Dissertations / Theses: 'Environmental costs'

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Smith, Brittany L. "The Benefits and Costs of Environmental Enrichment." University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1479815083298321.

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Mahashabde, Anuja (Anuja Anil). "Assessing environmental benefits and economic costs of aviation environmental policy measures." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/62967.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2009.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 157-169).
Despite the recent global economic downturn, longer term growth is anticipated for aviation with an increasing environmental impact, specifically in the areas of noise, air quality, and climate change. To ensure sustainable growth for aviation, decision-makers and stake-holders need to be armed with information on balancing environmental and economic interests. The main objective of this thesis is to address key shortcomings in current decision-making practices for aviation environmental policies. This work demonstrates how the inclusion of environmental impact assessment and quantification of modeling uncertainties can enable a more comprehensive evaluation of aviation environmental policy measures. A comparison is presented between the conventional cost-effectiveness analysis and an illustrative cost-benefit analysis focused on assessing a subset of the engine NO, emissions certification stringency options under consideration for the upcoming eighth meeting of the International Civil Aviation Organization's Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection. The Aviation environmental Portfolio Management Tool (APMT) is employed to conduct the aforementioned policy assessments. Monte Carlo methods are adopted to explicitly quantify uncertainties in the modeling process. To enable the aviation climate impact assessment required by the policy analysis, a separate component of this work focuses on advancing the climate impact modeling capabilities within APMT. Major contributions towards assessing aviation climate impacts in APMT include: improved characterization of uncertainty for NO1-related effects and for aviation climate damages, introduction of a reduced-order methodology for assessing climate impacts of methane emissions from the processing of alternative jet fuels, and comparison and validation of APMT results with external sources. This work also discusses the importance of uncertainty assessment for understanding the sensitivity of policy analysis outcomes to input and model parameter variability and identifying areas of future work. An uncertainty analysis for the APMT Climate Module is presented. Radiative forcing from short-lived effects, climate sensitivity, damage function, and discount rate are identified to be the model parameters with the greatest contribution to output variability for the Climate Module for any given aviation scenario. Key contributors to uncertainty in the difference between policy and baseline scenarios are determined by the nature of the policy. For the NO, stringency analysis, the NO. radiative forcing and associated efficacies are significant contributors to uncertainty in analysis outcomes. Information based on model uncertainty assessment is also used for distilling and communicating key analysis results to the relevant stake-holders and policy-makers through the development of the lens concept. The lens, defined as a combination of inputs and model parameters representing a particular perspective for conducting policy analysis, is applied in conducting the engine NO, stringency policy assessment.
by Anuja Mahashabde.
Ph.D.

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Stech, Radoslaw. "Costs barriers to environmental judicial review : a study in environmental justice." Thesis, Cardiff University, 2013. http://orca.cf.ac.uk/47605/.

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The thesis analysed unique data collected in the Environmental Law Foundation (E.L.F.), a London-based charity with a network of legal advisers located throughout the UK. It had two main purposes: firstly, to prove that costs constitute a barrier to judicial review and; secondly, to understand better the concept of environmental justice in light of polycentricity. Environmental justice focuses on patterns of disproportionate exposure to environmental hazards and promotes increased access to information and participation in decision-making. Adjudication is said to have a limited role in achieving environmental equity as it rarely addresses issues of political and economic distribution. The thesis analysed the UNECE Aarhus Convention which is binding in the UK. It is alleged that the UK Government is in breach of the Convention’s third pillar which requires access to a review procedure not to be “prohibitively expensive” (art 9(4)). E.L.F. receives calls for support from primarily poor communities facing environmental problems and refers the viable ones to a legal adviser for free initial advice. The study reviewed 774 referrals focusing on 219 of these at various stages of judicial review. A half of these referrals received a negative opinion as to the prospects of success at judicial review and the remaining half were advised to proceed. In the latter pool there were 54 cases which were prevented by the cost barrier. A significant number concluded in out-of-court/in-court settlement. The latter sample consisted of planning law-based claims which are polycentric due to the variety of involved interests. The data was also matched with the Indices of Multiple Deprivation to show polycentricity. The findings were analysed through the participatory thesis of judicial review and the concept of limits of adjudication. Thus access to adjudication may create opportunities for engagement and contributes to achieving environmental justice.

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Morales, Sarriera Javier. "Productivity and costs in the transit sector : the impact of Baumol's cost disease." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/104154.

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Thesis: S.M. in Transportation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2016.
This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.
Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 143-146).
This thesis covers several topics related to transit costs, productivity, efficiency, and benefits. We first show that labor productivity growth among transit agencies in the United States is slow or stagnant, and it is significantly lower than productivity growth in most industries. According to Baumol's cost disease theory, this leads to a spiraling trend in cost escalation over time and it is a threat to long run financial sustainability. In fact, we find that transit costs increase not only above the inflation rate but above the rate predicted by Baumol's theory, which is evidence of additional compounding factors, such as the bargaining power of labor unions, and political or managerial issues. First, we extend the analysis to calculate total factor productivity, and the results validate the findings of sluggish labor productivity growth. The calculations also reveal that while productivity may grow with efficiency gains, these gain are bounded by a frontier, and, in the long run, the inherent nature of low productivity growth in the transit sector will continue to drive transit costs faster than other sectors. We also assess whether contracting out transit operations alleviates the implications of Baumol's cost disease, and the results show that in spite of lower average costs, contracted service also has significant cost escalation over the long run, evidence that the implications also apply to the private delivery of transit service. In addition, we also consider other sectors within the larger transportation industry and analyze whether productivity and costs follow the same pattern predicted by Baumol's cost disease. The results vary widely, from vehicle maintenance on the one hand (with low productivity growth and high cost increase) to automobile manufacturing on the other hand. The transit construction industry also shows signs of Baumol's cost disease, but not as severe as those for transit operations. Finally, despite the spiraling nature of transit costs, we also show that the internal and external benefits of transit tend to grow over time, which can justify higher fares and additional subsidy. Although there is no clear antidote to Baumol's cost disease, policymakers should recognize that as the economy becomes more productive and prosperous overall, it can continue to support growing levels of transit service in recognition of its growing external benefits, despite its inherent nature of stagnant productivity growth.
by Javier Morales Sarriera.
S.M. in Transportation

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Marion, Stephanie. "Environmental costs and environmental benefits analysis of packaging waste recovery and recycling targets." Thesis, University of Sheffield, 2005. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/3576/.

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Society is faced with the growing problem of waste associated with mass consumption. The treatment and final disposal of waste is linked to a wide range of environmental problems, including loss and wastage of resources, atmospheric, aquatic and land pollution, as well as public health concerns. For these reasons, since the early 1990s there has been an emphasis on waste minimisation and recycling initiatives. The European Commission decided that packaging waste would be its first target in an aim to reduce waste in general - to be followed by several other producer responsibility type legislations. The landfill Directive came into force in 2002 - It reduces the amount of bio-degradable waste that can be landfilled and bans hazardous waste from most landfill sites. The End of Life Vehicle Directive came into force in 2003 and put the responsibility on the producer to organize recovery and recycling of vehicles. The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) came into force in 2004 and requires manufacturers of such products to finance their recovery and recycling. This study looks at the UK Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 1997 and the targets that have been chosen to enable the UK to fulfil the requirements of the European Directive (94/62/EC) on Packaging and Packaging Waste. The aim of the research focuses on establishing target levels with maximum environmental benefits, specifically for recovering and recycling cardboard packaging waste in the UK. The methodology used is Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), which considers the whole life cycle of cardboard packaging, including the manufacture of packaging from raw (or recycled) fibres, its transport and use and waste management options. A range of scenarios have been modelled to reflect present day achievements, the levels of recycling expected of Member States through the revised Directive targets, as well as extreme scenarios. The scenarios are: Base scenario: 53% recycling, 4.23% incineration and 42.77% landfill Scenario 2: 60% recycling with 37.2% landfill and 2.8% incineration Scenario 3: 70% recycling with 27.9% landfill and 2.1 % incineration Scenario 4: 80% recycling with 18.6% landfill and 1.4% incineration Scenario 5: 35% recycling with 60.45% landfill and 4.55% incineration Scenario 6: 100% landfill Scenario 8: 100% incineration. It was found that significant reductions in global warming and carcinogens are associated with increasing levels of recycling (the highest level assessed was 80% recycling), but this comes at a cost of a slight increase in energy usage impacts. Global warming impacts fall by 20% with an increase in recycling from 53% to 80%. However, some of these potential benefits are compromised if waste cardboard needs to be exported to Europe for recycling. This particular project is looking at waste related policy issues. However it needs to be acknowledged that the manufacturing of cardboard packaging accounts for a significant proportion of the total burdens associated with the cardboard-packaging life cycle. These burdens are not affected by waste management policies; instead they would require improvements in the manufacturing processes to be made.

