as quantity of earthwork and a detailed route of a given condition. With these limited facts, this paper applies a case-based reasoning (CBR) method to solve a new problem by deriving similar past problems, which in turn is used to estimate the cost of a given project based on best-fitted previous cases. To develop a CBR cost-estimate model, the authors classified 8 representative variables, including project type, the number of lanes, total length, road design grades, etc. Then, we developed the CBR model, primarily by using 180 actual cases of public road projects, procured over the last decade. With the CBR model, it was found that the degree of error in estimation can be reasonably reduced, to below approximately 30% compared to the final costs estimated upon the completion of detailed design.

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Definition of Environmental Cost and Eco-VE Model for Eco-VE of Construction Facility (건설시설물 친환경 VE를 위한 환경비용 및 친환경가치모델 정립)

  • Kim, Myung-Jin;Kim, Joon-Soo;Kim, Byung-Soo
    • KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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    • v.36 no.5
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    • pp.903-913
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    • 2016
  • Paris Agreement of Climate Change seem affect to Korea eco-policy. Meanwhile the eco-design for reduce carbon emission have been applied in design phase of construction. However eco-design have applied passively except the project of eco-building system. For reflect eco-component in design, design VE that be appling to basic design and executing design phase of all construction project of over 10 billion should be use. But present applying VE Job Plan is reflecting partly eco-component, so the effect is small. Therefor new eco-VE development that reflect eco-elements to exist VE need. As the result of this study, the concept of environmental cost is defined to accounting. The calculation of the cost was using methods that apply $CO_2$ emission trading price, WTP, carbon productivity concept and carbon tax based on $CO_2$ emission. However, in order to apply eco-friendly VE at design phase, the model of new concept included carbon productivity concept is necessary. The eco-friendly VE model of new concept is model using $CO_2$ emission and potential environmental pollution index (PEPI). This study tried define eco-value model and environmental cost definition that become the major axle of eco-VE.

Water-Environment-Economic nexus analysis of household food waste impacts: A case study of Korean households

  • Adelodun, Bashir;Cho, Gun Ho;Kim, Sang Hyun;Odey, Golden;Choi, Kyung Sook
    • Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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    • 2021.06a
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    • pp.148-149
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    • 2021
  • Food waste has increasingly become a global issue of concern among the researchers and policymakers due to its significant environmental and economic impacts, and other associated unsustainable use of resources, including water resources. While food wastage occurs at each stage of the supply chain with food loss at the upstream and food waste at the downstream, the impacts of food waste occurring at the consumption side are enormous due to the accumulated added values. In this study, the embedded water resources, greenhouse gas emissions, and economic loss of household food waste were investigated. The primary granular data of household food waste was collected through direct sampling from 218 selected households of the Buk-gu community in Daegu, South Korea from July 2019 to May 2020. The water footprint, which was based on the water footprint concept, i.e., indirect water use, and GHG emission potential factor for each of the food items were adopted from the literature, while the retail prices and disposal cost were used to assess the economic cost of wasted food items. The water footprint, GHG emission associated with environmental impacts, and the economic cost of 42 major identified wasted food items were conducted. The findings showed that an average of 0.73 ± 0.06 kg/household/day edible food waste was generated among the sampled households, with leafy vegetable, watermelon, and rice responsible for 10, 9, and 4%, respectively, of the total weight of the 42 food wasted items. The water footprint and environmental impact of the household food waste resulted in 0.46 ± 0.04 m3 and 0.71±0.05 kg CO2eq, respectively. Beef, pork, poultry, and rice accounted for 52, 9, 5, and 4% of the total water footprint, while beef, pork, rice, tofu/cheese had 52, 8, 6, and 6% of the total emissions, respectively, embedded in the food wasted. Furthermore, the average estimated economic cost associated with wasted food items was 3855.93±527.27 Korean won, with beef, fish, and leafy vegetable responsible for 21, 13, and 10%, respectively, of the total economic cost. A combined assessment using water-environmental-economic nexus indicated that animal-based food had the highest footprint impacts, with beef, pork, and poultry indicating high indices of 0.3, 0.08, and 0.06 respectively, on a scale of 0 to 1, compared to corn and lettuce with lowest impacts of 0.02. Other food items had moderate impact values ranging from 0.03 to 0.05. This study, therefore, provides insight into the enormity of environmental and economic implications of household food waste among Korean households.

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Investigating the Maintenance Cost of Rest Areas: A Case Study of Nevada

  • Shrestha, Kishor;Shrestha, Pramen P.
    • International conference on construction engineering and project management
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    • 2022.06a
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    • pp.624-631
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    • 2022
  • Highway Rest Areas are envisioned to provide an accessible space for rest and parking for travelers, especially those driving a long distance. In addition, modern highway Rest Areas provide many amenities to highway users, including wifi service, picnic tables, litter barrels, running water, public telephones, and sometimes even free coffee. Various studies were conducted in the domain of Rest Area facility design and their operating costs in different states; however, limited studies were conducted on the maintenance costs of these facilities. Therefore, this study's main objective is to compute the annual maintenance cost of Rest Areas in the state of Nevada. This study also analyzes the main cost categories of the maintenance works. The raw cost data of Nevada Rest Area maintenance from 1990 to 2012 were collected from the Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT). Results show that the maintenance cost fluctuated over the study period; the maintenance cost decreased from 1991 to 2004 and then increased until 2012. The primary cost categories of maintenance work are labor, equipment, and material costs. Among these, labor cost was the largest category with 56 percent of the total maintenance cost, followed by equipment cost and material cost. The findings of this study may help NDOT and other transportation agencies plan their budget for future Rest Area maintenance activities.

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Optimal Sawcutting Methods for Hydrating Concrete Pavements

  • Jeong, Jin-Hoon;Kim, Sung-Hee;Kim, Nakseok
    • KCI Concrete Journal
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    • v.14 no.3
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    • pp.93-101
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    • 2002
  • The details of an approach to account for the factors that have been found to affect the ability and the probability to control cracking due to sawcutting in newly constructed concrete pavements are presented. Several factors such as material strength parameters, method and quality of curing, slab and subbase stiffness, and concrete shrinkage affect the probability of crack initiation. Others are relevant to concrete mixture characteristics that affect development of early aged stresses caused by shrinkage and thermally induced contraction. This paper presents the results of a probabilistic analysis of the factors that affect crack control using sawcut notches. Cost analyses on both conventional and early-entry sawcutting methods are shown to support the results of the probabilistic analysis. From both an operational and cost standpoint, it is evident for the environmental conditions considered that early-entry sawcut methodology holds a significant advantage over conventional methods.

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Case Study for Construction Cost Saving by means of Economic Pile Design Procedure (말뚝기초의 경제적인 설계절차에 의한 건설비용 절감 사례 연구)

  • Choi, Yong-Kyu;Lim, Jong-Seok;Kwon, Oh-Kyun
    • Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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    • v.4 no.4
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    • pp.73-84
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    • 2003
  • In this study, the economic pile design procedure using the proof test results was proposed. In order to improve the inappropriate pile design routine, the proof test for 6 pile cases were performed and the construction saving effect were analyzed. The saving rate of construction cost with the small diameter piles and the large diameter drilled shafts were 34 - 47 and 0 - 55 %, respectively.

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