There has been an increased awareness of the inter-dependence between man and the environment since the 1960’s. Environmental awareness has evolved from representing fairly radical views opposing all development, to a current emphasis on sustainable development between development and the environment. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is defined as the identification and quantification of the environmental impacts of a product, process or service during the entire life cycle being studied. The life cycle starts at the extraction of raw materials and the production of energy used to create the product through the use and final disposal of the product. LCA therefore considers the production, use and disposal of a product, which constitutes the life cycle of the product. LCA can be combined with methodologies that study other parameters such as costs in order to optimise the benefits from LCA. It is suggested that cost implications of processes to reduce environmental impacts should be included in a methodology used for a Platinum LCA. A comment that is consistently raised in the case studies is that the minerals industry regards LCA as an effective tool to determine the impacts of the industry, however extraction & beneficiation of minerals are often grouped together, with accurate data not being available, and databases either not available or not updated. The case studies indicated several benefits from the various LCA’s conducted. A Platinum LCA should clearly define and group the environmental impacts being studied into categories such as greenhouse gas emissions, global warming, acidification, and resource consumption. A Platinum LCA will be resource- and time intensive due to the large scale of the processes involved. It is suggested that a Platinum LCA firstly focuses on the production phase, i.e. cradle-to-gate, with potential future work done on the use and end-of-life stages. It is suggested that individual facility-based LCA’s for AMPLATS and other platinum producers are conducted in order to get a true reflection of the environmental burden of each company, and then selectively share technological improvements to reduce the environmental burden without disclosing sensitive information. The benefit of LCA in the case of platinum will be optimised if it can be used to make business decisions, together with consideration of financial and production benefits in addition to anticipated environmental benefits of alterations to processes. It is essential that LCA is seen as a business tool that will assist the company to make informed business decisions about process improvements, as well as new projects and design of new facilities. LCA on its own will not determine which product or process is the most cost effective or works best. The information developed in a LCA study should be used as one component of a more comprehensive decision making process assessing the trade-offs with cost and performance. The results from a LCA could be used to make informed decisions about optimisation between costs and reduced environmental impacts. / Thesis (M. Environmental Management)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

In recent yerars there has been a general concern over the performance of the UK construction industry. This has been reflected in the reports of Latham (1994) and Egan (1998) stating that the UK is still suffering from underachievements and low productivity. Clients critisise the industry for not always achieving what they need and the majortiy of them are not satisfied with the quality of the construction industry. Many of the problems encountered in the design and construction phases orginate from from the pre-project planning phase. The main problems are frequently attributed to poor planning and poor identification of client needs which act as contributory factors to poor project performance. These problems have led to the need for a change in the construction industry by focusing on the roots of the problems attributed to poor performance. One approach that could help to improve construction performance is to pay more attention to the pre-project planning phase since major decisions concerning the project are made during this phase. The main aim of the research is to develop a framework for improving pre-project planning to enable construction clients overcome the problems that they encounter with other project participants. Such a framework would assisst construction clients to identify and communicate their needs more clearly to other stake holders. The framework provides a comprehensive tool to help solve problems that occur during pre-project planning with respect to project objectives and goals of the construction project to enable performance to be measured and improved. This thesis presents a framework for improving pre-project planning of construction projects. The methodology adopted to conduct the research involved a comprehensive literature review. Critical pre-project planning functions have been presented and tested through the questionnaire survey and case interviews to determine how clients perform pre-project planning

Methods of chemical hazard ranking and toxic impact assessment estimate fate and toxicity assuming the chemical exists in dissolved and particulate phases and, for metals, that all dissolved species are equally bioavailable. This treatment of metals, similar to organic chemicals, introduced a significant error in their estimates of hazard ranking since metal bioavailability and ecotoxicity are related to truly dissolved phase and specifically free metal ion within it. My thesis addressed this concern by developing a new method that introduced Bioavailability Factor (BF) to the calculation of Comparative Toxicity Potentials (CTPs) for hazard ranking of chemicals; also known as Characterization Factors for use in Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA). First, the metal speciation/complexation was incorporated into fate calculations by loosely coupling commercial geochemical metal speciation model, WHAM, with a multimedia fate model, USEtoxTM, which is originally designed to calculate CTPs for organic chemicals. Second, Biotic Ligand Model (BLM) was used to calculate the bioavailability-corrected adverse toxic effects of metals. This new method was applied to assess the implications of choosing environmental characteristics, notably freshwater chemistry, by calculating BFs and CTPs of several cationic metals (e.g., Cd, Cu, Co, Pb, Ni and Zn) using 12 European, 24 Canadian ecoregions, several distinct freshwater-types selected from large river and lake systems world-wide. The newly estimated metal CTPs (i.e., ecotoxicity potentials) are up to ~1000 times lower than previous values used in LCIA. Notably the model results showed that the absolute values of CTPs, and their relative ranking amongst chemicals, are a product of the characteristics of a receiving environment. Hence it is crucial to select a generic freshwater archetype on which this analysis should be based. Finally, the new model framework was extended to apply within the Unit World Model (UWM) framework to estimate critical loads (CLs) of cationic metals to surface aquatic systems.

