Sustainability Assessment Methods Research Articles

Urban sustainability assessment for vernacular and traditional built environments

Despite the growing literature on sustainability assessment in the urban context, the resulting approaches and methods utilise several differing theoretical frameworks and lack a unifying vision and modus operandi. Innumerable tools and instruments have been developed for particular purposes and rather narrow goals. Curiously, these tools and instruments remain unable to trace and assess sustainability in vernacular forms and traditional built environments, even though environments such as these demonstrably possess sustainable principles beside their aesthetic values and spatial qualities.This paper reviews the theoretical background underpinning the current sustainability assessment methods in the urban context to identify their general limitations and their specific applicability to vernacular and traditional built environments. Also, this paper discusses some of the cultural and spatial qualities of traditional built form to identify its embedded sustainable strategies and practices. The paper concludes with an outline conceptual framework intended to develop general sustainability principles for traditional built forms in response to their natural and cultural contexts.A literature review of the concepts of sustainability assessment in the urban context and embedded sustainable principles in vernacular and traditional built form is followed by a thematic analysis of its limitations, which feeds into this conceptualisation of a new, principle-based framework. A total of 10 principles of sustainability are proposed to assess sustainability in traditional built environments, taking into account the variation of locality and site-specific context.

Towards GreenPLM—Key Sustainable Indicators Selection and Assessment Method Development

Regulations, depletion of natural resources and changing customer demands are putting pressure on manufacturing companies to consider environmental issues in the development of new products. Companies are using PLM systems to manage the product lifecycle, but the current generation of these systems is not adequately adapted to product sustainability issues. The research results presented in this article are intended to support two target groups: academia and industry. The main scientific objective is to provide a systematic method for selecting and evaluating sustainability indicators related to the various phases of automotive lifecycle management. The main application goal is to support the industry in its pursuit of greener development by identifying which sustainability indicators are relevant to each phase of the product lifecycle. As a result, the key green indicators related to the automotive industry in line with the GreenPLM concept are identified together with their assignment to the elements of the car’s beginning-of-life stages, as well as their potential data sources. This paper introduces the concept of GreenPLM and its future application possibilities.

A critical analysis of LEED, BREEAM and DGNB as sustainability assessment methods for retail buildings

(1) Background: Retail stores are among the building typologies with the highest consumption of natural resources. Hence, understanding how retail stores can integrate sustainability principles within a life cycle perspective and how Building Sustainability Assessment (BSA) methods can contribute for such is of great importance. Yet, studies comparing the applicability of BSA methods to retail buildings are missing, which is a gap in knowledge this study intends to address. (2) Methods: A state-of-the-art review was carried out regarding the most common BSA methods and their applicability to retail buildings. LEED, BREEAM and DGNB were chosen to be compared in terms of certification ranking, categories, indicators, weights, and usage-specific guidelines for retail buildings. (3) Results: In general, LEED and BREEAM are more focused on the environmental aspects of sustainability (namely in energy) while DGNB integrates the environmental, social, and economic dimensions equally. DGNB is the most adapted method for retail buildings, providing performance metrics for retail buildings, namely regarding operational costs and energy demand values. (4) Conclusions: While DGNB is the most robust BSA method for retail buildings, more attention could be given to performance metrics such as water and energy consumption benchmarks, carbon and material footprint, life cycle cost, or economic value to facilitate comparison amongst different methods. By identifying the strengths and weaknesses of each method, this study supports informed decision making when choosing a BSA method and informs the development of regional BSA methods for retail buildings, considering the limitations of existing tools.

The impact of sustainable assessment methods on first-year nursing students’ self-directed learning