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Bellows, Dustin Fredrick. "Examination of Exterior Wall Assemblies Using a Full Costs Accounting Framework and Benefit Costs Analysis." Thesis, Prescott College, 2016. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10109468.

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Designers and builders focused on green innovations often struggle to know well the costs and benefits of their proposed projects. As such, some are reluctant to innovate beyond the well known, as even modest projects are costly in nearly all respects. This project is designed to provide data to promote actionable recommendations and strategic decision criteria for commercializing a model for exterior wall assemblies constructed with straw bales and earthen plasters. The wall assemblies are specific for houses built in hot arid climates using vernacular architecture and site-available earthen soils that take into account resiliency, environmental and social accountability, and affordability. These data derive from secondary research, four case studies, and two experimental build projects. A Full Costs Accounting (FCA) framework and Benefit Costs Analysis (BCA) assess costs, impacts, and benefits for the two experimental build projects that used the same amount of building material as measured in cubic feet (± 3%) but were constructed from different materials and design strategies for exterior wall assemblies. Results from the builds’ FCA indicate that imported materials needed for a conventional wood framed wall assembly used 204% more fuels in the production process (cradle-to-factory gate) and 733% more diesel fuels in the transportation process (factory gate-to-retail store) than a vernacular build’s wall assembly. Upfront labor costs were increased by 287% when using site-available soils for earthen plasters instead of imported lumber for a conventional wall assembly. Benefits (BCA) for the straw bale and earthen plaster construction include reduced impacts upon the extraction site, increased resiliency and social cohesion, and limited requirements for capital investments. This research contributes to the assessment tools available for stakeholders to make more informed decisions when investing in multi-faceted affordable housing projects in hot arid regions throughout the world.

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Mlangeni, Nkosana Samuel. "An evaluation of environmental costs of agricultural inputs : a survey on selected farms, South Africa." Thesis, University of Limpopo, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10386/2582.

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Thesis (MBA.) -- University of Limpopo, 2016
The objective of this study was to determine the environmental impact of agricultural inputs, to know if the environmental impacts of agricultural inputs have environmental costs, and to know who bears the environmental costs of agricultural inputs. Using a purposive sampling method, the researcher studied six farms from Chief Albert Luthuli Municipal area, Mpumalanga. The research design for the study was a mix of qualitative and quantitative research approaches. Data collection was from primary and secondary sources. Data was collected from the six farmers in Albert Lithulu, in addition secondary data was collected from the archives of Index Mundi, the University of Pretoria, the US EPA and the World Bank. Using a mix of correlation and regression analysis, findings from the study provided an answer to the three research objectives. Findings from the analysis of correlation and regression indicated that agricultural input (fertilizer, used in this study) does affect the environment; it causes an agricultural induced emission of greenhouse gases (nitrous oxide and methane). Furthermore, findings from analysis of potential environmental costs of environmental impacts (methane and nitrous oxide) showed that agricultural inputs have social costs for South Africa. Furthermore, the final findings in this study showed that the environmental costs from agricultural inputs are born by the victims. Consequently the study recommends additional environmental regulation to enable farmers internalise some of the environmental costs of agricultural inputs that are born by victims. Further research is suggested to determine the model that may be used to internalise environmental costs of agricultural inputs back to the farms. Key Words: farms, environmental costs, agricultural inputs, externalities

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Gudmundsson, Erik, and Niclas Forsberg. "Road Transportation : Environmental sustainability vs. lead time and costs." Thesis, Jönköping University, Jönköping International Business School, 2008. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hj:diva-1220.

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The recession of the early 1990’s marked the starting point for a transformation of the Swedish transportation industry. Cost oriented production techniques by the industry’s customer increased demand on swiftness, reliability and flexibility in transportation services. This development has continued ever since which in turn has continuously increased the rates of harmful discharges of emissions. The research is performed on the Swedish plastic industry and examines the relationship between environmental sustainability, lead time and cost when selecting road carrier for transportations. The main purpose is to examine to what extent environmental concerns are taken into account when deciding over distribution and furthermore, whether there exist potential and ambitions for improvements. Out of theories concerning transportation modal choice, four points of interest constitutes the basis for the empirical gathering; prioritization of selection determinants, environmental requirements in procurement of transportation services, use of rail freight and acceptable cost levels for implementing environmental sustainability. The study shows that the market of the Swedish plastic industry is driven by price competition and constant pressure from international trade. Naturally, cost is considered to be the foremost selection determinant in terms of transportation modal choice, followed by reliability and lead time. Furthermore, the study shows that environment is of low priority in respect to the other selection determinants. Although the current market condition diminishes the possibilities for changes, there exists a general ambition to become more environmental within the distribution activities. A majority of the respondent firms could potentially accept levels of increased transportation costs which balance with the costs of guaranteeing environmental sustainability in road transportations.

In reference to increased environmental ambitions, three conclusions can be drawn. The relationship between environmental sustainability, lead time and cost allow for environmental improvements if lead time can be extended to the maximum conceivable limit of the market. Furthermore, the price competition of the market makes own initiatives impossible in terms of raising price for transportations; environmental sustainability in road transportation must therefore be preceded by demand for such. Finally, it can be concluded that environmental improvements cannot be achieved single handedly; costs must be evenly distributed among the suppliers, customers and haulers.

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Braun, Martin. "Environmental external costs from power generation by renewable energies." [S.l. : s.n.], 2004. http://www.bsz-bw.de/cgi-bin/xvms.cgi?SWB11312756.

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Savage, William. "The Full Cost of Renewables: Managing Wind Integration Costs in California." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2012. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/pomona_theses/57.

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Wind power will be an important component of California's aggressive strategies to meet its greenhouse gas reduction targets by the year 2020. However, the costs of integrating wind power's variable and uncertain output are often ignored. I argue that California must take prudent action to understand, minimize, and allocate wind integration costs. A review of numerous studies suggests that for wind penetration levels below 20%, integration costs should remain modest. However, costs are heavily dependent on market structure, and I suggest numerous ways that California can optimize its market design to manage wind integration costs.

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Turaga, Rama Mohana Rao. "Spatial Resolution, Costs, and Equity in Air Toxics Regulation." Diss., Georgia Institute of Technology, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/1853/16236.

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Concern about environmental injustice has been driving the recent effort to characterize risks from exposures to air toxics at very fine spatial resolutions. However, few studies seek to understand the potential policy implications of regulating risks at increasingly finer spatial resolutions and the impact of resulting policies on distribution of risks. To address this gap, the broad question for this research is how could the choice of spatial resolution for regulation of risks from toxic air pollutants affect emission controls and the consequences thereof? This research develops a formal model of a hypothetical decision maker choosing emission controls within a risk-based regulatory framework. The model suggests that optimal controls on air toxics emissions vary depending on the spatial resolution chosen to regulate risks; net social costs are non-decreasing as one regulates at finer and finer spatial resolutions. An empirical application of the model using air toxic emission data for Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties in Florida demonstrates the sensitivity of optimal emissions to spatial resolution chosen for regulation. The research then investigates the equity implications of regulating at different spatial resolutions with regard to the spatial distribution of cancer risks. The empirical results indicate that regulation at finer spatial resolutions could involve a tradeoff between costs and equitable distribution of risks. For example, at a threshold cancer risk of 100 in a million, regulating at census block level resolution could be twice as costly as regulating at census tract resolution while reducing the maximum individual risk by almost half. Further, regulation at finer spatial resolutions might not address environmental injustice by itself unless such concerns are more explicitly incorporated into emission control decisions. Finally, this research shows that spatial resolution at which air toxics risks are regulated could matter in predictable ways even after taking into account the uncertainties that the decision maker faces.

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Segtnan, Ida Lund. "Assessing the Environmental Costs and Benefits of Households Electricity Consumption Management." Thesis, Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet, Institutt for elkraftteknikk, 2011. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:no:ntnu:diva-13686.

