Measurement of environmental and energy economics presents an analytical foundation for environmental decision making and policy analysis. Applications of data envelopment analysis (DEA) models in ...the assessment of environmental and energy economics are increasing notably. The main objective of this review paper is to provide the comprehensive overview of the application of DEA models in the fields of environmental and energy economics. In this regard, a total 145 articles published in the high-quality international journals extracted from two important databases (Web of Science and Scopus) were selected for review. The 145 selected articles are reviewed and classified based on different criteria including author(s), application scheme, different DEA models, application fields, the name of journals and year of publication. This review article provided insights into the methodological and conceptualization study in the application of DEA models in the environmental and energy economics fields. This study should enable scholars and practitioners to understand the state of art of input and output indicators of DEA in the fields of environmental and energy economics.
•Persian gardens could be considered s SPP due to their historical, natural, functional and emotional aspects as well as their popularity, diversity, distinctiveness by providing comfortable, ...attractive areas that are safe and secure for residents.
Public open spaces today are considered important urban environmental elements that offer a positive contribution to quality of life. They are vital ingredients of successful cities that can help to build a sense of community, civic identity and culture, and facilitate social capital, economic development and community revitalization. Accordingly, the perceived values and qualities of successful public places are acknowledged as crucial. Efforts have been made to evaluate public space conditions (i.e., physical, spatial, visual, social, functional, and etc.) for users and a series of indicators – physical–environmental qualities (i.e., scenic beauty, seating, lighting, paths, amenities, etc.) and subjective qualities (i.e., being comfortable, passive and active engagement, and etc.) – have been demonstrated. Using the case of historical Persian gardens, this paper examines how and why these gardens as the first examples of Iranian green spaces are still being actively used by contemporary urban dwellers. Accordingly, the research investigated the popularity, diversity, distinctiveness, attractiveness and comfort of the gardens as success indicators through applying mixed method approaches. Obtained results suggested that historical Persian gardens could be categorized as successful public places due to their historical, natural, functional (social and recreational) and emotional related aspects. The results have direct implications for urban planners and policy makers, landscape architects and environmental designers and provide guidance for planning, improving and designing successful public places.
A green building material (GBM) is an ecological, health-promoting, recycled, or high-performance building material that impacts the material selection to cover all three pillars (3Ps) of ...sustainability. The absence of clear instructions for GBMs and the difficulty of precision adjustments of GBM criteria with 3Ps sustainability make GBM selection a challenge. In addition, the consideration of all sustainability factors in GBM selection is a multi-criteria decision problem that requires mathematical techniques such as the multi criteria decision making (MCDM) method.
This study applies a hybrid MCDM methodology to resolve multiple incompatible and conflicting GBM criteria to align with 3Ps sustainability. The Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) was used to analyze the efficacy of and interrelationship between GBM criteria. This tool is a hybrid model using fuzzy analytic network process (FANP) for aligning and ranking GBM criteria based on 3Ps sustainability. Additionally, the study inspects four groups of professionals in Malaysia who involved in GBM selection and modified one of the oldest GBM criteria models considering the criteria identified from a comprehensive literature review. The results show that the relationship between GBMs and sustainability criteria are different based on the separate 3Ps of sustainability. The evaluation and results provide a valuable reference for building professionals to enhance sustainable construction through green materials.
•The polyhydroxybutyrate is targeted as matrix for green composite.•The mechanical test of KBFw/EFB hybrid reinforced PHB biocomposite with 11 layers is determined that it has capability to replace ...with some wood and woody production.
Green or Biocomposite materials encompass biopolymers and natural fibers (NFs) from renewable resources, which is helped to eliminate non-renewable waste, reduce raw material usage, and lessen greenhouse gas emissions. This paper aimed to assess and develop specific biocomposite in terms of mechanical properties, which prepared by lamination and compression molding method. The woven kenaf bast fibre (KBFw) is deliberated as reinforcement in this study due to the high tensile strength which was hybridized with oil palm empty fruit bunches (EFB) due to high toughness of EFB for covering the impact properties of biocomposite. The polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) is a common biodegradable polymer that is targeted as matrix for green composite. The triethyl citrate (TEC) was chosen as plasticizer for improving flexibility and handling of PHB films. The scanning electron microscope was used to understand and investigate the tensile-fractured surface of different hybrid biocomposite. The results show that the tensile and flexural properties would be increase when NFs with higher tensile strength was used as skin fibre in term of hybrid composite. Conclusively, the flexural stiffness of biocomposite increase when the KBFw PHB biocomposite is hybrid with FEB reinforcement. The tensile and flexural test of KBFw/EFB hybrid reinforced PHB biocomposite with 11 layers (sample E) is determined that sample E has capability to replace with some wood and woody production.
