Cost Assessment Method Research Articles

Environmental and economic comparatives assessments of wine making processes: Application to the enrichment of wines

The project Enrichment , managed by the French Institute for Vine and Wine (IFV) from 2013 to 2015, aimed to joint assessments of the potential environmental impacts and the costs for the cellars of two new enrichment methods, compared to methods commonly used. A “life cycle” approach has been chosen. Actually, the potential environmental impacts has been assessed following the recommendations from the normalized method of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The method of the Life Cycle Cost Assessment (LCCA) has been linked to the LCA in order to assess the costs of the different techniques. The method and the developed tool seem adapted to achieve to goals of the project: the comparison of environmental and economic impacts of the enrichment of 1 hl of must by 1% vol. using different techniques, whether additive or subtractive. Beyond, the project gives a framework for the environmental and economic comparison of different techniques for any other industrial process.

Preface: Current advances in analysis, modelling and mitigation of the costs of natural hazards

Assessments of the costs of natural hazards supply crucial information for decision support and policy development related to natural hazard management and climate change adaptation (Kreibich et al., 2014). These costs comprise damage due to natural hazards as well as costs of prevention, risk mitigation and responses to natural hazards. However, recent work shows that cost assessments are often still incomplete, reliable impact data are scarce (Handmer et al., 2005; Gall et al., 2009), damage estimation methods are often crude and insufficient (Meyer et al., 2013; Merz et al., 2010), and the knowledge about costs and benefits of precautionary measures is scattered (Hudson et al., 2014; Bubeck et al., 2012; Kreibich et al., 2011, 2012, 2015). The EU Seventh Framework Programme project CONHAZ – Costs of Natural Hazards (http://conhaz.org/) – collected and reviewed current knowledge on methods for assessing individual cost types, such as direct damage to housing; indirect losses in the macroeconomy; costs due to intangible effects, e.g. on people or the environment; and costs of risk reduction. The project showed how these methods are applied to various natural hazards, including floods, droughts, alpine and coastal hazards. In this special issue, Meyer et al. (2013) present the results of this review and provide recommendations on how to reduce or handle shortcomings and uncertainties by improving data sources and cost assessment methods. Further recommendations address how risk dynamics due to climate and socio-economic change can be better considered, how costs are distributed and how risks can be transferred, and in what ways cost assessment can function as part of decision support. The session NH9.3 “Costs of Natural Hazards” at the 2012 European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly further provided the possibility for a wider discussion and presentations of new results and developments. This special issue is dedicated to results presented at this EGU session, and it includes papers beyond the CONHAZ project. Current research on costs of natural hazards comprises overlapping topics, which can be categorised as follows: damage documentation and analyses of past events; damage modelling and risk analyses; and precautionary measures including insurance. Individual contributions to these topics are discussed in the following sections. These topics are treated in subsequent sections. Finally, we sum up with a number of overall conclusions and perspectives on the analysis of costs of natural hazards.

Development of Construction Cost Assessment Methods during Preparation for Tender

Successful development of a construction company under the market economical conditions depends on the number of contracts for construction works awarded to the company, usually on the competitive basis. The winner of a tender is chosen from the participants that have previously proved their qualification at the prequalification stage, on the basis of two criteria: bid price and construction period. Bid price is the key factor which is of the most importance to the client. It is based on contractor’s estimation of construction cost. The most common construction cost assessment methods use the valid estimate norms calculated on the basis of the averaged work costs which do not consider fluctuation of actual market prices for different kinds of resources and the chosen methods and technologies of facility construction. This paper aims to provide the basis for the development of accurate cost assessment method which is based on the actual market prices for all kinds of resources and on the methods and technologies of facility construction chosen be the contractor, rather than on the valid estimate norms. The main task therefore is the development of the key principles and sequence of construction cost assessment during preparation for tender. The offered assessment method is based on construction schedule illustrating the time association of all construction processes and is the basis for determination of the actual volume of the required resources and funds at each time point of facility construction. Given the many-sidedness of the arising problems, construction cost assessment should be conducted based on the following principles: construction schedule optimization; accounting of market cost of resources; generating the best plan of construction resource provision; cost minimization and financial flow optimization; risk accounting; project approach. Using these principles during assessment of facility construction cost within the framework of bid preparation allows increasing its competitive ability according to the main winner choice criteria – construction cost and periods.

