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Full-Text Articles in Engineering
Assessing Potential Environmental Impacts According To Probable Patterns Of Switchgrass Adoption In The Southeastern Us, Benjamin Sharp
Assessing Potential Environmental Impacts According To Probable Patterns Of Switchgrass Adoption In The Southeastern Us, Benjamin Sharp
All Dissertations
To assess the overall net impact of an emerging technology, life cycle assessment (LCA) must be accompanied by projections of adoption. Diffusion of innovation research provides tools that incorporate economic and social variables to explain and forecast integration of technologies. A switchgrass-to-ethanol case study for the southeastern U.S. is used to demonstrate methods for gauging aggregate environmental effects of an emerging energy technology. Before applying diffusion concepts, breakeven capacities are calculated for land in row crops, hay, pasture and marginal land. Breakeven curves are generated to provide upper bounds to switchgrass adoption over a range of farm-gate prices. The amount …
Incorporating Natural Hazard Resistance Into The Life Cycle Assessment Framework, Jeffery Plumblee
Incorporating Natural Hazard Resistance Into The Life Cycle Assessment Framework, Jeffery Plumblee
All Dissertations
Hazard resistant building materials are not adequately represented by current LCA approaches, which do not account for environmental benefits of the avoided losses (e.g. avoided waste, avoided materials for repairs) promised by hazard resistant materials. The goal of this study was to encourage a more complete understanding of materials' environmental impacts by developing a framework to include hazard related damages in LCA.
Catastrophe modeling is a well-developed tool used by the insurance industry to assess the probability of hazard and quantify related impacts. These models were studied to identify required input data as well as the format of output results. …
Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment Framework For The U.S. Built Environment, Murat Kucukvar
Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment Framework For The U.S. Built Environment, Murat Kucukvar
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The overall goals of this dissertation are to investigate the sustainability of the built environment, holistically, by assessing its Triple Bottom Line (TBL): environmental, economic, and social impacts, as well as propose cost-effective, socially acceptable, and environmentally benign policies using several decision support models. This research is anticipated to transform life cycle assessment (LCA) of the built environment by using a TBL framework, integrated with economic input-output analysis, simulation, and multicriteria optimization tools. The major objectives of the outlined research are to (1) build a system-based TBL sustainability assessment framework for the sustainable built environment, by (a) advancing a national …
Sustainability Assessment Of Wind Energy For Buildings, Mehdi Noori
Sustainability Assessment Of Wind Energy For Buildings, Mehdi Noori
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Due to increasing concerns for global climate change, onshore and offshore wind energy technologies have stimulated a tremendous interest worldwide, and are considered as a viable solution to mitigate the environmental impacts related to electricity generation. Although wind energy technologies have been considered as one of the cleanest energy sources, they have a wide range of direct and indirect environmental impacts when the whole supply chain is considered. This study aims to quantify the direct and indirect environmental impacts of onshore and offshore wind power technologies by tracing all of the economy-wide supply chain requirements. To accomplish this goal, we …
Socioeconomic Factors' And Water Source Features' Effect On Household Water Supply Choices In Uganda And The Associated Environmental Impacts, Christine M. Prouty
Socioeconomic Factors' And Water Source Features' Effect On Household Water Supply Choices In Uganda And The Associated Environmental Impacts, Christine M. Prouty
USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations
Over the last twenty years or more, Uganda has benefitted from significant strides in water and sanitation initiated by the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals. While the rapid progress towards development has been vastly beneficial, it is also important that it does not occur at the expense of the environment. The environmental impacts of these water sources must be evaluated and understood. However, to develop a robust understanding of the impact requires inclusion of the community members who use these sources and their perceptions of them. Consequently, the goal of this research is to investigate the interrelationships between socioeconomic factors, …