• Title/Summary/Keyword: environmental cost

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Regional Ecological Network Design for Wild Animals' Movement Using Landscape Permeability and Least-cost Path Methods in the Metropolitan Area of Korea (경관투과성 및 최소비용경로 분석을 통한 수도권 지역의 광역생태축 구축 연구)

  • Lee, Dong-Kun;Song, Won-Kyong;Jeon, Seong-Woo
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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    • v.11 no.3
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    • pp.94-106
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    • 2008
  • As populations inhabiting in natural ecosystem are fragmented by artificial barriers and habitats are destructed by development, extinction possibility of species is getting higher. It is necessary to design and to manage conservation areas and corridors considering animals' movement and migration for sustainable species diversity in present circumstances. 'Least-cost modeling' is one commonly employed approach in which dispersal costs are assigned to distinct habitat types and the last-costly dispersal paths among habitat patches are calculated using a geographical information system (GIS). This study aims to design ecological corridor using least-cost path method and to apply it to a regional ecological network considering movability of medium-large size mammals. This study was carried out over the metropolitan area, which has been deforested by rapid urbanization. Nevertheless there is connected with Gangwon province, Baekdudaegan mountain range and DMZ, considered where many forest species can migrate to this region. This study employs such an approach to develop least-cost path models for medium-large size mammals, have inhabited for this entire region. Considering those species, two forest areas as a source of species supply and forest areas more than 1,000ha are selected as focal forest areas. Movement and migration paths from species supply sources to focal forest areas are calculated by applying landscape permeability theory using land cover map, road density map and land slope map. Results showed least-cost paths from species supply sources to focal forest areas on two species. Wildcat and roe deer are different in some least-cost paths caused by their landscape permeability but paths show generally same specifics. The result of considering regional distribution of expected movement and migration paths to regional ecological network, low altitude mountains of western metropolitan area are evaluated important area for species connectivity. In national or regional levels ecological connectivity is essential to promote species diversity and to preserve integrated ecosystem. This study concludes that developing least-cost models from similar empirical data could significantly improve the utility of these tools.

Development of the Approximate Cost Estimating Model for PSC Box Girder Bridge based on the Breakdown of Standard Work (대표공종 기반의 PSC Box 교량 상부공사 개략공사비 산정모델에 관한 연구)

  • Kim, Sang-Bum;Cho, Ji-Hoon
    • KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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    • v.33 no.2
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    • pp.791-800
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    • 2013
  • Needs for developing a better way of cost estimating process for public construction projects have been widely recognized. Those needs are mainly from the early phases of the project through the construction life cycle due to the its importance to the control process. In contrast to the traditional estimating method based on unit-price references, this research utilized this following process. The first step is analyzing the real cost data from actual cost activities (2000~2010) about the statement of P.S.C(Prestressed Concrete) Box Girder Bridge. The collected data was broken into four categories based on technical construction methods such as I.L.M(Incremental Launching Method), M.S.S(Movable Scaffolding System), F.S.M(Full Staging Method), and F.C.M(Free Cantilever Method). The second, actual design documents including the actual cost estimating documents, drawings and specifications were carefully reviewed to cluster the cost itemized statement from four categories. It was also attempted to seek the proper breakdown of standard works that are responsible for more than 95 percentage in each categories in terms of its cost. The third, this research comes up the index for standard unit materials and unit price of standard work and develops the approximate estimating model applying for the specification(length and breadth of bridges) per square area that the user takes as well as suggests the practical application plan within the original time alloted.

A Study on Estimating Construction Cost of Apartment Housing Projects Using Genetic Algorithm-Support Vector Regression (유전 알고리즘 - 서포트 벡터 회귀를 활용한 공동주택 공사비 예측에 관한 연구)

  • Nan, Jun;Choi, Jae-Woong;Choi, Hyemi;Kim, Ju-Hyung
    • Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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    • v.15 no.4
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    • pp.68-76
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    • 2014
  • The accurate estimation of construction cost is important to a successful development in construction projects. In previous studies, the construction cost are estimated by statistical methods. Among the statistical methods, support vector regression (SVR) has attracted a lot of attentions because of the generalization ability in the field of cost estimation. However, despite the simplicity of the parameter to be adjusted, it is not easy to find optimal parameters. Therefore, to build an effective SVR model, SVR's parameters must be set properly without additional data handling loads. So this study proposes a novel approach, known as genetic algorithm (GA), which searches SVR's optimal parameters, then adopt the parameters to the SVR model for estimating cost in the early stage of apartment housing projects. The aim of this study is to propose a GA-SVR model and examine the feasibility in cost estimation by comparing with multiple regression analysis (MRA). The experimental results demonstrate the estimating performance based on the percentage of estimations within 25% and find it can effectively do the accurate estimation without through the trial and error process.