Review article: Assessing the costs of natural hazards – state of the art and knowledge gaps

Abstract. Efficiently reducing natural hazard risks requires a thorough understanding of the costs of natural hazards. Current methods to assess these costs employ a variety of terminologies and approaches for different types of natural hazards and different impacted sectors. This may impede efforts to ascertain comprehensive and comparable cost figures. In order to strengthen the role of cost assessments in the development of integrated natural hazard management, a review of existing cost assessment approaches was undertaken. This review considers droughts, floods, coastal and Alpine hazards, and examines different cost types, namely direct tangible damages, losses due to business interruption, indirect damages, intangible effects, and the costs of risk mitigation. This paper provides an overview of the state-of-the-art cost assessment approaches and discusses key knowledge gaps. It shows that the application of cost assessments in practice is often incomplete and biased, as direct costs receive a relatively large amount of attention, while intangible and indirect effects are rarely considered. Furthermore, all parts of cost assessment entail considerable uncertainties due to insufficient or highly aggregated data sources, along with a lack of knowledge about the processes leading to damage and thus the appropriate models required. Recommendations are provided on how to reduce or handle these uncertainties by improving data sources and cost assessment methods. Further recommendations address how risk dynamics due to climate and socio-economic change can be better considered, how costs are distributed and risks transferred, and in what ways cost assessment can function as part of decision support.

Life Cycle Energy and Cost Assessment Method for Modified Asphalt Pavements

The importance of materials’ selection for effective change in energy requirements of construction and service life cycle of asphalt pavement highways is well known. However, such energy related issues are rarely considered in the design and material selection process today. This is largely due to insufficient data and unclear methodology for translating effects in terms of environmental and economic savings. To address this deficiency a program was designed into which project specific information is inputted and used for comparison of alternative material and modification options in term of performance, cost, effective life span, and the magnitude of change in energy requirements. This paper includes a summary of this program that could be used as a design and materials’ selection aid for asphalt pavements.

การศึกษาต้นทุนสังคมของโรงไฟฟ้า กรณีศึกษา โรงไฟฟ้าแม่เมาะ

งานวิจัยนี้มีวัตถุประสงค์เพื่อศึกษาวิธีการประเมินต้นทุนสังคมของโรงไฟฟ้า โดยคิดมูลค่าผลกระทบทางด้านสุขภาพประชาชนจากมลพิษทางอากาศ ของโรงไฟฟ้าแม่เมาะ จังหวัดลำปาง รวมทั้งเปรียบเทียบต้นทุนสังคมที่ได้กับอัตราการจ่ายเงินเข้ากองทุนพัฒนาชุมชนในพื้นที่รอบโรงไฟฟ้า ด้วยการใช้แนวทาง Impact Pathway Approach (IPA) โดยรวบรวมข้อมูลปริมาณสารพิษในอากาศได้แก่ SO 2 NO x และ PM 10 ที่ปล่อยจากโรงไฟฟ้าแม่เมาะ และใช้แบบจำลอง HYSPLIT เพื่อประเมินความเข้มข้นของมลพิษที่เพิ่มขึ้นในอากาศ จากนั้นนำข้อมูลผลกระทบด้านสุขภาพจากมลพิษทางอากาศ จากงานวิจัยต่างๆ โดยใช้หลักการ   Exposure-Response Function (ERF) มาวิเคราะห์ผลกระทบด้านสุขภาพ และประเมินมูลค่าต้นทุนสังคมของโรงไฟฟ้าด้วยวิธีประเมินมูลค่าชีวิตเชิงสถิติ ( Value of Statistical Life: VSL) เพื่อประเมินมูลค่าผลกระทบทางสุขภาพให้เป็นตัวเงิน   ผลการศึกษาพบว่าแนวทาง IPA เป็นวิธีหนึ่งที่เหมาะสมในการประเมินต้นทุนสังคมด้านผลกระทบสุขภาพที่เกิดจากโรงไฟฟ้า เนื่องจากมีการนำปัจจัยต่างๆที่สัมพันธ์กับผลกระทบมาวิเคราะห์อย่างครอบคลุมทุกด้านและเป็นระบบ และผลจากการวิเคราะห์ต้นทุนสังคมที่เกิดจากโรงไฟฟ้าแม่เมาะในปี 2553 คิดเป็นเงิน 0.00109-0.00189 สตางค์ต่อกิโลวัตต์ชั่วโมง ( kWh) หรือเทียบเท่ากับ 179,136 บาท -311,456 บาทต่อปี   ส่วนการเปรียบเทียบกับการจ่ายเงินเข้ากองทุนรอบโรงไฟฟ้าในอัตรา 0.02 บาทต่อ kWh จะเห็นได้ว่าอัตราที่โรงไฟฟ้าจ่ายเงินเข้ากองทุนนั้นครอบคลุมต้นทุนสังคมที่เกิดขึ้น

