Search results for "ASSESSMENT"
showing 10 items of 5125 documents
A multi-scale regional landslide susceptibility assessment approach: the SUFRA_SICILIA (SUscettibilità da FRAna in Sicilia) project
2012
The SUFRA project is based on a three level susceptibility mapping. According to the availability of more detailed data, the three scale for susceptibility mapping are increased respect to the ones suggested by the TIER group to 1:100,000, 1:50,000 and 1:25,000/1:10,000. The mapping levels exploit climatic, soil use (CORINE2009) and seismic informative layers, differentiating in the details of the core data (geology and topography), in the quality and resolution of the landslide inventory and in the modelling approach (Tab. 1). SUFRA_100 is based on a heuristic approach which is applied by processing a geologic layer (produced by ARTA integrating pre-CARG 1:100,000 geologic maps); the DEM e…
Parameter uncertainty analysis of water quality model for small river
2009
Interpreting Life Cycle Assessment results of bio-asphalt pavements for more informed decision-making
2020
Due to emerging climate challenges, engineers are looking to replace the conventional asphalt pavements by utilizing bio-materials combined with Reclaimed Asphalt (RA). However, there is insufficient record in the literature assessing their environmental performance. This study addresses the analysis of the results obtained from a life cycle assessment exercise of asphalt pavements containing bio-materials and RA within their binder courses, developed within the BioRePavation project. The aim is to analyze the environmental benefits achieved, by means of hotspot mapping and sensitivity analysis of the most impactful factors of their lifecycles. Two alternatives are compared to a conventiona…
AN INTEGRATED MODEL TO EVALUATE TECHNICAL ENVIRONMENTAL AND ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY OF ROAD PAVEMENT
The unconditional exploitation of environmental resources, the emission of xenobiotic substances in nature and resulting pollution from the development of human activities have led, over time, to serious repercussions on the environment. Therefore these effects weigh on economic and social development. The need to deal with environmental issues and their relationship with economic development has led to the definition of sustainable development concept . The concept of sustainability combines three fundamental aspects which can not be separated, namely environmental, economic and social. The increasing sensitivity towards these socio-economic issues has driven research towards new fronts, u…
The accessibility of public urban spaces: walkability and ergonomic aspects
2013
Pedestrians can be ergonomically considered as workers into the socio-technical system of public urban space. Pedestrian targets can be defined as operations: the accessibility to a place characterized by services, commercial activities, enjoyment of leisure. Public space is a "universal" tool (differently from the ergonomic one), but it serves different user categories and enables different targets (movement, parking, social integration, etc..). The organization of public space should basically allow to perform users’ activities, but it has often been divided into a spatial and thematic compartments. From the twentieth century it was subservient to the dominion of the car, which strongly i…
Life cycle environmental assessment of retaining walls in unsaturated soils
2022
Abstract Retaining structures above groundwater level support soils that are usually in a state of partial saturation and subject to the actions of atmospheric agents. The current design approach considers the possible extremes of soil conditions – either totally dry or totally saturated – but it neglects matric suction’s contribution to soil shear strength. This work aims to describe how unsaturated-soil mechanics of can positively influence the sustainability of retaining structures through a holistic, multidisciplinary, geotechnical, and environmental analysis. The geotechnical analysis allows to estimate the lateral earth pressure of a geostructure in both unsaturated and extreme soil c…
On the definition of seismic vulnerability maps in cross-border Mediterranean areas
2015
The chance to locate and quantify the major risks associated to natural catastrophic events on a territory allows to plan adequate strategies and interventions by civil protection bodies involved in local and international emergencies. The seismic risk depends most of all by the vulnerability of buildings belonging to the urban areas. For this reason the definition, by a deep analysis of the territory, of instruments identifying and locating vulnerability, largely favours the activities of institutions appointed to safeguard the safety of citizens. Seismic and hydro-geological risks constitute the major component of the activities involving assistance actions carried out by civil protection…
No externalities for closed-cycle cities. Strategic environmental assessment and planning
2017
Il testo offre alla discussione disciplinare alcune riflessioni sulla rilevanza della valutazione ambientale come componente di forte rilevanza all'interno dei processi di pianificazione, con l'obiettivo di eliminare il concetto di "esternalità" nei processi di pianificazione-valutazione. Il contributo fa riferimento ad alcuni casi studio e sperimentazioni condotte nel corso degli ultimi anni in Sicilia. The paper offers some discussion of the importance of environmental assessment as a major component of planning processes, with the aim of eliminating the concept of "externality" in planning and evaluation processes. The article explains in particular what design points (and not just analy…
Environmental assessment of 2030 electricity generation scenarios in Sicily: An integrated approach
2020
Abstract This paper deals with the environmental assessment of two electricity scenarios in Sicily, for 2030, characterized by a high exploitation of renewable energy sources in order to quantify the potential contribution of the local strategies in the achievement of the European climate policies and the potential improvement in the future electricity mix, compared to the current one (2014). In order to match these goals, authors integrate the Life Cycle Assessment with a scenario analysis. The future electricity mix scenarios, characterized by a share of renewables (57% for 2030-BS scenario and 51% for 2030-DS scenario) show a reduction of the greenhouse gases emissions per kWh of electri…
From biomass waste to tri-generation: a life-cycle experience in the “agro-combined” of Thibar
2018
The paper presents a Life Cycle Assessment of the energy tri-generation from biomass waste in a plant located in Tunisia. The analysis included the plant construction and end-of-life, the supply of biomass, its use for biogas production and the electricity, heating and cooling generation from biogas. The study is one of the first applications of environmental analysis to tri-generation from biomass waste in developing countries. The results showed that the plant construction is responsible of 76% of primary energy consumption and gives a contribution higher than 88% on resource depletion and ionising radiation. The operation causes 66% of the impact on human toxicity - cancer effects and mo…