The Discount Rate in the Evaluation of Project Economic-Environmental Sustainability

The debate about project economic sustainability evaluation from a life cycle perspective focused on the conventional Life Cycle Costing (LCC). Despite the potentialities of the approach for evaluating design options at different scales (building/system/component/material), some limits emerge due to the neoclassical nature of the economic principles on which it is founded. The most important aspect of this debate is the necessity to clarify how to deal with environmental costs in the calculation, particularly in the case of public/PPP interventions. Two research topics emerge for strengthening the capability of LCC to deal with environmental components: (1) the LCC and environmental quantitative analysis (using Life Cycle Assessment) joint application; (2) the integration of the environmental dimension into the microeconomic approach, using appropriate discount rates. As known, these last are particularly relevant for public projects, in which the time value of money issue becomes crucial in presence of long lifespan analyses and economic objectives. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to explore alternative discounting modalities, for identifying the preferable one, towards an “environmental LCC model”. The research domain is therefore on the limits of LCC in dealing with environmental cost components, at the time being poorly studied by the scientific literature: this point represents the missing link which form the basis for the research problem to be addressed. The research design is focused on the investigation of environmental hurdle rate technique and the escalation rate approach, as alternatives to the standard “time preference” (financial) one. The LCC and the global cost are selected as the main tool for the analysis, which is founded on an empirical research methodology. The results, obtained by simulations on a case study (two alternative technological components), confirm the relevance of the discount rate effect on the Global Cost calculation by modelling some of the potential impacts of building components on the environment, e.g., the expectations of technological development over time. By the environmental hurdle rate, the results can even change the final preferability ranking obtained using financial rates. The value of the work consists of growing the debate on the topic and supporting environmentally responsible investment decisions in the building construction sector (new-build/retrofit of existing assets)

Economic–Environmental Sustainability in Building Projects: Introducing Risk and Uncertainty in LCCE and LCCA

The aim of this paper is to propose a methodology for supporting decision-making in the design stages of new buildings or in the retrofitting of existing heritages. The focus is on the evaluation of economic–environmental sustainability, considering the presence of risk and uncertainty. An application of risk analysis in conjunction with Life-Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) is proposed for selecting the preferable solution between technological options, which represents a recent and poorly explored context of analysis. It is assumed that there is a presence of uncertainty in cost estimating, in terms of the Life-Cycle Cost Estimates (LCCEs) and uncertainty in the technical performance of the life-cycle cost analysis. According to the probability analysis, which was solved through stochastic simulation and the Monte Carlo Method (MCM), risk and uncertainty are modeled as stochastic variables or as “stochastic relevant cost drivers”. Coherently, the economic–financial and energy–environmental sustainability is analyzed through the calculation of a conjoint “economic–environmental indicator”, in terms of the stochastic global cost. A case study of the multifunctional building glass façade project in Northern Italy is proposed. The application demonstrates that introducing flexibility into the input data and the duration of the service lives of components and the economic and environmental behavior of alternative scenarios can lead to opposite results compared to a deterministic analysis. The results give full evidence of the environmental variables’ capacity to significantly perturb the model output

Sustainable Public Procurement in the Building Construction Sector

Considering that in the E.U. public procurement in the construction sector is highly represented, the Directive 2014/24/EU is implemented for harmonizing procurement processes across European countries. The Directive is transposed in Italy, through the Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP) national action plan, for supporting public procurement and public–private partnership (PPP) interventions. SPP is founded on two pillars: according to an economic viewpoint, the financial efficiency is the key aspect to verify, and, according to a sustainability viewpoint, externalities are a key element in the environmental evaluation, despite the fact that their monetary quantification into the global cost calculation is quite complex. Thus, this work aims to explore a methodology for the joint evaluation of economic–environmental sustainability of project options, in the tender evaluation phase of the SPP. The methodology is based on the life cycle costing (LCC) and CO2 emissions joint assessment, including criteria weighting and uncertainty components. Two alternative technologies—a timber and an aluminum window frame—are assumed as a case for a simulation, implemented with the software “Smart SPP LCC-CO2 Tool” (developed through the research “Smart SPP—Innovation through sustainable procurement”, supported by Intelligent Energy Europe). The simulation demonstrates that the methodology is a fast and effective modality for selecting alternative options, introducing sustainability in the decision-making process. The work is a contribution to the growing literature on the topic, and for giving support to subjects (public authorities and private operators) involved in public procurement processes/PPP interventions

The Active Role of Students, Teachers, and Stakeholders in Managing Economic and Cultural Value, Urban and Built Heritage

Innovation in architecture education is increasingly oriented towards the analysis of real problems considered in their complexity and multi-dimensionality and the active involvement of the stakeholders. The aim of this paper is to highlight how the active role of stakeholders can improve the economic and cultural value of enhancement projects developed in architecture and planning schools, focusing on the potentialities of the problem-based learning (PBL) approach. A three-step educational procedure based on the PBL approach, applied at the atelier “Heritage Preservation and Enhancement” of the Politecnico di Torino, is presented. The results showed how a continuous interaction and dialogue with teachers and stakeholders can effectively support students in addressing real problems and in developing sustainable and feasible enhancement projects able to integrate heritage preservation and economic-financial issues. Innovation in architecture education is increasingly oriented towards the analysis of real problems considered in their complexity and multi-dimensionality and the active involvement of the stakeholders. The aim of this paper is to highlight how the active role of the stakeholders can improve the economic and cultural value of enhancement projects developed in Architecture and Planning Schools, focusing on the potentialities of the problem-based learning (PBL) approach. A three-step educational procedure based on the PBL approach, applied at the Atelier "Heritage Preservation and Enhancement" of the Politecnico di Torino, is presented. The results showed how a continuous interaction and dialogue with teachers and stakeholders can effectively support students in addressing real problems and in developing sustainable and feasible enhancement projects able to integrate heritage preservation and economic-financial issues.