Method for Cost Evaluation of the Environmental Degradation of Water

Evaluation of the cost of the environmental degradation of water is one of the difficulties in the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting for Water. In this study, the concept of the cost of the environmental degradation of water was analyzed for the first time. Based on a discussion of evaluation methods related to environmental degradation of water at home and abroad, and the characteristics of the cost of the environmental degradation of water, a set of relatively complete and operational methods to evaluate the cost of the environmental degradation of water was proposed. The calculation results obtained using the Taihu Basin as an example showed that the cost of the environmental degradation of water based on the damage assessment method was four times greater than that based on the cost assessment method. These findings indicate that source control of pollutants provides environmental protection, while reducing the cost of the environmental degradation of water and avoiding economic losses.

Simplified method of sizing and life cycle cost assessment of building integrated photovoltaic system

This paper presents methodology to evaluate size and cost of PV power system components. The simplified mathematical expressions are given for sizing of PV system components. The PV array size is determined based on daily electrical load (kWh/day) and number of sunshine hours on optimally tilted surface specific to the country. Based on life cycle cost (LCC) analysis, capital cost (US$/kW P) and unit cost of electricity (US$/kWh) were determined for PV systems such as stand-alone PV (SAPV) and building integrated PV (BIPV). The mitigation of CO 2 emission, carbon credit and energy payback time (EPBT) of PV system are presented in this paper. Effect of carbon credit on the economics of PV system showed reduction in unit cost of electricity by 17–19% and 21–25% for SAPV and BIPV systems, respectively. This methodology was illustrated using actual case study on 2.32 kW P PV system located in New Delhi (India).

Comparison of environmental impact and external cost assessment methods

Impact assessment can be completed with the help of Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) as a part of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and External Cost Assessment methods. These methods help, for project and product classifications, to protect human health and the environment. Comparison of different impact assessment methods along parallel evaluations of real air pollution case studies helps to detect similarities and dependencies between them. The comparison helps and supports the work in both areas by mutually exploiting the merits of both methods. On the other hand, the detected similarities and dependencies also support the accuracy of the assessment work. Two impact assessment methods are compared to detect the dependencies between them. These are: the damage-oriented Life Cycle Impact Assessment method Eco-indicator 99 (EI99) and the Cost-Benefit Analysis (CAFE CBA) carried out within the framework of the Clean Air for Europe Programme of the European Union. Arithmetic comparison of the two methods’ impact indicators is carried out in order to show how differently they assess and evaluate the environmental impacts of the same pollutants. Moreover, air pollution inventories of five industrialized cities in Poland are evaluated in parallel with the two impact assessment methods. The uncertainties of the two methods are also considered and Monte Carlo simulations are completed to obtain probability intervals of impact indicators and overall mean values of the generated populations. The arithmetic comparison of the impact indicators shows a strict correlation between the two impact assessment methods. This correlation is confirmed by results of the parallel evaluation of the real case studies. The comparison of the overall mean values obtained by the Monte Carlo simulations also shows a clear dependency between the results of the two impact assessment methods. After detecting the dependencies between the two methods, the best guess values of the EI99 indicator are selected and applied to make a ranking of the air pollutants and their emission sources for an industrialized Polish city. It can be concluded that the detected correlation between the two methods (EI99 and CAFE CBA) supports and helps the accuracy of the impact assessment. If the uncertainties of the methods are also considered, it is proved for the examples of real case studies that they correlate in their results. On the other hand, the best guess of the EI99 indicators can be used to rank emissions according to their relative damage to human health and the ecosystem, and to locate emission sources. These results help decision-makers to conclude an efficient environmental conscious policy.