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In this study the environmental costs and benefits of smart metering technology systems installed in households in Norway have been assessed. Smart metering technology systems enable mechanisms to manage electricity consumption by shifting loads. With the use of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and the ReCiPe method for impact assessment, the life cycle impacts of installation and operation of a system in a household have been found. Environmental benefits of using the systems to manage electricity consumption have been quantified. The results of the study indicated that the environmental costs of smart metering technology systems mainly are caused by the production of system components and system electricity use during operation. For the production of system components, the use of electronics in the components was generally the major contributor to the total environmental impacts. Further, the systems metal depletion potential was high relative to other environmental impacts after normalization in impact assessment. The main environmental benefits of smart metering technology systems in a Norwegian perspective will be in a critical supply situation of electricity to avoid use of reserve capacity gas power plants, and the results from the study showed that the systems in such a case can contribute to an avoided emission of greenhouse gases. Load shifting from a general basis may however not always have environmental benefits and this will depend on the existing alternatives for electricity production.

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Furtado, Ricardo Cavalcanti. "The incorporation of environmental costs into power system planning in Brazil." Thesis, Imperial College London, 1996. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.482085.

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Мельник, Леонід Григорович, Леонид Григорьевич Мельник, and Leonid Hryhorovych Melnyk. "Environmental costs of production as the ground of economic decisions making." Thesis, Видавництво СумДУ, 2005. http://essuir.sumdu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/8352.

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Alabi, Oluwafisayo Titilope. "Reconsidering environmental attribution and resource costs of common pool resources : applications of environmental input-output (IO) analysis." Thesis, University of Strathclyde, 2017. http://digitool.lib.strath.ac.uk:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=29429.

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In this thesis, I apply environmental input-output (IO) methods to evaluate some impacts of economic activity on the environment and the associated economy-wide implications of using the environment to meet some economic needs. The core of this thesis comprises of three independent but related chapters or papers (Chapter 2, 3 & 4). Each of these core chapters focuses on developing methods to answer key policy questions so that policy makers may be provided with a better understanding of the impacts of economic activities on the environment. In the first core chapter (Chapter 2), the environmental IO approach is considered as a means of examining the nature of externalities via pollution generation and of attributing, as a case study, physical waste generated to production and consumption economic activity. The chapter addresses the policy-relevant question of what economic sectors may ultimately be considered responsible for waste generation and the final consumption patterns, which drive that production and in turn waste pressures in Scotland. In the second core chapter (Chapter 3), the environmental IO model is applied to model and incorporate the resource implications of negative externalities from waste generation into economic processes. It builds on a previous but inconclusive study on this issue, here using improved data. The chapter addresses a key policy issue regarding identifying the implications if the direct polluter pays or does not pay for waste management implied by their waste generation and, in either case, who ultimately bears the cost for the provision of waste management services within the economy In the third core chapter (Chapter 4), the environmental IO model is applied in a novel way to consider the case of supplying a physical resource like water (as opposed to providing a clean environment as in the event of pollution or waste generation). The chapter addresses key policy issues regarding the causes and implications of the deviation between actual expenditure for the output of the water sector and actual physical water use. More generally, this thesis makes empirical and analytical improvements to the application of the Leontief, (1970) environmental IO model, a seminal theoretical contribution in terms of the resource cost of environmental protection and provision of common pool resources.

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Kyler, Brent J. "Forecast modeling for estimating Base Realignment & Closure (BRAC) environmental restoration costs." Monterey, Calif. : Springfield, Va. : Naval Postgraduate School ; Available from National Technical Information Service, 1997. http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ADA341040.

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Thesis (M.S. in Financial Management) Naval Postgraduate School, December 1997.
"December 1997." Thesis advisor(s): John E. Mutty, Shu S. Liao. Includes bibliographical references (p. 135-138). Also available online.

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Shapro, Stephen R. "The allocation of contractor environmental remediation costs to Department of Defense contracts." Thesis, Monterey, Calif. : Springfield, Va. : Naval Postgraduate School ; Available from National Technical Information Service, 1995. http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ADA300186.

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Luo, Hao. "Costs and benefits of environmental data in investigations of gene-disease associations." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/43080.

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The inclusion of environmental exposure data may be beneficial, in terms of statistical power, to investigation of gene-disease association when it exists. However, resources invested in obtaining exposure data could instead be applied to measure disease status and genotype on more subjects. In a cohort study setting, we consider the tradeoff between measuring only disease status and genotype for a larger study sample and measuring disease status, genotype, and environmental exposure for a smaller study sample, under the ‘Mendelian randomization’ assumption that the environmental exposure is independent of genotype in the study population. We focus on the power of tests for gene-disease association, applied in situations where a gene modifies risk of disease due to particular exposure without a main effect of gene on disease. Our results are equally applicable to exploratory genome-wide association studies and more hypothesis-driven candidate gene investigations. We further consider the impact of misclassification for environmental exposures. We find that under a wide range of circumstances research resources should be allocated to genotyping larger groups of individuals, to achieve a higher power for detecting presence of gene-environment interactions by studying genedisease association.

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Khadka, Mishra Shruti. "Estimation of Externality Costs of Electricity Generation From Coal: An OH-MARKAL Extension." The Ohio State University, 2009. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1259703337.

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Davis, Leisha DeHart. "Environmental permit application costs : the role of red tape, subcontracting, experience and communications." Diss., Georgia Institute of Technology, 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/1853/30769.

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Rahimi, Armaghan. "Three Essays on Research Joint Ventures, Coordination Costs and Environmental R&D." Thesis, Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/34198.

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This dissertation is about research and development (R&D) and formation of research joint ventures (RJV). The first chapter analyzes R&D competition and cooperation regimes with coordination costs under full information sharing and no spillovers in a Stackelberg model. The findings show that profits and R&D incentives of RJV members decrease with coordination costs. R&D cooperation of leaders results in higher profits for insiders and also higher welfare compared with R&D competition. Checking the robustness of the results shows that with R&D spillovers and no information sharing no RJV forms. With convex costs, an RJV containing all leaders forms. The second chapter considers a duopoly Cournot model where production may result in environmental damage. Firms can either invest in process or environmental R&D. In the first case, we assume an exogenous emission tax. With high enough emission tax, welfare is always higher under public R&D than cooperation. Under endogenous emission tax, when the regulator acts before firms’ decision on R&D, with high R&D spillovers, public R&D yields higher welfare than R&D cooperation. When the regulator sets the emission tax after firms’ decision on R&D, welfare under R&D cooperation is higher than public R&D. Comparison of commitment and no commitment also shows that commitment increases private R&D. Chapter three investigates the endogenous formation of coalitions under the size announcement game in a Cournot framework and analyzes the effect of coordination costs on equilibrium and optimal coalitions. When there are industry-wide R&D spillovers numerical simulations show that with high enough coordination costs no RJV forms in equilibrium, which also maximizes welfare. When there is intra coalition full information sharing and no inter-coalitions R&D spillovers with high enough coordination costs, the equilibrium coalition structure is more concentrated than when coordination costs are low and the size is higher than when RJVs could not form endogenously. Also, with high enough coordination costs, the welfare maximizing coalition is less concentrated than the equilibrium one while the opposite is true for low coordination costs.

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Gonzalez, Alaitz. "Machine Tool Utilisation Phase : Costs and Environmental Impacts with a Life Cycle View." Thesis, KTH, Industriell ekologi, 2007. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-32762.

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The main objective of this project is to investigate the costs and environmental impacts generated at the use phase of the machine tools. Machine tools are essential elements for the manufacturing sector. Cost estimation model has been developed based on previous studies. The cost model has 6 main groups: Energy, consumables, resources, waste, space and labour costs parameters. The importance of the use phase in the whole life cycle is underlined. This is related to the high energy consumptions of the machine. Therefore, special attention has been paid to the electricity consumption, developing an accurate model with a life cycle view: Apart from cutting energy, auxiliary machinery and stand-by situations has been defined in this model. The environmental impact analysis has been divided into material, use, disposal and transport categories, with special focus on consumables (cutting fluids, filters, cutting tools and lubricant oil) and energy consumption for the using phase. A LCA analysis in EcoScan software has been carried out with a real example: The FS-8000 milling machine. The analysis has confirmed that impacts related to the high electricity consumption during using phase are the most important burdens with almost 70% of the total impact. This is follow by hazardous oil disposal (13.9%), cutting tools (7.7%) and transport (6.6%). Last, a sensitivity study for environmental impacts has been conducted. The correlations between parameters have revealed that although the impact ranking determined from the EcoScan analysis is appropriate, there are some deviations when parameter variability is taken into account. Therefore, the report suggest conducting a sensitivity study along with the LCA for more precise results.
www.ima.kth.se

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Kubas, Andrew. "Perceived Social, Economic and Environmental Costs/Benefits of a Fargo-Moorhead Diversion Plan." Thesis, North Dakota State University, 2012. https://hdl.handle.net/10365/26839.