Relentless environmental concerns, steep hike in fossil fuel price, and increasing demand of non-renewable fossil fuels consumption have dramatically increased global search for alternative energies. ...The world requests ever growing energy supplies to sustain economic development and improvement. Renewable and sustainable energy ever more becoming accepted and established a decisive place in energy system of the word due to ecologicallyresponsiveinsight and a decrease in equipment expenses. Consistent with its endowment of energy resources, each country tried to figure out its own energy portfolio and employing technologies, which are economically viable and socially equitable, and have minimal adverse impacts. This article attempts to review all possible renewable energy sources as a substitute of the current energy profile (coal, natural gas, and petroleum) in Afghanistan. The study found Afghanistan power sector as one of the least development sector which its inadequate status is preventing the development of the country as well. Eventhough, the energy is not the only panacea, but cost effective energies in abundant quantity and quality on sustainable foundation will help to reach to demand socio-economic development. The results indicate that Afghanistan due to its natural and geographical situations enjoys important prospective for renewable energy bases such as solar, wind, geothermal and micro hydro power. Renewable energies could offer the ultimate solution for Afghanistan in general, and rural areas in actual. But, switch to altered forms of energy is grounded in multifaceted interations. The study indicates number of issues such as great upfront charges, absence of providers, insufficient funding appliances, and feebleindorsed and methodologicalcapability overwhelm and affected the use of renewable energies and technologies in Afghanistan. However, with sufficient investment and practical stages by government, andnongovernment agencies and the public encourage, these unbound sources could play a vital role not only in Afghanistan's energy supply, but also in poverty reduction, social and political stability, and improving living standard.
Aligning the sustainability in construction process can be achieved through material selection process with low impact on environment and human health. Today, biocomposite materials are investigated ...and developed to replace with none, and less eco-friendly materials used in the construction industry leading to emergence of next generation of sustainable and green building materials. This paper aims to develop a model of fully hybrid bio-based biocomposite based on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), and comparing it with fully petroleum-based composite, which are common conventional building materials. The methodology framework of this research is determined based on ISO 14040 and 14044. Also, the ReCiPe as the common method in SimaPro software is chosen for appraising and comparing LC impact assessment (LCIA). This research highlights the negative effect of these kinds of building materials with providing single scores coming from three gauges including Human Health, Ecosystems and resources. It is observed that substituting the biocomposite with the fully petroleum-based composite has led to a decline of about 30% in single score outcome. The significance of this research is related to important judgement information to policy makers and the prospective manufacturers in the commercialization phase of this new biocomposites as sustainable and green building materials.
•Substitute biocomposite with the common petroleum-based composite is proposed.•This substitution declines near 30% in Human Health, Ecosystems, and resources.•Biocomposite as next generation of sustainable & green building materials could be Considered.
The construction industry (CI) is one of the most hazardous where the specific behaviours of different stakeholders can be contrary to the conditions and safety behaviours in the construction ...process. Understanding the nature of this kind of uncertainty can reduce the level of inconsistency that reinforces the safety management system in CI. The purpose of this paper is to present an interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy-improved score function and weighted divergence based approximation (IVIF-ISF-WDBA) approach for ranking main stakeholders with clear duties that can influence workers' unsafe behaviours as well as risk reduction in final decisions. In this method, a score matrix is compiled based on improved score performance and IVIF decision matrix, and then a linear programming model is developed to determine the weight of unknown criteria. In addition, a divergence measure has been developed to find out the degree of performance of the alternatives. Next, we perform comparative and sensitivity analyses with different proposed methods and different weight criteria sets to determine the stability of the developed approach. The results indicated that the most effective safety factors (ESFs) are safety climate factor3 (SCF3) (safety management rules and regulations) at 45%, and safety perceptual factor2 (SPF2) (workers' preferences and behaviours related to safety category) at 25%. The LP-model ranked client, designer, construction manager, and contractor as the authoritative bodies that should carry out extensive inspections of ESFs, namely, SCFs, SPFs, and workplace condition factors (WCFs) in the preconstruction phase. However, these priorities can change during the construction phase among the contractor, construction manager, supervisor, client, and designer. This study concluded that workers' unsafe behaviours could be linked to stakeholder duties in complex and dynamic conditions of the CI.
Conventional building materials (CBMs) made from non-renewable resources are the main source of indoor air contaminants, whose impact can extend from indoors to outdoors. Given their sustainable ...development (SD) prospect, green building materials (GBMs) with non-toxic, natural, and organic compounds have the potential to reduce their overall impacts on environmental and human health. In this regard, biocomposites as GBMs are environmentally friendly, safe, and recyclable materials and their replacement of CBMs reduces environmental impacts and human health concerns. This study aims to develop a model of fully hybrid bio-based biocomposite as non-structural GBMs and compare it with fully petroleum-based composite in terms of volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions and human health impacts. Using a small chamber test (American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM)-D5116) for VOC investigation and SimaPro software modeling with the ReCiPe method for evaluating human health impacts. Life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology is used, and the results indicate that switching the fully hybrid bio-based biocomposite with the fully petroleum-based composite could reduce more than 50% impacts on human health in terms of indoor and outdoor. Our results indicate that the usage of biocomposite as GBMs can be an environmentally friendly solution for reducing the total indoor and outdoor impacts on human health.
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