Methods of chemical hazard ranking and toxic impact assessment estimate fate and toxicity assuming the chemical exists in dissolved and particulate phases and, for metals, that all dissolved species are equally bioavailable. This treatment of metals, similar to organic chemicals, introduced a significant error in their estimates of hazard ranking since metal bioavailability and ecotoxicity are related to truly dissolved phase and specifically free metal ion within it. My thesis addressed this concern by developing a new method that introduced Bioavailability Factor (BF) to the calculation of Comparative Toxicity Potentials (CTPs) for hazard ranking of chemicals; also known as Characterization Factors for use in Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA). First, the metal speciation/complexation was incorporated into fate calculations by loosely coupling commercial geochemical metal speciation model, WHAM, with a multimedia fate model, USEtoxTM, which is originally designed to calculate CTPs for organic chemicals. Second, Biotic Ligand Model (BLM) was used to calculate the bioavailability-corrected adverse toxic effects of metals. This new method was applied to assess the implications of choosing environmental characteristics, notably freshwater chemistry, by calculating BFs and CTPs of several cationic metals (e.g., Cd, Cu, Co, Pb, Ni and Zn) using 12 European, 24 Canadian ecoregions, several distinct freshwater-types selected from large river and lake systems world-wide. The newly estimated metal CTPs (i.e., ecotoxicity potentials) are up to ~1000 times lower than previous values used in LCIA. Notably the model results showed that the absolute values of CTPs, and their relative ranking amongst chemicals, are a product of the characteristics of a receiving environment. Hence it is crucial to select a generic freshwater archetype on which this analysis should be based. Finally, the new model framework was extended to apply within the Unit World Model (UWM) framework to estimate critical loads (CLs) of cationic metals to surface aquatic systems.

Bio-oil which is produced by fast pyrolysis of biomass has high energy density compared to as received biomass. Two cases are studied for pipeline transport of bio-oil, a coal-based and hydro power based electricity supplies. These cases of pipeline transport are compared to two cases of truck transport (trailer and super B-train truck). The life cycle GHG emissions from the pipeline transport of bio-oil for the two sources of electricity are 345 and 17 g of CO2 m-3 km-1. The emissions for transport by trailer and super B-train truck are 89 and 60 g of CO2 m-3 km-1. Energy input for bio-oil transport is 3.95 MJ m-3 km-1 by pipeline, 2.59 MJ m-3 km-1 by trailer, and 1.66 MJ m-3 km-1 by super B-train truck. The results show that GHG emissions in pipeline transport are largely dependent on the source of electricity; substituting 250 m3 day-1 of pipeline-transported bio-oil for coal can mitigate about 5.1 million tonnes of CO2 per year in the production of electricity. The fixed and variable components of cost are 0.0423 $/m3 and 0.1201 $/m3/km at a pipeline capacity of 560 m3/day and for a distance of 100. It costs less to transport bio-oil by pipeline than by trailer and super B-train tank trucks at pipeline capacities of 1,000 and 1,700 m3/day, and for a transportation distance of 100 km. Power from pipeline-transported bio-oil is expensive than power that is produced by direct combustion of wood chips and transmitted through electric lines.