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Flooding has long been an issue in the Red River Valley of North Dakota and Minnesota. Recently, leaders in the Fargo-Moorhead metropolitan area called for a permanent solution to the annual flooding woes. This solution took the form of a proposed diversion channel, an extensive ditch designed to divert a portion of the Red River west of the metro in order to lower river levels in the urban core during flooding events. This project seeks to understand how residents in the Fargo-Moorhead community perceive the costs and benefits of the diversion plan when compared to current strategies that are in place. The purpose of the research is to understand how various flood mitigation strategies are perceived by local residents and whether or not positive and negative perceptions are a result of place-based linkages to different parts of the metropolitan area.

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Caers, Brecht. "Conditions for Passenger Aircraft Minimum Fuel Consumption, Direct Operating Costs and Environmental Impact." Master's thesis, Aircraft Design and Systems Group (AERO), Department of Automotive and Aeronautical Engineering, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, 2019. http://d-nb.info/1204494622.

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Purpose - Find optimal flight and design parameters for three objectives: minimum fuel consumption, Direct Operating Costs (DOC), and environmental impact of a passenger jet aircraft. --- Approach - Combining multiple models (this includes aerodynamics, specific fuel consumption, DOC, and equivalent CO2 mass) into one generic model. In this combined model, each objective's importance is determined by a weighting factor. Additionally, the possibility of further optimizing this model by altering an aircraft's wing loading is analyzed. --- Research limitations - Most models use estimating equations based on first principles and statistical data. --- Practical implications - The optimal cruise altitude and speed for a specific objective can be approximated for any passenger jet aircraft. --- Social implications - By using a simple approach, the discussion of optimizing aircraft opens up to a level where everyone can participate. --- Value - To find a general answer on how to optimize aviation, operational and design-wise, by using a simple approach.

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Ben, Fernando. "Modelo econômico de gestão ambiental - MEGA." reponame:Biblioteca Digital de Teses e Dissertações da UFRGS, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10183/12542.

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objetivo deste trabalho é desenvolver um modelo de gestão ambiental que analise os impactos econômicos identificados em empresas, visando preencher uma lacuna evidenciada na gestão empresarial – a falta de integração entre os aspectos econômicos da gestão ambiental. Tal proposta se justifica em função do entendimento dos aspectos ambientais no contexto empresarial ser uma necessidade para a competitividade das empresas nos mais variados segmentos. Entretanto, a compreensão das diversas variáveis que se relacionam com tais questões não é tarefa simples, tampouco realizada com freqüência pelas organizações. Nesse sentido, o presente trabalho apresenta um modelo econômico de gestão ambiental – MEGA. Com base na realização de um diagnóstico inicial, o modelo realiza análises dos custos operacionais ambientais, sua relação com a contabilidade ambiental e com os custos da qualidade ambiental. Para avaliar a relevância dos investimentos nesta área ou das ações desenvolvidas nesse sentido, o modelo utiliza análises mono e multicriteriais, bem como relações de benefício-custo para a avaliação econômica de tais fatores. A definição de indicadores ambientais e de planos de melhoria igualmente é utilizada. O modelo é aplicado em duas empresas do setor moveleiro. Em função de uma das empresas analisadas considerarem as questões ambientais nas decisões organizacionais a mais tempo do que a outra se observa a existência de uma quantidade mais elevada de análises avaliativas, enquanto que na outra empresa as análises foram propositivas. Contudo, destacam-se em ambas as empresas a limitação na base de dados para a utilização no modelo, onde os dados foram obtidos dos vários subsistemas existentes nas mesmas. Essas aplicações práticas do MEGA mostraram diferenças entre ambas no tratamento das questões ambientais, tanto nos aspectos qualitativos como nas análises quantitativas referentes às variáveis econômicas envolvidas nas análises.
The objective of this thesis is to develop an environmental management model that analyzes the economical impacts identified in companies, in order to fill a gap that is shown in management of many organizations – the lack of integration in the economical aspects of environmental management. Such purpose is justified by the understanding that the environmental aspects in the organizational context are a necessity for the competitiveness in companies of several sectors. However, the understanding of several variables that are related to these questions is not a simple task, and is not made frequently by the companies. In this way, the purpose of this study is to present an economical model of environmental management – MEGA. Based on a preliminary diagnosis, the model analyzes the operational environmental costs, their relationship with environmental accountancy and with costs of environmental quality. To evaluate the relevancy of investments in this area or the actions developed with this purpose, the model uses monocriterial and multicriterial analysis, as well as benefit-cost, for the economical evaluation of such factors. The definition of environmental indicators and the improvement plans are also used. The model was applied in two companies of the furniture sector. Since one of the analyzed companies considers the environmental questions in the corporate decisions for a longer time than the other one, it‟s observed the existence of a higher quantity of evaluating analysis, while in the other company the analysis were proposed. However, it appears on both companies the limitation on their database for use in the model, where de data were obtained in several sub-systems existing on them. The practice applications of MEGA showed the differences between both companies regarding the environmental questions, as in the qualitative aspects, as in the quantitative analysis regarding the economical variables covered in the analysis.

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Schofield, Mark L. 1973. "Evaluating the costs and benefits of increased funding for public transportation in Chicago." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/28631.

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Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2004.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 117-119).
(cont.) off-peak ridership, is at or slightly below break-even with respect to net benefits if the CTA cost structure and tax source of subsidy remains unchanged. In order to justify any significant additional long-term funding for the purpose of growing ridership, the CTA should make operational changes to lower its costs and should seek additional funding from sources with lower societal costs.
The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) faces an immediate financial crisis and a long-term struggle to maintain its role as a meaningful transportation provider in Chicago. Political and financial constraints will induce significant ridership losses in the near term unless additional operating funds are made available. Moreover, even if funding for current fares and service levels is maintained, the CTA risks a continuing decline in market share unless additional action is taken. This thesis investigates the costs and benefits of increased funding for the Chicago Transit Authority under various scenarios. First, it examines historical and political factors that have created the current tenuous environment for public transportation in Chicago. Then, it establishes a framework for assessing the potential effects of increased funding. A distinction is emphasized between measures that are internal to the agency, such as cost-effectiveness, and external measures of benefit to riders and the region. A simplified, strategic cost-benefit framework is outlined, focusing on three major benefit categories that drive political decision-making: transit rider mobility (or generalized cost), congestion mitigation, and regional air quality. Examination of the likely near-term effects of the financial crisis shows that additional funding is clearly justified in order to avoid the projected fare increases and ridership losses, even when the costs of public funding are included. However, achieving additional ridership growth through endogenous agency action is more difficult. It could be achieved through fare reductions, but political constraints make such a move unlikely. A straightforward expansion of service, even if targeted at buses and more responsive
by Mark L. Schofield.
S.M.

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Bösch, Christophe E. (Christophe Eric). "Massachusetts Military Reservation Superfund site did costs and benefits matter in remediation decisions?" Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1996. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/41361.

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Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 1996.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 102-106).
by Christopher E. Bösch.
M.Eng.

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Bradley, Donald Albert. "A Method to Relate Product Tolerancing Decisions to Environmental Impacts and Costs in Manufacturing." Thesis, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/1853/11607.

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Product tolerancing decisions made in product design have a significant effect on manufacturing environmental and cost performances by strongly influencing both the selection and operation of processing machinery. These decisions however are typically made without quantitative knowledge of their effects in manufacturing. With estimates of environmental and cost performances of manufacturing processes required to achieve specific part designs earlier in the product design cycle, designers may make more informed, and potentially better, design decisions with respect to manufacturing environmental and cost performance goals. In this thesis a method for quantifiably relating product tolerancing decisions to environmental and cost performances in manufacturing in order to provide decision support for cost and environmentally conscious design for manufacturing is developed. The method is instantiated as an Excel-based tool and exercised by two illustrative examples of increasing complexity, as well as a study of the manufacture of automotive transmission pinion gears with differing tolerance requirements. Uncertainty analysis is performed through the use of @RISK software; the uncertainty of parameters associated with manufacturing operations and machinery is captured through the use of probability density functions and Monte Carlo simulation is performed. Simulation results provide insight into the uncertainty of performance estimates and the risks associated with ensuing decision making. This method may be useful to product designers, as well as process planners, to support decision making efforts related to cost and environmental consciousness in the manufacturing phase of the product life cycle.