A Study on the Issues and Improvement of the Existing Environmental Impact Assessment System - Evaluation in an operator Viewpoint - (현행 환경영향평가 제도의 문제점과 개선방안 - 실무자적 관점에서 검토 -)

  • Lee, Seung-Won;Kim, Jung-gun;Seo, Jung-Kuk
    • Journal of Environmental Science International
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    • v.27 no.5
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    • pp.281-289
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    • 2018
  • The Korean environmental impact assessment(EIA) system, and explored ways to improve it as a more efficient and viable institution relevant to the demand of our time and conditions in study. The first problem this study identified is found in the fact that the party to write up the assessment report is itself the business operator or the one who is planning to work out the business plan. This structure translates into placing an order with an agent for EIA report. The reporting job may br subcontracted to the agent at a cost far below the rate specified in the 'Standard for Estimate of Agency Fee for Environmental Impact Assessment.' This practice also causes the vicious circle of producing a report that is written to justify the project or business in question or it leads to rough-and ready and poor documentation to minimize the time required. Second, in order to achieve the goal of the plan or business, which is the target of EIA, the local residents tend to ve regarded as an obstacle. This means elimination of the local people from participating in the EIA or their opinion being frequently ignored. This is the seed of distrust and hostility that sometimes provoke disagreements or fierce conflicts. The first proposal to improve these problem is to improve the factors that cause poor documentation of the assessment report as well as improve the understanding of the EIA system. This study proposes the following measures for improvement. The agency cost for EIA should be paid by the business operator or a third party that can ensure faithful implementation of the payment. A system should be established to verify transparent estimation of the agency cost. In order to enhance the professional quality of EIA agents, there should be implementation of qualification test for industrial engineer of related engineers in addition to the current EIA Qualification Test. The second proposal for improvement is to improve the citizen participation process by instituting a legal framework to make clear the purpose of the briefing session for local residents, which is held as a procedure of EIA, and to ensure more positive publicity during the stage of listening to the opinion of the local community. For a smooth and rational communication process, a moderator and a communicator of opinion, as is the case in a public hearing, could be instituted to clearly get the purpose of the briefing session across to the residents and to help to carry out the explanation and Q & A sessions according to the categories of the opinion of the residents. At present, the notification of the public inspection of the draft of the assessment report and briefing session for the residents is made on the newspaper and internet network. But some people have difficulty with access to this method of announcement. A higher participation rate could be secured if a legal provision is added to specify putting up placards in specific places such as the entrance to the place for the briefing session for residents or the building of administrative agencies of the area concerned.

Manufacturing Characteristics of Environmental-friendly Waste Ash Brick with Industrial By-Products (산업부산물을 이용한 친환경 연소재벽돌의 제조특성)

  • Kim, Han-Seok;Jung, Byung-Gil;Kim, Dae-Yong;Kang, Dong-Hyo;Jang, Seong-Ho
    • Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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    • v.35 no.3
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    • pp.226-234
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    • 2009
  • The main objective of this study was to evaluate the effects on shape and size, compressive strength, water absorption and heavy metals leaching with various weight mixing ratios in waste ash brick products using waste recycling MSWI(Municipal Solid Waste Incinerator) bottom ash, steel slag and waste building material. The manufacturing processes for the waste ash brick consist of screening, mixing, conveyor transmission, compaction.forming, and curing steps of raw materials. The weight mixing ratios of steel slag around bottom ash were adjusted within the ranges of 10% to 30%. The reported results show that the width and thickness of the manufactured waste ash brick could be satisfied with $90{\pm}2mm\;and\;57{\pm}2mm$, respectively which are K.S. standards of products qualities. And in case of length, only 20-Ba50Ss30, 20-Ba60Wb20 and 20-Ba50Wb30 for the mixing ratios could be satisfied with $190{\pm}2mm$ that is K.S. standards of products quality. The compressive strength and water absorption for 20-Ba50Ss30 and 20-Ba70Wb10 were over $8N/mm^2$ and below 15% respectively that are K.S. standards of manufactured waste ash brick. The results of tests for the heavy metals leaching in the all manufactured waste ash bricks are also passed to the wastes management regulations. The cost analysis of 20-Ba50Ss30 is evaluated. The manufacturing cost is evaluated 34.3 won/brick with 8 hours and 20tons of raw material per day. Incinerators with problems in bottom ash disposal can therefore derive significant benefits from the application of waste ash brick production.

The Influence of Excluding No-load Cost from SMP on Cost Reduction Incentive of Generators (계통한계가격(SMP)에서 무부하비용 제외가 발전사 비용절감 유인에 미치는 영향)

  • Kim, Myung Yun;Cho, Sung Bong
    • Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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    • v.23 no.4
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    • pp.617-641
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    • 2014
  • Korean electricity market is a Cost-Based Pool (CBP) designed to minimize electricity production cost through cost by providing cost reduction incentives to generators. Generation companies have shown diverse efforts to reduce costs in CBP market such as procuring low-price fuels, installing high efficiency gas turbine and constructing power plants near the heavy-load site. Recently, as a way to improve CBP market, a proposal to exclude no-load cost from System Marginal Price (SMP) and to compensate generators ex post was suggested to Korea Power Exchange. This study analyzes the impact of excluding no-load cost from SMP on the cost reduction incentive of generators. We found that excluding no-load cost from SMP enhances the likelihood of decreasing the cost reduction incentives of LNG combined-cycle generators lying on the price-setting range.