BackgroundNursing students are expected to be effective self-directed learners beyond graduation. However, traditional assessment methods are teacher-centred, giving the teacher control over every aspect and rendering the students passive recipients during the process. Conversely, sustainable assessment methods have long-term benefits to learning that go beyond graduation as it is centered on meeting current learning needs while cultivating students’ ability to meet their own future needs. AimThe purpose of this study was to investigate and understand how sustainable assessment methods influence nursing students’ SDL abilities. DesignA mixed-methods design, using a sequential explanatory strategy was used. A quantitative quasi-experimental design was the core method, followed by a supplementary exploratory, descriptive and contextual qualitative method. ResultsThe quantitative one-group pretest–posttest quasi-experimental method showed that first-year nursing students’ baseline SDL abilities were at a moderate level, and there was an improvement in the learners’ self-reported SDL abilities after they participated in sustainable assessment methods. The focus group interview was conducted to explore and describe nursing students’ experiences and perception of how sustainable assessment methods influenced their SDL in the qualitative follow-up phase. ConclusionThe findings of this study show that sustainable assessment methods can improve first-year nursing student’s Self-directed learning abilities. It is recommended that sustainable assessment methods should be integrated in all modules across the four-year programme. This will enable nursing students to better understand the process of assessment, thereby reducing their anxiety associated with assessment, and further motivating students to be self-directed learners.

Sustainable Intensification Assessment Methods Manual (Working Draft)

Sustainable Intensification Assessment Methods Manual (Working Draft)

Environmental labeling of building sustainability: Focus on international certifications

The environmental labelling of sustainable buildings has become a major concern for the architectural design. Numerous building sustainability assessment methods were developed in various countries, namely the British BREEAM, the American LEED, the German DGNB, the French HQE and the United Arab Emirates ESTIDAMA. The present study aims to find the most appropriate approach that suits the Algerian context. A comparative study is conducted using an analytical procedure. The study focuses on the objectives, the evaluation procedures, the assets, and the qualitative assessment indicators for the environmental performance of the buildings. As a result, HQE of France and ESTIDAMA of the United Arab Emirates appeared to be best suited to the Algerian context.

The Impact of a Permeation Grouting Technique Quantitatively Assessed Through a Process-Focused Life Cycle Assessment

Abstract Permeation grouting treatments can be considered a well-established ground improvement strategy in urban built environments, where an accurate fine-tuning of its components can lead to tailored and efficient interventions. However, how to improve its overall environmental impact remains an open question. Using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach emphasizing the construction phase, this research highlights the leverages that can improve the environmental performance of this geotechnical construction process. The alternative approaches in terms of materials and processes are identified, quantified, and compared using the standard output of the LCA analysis and represent the ideal input for the three-phased sustainability assessment method for geotechnical infrastructure developed by the authors.

Sustainability assessment model for mass housing's interior rehabilitation and its validation to Ekbatan, Iran

Mass housing (MH) buildings from the ‘60s to the ‘80s, after decades of continuous use and inadequate maintenance, cause several sustainability issues and need rehabilitation. Most current conventional rehabilitation approaches have long been criticized because they consider neither sustainability requirements nor contemporary building standards. In this regard, the assessment and selection of suitable approaches for rehabilitating MH interiors, from a holistic sustainability viewpoint, is a crucial issue that faces several challenges since this is a multidisciplinary and multi-criteria process. On this subject, the present study develops a novel MCDM model based on the MIVES and Delphi methods for the holistic sustainability assessment of MHs’ interior rehabilitation considering involved stakeholders' preferences. This MIVES-Delphi model relies on a comprehensive literature review, experts' seminars, on-site surveying, LCA, BIM, user/expert-based questionnaires, bias reduction, and sensitivity analysis. The model was first applied in the Ekbatan MH case study, the largest MH in Iran, to assess the sustainability of four different interior rehabilitation scenarios, including three common rehabilitation scenarios plus an innovative one. Consequently, the new model was validated, and the most sustainable scenario was selected. The specific results regarding these scenarios' evaluation disclosed that none of the common rehabilitation scenarios could either meet the minimum sustainability target value or serve as proper solutions for MH's interior rehabilitation. Contrarily, the fourth scenario, with a global sustainability index of 0.71, could meet the standard minimum target. This outcome provides a possibility for innovative rehabilitation processes to have positive effects on increasing the sustainability performance in MH buildings.