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Song, Ying. "Green Accessibility: Estimating the Environmental Costs of Space-time Prisms for Sustainable Transportation Planning." The Ohio State University, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1437344275.

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Steentjes, Katharine. "Speak up for change? : understanding the social costs and benefits of confronting environmental disregard." Thesis, University of Exeter, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10871/15678.

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In the face of stagnation in efforts to tackle the global increase of greenhouse gas emissions, there is a great need to broaden our understanding of normative processes that maintain and change social norms in relation to environmentally (un)sustainable lifestyles. My research aims to address this gap in the literature by examining the normative processes associated with climate change. More specifically I focused on identifying the interpersonal costs and wider benefits (in terms of social change) associated with the interpersonal confrontation of environmental disregard. Firstly, to establish a meaningful point of comparison for subsequent studies, I compared the normative status of environmental disregard and racial prejudice (Studies 1 & 2). I then moved on to examining perceptions and consequences of interpersonal confrontation of environmental disregard over the course of six studies by placing participants in the position of an observer of an interaction in which the confrontation occurred. The results consistently identified high social costs (reduced feelings of closeness and warmth) associated with confronting environmental disregard (but not racism). The costs of confronting environmental disregard were partly determined by the morality of the issue, the appropriateness of the confrontation, the pre-existing attitude of the observer and the justification used by the confronter for their reaction. My studies also tested different strategies to reduce the social costs for the confronter (such as invoking morality in different ways) and also assessed the consequences of confrontation for changes in perceptions of social norms, climate change attitudes and behavioural tendencies amongst those bearing witness. In relation to the consequences for behavioural tendencies resulting from interpersonal confrontation, the findings suggest that confrontation of environmental disregard encourages pro-environmental action tendencies if a scientific justification for the confrontation is provided. The final chapter of the thesis explores the theoretical and practical implications of these findings in relation to engendering processes of social change.

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Pakzad, Shahabi Maedeh. "Desalination water supply planning – Optimisation of environmental impacts and costs using life cycle assessment." Thesis, Pakzad Shahabi, Maedeh (2015) Desalination water supply planning – Optimisation of environmental impacts and costs using life cycle assessment. PhD thesis, Murdoch University, 2015. https://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/29533/.

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Desalination is an integral component of water supply for many cities and regions around the globe. Although, desalination can offer a rainfall independent source of water and provide social benefits, it is energy intensive compared to conventional water sources and can have significant impacts upon the environment. Therefore an interdisciplinary approach is required when planning for water supply by desalination. A life cycle assessment of a desalination supply chain can be integrated into an optimisation framework to simultaneously consider all possible planning alternatives and find the combination of planning decisions that optimizes environmental and economic objectives. This thesis aimed to develop a desalination supply chain optimization life cycle framework to analyze the economic and environmental impacts and trade-offs for alternative planning scenarios. The framework used life cycle assessment and a levelised cost model to quantify and compare the supply chain environmental and economic impacts for a range of planning scenarios. The framework incorporated a mixed integer linear programming model to determine optimal planning decisions such as water capacity expansion of each type of desalination technology over a planning horizon, and optimal locations of new desalination plants while considering interdependencies among water distribution and treatment processes. The framework was tested for future seawater reverse osmosis desalination planning in the northern metropolitan area of Perth, Western Australia over the next 20 years. Results indicated that, a decentralised desalination supply system with small and medium-sized SWRO plants integrated into the Perth metropolitan area could achieve a lower environmental and economic impact, when compared to a centralised supply system with a large desalination plant located far from final demand. Improving seawater quality by introducing beach well intake - a mature intake technology for smaller-sized plants - could further promote the decentralised supply system environmental and economic performance. The capital expenditure contribution to total cost for the treatment facilities in the decentralised supply system was found to be higher than for the centralised supply system. However, this was outweighed by the significant water distribution pipeline construction and operational expenditure savings and also the operational expenditure savings associated with lower chemical and electricity use in the beach well plants. Construction phase contribution to treatment facilities life cycle environmental impact for the decentralised supply system was found to be higher than for the centralised supply system due to diseconomy of scale in smaller-sized plants. However, this was outweighed by significant water distribution pipeline construction and operational environmental impacts savings. Smaller plants with beach well intake benefit from operational environmental impact savings associated with lower chemical and electricity use. Multi-staged construction of successive small plants compared to single-stage construction of a large plant provided better economic outcomes due to lower interest costs. However, multi-staged construction led to higher environmental impacts associated with diseconomy of scale in the plant construction phase. The case study provided numerous insights that were only possible through the use of a life-cycle optimization framework. For example, in desalination planning for a metropolitan area with land scarcity for siting new plants, the factors of supply system configuration, land-use patterns, environmental impacts and economic costs are highly inter-related and decision makers can consider these as a whole rather than considering each separately. The transparency and flexibility of the framework allows professionals from different disciplines to test the scenarios in a quantitative manner, to understand potential planning implications.

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Hester, Joshua C. (Joshua Colón). "Flexibility for improved design : probabilistic quasi-optimization of building life cycle impacts and costs." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/119328.

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Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2018.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references.
In order to design buildings with reduced environmental impacts, it is important to analyze and compare a variety of design alternatives starting at early stages of the design process. This dissertation discusses the development of a probabilistic life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology for single-family residential buildings called the Building Attribute to Impact Algorithm (BAIA), which was created to reduce the amount of time and detail required to conduct LCAs, thus facilitating their use for early design exploration. Within BAIA, the building geometry, systems, occupant behavior, and materials are defined by flexible attributes, with options organized into hierarchies representing different levels of precision or under-specification. Parametric models based on these attributes provide estimates of the material quantities and use-phase energy consumption of the building, and Monte Carlo simulation is used to calculate the variability in predicted impacts and costs resulting from under-specified attributes. Two design guidance methods are explored: sequential specification - in which influential attributes are iteratively identified and specified - and genetic optimization. The latter is found to be more efficient because it identifies solutions with lower impacts and costs while maintaining a higher degree of flexibility in the probabilistic design, as measured by information entropy. In a genetically optimized design, quasi-optimum design solutions with 75% of the optimal reduction of costs and impacts are shown to provide a 40% increase in flexibility over the optimized design. These quasi-optimum solutions are analyzed to identify which attributes are flexible vs. critical (having quasi-optimum ranges that are greater than or less than half of their initial under-specified ranges, respectively). Twelve cases are studied representing different locations, analysis periods, uncertainty in energy-related impacts, and weightings of costs vs. impacts in the optimization objective. Of the geometrical attributes, the building aspect ratio and window-to-wall ratios are critical, while seven others (including orientation, number of stories, and window overhangs) are flexible in all cases. Most occupant-related attributes (including window shading and natural ventilation) are also flexible in all cases. Among the systems-related attributes, the mini-split heat pump efficiency, air leakage, and ratio of LED lighting fixtures are critical in most or all cases.
by Joshua C. Hester.
Ph. D.

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Segatto, Sara Schafer. "MODELO DE CUSTOS AMBIENTAIS APLICADO À GESTÃO E DESTINAÇÃO DE RESÍDUOS." Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, 2012. http://repositorio.ufsm.br/handle/1/8234.