The cost optimal methodology for evaluating the energy retrofit of an ex-industrial building in Turin.

The recast of the Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings (EPBD) requires Member States to set minimum energy performance requirements, for buildings, on the cost-optimal level. In Italy, the EPBD recast was transposed in a document (published in GU 2012/C 115) orienting the delegated regulation 244/2012 EU. Following cost-optimal methodology different energy efficiency measures were applied to an abandoned industrial building in Turin, Northern Italy, in order to identify the best retrofit configuration in terms of energy and cost effectiveness

Penilaian Kinerja Keuangan Koperasi di Kabupaten Pelalawan

This paper describe development and financial performance of cooperative in District Pelalawan among 2007 - 2008. Studies on primary and secondary cooperative in 12 sub-districts. Method in this stady use performance measuring of productivity, efficiency, growth, liquidity, and solvability of cooperative. Productivity of cooperative in Pelalawan was highly but efficiency still low. Profit and income were highly, even liquidity of cooperative very high, and solvability was good

Juxtaposing BTE and ATE – on the role of the European insurance industry in funding civil litigation

One of the ways in which legal services are financed, and indeed shaped, is through private insurance arrangement. Two contrasting types of legal expenses insurance contracts (LEI) seem to dominate in Europe: before the event (BTE) and after the event (ATE) legal expenses insurance. Notwithstanding institutional differences between different legal systems, BTE and ATE insurance arrangements may be instrumental if government policy is geared towards strengthening a market-oriented system of financing access to justice for individuals and business. At the same time, emphasizing the role of a private industry as a keeper of the gates to justice raises issues of accountability and transparency, not readily reconcilable with demands of competition. Moreover, multiple actors (clients, lawyers, courts, insurers) are involved, causing behavioural dynamics which are not easily predicted or influenced. Against this background, this paper looks into BTE and ATE arrangements by analysing the particularities of BTE and ATE arrangements currently available in some European jurisdictions and by painting a picture of their respective markets and legal contexts. This allows for some reflection on the performance of BTE and ATE providers as both financiers and keepers. Two issues emerge from the analysis that are worthy of some further reflection. Firstly, there is the problematic long-term sustainability of some ATE products. Secondly, the challenges faced by policymakers that would like to nudge consumers into voluntarily taking out BTE LEI

Search for stop and higgsino production using diphoton Higgs boson decays

Results are presented of a search for a "natural" supersymmetry scenario with gauge mediated symmetry breaking. It is assumed that only the supersymmetric partners of the top-quark (stop) and the Higgs boson (higgsino) are accessible. Events are examined in which there are two photons forming a Higgs boson candidate, and at least two b-quark jets. In 19.7 inverse femtobarns of proton-proton collision data at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV, recorded in the CMS experiment, no evidence of a signal is found and lower limits at the 95% confidence level are set, excluding the stop mass below 360 to 410 GeV, depending on the higgsino mass

Severe early onset preeclampsia: short and long term clinical, psychosocial and biochemical aspects

Preeclampsia is a pregnancy specific disorder commonly defined as de novo hypertension and proteinuria after 20 weeks gestational age. It occurs in approximately 3-5% of pregnancies and it is still a major cause of both foetal and maternal morbidity and mortality worldwide1. As extensive research has not yet elucidated the aetiology of preeclampsia, there are no rational preventive or therapeutic interventions available. The only rational treatment is delivery, which benefits the mother but is not in the interest of the foetus, if remote from term. Early onset preeclampsia (<32 weeks’ gestational age) occurs in less than 1% of pregnancies. It is, however often associated with maternal morbidity as the risk of progression to severe maternal disease is inversely related with gestational age at onset2. Resulting prematurity is therefore the main cause of neonatal mortality and morbidity in patients with severe preeclampsia3. Although the discussion is ongoing, perinatal survival is suggested to be increased in patients with preterm preeclampsia by expectant, non-interventional management. This temporising treatment option to lengthen pregnancy includes the use of antihypertensive medication to control hypertension, magnesium sulphate to prevent eclampsia and corticosteroids to enhance foetal lung maturity4. With optimal maternal haemodynamic status and reassuring foetal condition this results on average in an extension of 2 weeks. Prolongation of these pregnancies is a great challenge for clinicians to balance between potential maternal risks on one the eve hand and possible foetal benefits on the other. Clinical controversies regarding prolongation of preterm preeclamptic pregnancies still exist – also taking into account that preeclampsia is the leading cause of maternal mortality in the Netherlands5 - a debate which is even more pronounced in very preterm pregnancies with questionable foetal viability6-9. Do maternal risks of prolongation of these very early pregnancies outweigh the chances of neonatal survival? Counselling of women with very early onset preeclampsia not only comprises of knowledge of the outcome of those particular pregnancies, but also knowledge of outcomes of future pregnancies of these women is of major clinical importance. This thesis opens with a review of the literature on identifiable risk factors of preeclampsia

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements