Sustainable engineering practices in transportation projects

Sustainability has become an important issue in transportation and infrastructure development projects. While several agencies are trying to incorporate a range of sustainability measures in their goals and missions, only a few planning agencies have been able to implement these policies and they are far from perfect. The low rate of success in implementing sustainable policies is primarily due to incomplete understanding of the system and the interaction between various elements of the system. The conventional planning efforts focuses mainly on performance measures pertaining to the system and its impact on the environment but seldom on the social and economic impacts. The objective of this study is to first, determine the effect of project typology and selection on sustainable economic development and sustainable outcome. Second, it is to determine the elements of sustainability, various uncertainties, and risks associated with the projects. Third, it is to demostrate [sic] a feasible methodology to evaluate sustainability parameters and uncertainties and risks using relevant frameworks and analyses. Finally, provide decision makers with support tools and frameworks to help evaluate and incorporate policies and considerations in planning efforts in accordance with the regional goals and objectives --Abstract, page iv

Climate adaptation of interconnected infrastructures: a framework for supporting governance

Infrastructures are critical for human society, but vulnerable to climate change. The current body of research on infrastructure adaptation does not adequately account for the interconnectedness of infrastructures, both internally and with one another. We take a step toward addressing this gap through the introduction of a framework for infrastructure adaptation that conceptualizes infrastructures as complex socio-technical “systems of systems” embedded in a changing natural environment. We demonstrate the use of this framework by structuring potential climate change impacts and identifying adaptation options for a preliminary set of cases—road, electricity and drinking water infrastructures. By helping to clarify the relationships between impacts at different levels, we find that the framework facilitates the identification of key nodes in the web of possible impacts and helps in the identification of particularly nocuous weather conditions. We also explore how the framework may be applied more comprehensively to facilitate adaptation governance. We suggest that it may help to ensure that the mental models of stakeholders and the quantitative models of researchers incorporate the essential aspects of interacting climate and infrastructure systems. Further research is necessary to test the framework in these contexts and to determine when and where its application may be most beneficial.Infrastructure Networks Climate Adaptation and Hotspots. Knowledge for Climate Progra

The Standard Problem

Crafting, adhering to, and maintaining standards is an ongoing challenge. This paper uses a framework based on common models to explore the standard problem: the impossibility of creating, implementing or maintain definitive common models in an open system. The problem arises from uncertainty driven by variations in operating context, standard quality, differences in implementation, and drift over time. Fitting work by conformance services repairs these gaps between a standard and what is required for interoperation, using several strategies: (a) Universal conformance (all agents access the same standard); (b) Mediated conformance (an interoperability layer supports heterogeneous agents) and (c) Localized conformance, (autonomous adaptive agents manage their own needs). Conformance methods include incremental design, modular design, adaptors, and creating interactive and adaptive agents. Machine learning should have a major role in adaptive fitting. Choosing a conformance service depends on the stability and homogeneity of shared tasks, and whether common models are shared ahead of time or are adjusted at task time. This analysis thus decouples interoperability and standardization. While standards facilitate interoperability, interoperability is achievable without standardization.Comment: Keywords: information standard, interoperability, machine learning, technology evaluation 25 Pages Main text word Count: 5108 Abstract word count: 206 Tables: 1 Figures: 7 Boxes: 2 Submitted to JAMI

Green ammonia supply chain and associated market structure: an analysis based on transaction cost economics

Green ammonia is poised to be a key part in the hydrogen economy. This paper discusses green ammonia supply chains from a higher-level industry perspective with a focus on market structures. The architecture of upstream and downstream supply chains are explored. Potential ways to accelerate market emergence are discussed. Market structure is explored based on transaction cost economics and lessons from the oil and gas industry. Three market structure prototypes are developed for different phases. In the infancy, a highly vertically integrated structure is proposed to reduce risks and ensure capital recovery. A restructuring towards a disintegrated structure is necessary in the next stage to improve the efficiency. In the late stage, a competitive structure characterized by a separation between asset ownership and production activities and further development of short-term and spot markets is proposed towards a market-driven industry. Finally, a multi-linear regression model is developed to evaluate the developed structures using a case in the gas industry. Results indicate that high asset specificity and uncertainty and low frequency lead to a more disintegrated market structure, and vice versa, thus supporting the structures designed. We assume the findings and results contribute to developing green ammonia supply chains and the hydrogen economy

A layered approach to model interconnected infrastructure and its significance for asset management

Physical infrastructures facilitate much of societal and economic wellbeing of countries, regions and urban areas. In our increasingly urbanizing world, infrastructures in urban areas are densely located and interconnected. The effects of this interconnectedness are being studied increasingly, particularly in light of climate change effects. In this paper, we develop an agent-based simulation model that allows us to study interconnected infrastructure. We present a layered approach that is analogous to GIS overlay approaches, which allows us to integrate representations of different infrastructures. We explore how this approach can help asset managers to gain insights in interconnected infrastructure by estimating their total damage and repair requirements during a flood event. The results show a difference in these estimates, when compared to non-integrated models, highlighting the need for asset managers to consider interconnectedness in infrastructure

Why Affordable Clean Energy Is Not Enough. A Capability Perspective on the Sustainable Development Goals

This paper reflects on criticisms raised in the literature on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These have been criticized as creating a dichotomy between the environment and human beings that fails to address the multiple interconnections between the two. This paper focuses on SDG7—“affordable and clean energy”—and suggests that there is in fact a tripartite distinction between the environment, human beings and technology underlying the SDGs. This distinction, we argue, does not adequately represent the multiple interconnections among the various SDGs and hampers their implementation. We contend that the formulation of SDG7 produces a circular definition of sustainability, a difficulty that is currently resolved at the level of the targets and indicators in a way that regards energy technologies primarily as artifacts. By contrast, the literature on ethical aspects of energy systems largely agrees that energy is a paradigmatic example of a sociotechnical system. We contend that, by not considering this sociotechnical nature, the SDGs run the risk of implicitly defending a certain variant of technological optimism and determinism. We argue that this is disadvantageous to the environment, human well-being and technological development. In line with recent critical evaluations of the SDGs, we argue that these (and other) shortcomings can be addressed by better connecting the SDGs to human well-being. Building on recent literature that expands the scope of the Capability Approach as an alternative measure of well-being so as to include considerations of sustainability, we articulate a framework that allows us to elucidate this connection and thus to take advantage of synergies between human well-being and the environment. On the basis of the Capability Approach, we argue that equating sustainable energy with renewable energy—as is done in the transition from SDG7’s goal to its targets—is indefensible because, as part of the overarching energy systems, energy technologies cannot be classified as simply right or wrong. Rather, the indicators and targets within a framework focused on sustainability need to be (more) context sensitive, meaning that, among other things, they may vary by country and with the available technology

Introduction: The Value of Resilience

Introduction: The Value of Resilienc