The Structure of Public Debt and the Criteria of Its Sustainability

Theoretical background: Sustainable development is a wide and developing economic concept. The sustainability of public finances is one of its basic parts. Sustainable public finances are still perceived rather narrowly in terms of their impact on the financial stability of the state. Such an approach to them narrows their perception and should be extended to other aspects such as influence on social and ecological problems of development. Sustainable public debt is and will continue to be a foundation of sustainable public finances. It should be assessed as sustainable public debt, taking into account both its impact on the sustainability of public finances as well as the possibility of providing public services in the future and the achievement of economic, social, and environmental goals of sustainable development. Purpose of the article: The article aims to assess the impact of the differentiation of legal regulations concerning the debt of the central government and the local government subsector on the level of sustainability of public debt in Poland. The paper will verify the hypothesis that the differentiation of debt regulations between the analyzed public finance subsectors has an impact on the sustainability of public debt. The unification of some regulations could probably increase the level of sustainability of public debt. Research methods: Firstly, the analysis of legal solutions based on the desk-research principle was used in the article. Then, public debt sustainability assessment methods were used to assess the degree of sustainability of the central government subsector debt and the local government subsector debt. The stationarity analysis of time series based on the unit root test was applied. The analysis was performed using the KPSS test. An analysis of correlation and regression between the variables public debt and primary balance was performed. In the aspects that do not have a developed test method, it was proposed to use evaluation methods such as the European taxonomy and the analysis of quantity and value of green bond issues, the share of investment expenditure, and green tagging of expenditure. Main findings: The conducted analysis shows that the regulations concerning the debt of the central government subsector are much more liberal. That fact has a negative impact on the sustainability of public debt. This applies in particular to the aspect of sustainability of development, where the purpose of spending the raised funds is important. On the other hand, the quantitative analysis shows that both parts of the debt in Poland are not sustainable according to the criteria of the methods. However, the debt of the local government subsector is much closer to sustainability in all three aspects.

An ontology-based KBE application for supply chain sustainability assessment

Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) plays a key role in digital transformation demanded by Industry 4.0 and life cycle assessment, including sustainability assessment. Knowledge Based Engineering (KBE) applications can support PLM by integrating heterogeneous knowledge from different stages throughout the product life. However, the integration of knowledge from different stages and teams can cause misunderstanding if not represented in a unified form. Furthermore, different forms of knowledge used by different software are neither machine-readable nor human-readable, which also sets obstacles to knowledge integration in KBE applications. Supply chain sustainability assessment is such a scenario that entails integrating knowledge from different sources. This paper firstly implements a sustainability assessment method from other scholar to calculate the supply chain sustainability performance and adapts a sustainability assessment ontology for supply chain sustainability assessment. Then, an example KBE application is developed by implementing the sustainability assessment ontology and calculation method to simulate the knowledge sharing and integration between different teams. Finally, through this example application, it is discussed that the implementation of ontology to represent knowledge in PLM application for collaborative tasks like sustainability assessment can increase the efficiency of data sharing and integration. This paper is a proof of concept for the ontology-based framework. This framework can facilitate to represent knowledge but not create new knowledge, which means it can increase the efficiency of the software development, but can not provide a better calculation method and assessment framework for supply chain sustainability assessment. • An ontology-based application simulates the knowledge sharing and integration in sustainability assessment. • Ontology-based knowledge representation provides a unified and flexible data format. • Ontology-based knowledge representation makes a unified knowledge base possible. • Ontology increases the efficiency of data sharing and integration in collaborative tasks. • High-efficient software development contributes to supply chain sustainability management.

Evaluating the effectiveness of sector-specific policies relative to the planetary boundaries

There is a need for policies to address and reduce the pressure from human activities on the Earth system. Holistic assessment methods are needed for evaluating the potential of policies to contribute to reducing pressures to within sustainable levels. Absolute Environmental Sustainability Assessment (AESA) methods can be applied for evaluating environmental outcomes of policies and their effectiveness towards achieving environmental sustainability targets. In this study, an AESA is applied to evaluate the effectiveness of policies on the energy and transport sector in Tonga. Environmental impacts were estimated for three different policy scenarios, i.e. Baseline, Business-as-usual, Tonga Energy Efficiency Master Plan (TEEMP), and Transformational Change. By relating the impacts to an assigned share of the planetary boundaries for Tonga, we were able to evaluate the effectiveness of the policies and to which extent these contributed to staying within the planetary boundaries. Compared to the Business-as-usual scenario, a 40 % and 65 % reduction in climate change related impacts was achieved in the TEEMP and Transformational Change scenarios, respectively. The TEEMP and Transformational change scenarios allowed for reducing impacts to within the share of the planetary boundaries assigned to Tonga for all impact categories, except for climate change. This indicate that more stringent policies are required to achieve sustainability climate-wise. Especially, when considering the additional impacts associated with other industry sectors in Tonga. Conclusively, this study shows that AESA can be used for evaluating policies and contribute to selecting the most efficient policy and identifying how policies contribute to achieving environmental sustainability targets.