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Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior
Environmental issues have been widely discussed in the contemporary world and particularly in the business community. But how to measure the costs related to the environment is still an issue with some indefinitions and controversy. The informational needs of managers are focused on the choice of proposals that provide qualitative data about the problems, combined with quantitative data. Some authors have created models to measure these costs, however, they have not widely accepted because they are not comprehensive or because they have little explanatory calculation methodology. On this basis, the aim of this work was proposed a model of environmental costs. For this purpose, it was analyzed the main existing models, developed the Model of Environmental Costs Applied to the Destination of Waste using tools such as GUT and Material Balance, aimed at determining the most critical routes and, after, applied in the sector of Hygiene and Cleaning Services (SHL), University Hospital of Santa Maria (HUSM). For this, the methodology used was applied research, with qualitative approach, exploratory as to the aims and field research to validate. The application of the proposed model to the sector showed that initially there are at least twenty-four alternatives to analyze the costs, however, after application of the model, it was obtained only three alternatives for study. This significant decrease in the number of alternatives resulted in cost savings for both the analysis of every possible treatment of waste and for the costs associated with technological studies to enable each alternative identified. The proposed model when compared to existing, proved to be more dynamic and easy to use, besides to help in the identification of environmental impacts caused by products.
As questões ambientais vêm sendo amplamente discutidas no mundo contemporâneo e, particularmente, no meio empresarial. Porém, como mensurar os custos relacionados ao meio ambiente ainda é uma questão com algumas indefinições e controvérsias. As necessidades informacionais dos gestores estão centradas na escolha de propostas que forneçam dados qualitativos sobre os problemas, aliados a dados quantitativos. Alguns autores criaram modelos para medir esses custos, no entanto, não obtiveram ampla aceitação por não serem abrangentes ou por apresentarem metodologia de cálculo pouco explicativa. Com base nisso, o objetivo desse trabalho foi propor um modelo de custos ambientais. Para tal finalidade, foram analisados os principais modelos já existentes, desenvolvido o Modelo de Custos Ambientais Aplicado à Gestão e Destinação de Resíduos utilizando ferramentas como o GUT e o Balanço de Materiais, visando a determinação das rotas mais críticas e, após, validado junto ao setor de Serviço de Higiene e Limpeza (SHL) do Hospital Universitário de Santa Maria (HUSM). Para isto, a metodologia utilizada foi pesquisa aplicada, com abordagem qualitativa, exploratória quanto aos objetivos e pesquisa de campo para a validação. A aplicação do modelo proposto ao setor demonstrou que inicialmente existem, pelo menos, vinte e quatro alternativas para analisar os custos, entretanto, após a aplicação do modelo, resultaram em somente três alternativas para estudo. Esta diminuição significativa no número de alternativas implicou em redução de custos tanto para a análise de cada possibilidade de tratamento dos resíduos como para os custos associados a estudos tecnológicos para viabilizar cada alternativa identificada. O modelo proposto, quando comparado aos existentes, mostrou ser mais dinâmico e de fácil aplicação, além de auxiliar na identificação dos impactos ambientais causados pelos produtos.

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Icyk, Bryan. "At What Cost? A comparative evaluation of the social costs of selected electricity generation alternatives in Ontario." Thesis, University of Waterloo, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/10012/2899.

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This thesis examines the private and external costs of electricity generated in Ontario by natural gas, wind, refurbished nuclear and new nuclear power. The purpose of the assessment is to determine a capacity expansion plan that meets the forecasted electricity supply gap in Ontario at the lowest social costs (i. e. the lowest aggregated private and external costs). A levelized unit electricity cost (LUEC) analysis is employed to evaluate private costs under both public and merchant perspectives. Computable external costs are monetized by adapting estimates from the literature that were previously developed using a primarily bottom-up damage cost method.

The findings reveal that social cost estimates for nuclear refurbishment are the lowest of the generation alternatives studied regardless of the evaluation perspective. Therefore, if the capacity expansion decision were based solely on these estimates, nuclear refurbishment should be utilized until its capacity constraints are reached. The generation alternative with the second lowest social costs depends on the perspective from which private costs are evaluated: from a public perspective, the remainder of the supply gap should be filled by new nuclear generation and from a merchant perspective, which is assumed to be more reflective of the current Ontario electricity market, natural gas-fired generation should be used.

Due to inherent uncertainty and limitations associated with the estimation of social costs, the estimates obtained in this thesis are considered to be context and data specific. A sensitivity analysis, which is employed to attempt to mitigate some of the uncertainty, shows that changes to key variables alter the capacity expansion plan. This reinforces the observation that methods and assumptions significantly affect social cost estimates.

Despite the limitations of this kind of evaluation, it is argued that a social cost assessment that is consistent, transparent and comprehensive can be a useful tool to assess the trade-offs of electricity generation alternatives if used along with existing evaluation criteria. Such an assessment can increase the likelihood that actual social costs are minimized, which can steer electricity generation in Ontario towards a system that is more efficient and sustainable.

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Michel, Alyona. "Airline alliance revenue management : improving joint revenues through partner sharing of flight leg opportunity costs." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/78147.

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Thesis (S.M. in Transportation)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2012.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 125-128).
Airlines participating in alliances offer code share itineraries (with flight segments operated by different partners) to expand the range of origin-destination combinations offered to passengers, thus increasing market share at little cost. The presence of code share flights presents a problem for airline revenue management (RM) systems, which aim to maximize revenues in an airline's network by determining which booking requests are accepted. Because partners do not jointly optimize revenues on code share flights, alliance revenue gains from implementing advanced RM methods may be lower than an individual airline's gains. This thesis examines seat availability control methods that alliance partners can adopt to improve the total revenues of the alliance without formally merging. Partners share information about the opportunity costs to their network, called "bid prices", of selling a seat on their own flight leg, a mechanism termed bid price sharing (BPS). Results show that BPS methods often improve revenues and work best for networks with certain characteristics and partners with similar RM systems that exchange recently calculated bid prices as often as possible. Gains are typically only achieved if both alliance partners participate in the code share availability decision (called dual control) rather than one partner only, but implementation of dual control is more difficult for airlines in practice. In the best case scenario, gains of up to .40% where achieved, which can translate into $120 million per year for the largest airlines. In our simulations, BPS with dual control and frequent bid price calculation and exchange was the only method that produced consistently positive revenue gains in all the scenarios tested. Therefore, alliance airlines must consider the trade off between revenue gains and implementation difficulties of more frequent bid price exchange or dual control.
by Alyona Michel.
S.M.in Transportation

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McKinney, Steven B. "Substitute costs a method for determining ecological service values in stormwater management /." Birmingham, Ala. : University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2009. https://www.mhsl.uab.edu/dt/2009p/mckinney.pdf.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2009.
Additional advisors: Robert Angus, Paul D. Blanchard, Sarah Culver, Alan Shih. Description based on contents viewed June 3, 2009; title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 48-51).

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Drobe, Marc Oliver. "The social costs and benefits of organic farming valuing environmental benefits using experimental choice analysis." Thesis, University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, 2000. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.323705.

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Merriam, Ken (Ken A. ). "Reducing total fulfillment at costs at Amazon EU through network design optimization." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/39288.

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Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering; and, (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; in conjunction with the Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT, 2007.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 73-74).
A key supply chain management issue encountered by any business requiring a distribution system is in designing its distribution network. A distribution network configuration has both direct and indirect ongoing effects on how a firm operates influencing everything from supplier relationships and contracts to customer interface. A configuration affects both day-to-day operational and longer range strategic and tactical decision-making. From a pure cost perspective, a configuration has a significant impact on total fulfillment costs. The effects of network configuration as well as the challenges and value behind the application of network design optimization techniques are well-illustrated by my 6-month experience working for the largest online retail distributor, Amazon.com, in their European (EU) operations. This paper further documents the process followed in identifying areas for improvement in Amazon's current EU fulfillment networks for the purpose of enabling total fulfillment cost reduction. The challenges and results from my experience are similarly included.
(cont.) Two main projects were ultimately selected and documented in this paper: The first was aimed at minimizing transportation costs around the existing UK network configuration, while the second was targeted at minimizing total fulfillment costs through the alteration of EU network designs through the focused adjustment of product and inventory distributions. The first project has to date enabled significant minimization of UK transportation costs. The second project dealt with two complicated mathematical formulations ultimately intended for optimization, one of which is not yet covered in literature. In this case, further research and investigation is required for its practical implementation; nonetheless, the developed formulation was applied to a simplified scenario for the purpose of future study including validation and extension. The ultimate objective of this paper however is to demonstrate the hidden potential and value behind the application of underutilized analytical techniques to network design through the tailored development and implementation of practical decision-support systems.
by Ken Merriam.
M.B.A.
S.M.

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Kayser, Susan A. "The costs of corporate social responsibility and the role of civil society pressure." Thesis, Indiana University, 2014. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3645007.

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Having a reputation for being socially responsible is increasingly important to firm managers. To bolster their reputation, many firms have begun adopting corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. The existing literature has primarily addressed the benefits of engaging in CSR initiatives, but has largely ignored the costs. This dissertation empirically explores the various costs of engaging in CSR and the critical role that civil society plays in creating those costs.

The first study, co-authored with Michael Toffel and John Maxwell, focuses on the non-market costs associated with adopting a CSR initiative. To manage reputational risks associated with supply chains, buyers are increasingly seeking information about their suppliers' labor and environmental performance. We hypothesize particular circumstances in which buyers can screen suppliers that have representative disclosures based on their participation in the Global Compact, which requires a public commitment and a public report. We find that the threat of scrutiny from civil society can deter firms with misrepresentative disclosures from participating.

