No presente trabalho foi realizado um levantamento bibliográfico sobre os critérios, fatores e ponderações envolvidos em processos de localização de aterros de resíduos sólidos. Com base nesse levantamento, foram identificados os principais elementos de avaliação envolvidos no contexto decisório em questão e estabelecida a importância relativa através de cada descritor em questão através de ponderação dos mesmos. Estes dados foram aplicados em um estudo de caso (em torno de Ribeirão Preto - SP) visando a seleção preliminar de áreas adequadas à disposição de resíduos sólidos utilizando-se o sistema de informações geográficas (SIG). Este estudo teve como objetivo principal discutir os dados obtidos. Para a seleção de áreas com viabilidade ambiental foram utilizados três diferentes métodos - lógica boleana, ponderação dos fatores e fuzzy - que resultaram na exclusão de 96,2% e 13,8%, respectivamente, da área estudada. / Sanitary landfilling is the conventional method of disposing of municipal solid waste. Thus, the focus of the work was to develop the data and tool necessary to aid decision makers and special interest groups begin to understand the alternatives and tradeoffs in the landfill siting process. A Geographic Information System (GIS) were used to determine suitable areas for solid waste landfill sites in Ribeirão Preto (SP). The siting criteria for selecting a potencial site include geological and hydrogeological conditions, surface water distances, buffer zone of roads, topography, soil, land use and proximity to centres of population. The weights or \"importance\" these criteria have a huge bearing on the decision making process. In spatial siting analysis with multiple factors, balancing the relative importance of varied factors can be difficult. Thus, a set of weights for the factors was presented and discussed.

No presente trabalho foi realizado um levantamento bibliográfico sobre os critérios, fatores e ponderações envolvidos em processos de localização de aterros de resíduos sólidos. Com base nesse levantamento, foram identificados os principais elementos de avaliação envolvidos no contexto decisório em questão e estabelecida a importância relativa através de cada descritor em questão através de ponderação dos mesmos. Estes dados foram aplicados em um estudo de caso (em torno de Ribeirão Preto - SP) visando a seleção preliminar de áreas adequadas à disposição de resíduos sólidos utilizando-se o sistema de informações geográficas (SIG). Este estudo teve como objetivo principal discutir os dados obtidos. Para a seleção de áreas com viabilidade ambiental foram utilizados três diferentes métodos - lógica boleana, ponderação dos fatores e fuzzy - que resultaram na exclusão de 96,2% e 13,8%, respectivamente, da área estudada. / Sanitary landfilling is the conventional method of disposing of municipal solid waste. Thus, the focus of the work was to develop the data and tool necessary to aid decision makers and special interest groups begin to understand the alternatives and tradeoffs in the landfill siting process. A Geographic Information System (GIS) were used to determine suitable areas for solid waste landfill sites in Ribeirão Preto (SP). The siting criteria for selecting a potencial site include geological and hydrogeological conditions, surface water distances, buffer zone of roads, topography, soil, land use and proximity to centres of population. The weights or \"importance\" these criteria have a huge bearing on the decision making process. In spatial siting analysis with multiple factors, balancing the relative importance of varied factors can be difficult. Thus, a set of weights for the factors was presented and discussed.

In this thesis, a mixed integer linear program is used to formulate the optimization process of a wind farm. As a start point, a grid was superimposed into the wind farm, in which grid points represent possible wind turbine locations. During the optimization process, proximity and wind interference between wind turbines were considered in order to found the power loss of the wind farm. Power loss was analyzed by using wind interference coefficient, which is a function of wind intensity interference factor (WIIF), weibull distribution and power of the wind turbines. Two different programs / Genetic Algorithm and Lingo, were used to solve the MILP optimization formula and results were compared for different cases in the conclusion part.