Over the past few years, the Swedish Armed Forces (SAF) in similarity with forces inmany other countries has been undergoing a major process of change. One of the majorreforms is the government‘s decision to replace the compulsory military service with aprofessional army. In order to manage this, SAF requires tools to evaluate the long-termconsequences of different decisions regarding its manpower, such as different recruitment,training and educations policies, mission rehearsal, mission planning, and etc.These tools should, for instance, include information about different type of resourcessuch as weapon systems and materials required for conducting training and missions, asthey directly affect planning of courses, training sessions, etc. These resources have a totallife cycle cost that besides the acquisition cost includes maintenance costs, cost forspare parts and cost of human resources which are required for training and deploymentof the resource.This thesis has been performed in collaboration with FOI (Swedish Defence ResearchAgency) in order to support development of a decision support simulation tool for assistingin the personnel planning process of the SAF. The main objective is to determinethe connection between LCC (Life cycle cost) of personnel and LCC of system Hence,the study facilitates flow of information between the Human Resource Department atSAF and the Defence Material Administration (FMV) in order to base their decisionmaking process on more accurate and complete information about resource costs relatedto different activities that are important to both organizations.In this paper, the inductive approach is the chosen approach as appropriate theories arestudied and used for making hypothesis in order to create a new model. Consequentlythe interpretive approach is deployed as it is associated with this reasoning style. Furthermore,the research purpose is exploratory as it is essential to identify the resourcescost factors and the relations between them.The research strategy is case study and the utilized technique for collecting primary datais interview. The secondary data is gathered by studying hard or digital copy of books,articles, journals, handbooks and dictionaries.Hence, through a set of interviews, information about different activities regarding theeducation and operation phases of the fighter pilots at the Swedish Air Force has beencollected. As a result a corresponding model consisting of resources employed in thoseiiactivities and their relation has been developed. The model is based on the Unified EnterpriseCompetence Modelling Language (UECML).The contributions of this thesis are (1) Identification of the cost factors of personnelrelatedactivities including courses, training sessions and missions, 2) Classification ofcost factor elements in a number of classes, and 3) Illustrating the connections betweenthe classes using UECML.

Thailand is one of the largest rice producing nations in the world. Moreover, there is a trend for Thai rice exports to increase. This could imply that if the trend continues, there will be an increased quantity of rice husk in the future. Rice husk is a co-product of rice products generated in the rice milling process, accounting for about 23 percent of the total paddy weight. To make use of this large quantity of rice husk, the husk has traditionally been used as an energy source in the rice mills themselves. More recently, the Thai government has promoted the use of biomass to substitute for fossil fuel consumption and to reduce the environmental impacts caused by using fossil fuels. Therefore, rice husk, which is one of the main sources of biomass in Thailand, has already been used on a commercial scale. However, the environmental impacts associated with different rice husk applications have not yet been widely investigated in the Thai context. While there is a need to find ways of dealing with rice husk disposal, it is also important to ensure that this husk is used in ways that harm the environment least. This research aims to identify the most environmentally friendly use of rice husk for Thailand. To achieve this, the research is divided into three main stages; identification of main current and potential uses of rice husk in Thailand; data collection; and data analysis using Life Cycle Analysis approach. A range of methods such as literature review, questionnaires with rice mill owners, and interviews with industry personnel, were used to help in identifying the current and potential uses of rice husk. The major current and potential rice husk uses chosen to be examined in this research are those uses of rice husk in electricity generation, in cement manufacture and in cellulosic ethanol production. The second stage is to collect detailed data about the processes of the selected rice husk uses to be examined. This was undertaken by literature review, questionnaires and interviews with involved industry personnel. The last stage is to analyse the data collated. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach and the L CA software package SimaPro (version 7.1.6) were used to assess the environmental impacts of the selected rice husk uses. Results from the LCA are reviewed in the context of critical policy issues, including the Thai government biomass policies; the capacity of the production process of rice husk use options; and the infrastructure availability and practicality of the rice husk use options. Based on the goal and scope of the study, the data available for this study and the review of the issues just mentioned, it is concluded that, in the short term, the most practical environmentally friendly use of rice husk across the three uses investigated is the use of rice husk in electricity generation. However, with expected oil shortages in the future, rice husk should also be considered for use in cellulosic ethanol production, as this option helps to save some amount of petrol.

Product upgrade, achieved through the improvement of the functionality of reused or remanufactured products, is often accepted as an effective way to attain a competitive service life extension (SLE). The upgradability of a product is characterised as its ease-of - upgrade virtue. Whether a product can be soundly and easily reutilised and upgraded is strongly influenced by the configurations of its essential characteristics which are determined during the design stages. Design for Upgradability (DFU) is a tool that primarily focuses on enhancing a product's functional, as well as, physical fitness for ease-of-upgrade and reutilisation. / Thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 2006.