Cost assessment in design of low volume manufacture machines

The paper presents an approach to design in view of the cost aspects. Authors present ‘dynamic’ cost assessment methods used at the early phase of machine development, along with a concept for assessment of low volume manufacture machine costs. The last chapter also presents an actual implementation of this concept.

How costly are carbon offsets? A meta-analysis of carbon forest sinks

Carbon terrestrial sinks are seen as a low-cost alternative to fuel switching and reduced fossil fuel use for lowering atmospheric CO2. As a result of agreements reached at Bonn and Marrakech, carbon offsets have taken on much greater importance in meeting Kyoto targets for the first commitment period. In this study, meta-regression analysis is used to examine 981 estimates from 55 studies of the costs of creating carbon offsets using forestry. Baseline estimates of costs of sequestering carbon through forest conservation are US$ 46.62–US$ 260.29/t C ($12.71–$70.99/t CO2). Tree planting and agroforestry activities increase costs by more than 200%. When post-harvest storage of carbon in wood products, or substitution of biomas for fossil fuels in energy production, are taken into account, costs are lowest – some $12.53–$68.44/t C ($3.42–$18.67/t CO2). Average costs are greater, between $116.76 and $1406.60/t C ($31.84–$383.62/t CO2), when appropriate account is taken of the opportunity costs of land. Peer review of the studies increases costs by a factor or 10 or more, depending on the model. The use of marginal cost estimates instead of average cost results in much higher costs for carbon sequestration, in the range of thousands of dollars per t C, although few studies used this method of cost assessment.

건축공사 계약해지에 따른 비용산정에 관한 연구

Financial difficulties and claims frequently stop construction works and cause subsequent contract cancellations. However, as the criteria to assess costs have not been established, many cases of legal disputes over the assessment of cancellation costs are taking place and the concerned parties are suffering the loss of time and money. Therefore, the present research aimed at developing a rational and systematic model of cancellation cost assessment following the cancellation of contracts. The research was carried out in the following methods and scopes. 1 ) The research was focused on the assessment of fair cancellation costs from constructors' side for contracts cancelled by any causes for which the owners have liability. 2) To obtain basic materials about cancellation cost assessment methods, contracts, claims, contract cancellations and construction-related laws at home and abroad were examined. 3) A cost assessment model was developed for systematization and efficient operation of cancellation cost assessment, and the reliability and efficiency of the proposed model was verified through a case study. The conclusions drawn from the research are as follows. The importance of the cancellation cost assessment model was confirmed as, using the cancellation cost assessment model, direct cancellation cost and indirect cancellation cost could be assessed systematically, the number of disputable items could be reduced because reasonable evidences of actual spending were presented, and the loss of constructors could be minimized because systematic and rational cost assessment became possible for many disputable cases of indirect cancellation cost, which the constructors had been unable to prove so far though having spent.

A minimum cost assessment method for composite generation and transmission system expansion planning

Composite generation and transmission system expansion analysis should take into account both economic considerations and adequacy requirements. An optimum expansion plan should achieve the minimum total investment, operation and damage cost. A minimum cost assessment method for composite system expansion planning, which can be used to consider generation expansion and transmission expansion simultaneously, is presented. The minimization model proposed to incorporate both operating and outage costs can recognize different customer damage functions at different load buses and includes the duration of the simulated contingency system states . A computer program based on the presented method has been developed to provide a set of line, load bus, generator bus and system indices which can be used to select optimal expansion plans at different load growth levels. Case studies in which the method is applied to the IEEE Modified Reliability Test System indicate its effectiveness. >