In this work, a new approach to optimize facility layout for toxic release, fire and explosion scenarios is presented. By integrating a risk analysis in the optimization formulation, safer assignments for facility layout and siting have been obtained. Accompanying with the economical concepts used in a plant layout, the new model considers the cost of willing to avoid a fatality, i.e. the potential injury cost due to accidents associated with toxic release near residential areas. For fire and explosion scenarios, the building or equipment damage cost replaces the potential injury cost. Two different approaches have been proposed to optimize the total cost related with layout. In the first phase using continuous-plane approach, the overall problem was initially modeled as a disjunctive program where the coordinates of each facility and cost-related variables are the main unknowns. Then, the convex hull approach was used to reformulate the problem as a Mixed Integer Non-Linear Program (MINLP) that identifies potential layouts by minimizing overall costs. This approach gives the coordinates of each facility in a continuous plane, and estimates for the total length of pipes, the land area, and the selection of safety devices. Finally, the 3D-computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was used to compare the difference between the initial layout and the final layout in order to see how obstacles and separation distances affect the dispersion or overpressures of affected facilities. One of the CFD programs, ANSYS CFX was employed for the dispersion study and Flame Acceleration Simulator (FLACS) for the fires and explosions. In the second phase for fire and explosion scenarios, the study is focused on finding an optimal placement for hazardous facilities and other process plant buildings using the optimization theory and mapping risks on the given land in order to calculate risk in financial terms. The given land is divided in a square grid of which the sides have a certain size and in which each square acquires a risk-score. These risk-scores such as the probability of structural damage are to be multiplied by prices of potential facilities which would be built on the grid. Finally this will give us the financial risk. Accompanying the suggested safety concepts, the new model takes into account construction and operational costs. The overall cost of locations is a function of piping cost, management cost, protection device cost, and financial risk. This approach gives the coordinates of the best location of each facility in a 2-D plane, and estimates the total piping length. Once the final layout is obtained, the CFD code, FLACS is used to simulate and consider obstacle effects in 3-D space. The outcome of this study will be useful in assisting the selection of location for process plant buildings and risk management.

This presentation was prepared for a conference focusing on risk assessment and facility siting issues in Sweden in 2001. This talk presents key findings from the Hoover Dam Ethnographic Studies.

The goal of biodiversity conservation has been described as the conservation of diversity at three levels: ecosystem, species and genetic diversity. Developing a representative system of marine protected areas is considered an effective way to achieve this goal in the marine environment. The growing concern associated with threats to the marine environment has resulted in an increased demand for marine reserves (i.e. no-take areas) that conserve representative and adequate examples of biodiversity. Often, the decisions about where to locate reserves must be made in the absence of detailed information on the patterns of distribution of the biota. Alternative approaches are required that include defining habitats as surrogates for biodiversity. The development of biodiversity surrogates at fine-scales (i.e. habitats) will have an increasingly important role in the identification of sites that will contribute to a representative system of marine protected areas. This is because it will increase the likelihood that the system will adequately achieve biodiversity objectives by ensuring protection of a greater range of habitats and species. Surrogate measures of biodiversity enable decisions about where to locate marine reserves to be made more reliably in the absence of detailed data on the distribution of species. There is concern, however, about the reliability of surrogate measures to represent biotic diversity and the use of such measures in the design of marine reserve systems. Currently, surrogate measures are most often based on broad-scale (100s to 1000s of kilometres) bioregional frameworks that define general categories (sandy beach, rocky shore) for intertidal systems. These broad-scale categories are inadequate when making decisions about conservation priorities at the local level (10s to 100s of metres). This study provides an explanation of an intertidal shoreline habitat surrogate (i.e. shoreline types) used to describe 24,216 kilometres of Queensland’s coastline. The protective status of shoreline types was evaluated to assist with designing a representative system of intertidal marine protected areas. The shoreline types derived using physical properties of the shoreline were used as a surrogate for intertidal biodiversity to assist with the identification of sites for inclusion in a candidate system of intertidal marine reserves for 17,463 kilometres of the mainland coast of Queensland, Australia. This represents the first systematic approach, on essentially one-dimensional data, using fine-scale (10s to 100s of metres) intertidal habitats to identify a system of marine reserves for such a large length of coast. A range of solutions would provide for the protection of a representative example of shoreline types in Queensland. Shoreline types were used as a surrogate for intertidal biodiversity (i.e. habitats, microhabitats) to assist with the identification of sites to be included in a representative system of marine reserves in south east Queensland. The use of local-scale shoreline types increased the likelihood that sites identified for conservation achieved representation goals for the mosaic of habitats and microhabitats, and therefore the associated biodiversity present on rocky shores, than that provided by the existing marine reserve protection in south east Queensland. These results indicate that using broad-scale surrogate measures (rocky shore, sandy beach) for biodiversity (habitats, microhabitats and species) are likely to result in poor representation of fine-scale habitats and microhabitats, and therefore intertidal assemblages in marine reserves. When additional fine-scale data were added to reserve selection the summed irreplaceability of 24% (for spatial extent of habitats), and 29% (for presence/absence of microhabitats) of rocky shore sites increased above zero, where a value close to one means a site is necessary, for inclusion in a reserve system, to meet conservation targets. The use of finer-scale physical data to support marine reserve design is more likely to result in the selection of reserves that achieve representation at habitat and microhabitat levels, increasing the likelihood that conservation goals will be achieved. The design and planning of marine and terrestrial protected areas systems should not be undertaken independently of each other because it is likely to lead to inadequate representation of intertidal habitats in either system. The development of reserve systems specially designed to protect intertidal habitats should be integrated into the design of terrestrial and marine protected area systems. Marine reserve networks are a necessary and effective tool for conserving marine biodiversity. They also have an important role in the governance of oceans and the sustainable management of marine resources. The translation of marine reserve network theory into practice is a challenge for conservation practitioners. Barriers to implementing marine reserves include varying levels of political will and agency support and leadership, poorly coordinated marine conservation policy, inconsistencies with the use of legislation, polarised views and opposition from some stakeholders, and difficulties with defining and mapping conservation features. The future success of marine reserve network implementation will become increasingly dependent on: increasing political commitment and agency leadership to remove conflicts within and between government agencies involved in site identification and selection; greater involvement and collaboration with stakeholders; and the provision of resources to define and map conservation features. Key elements of translating marine reserve theory into implementation of a network of marine reserves are discussed based on approaches used successfully in New Zealand and New South Wales (Australia).