Quantitative sustainability assessment and sensitivity analysis for a solar-driven combined heating and power system integrated with organic Rankine cycle and ground source heat pump

Integrating renewable energy and combined heating and power (CHP) systems saves fossil energy, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, and increases system efficiency. This study proposes a solar-driven CHP system integrated with an organic Rankine cycle (ORC) and a ground source heat pump (GSHP). A quantitative sustainability assessment method is used to evaluate the sustainability performance of the CHP system. This method aggregates the technical, economic, environmental, and social performance of the solar-driven CHP system through an information entropy approach to obtain a composite sustainability index. The results indicate that the solar-driven CHP system scenario with a heat distribution ratio of 75% has a higher composite sustainability index (0.768). A sensitivity analysis of the sustainability performance of the solar-driven CHP system under the optimal scenario shows that the emissions reduction ratio of SO2, CO2, NOx, and PM2.5 are positively correlated with solar irradiation, and the annual cost-saving ratio is more influenced by electricity prices, the job opportunity is more sensitive to job factors of the concentrated solar power. The above results indicate that the quantitative sustainability assessment method is helpful for the selection of CHP systems.

Assessing the Sustainability of Retail Buildings: The Portuguese Method LiderA

Retail stores are among the building typologies with the highest consumption of natural resources. However, studies regarding the development of Building Sustainability Assessment methods for retail buildings are missing, despite their environmental, economic, and social importance. This study intends to address this gap in knowledge by (i) developing the Portuguese method LiderA for retail buildings, (ii) comparing LiderA to other BSA methods, and (iii) assessing results in two case studies. The development of LiderA for retail buildings took under consideration the indicators, weights, and specific guidelines of different BSA methods for retail buildings (namely LEED, BREEAM, and DGNB) and trends in the retail sector expressed in retailers’ sustainability reports and retailers’ associations. The most innovative aspects of the development of LiderA for retail buildings include the definition of benchmarks to assess sustainability performance in terms of Energy Intensity (EI), Carbon Intensity (CI), and Water Intensity (WI). Additionally, sustainable business operation practices were introduced in selected indicators as an alternative way to foster the roots of sustainability further down into the value chain, namely regarding ethical and sustainable product purchases, the protection of human rights, a code of conduct for suppliers, fair trade, product traceability, healthy food, sustainable agriculture, and local and organic products. The LiderA method, developed for retail buildings, can support designers, managers, and users in designing and managing more sustainable stores by providing benchmarks and best-practice thresholds for EI, CI, and WI. Given that global retailers operate hundreds of stores, the results show a key potential to increase the environmental performance of retail stores, supporting decision-making towards maximum energy efficiency and carbon neutrality.

Most Relevant Sustainability Criteria for Urban Infrastructure Projects—AHP Analysis for the Gulf States

Infrastructure projects require lifecycle-based assessment, considering the interests of multiple stakeholders concerning the three pillars of sustainability. There has been a heightened curiosity in employing sustainability indicators for gauging the impacts of developmental projects. Even though the literature is abundant on sustainability assessment methods, there is no proper one for the assessment of urban infrastructure projects in the context of Gulf states. Thus, our research intends to fill in this research gap and recommend an incorporated, hierarchically coordinated approach of sustainability indicators to be employed for the sustainability assessment of urban infrastructure development projects. This aim is achieved through a questionnaire survey, by identifying the sustainability indicators related to the infrastructure projects for the cities, in the context of Gulf states. The survey uses the criteria; “Important”, “Practicality”, “Reliability”, and “Relevance” to assess those indicators. Based on expert opinions, the weights of the indicators are approximated through the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) method. Thus, the study proposes an innovative hierarchically defined structure of sustainability indicators fitting for the Gulf context. Further, it informs urban planners and policymakers, particularly in the Gulf states, about the shift in the direction of sustainability of urban infrastructure systems.