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has been successfully used as an environmental assessment tool for the development of ecologically sustainable products. The application of LCA in the early design stage has been constrained by the requirement of large amounts of data and time for carrying out the assessment. In addition, the complexity of LCA causes further difficulties for product developers. In order to integrate the environmental assessment into the process of product development, this research proposes an integrated decision model for sustainable product development and a simplified LCA approach for the application in the early stage of product design. The main advantage of the proposed model is that it incorporates the environmental aspects of product development into the existing product development framework. It enables designers to strike a balance between the product???s environmental performance and other traditional design objectives. The simplified LCA approach is based on the concept and application of Environmental Impact Drivers. Material-based environmental impacts and Energy-based environmental impacts are used to predict the total environmental impact of a product. Two sets of impact drivers were developed accordingly. The Material-based Impact Drivers were identified by classifying materials into 16 groups according to the nature of the materials and their environmental performance. Energy-based Impact Drivers were developed for various energy sources in major industrial regions. Product LCA cases were used to verify the proposed methods. The results computed by the application of the impact drivers were compared with the results of full LCA studies. It is concluded that with the proposed approach, the product???s environmental performance can be assessed in a very short time and with very basic data input requirements and acceptable accuracy.

&quotMeeting the ageing aircraft challenge&quot is not just about safety, not just about effectiveness, and not just about economy of support. It is about proactive and reactive optimization of all three service goals throughout long life cycles that span 20 or 30 years, or more, and typically, beyond the originally intended design life. It is therefore about organizational attitudes towards ongoing trend analysis and condition monitoring, and pervading cost benefit assessments of all forms of human innovation across what the author describes as 'the eight sustaining disciplines for long aerospace life cycles', including scientific and technological developments, and opportunities for reliability growth or 'refresh'. Complacency is the root cause of all problems with the design, maintenance and support of all modern infrastructure, and therefore life cycle planners and minders are required to be an enthusiastic but nervous lot - always hoping for the best, but planning for the worst impact of 'Mr Murphy'. Murphy thrives on complacency, is in bed with uncertainty, and never forgets (as we do often) that imperfection (no matter how small) breeds unreliability traps that patiently wait to surprise at some stage along the life cycle journey. He has the upper hand. ...Our best weapons against Murphy are continual, total picture and longer-term situational awareness; caution, vigilance, innovation and collaboration. This research study and thesis is intended as a broad and comprehensive management philosophy, a guide and checklist - a broad scrape of everything 'so deep', rather than coverage of any one-niche aspect of the ageing aircraft challenge in great depth. It includes a brief and simple strategic setting for Australian Military Aerospace requirements, and spans a three axes management philosophy: 1. a toolbox of eight sustaining disciplines, 2. trend analysis and 3. time-cost-benefit assessment. Along with complacency, the prime ageing aircraft 'killers' are identified, as are the key ageing aircraft 'age multipliers'. The eight sustaining disciplines are explained in varying depth, according to their broad significance to the ageing aircraft condition and life cycle. The ever-ubiquitous bathtub reliability curve - the key to understanding, predicting and controlling life cycle behaviour (including costs) - is emphasized. Engineering life cycle minding and capability management are broad focus areas. The eight areas of attention identified for this broad study are: 1. Aerospace design requirements and trends, 2. Science and technology opportunities, 3. Airworthiness, engineering and maintenance philosophy, 4. Reliability behaviour, 5. Operational use and abuse patterns, 6. Logistics support and managing obsolescence, 7. Technical workforce and organizational attitudes (requirements and outlook), and 8. Life cycle costing and budgeting. This thesis primarily draws attention to the fundamental driver of life cycle behaviour - reliability. The critical dependency that life cycle control and prediction has on consistent and high quality trend data collection and analysis is emphasized throughout, and the now pressing need for better identification of ageing aircraft cost growth drivers, and their containment, is linked to reliability trend awareness, manipulation and intervention. The human dimension is included - including coverage of organizational attitudes and what it takes to be a 'high reliability organization'. There are no magic or easy answers to the ageing aircraft condition and challenge. Trend analysis has to be done from the bottom up, system by system, for each fleet type. But over time, with consistent trend data collection, patterns emerge within the sophisticated and stochastic systems behaviour that that ageing aircraft play out. These patterns enable ongoing management of the long life cycle to be more confidently predicted, more assured and with best possible cost growth containment. The best, perhaps only, path to least surprises and best cost containment is now being re-identified in some military aviation organizations as a mature and evolving RAM engineering and RCM framework. RAM-RCM may well be the only recovery from what some admit is a death spiral of ageing aircraft cost growth.