In the second study, I examine the market response to the apparel industry after the collapse of Rana Plaza. CSR initiatives have been found to help firms preserve firm-value after a negative social or environmental event occurs. However, CSR initiatives may also signal to investors that the firm will respond by self-regulating to help repair the industry's aggregate reputation. I find that firms with CSR initiatives are harmed more so than those without initiatives after the collapse and that this is driven by pressure from civil society, but mitigated when firms can "cash in" on their investments.

In the third study, I analyze whether a company's symbolic policy to protecting the environment will lead to the adoption of a substantive CSR initiative, specifically an environmental management system (EMS). I find that firms with symbolic policies will be especially likely to adopt an EMS when the firm is subject to strong pressures from civil society. I also find that firms with symbolic policies are less likely to adopt an EMS when they face stronger peer pressure, suggesting that firms may use their symbolic policy as a substitute for a more substantive program.

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Whitten, Stuart Max Business Australian Defence Force Academy UNSW. "Provision of environmental goods on private land: a case study of Australian wetlands." Awarded by:University of New South Wales - Australian Defence Force Academy. School of Business, 2003. http://handle.unsw.edu.au/1959.4/38661.

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The management of natural resources located on private lands often involves a perceived conflict between the mix of private and public benefit outputs they produce. Governments have tended to respond through legislation to restrict and redirect private decisions about resource management. However, the legislative response faces a lack of information about the costs and benefits of alternative management and policy instruments. A pertinent example of this debate is the management of wetlands on private lands. The goal in this thesis is to advance the design of policy relating to the production of environmental outputs on private lands. This goal is achieved by first estimating the welfare impacts of alternative private land management strategies on the wider community. These estimates are used as inputs into the development of alternative policy instruments that are then evaluated in terms of their potential cost-effectiveness in influencing private management. Two case studies of wetland management on private land in Australia are presented ??? the Upper South East Region of South Australia, and, the Murrumbidgee River Floodplain in New South Wales. The conceptual approach described in the first part of the thesis includes a description of the resource management problem and the strengths and weaknesses of the alternative decision frameworks widely employed in Australia. Identification of the cause and nature of transaction costs in the management process is the focus in this discussion. The welfare impacts of alternative wetland management strategies are investigated through the construction of a bio-economic model for each of the case study areas. The approach integrates biophysical analysis of changing wetland management with the value society places on wetlands. Outputs from this process are used in the development of a range of policy instruments directed towards influencing wetland management. The impact of poorly quantified and uncertain transaction costs on the potential cost-effectiveness of these options is evaluated using threshold policy analysis. The empirical results show that the perception of a conflict between the private and public values generated by resource management is accurate. For example, scenarios changing wetland management in the Upper South East of South Australia on the Murrumbidgee River floodplain in New South Wales were shown to generate net benefits of $5.2m and $5.1m respectively. Hence, changing wetland management could generate increased community welfare. The potential for these findings to be translated into wetland policy is less conclusive. Policies directed towards wetland management (in part or in whole) incur a range of transaction costs and deliver differential wetland protection benefits. Ten ???best bet??? policies are identified, but more information is required to determine conclusively whether a net benefit results to the wider community when transaction costs are included.

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Костюченко, Надія Миколаївна, Надежда Николаевна Костюченко, Nadiia Mykolaivna Kostiuchenko, Денис Олегович Смоленніков, Денис Олегович Смоленников, and Denys Olehovych Smolennikov. "Corporate environmental responsibility as a new concept towards sustainable development." Thesis, Sumy State University, 2014. http://essuir.sumdu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/36166.

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Environmental problems are often seen as unregulated negative externalities. In this case, environmental costs are considered as external, arising from economic activity, and these costs are generally not reflected in market prices. On the way towards sustainable development significant changes in economic and social life are needed in terms of reducing the negative impact on the environment. In this case environmental aspects of business are also under consideration (including voluntary development and implementation of environmental programs by the companies). When you are citing the document, use the following link http://essuir.sumdu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/36166

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Stanislaw, Andrew C. "A cost benefit analysis for the bicycle as a transportation alternative." Virtual Press, 1996. http://liblink.bsu.edu/uhtbin/catkey/1020173.

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Cost benefit analysis is the conventional method of evaluating automobile transportation improvements. This study examined traditional automobile evaluation methods and applied the same techniques to bicycle transportation projects. Cost data from recent research is summarized and eleven costs (five internal and six external) were estimated. The cost estimates are used to calculate automobile and bicycle costs per mile of travel. A case study of a hypothetical corridor is used to demonstrate how the transportation costs can be applied to specific planning problems. The case study explores what effect shifts in modal distribution would have on the cost effectiveness of automobile and bicycle alternatives. The findings of the study begin to question the underlying premises of traditional cost benefit analysis in transportation projects. The study suggests that conventional analysis is fundamentally flawed and biased toward automobile transportation.
Department of Urban Planning

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Moore, Chela Kirpal. "El arado : breaking ground for payment for environmental services based on opportunity costs of conservation in Ecuador /." Ohio : Ohio University, 2004. http://www.ohiolink.edu/etd/view.cgi?ohiou1090935858.

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Craig, Michael T. "Economic and Environmental Costs, Benefits, and Trade-offs of Low-carbon Technologies in the Electric Power Sector." Research Showcase @ CMU, 2017. http://repository.cmu.edu/dissertations/1099.

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Motivated by the role of decarbonizing the electric power sector to mitigate climate change, I assess the economic and environmental merits of three key technologies for decarbonizing the electric power sector across four chapters in this thesis. These chapters explore how adding flexibility to power plants equipped with carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) affects system costs and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, how grid-scale electricity storage affects system CO2 emissions as a power system decarbonizes, and how distributed solar photovoltaic (distributed PV) electricity generation suppresses wholesale electricity prices. In each chapter, I address these questions through a combination of power system optimization, statistics, and techno-economic analysis, and tie my findings to policy implications. In Chapter 2, I compare the cost-effectiveness of “flexible” CCS retrofits to other compliance strategies with the U.S. Clean Power Plan (CPP) and a hypothetical stronger CPP. Relative to “normal” CCS, “flexible” CCS retrofits include solvent storage that allows the generator to temporarily eliminate the CCS parasitic load and increase the generator’s net efficiency, capacity, and ramp rate. Using a unit commitment and economic dispatch (UCED) model, I find that flexible CCS achieves more cost-effective emissions reductions than normal CCS under the CPP and stronger CPP, but that flexible CCS is less cost-effective than other compliance strategies under both reduction targets. In Chapter 3, I conduct a detailed comparison of how flexible versus normal CCS retrofits affect total system costs and CO2 emissions under a moderate and strong CO2 emission limit. Given that a key benefit of flexible CCS relative to normal CCS is increased reserve provision, I break total system costs into generation, reserve, and CCS capital costs. Using a UCED model, I find that flexible CCS retrofits reduce total system costs relative to normal CCS retrofits under both emission limits. Furthermore, 40-80% of these cost reductions come from reserve cost reductions. Accounting for costs and CO2 emissions, though, flexible CCS poses a trade-off to policymakers under the moderate emission limit, as flexible CCS increases system CO2 emissions relative to normal CCS. No such trade-off exists under the stronger emission limit, as flexible CCS reduces system CO2 emissions and costs relative to normal CCS. In Chapter 4, I quantify how storage affects operational CO2 emissions as a power system decarbonizes under a moderate and strong CO2 emission limit through 2045. In so doing, I aim to better understand how storage transitions from increasing CO2 emissions in historic U.S. systems to enabling deeply decarbonized systems. Additionally, under each target I compare how storage affects CO2 emissions when participating in only energy, only reserve, and energy and reserve markets. Using a capacity expansion (CE) model to forecast fleet changes through 2045 and a UCED model to quantify how storage affects system CO2 emissions, I find that storage quickly transitions from increasing to decreasing CO2 emissions under the moderate and strong emission limits. Whether storage provides only energy, only reserves, or energy and reserves drives large differences in the magnitude, but not the direction, of the effect of storage on CO2 emissions. In Chapter 5, I quantify a benefit of distributed photovoltaic (PV) generation often overlooked by value of solar studies, namely the market price response. By displacing high-cost marginal generators, distributed PV generation reduces wholesale electricity prices, which in turn reduces utilities’ energy procurement costs. Using 2013 through 2015 data from California including a database of all distributed PV systems in the three California investor owned utilities, we estimate historic hourly distributed PV generation in California, then link that generation to reduced wholesale electricity prices via linear regression. From 2013 through 2015, we find that distributed PV suppressed historic median hourly LMPs by up to $2.7-3.1/MWh, yielding avoided costs of up to $650-730 million. These avoided costs are smaller than but on the order of other avoided costs commonly included in value of solar studies, so merit inclusion in future studies to properly value distributed PV.

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Aboagye-Antwi, Fred. "Environmental stress and the fitness costs of plasmodium falciparum infection in the malaria mosquito anophele gambiae s.s." Thesis, Keele University, 2010. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.530781.

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Jamasb, Tooraj. "Welfare economic implications of energy-environmental costs and policies : the case of the Norwegian electric power sector." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2001. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.621042.

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Rodovalho, Edmo da Cunha. "An innovative approach for controlling operational parameters in open pit mining to reduce costs and environmental impacts." Universidade de São Paulo, 2016. http://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/3/3134/tde-18012017-151352/.

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The main current challenges of the mining industry include aspects such leveraging the mine productivity, controlling costs and reducing environmental impacts. In most surface mining operations, overburden removal requires haulage over short distances. A comparison of different haulage options for short distances with respect to energy efficiency in open-pit mining is a key aspect for decision making, but only a limited number of recent research efforts have considered energy efficiency as a control variable in mining projects. Loading and haulage have an energy source that is highly dependent on fossil fuels. In addition, the equipment involved in these operations use tyres as an important input. There are many studies relating the fuel consumption and tyre wear to several performance indicators, but a methodology that identifies and prioritizes higher-impact variables under each specific operating condition is not available. This research proposes new methods using alternative equipment simulations for fuel consumption and tyre wear management. Such methods include multiple regression analysis, stochastic simulation and specialized software routines in order to identify and control operational performance variables related to diesel consumption, tyre wear and selection of new alternatives equipments. Considering alternative scenarios of equipment models, the results of the proposed method include a 14% reduction in specific fuel consumption and a 16% increase in productivity. Regarding the fuel management method, the reduction of diesel consumption reached 10%. For the tyre wear management method, the results indicated a potential to save up to 8.9 t of tyre rubber in only one quarter.
Na atualidade, a indústria de mineração possui como principal desafio alavancar sua produtividade, controlar custos e reduzir impactos ambientais. Muitas operações de mineração exigem transporte em pequenas distâncias. A comparação de diferentes opções de transporte em distâncias curtas considerando a eficiência energética é uma necessidade de operações de lavra a céu aberto, mas existem poucos estudos recentes que priorizam esta variável em projetos de mineração. As operações de carga e transporte são amplamente dependentes de combustíveis fósseis. Essas operações também necessitam de pneus como um importante insumo. Existem alguns trabalhos que relacionam o consumo de combustíveis e o desgaste dos pneus a variáveis operacionais, mas uma metodologia que identifique as variáveis de maior impacto frente a condições específicas ainda não está disponível. O presente trabalho fornece novos métodos de simulação para equipamentos alternativos, consumo de combustíveis e gestão do desgaste de pneus. Análises de regressão linear múltipla, simulações e ferramentas de desenho de mina permitem identificar e controlar variáveis ligadas ao consumo de combustíveis, desgaste de pneus e seleção de equipamentos. Os estudos envolvendo equipamentos alternativos alcançaram uma redução de 14% no consumo de diesel e um aumento de 16% na produtividade. Com relação às técnicas de gestão do consumo de combustível aplicada aos caminhões observou-se uma redução de 10%. Considerando o sistema de gestão de desgaste de pneus, a aplicação do método proposto possui um potencial de evitar o descarte de 8,9 t de borracha para pneus em apenas um trimestre.

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Townsend, Rita Evelyn. "Leadership Strategies for Reducing Operational Costs in Waste Management Businesses in Liberia." ScholarWorks, 2019. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/6746.

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Waste is a global composite of organic and inorganic derivatives from human activities. Municipal solid waste consists primarily of plastics from households and e-wastes, creating opportunities for waste management businesses. The purpose of this study was to explore leadership strategies for reducing operational costs in waste management businesses in Liberia. In this multiple case study, 6 business leaders from 6 waste management businesses in Liberia were recruited as participants. The conceptual framework guiding the study was the transformational leadership theory. Each business leader responded to open-ended questions in a semistructured interview. Data were analyzed by iteratively searching recurrent codes to elicit themes. Themes that emerged included education and training for customers and staff, as well as efficiency and effectiveness for value creation from waste. Based on the findings of this study, waste management business leaders might contribute to social change by employing marginalized population segments in local communities. The marginalized segments in communities could be empowered to communicate waste management messages about recycling, supplementing their skills and messages using waste management technological innovations. The results from this study might provide insight into how waste management leaders might use innovative solutions to reuse, recycle, and re-engineer wastes. The results from this study might help waste management business leaders envision opportunities for improvement on waste-to-energy products and services in the lives of customers and employees.

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Lago, Aresti Manuel. "Investigation of regulatory efficiency with reference to the EU Water Framework Directive : an application to Scottish agriculture." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/3941.

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The Water Framework Directive (WFD) has the stated objective of delivering good status (GS) for Europe’s surface waters and groundwaters. But meeting GS is cost dependent, and in some water bodies pollution abatement costs may be high or judged as disproportionate. The definition and assessment of disproportionate costs is central for the justification of time-frame derogations and/or lowering the environmental objectives (standards) for compliance at a water body. European official guidance is discretionary about the interpretation of disproportionate costs which consequently can be interpreted and applied differently across Member States. The aim of this research is to clarify the definition of disproportionality and to convey a consistent interpretation that is fully compliant with the economic requirements of the Directive, whilst also being mindful of the principles of pollution control and welfare economics theory. On this basis, standard-setting derogations should aim to reach socially optimal decisions and be judged with reference to a combination of explicit cost and benefit curves – an application of Cost-Benefits Analysis - and financial affordability tests. Arguably, these tools should be more influential in the development of derogation decisions across member states, including Scotland. The WFD is expected to have extensive effects on Scottish agriculture, which is faced with the challenge of maintaining its competitiveness, while protecting water resources. Focusing the analysis on the socio-economic impacts of achieving water diffuse pollution targets for the sector, a series of independent tests for the assessment of disproportionate costs are proposed and evaluated. These are: i) development of abatement cost curves for agricultural Phosphorus (P) mitigation options for different farm systems; ii) a financial characterisation of farming in Scotland and impact on profits of achieving different P loads reductions at farm level are investigated in order to explore issues on "affordability" and "ability to pay" by the sector; and iii) an investigation of benefits assessment using discrete choice modelling to explore public preferences for pollution control and measure non-market benefits of WFD water quality improvements in Scotland. Results from these tests provide benchmarks for the definition of disproportionate costs and are relevant to other aspects of the economic analysis of water use in Scotland. This study helps to clarify the nature of agricultural water use and how it leads to social tradeoffs with other non agricultural users. Ultimately, this perspective adds to the debate of how and where water is best employed to maximize its value to society.

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Forslind, Maja. "Finding the Dollar Language : Drivers and rationales for monetising corporate environmental and social impacts– practices in counting the true value of business operation from ecosystem services perspective." Thesis, Stockholms universitet, Stockholm Resilience Centre, 2012. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-85855.

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The thesis explores how monetisation of corporate externalities, can be carried out in order to provide investors, policy makers and consumers with accurate pictures of the true costs and benefits of business operations from a resilience and ecosystem services perspective. By drawing conclusions from company cases, and previous research – methods, drivers and monetary values of impacts such as carbon dioxide, water usage, pollutants and land use are analysed. The findings reflect opportunities that open up with monetisation, in terms of tools for guidance and support in internal corporate decision making, by making the actual impacts visualised and understandable. Findings from company cases, show that monetisation of corporate effects has potential to contribute to visualising impacts – and add knowledge that may close information gaps internally as well as externally. It can guide and facilitate strategic choices at corporate level. It may also have a role in bridging information asymmetries in the picture of a firm’s operation, to consumers and investors. Monetising effects may facilitate identification of risks arising from ecosystem services dependencies, visualising the actual impacts by, assed costs in losses in ecosystems’ production (yields e.g.) caused by corporate harm.Providing relevant information to policy makers, on obstacles and where regulative incentives are needed, and investors and consumers with guidance, monetisation of impacts potentially can play a part in bridging market information gaps toward better incentive structures and possibly facilitating effective market transformation in favor of sustainable production and consumption patterns.

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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Environmental costs'

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