Ecological criteria for sustainability in global, national, and local scales: a review of the literature and case study in the indonesian palm oil sector

Current sustainability assessment methods are mostly disseminated at global or national scales. However, the sustainability criteria often fail to capture many ecological characteristics that are important to the local population. This article aims to understand the importance of ecological criteria for sustainability by reviewing the literature on issues related to the implementation of ecological criteria on global, national, and local scales. This study uses qualitative content analysis by examining secondary data searches such as journal articles and research reports regarding the topics. We use NVIVO software for theme coding. We also use a case study in the oil palm plantation in Belitung Island and the Indonesian palm oil sector to see how global and national ecological criteria for sustainable palm oil were designed and whether it is adaptable to the local context. This study reveals three main themes namely the function of ecological criteria and indicators, the adaptation of global and regional criteria, and the importance of local characteristics and value. We concluded that although global and national criteria for sustainable palm oil have been established, the characteristics of local biodiversity and social value and its prioritization are needed to ensure sustainability reached the lowest scale.

Хот суурин газрын геологи орчны тогтвортой байдлын үнэлгээ, таамаглалын асуудалд

The objective of the research was to summarize and analyze the existing and emerging methods of sustainability assessment for the territories of Ulaanbaatar City. The principle of target use of territories assumes determination of its possibilities for performance of social and economic functions on the basis of a preliminary assessment of its natural resources, value of natural objects, etc. It is important that the mandatory damage was minimal, and the planned benefits significantly exceeded them. A principle of safety assumes that any anthropogenic impact on the geological environment should not create environmentally harmful and dangerous to the habitat of the present generation and have long-term environmentally harmful consequences for future generations. Generalization and systematization of information about the state and stability of the geological environment should be consistent with the scale of the problems and the level of decision-making (global, regional, local). The results of assessments of the stability of territories can be presented in various forms, as well as the leading natural and man-made factors that affect their stability. They include quantitative, semi-quantitative and qualitative assessments. The cost criteria for evaluating the stability of territories are being widely developed at present in two main directions. The first is assessment of the risk of the impact of dangerous natural and natural-technogenic processes. The second is due to the assessment of the costs required for the construction and normal operation of natural-technical systems or objects, including their engineering protection.

Gap analysis and methodological framework to assess and develop water centric sustainable agricultural intensification pathways in Sub-Saharan Africa

The sustainable agricultural intensification (SAI) debate, partly rooted in discussions over the Green Revolution, was developed in the 1990s in the context of smallholder agriculture in Africa. In many Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries, production is still largely rainfed, with the prevalence of significant yield gaps and rapid environmental degradation. Projections indicate that climate and demographic changes will further intensify the competition for freshwater resources. Currently, SAI is centered around predominantly rain-fed agricultural systems, often at a farm and plot scales. There has been increased attention to the improved role of agricultural water management (AWM) to address the daunting challenges of climate change, land degradation and food and nutritional insecurity in SSA. Nonetheless, the supporting frameworks and tools remain limited and do not connect the sustainability assessment and the development of intensification pathways (SIP) along multiple scales of the rainfed irrigation continuum. This paper reviews the gaps in concepts and practices of SAI and suggests a methodological framework to design context-specific and water-centered SIP for the SSA region. Accordingly, the proposed methodological framework demonstrates: (a) how to couple sustainability assessment methods to participatory SIPs design and adaptive management approach; (b) how contextualized sustainability domains and indicators can help in AWM centered SIP development; (c) the approaches to handle multiple scales and water-related indicators, the heterogeneity of biophysical and social settings when tailoring technology options to local contexts; and (d) the principles which enable the SIP designs to enable synergies and complementarities of SAI measures to reinforce the rainfed-irrigation continuum. This methodological framework allows researchers to integrate the sustainability assessment and SIP design, and guides policymakers and practitioners in planning, implementing and monitoring SAI initiatives (e.g., Framework for Irrigation Development and Agricultural Water Management in Africa) across multiple scales.

Application of holistic and integrated LCSA: Case study on laminated veneer lumber production in Central Germany

PurposeWe have to transform our societies and economic systems towards social, ecological, and economic (holistic) sustainability. Bioeconomy (BE) can contribute to sustainable development by substituting fossil-based products with renewable ones; however, sustainability is not intrinsic to BE.MethodsTherefore, we developed a holistic and integrated life cycle sustainability assessment (HILCSA) method containing 91 indicators, implemented in openLCA, using the Ecoinvent and SoCa database, and addressing 15 out of 17 Sustainable Development Goals. We applied it for the first time to show its capabilities by assessing the holistic sustainability of laminated veneer lumber (LVL) relative to hot-rolled steel beams.Results, discussionOur results indicate that renewable bio-based construction materials can have a better holistic sustainability than fossil-based products for nearly all indicators, by less stressing the environment, having a less negative impact on society and being economically more efficient. However, fossil-based components of LVL such as phenolic resin are main contributors of negative impacts and should be reduced and replaced. Renewable resources from agriculture and forestry have significant impacts on land use (change).ConclusionsHILCSA demonstrates to be able to provide comprehensive sustainability assessments as well as aggregated results. BE substitutes indeed can improve sustainability; however, sustainability assessments and HILCSA need to be further developed to allow conclusions to be drawn about absolute sustainability of BE.

AESA approach applied to mineral and metal resources use sustainability in the building sector: The MiMOSA method

Considering the increase of natural resource use, humanity is facing the problem of resource depletion. The building sector is a major consumer of resources. The most consumed resources are mineral and metal resources. Thereby, the identification, and then optimisation, of mineral and metal resource use in the building sector appears as a necessity. One tool to quantify the use of those resources is LCA. Currently, several authors develop absolute environmental sustainability assessment (AESA) methods, combined with LCA, to compare the pressures of the studied project with the global carrying capacity of the planet. However, most of the AESA approaches do not actually include normalization factors about the use of resources, and in particular mineral and metal resources. Besides, the mainly used LCIA characterization methods of mineral and metal resources present several limits when applied to Circular Economy projects within the building sector. Thereby, the goal of this research project is to answer the following question: Can the consumption of mineral and metal resources for a given building project be considered sustainable? To answer this question, a methodology was developed. This methodology is inspired by the AESA approach by proposing a sustainable resource budget for each mineral or metal substance and will combine the MFA methods to the LCA method to calculate sustainability indicators for each mineral and metal resource. The Mineral and Metal absOlute Sustainability Assessment (MiMOSA) method integrates the circular economy actions and considers an appropriate spatial scale for each resource and will be presented in this paper.

Drivers and Challenges for Implementing Sustainability-oriented Upgrading in Social Housing in Brazil

Social housing (SH) development is, in general, triggered by policies and regulations, which stimulate interventions, create financing mechanisms, and designate agents conducive to retrofit processes. European directives for energy efficiency and the recent call for a ‘retrofit wave’ have an evident influence. In Brazil, delivery and management of SH are based on the public offer of housing units and their immediate ownership transfer. National or state housing agencies are responsible for basic maintenance for five years, but other post-delivery interventions depend exclusively on the effort and expenses of the occupant. SH budgets leave little or no margin for extra spending and bringing SH to international sustainability standards is yet not mandatory. The issues that arise to implement upgrading in this context are therefore related to the following questions: What are the priority actions in upgrading processes? What type of financing would be required or is available? What is the project execution model and who are the stakeholders involved? This article focuses on the issue of prioritization of actions for upgrading SH. A systematic literature review examined reported sustainability-related housing improvements. A critical review of a Brazilian building label and two international sustainability assessment methods then supported ranking the upgrading actions according to the relevance assigned in their respective contexts. Finally, a panel of construction professionals provided insights regarding the technical feasibility and intrusiveness of their implementation in both single- and multi-family SH projects. Findings show that minor upgrading actions, such as changing hydraulic or electrical fixtures or landscaping, usually do not cost more than implementing them from the outcome and are equally applicable to single- and multi-family SH projects. But, when high-level (deep upgrading) interventions are on the table, costs rapidly increase due to the need to substantially change existing systems or supporting structures, which makes them often financially and/or technically unfeasible.