A rapid development of wind energy has been approved globally within the last few years due to the common recognition of this renewable energy technology. It is seen as one of the most promising substitutions to fossil fuels which have been exploited for over one century but were proved to be a crucial factor of human-induced climate change. However, even though wind energy has been regarded to be clean, resource saving and environmentally friendly, it still poses special problems and concerns to the surrounding social-ecological system. Thereby it requires careful selection of sites of installation. This paper provides an overview of wind energy and its development in the recent decade and focus on elaborating different issues involved in wind energy development. This is done through a case study of applying GIS tools in selecting suitable locations for onshore wind power plants in Västmanland County of Sweden.

The lack of a comprehensive database for both concentrating and photovoltaic utility-scale solar power projects, those with a generation capacity of greater than 50 MW, hinders the ability of researchers and policy makers to examine the state of solar development in the state of California. This research project seeks to fill this gap in understanding by creating a database of proposed and developed projects in order to examine trends in proposals, process time, approvals, and construction starts. Existing literature was evaluated to determine potential factors for project success in approval and construction. Upon determination of these factors, the project database was developed through use of publicly available data and extensive Internet searches of planning documents, industry releases, and articles on existing and proposed projects. The completed database, containing eighty projects, was analyzed to provide an initial look at the overall state of solar project development in California. This report details these early findings as well as areas for further research. The analysis indicates that, while California has a high amount of proposed projects and generation capacity, many projects do not reach the end of the public approval process and fewer still enter construction and operation.

This research paper was submitted to the Department of Geography in fulfillment of the requirements of Geography 4C6. / <p>This paper examines the way political and monetary influences effect the siting process for noxious facilities. Understanding their effects is an important first step to controlling them so that social and environmental equity is maintained.</p> <p>How is it that certain agents are able to have more political influence than others. The role of different types of political influence, the differences between governmental and non-governmental agents, the differences between Primary and Secondary agents and the differences between the potential to create influence and inherent political influence will all be examined. The way these elements combine to create political influence is important to understand how certain agents are able to effect the siting of noxious facilities.</p> <p>The construction of an hierarchy of power will be attempted, taking into consideration the above factors as well as some internal factors such as the credibility, reputation, commitment and strategies used, of the individual agents. Monetary influences are easily defined, and will also be taken into consideration.</p> <p>These elements of political and monetary influences will be examined in the context of a siting process which occurred in Hal ton Region over a waste disposal site. Each agent involved in the siting decision will be examined, using the above elements to determine if the hierarchy is correct and, if the agent with the most political and monetary influences is in fact, the agent to effect the siting of that noxious facility.</p> / Thesis / Bachelor of Arts (BA)

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