scholarly journals Multi-Criteria, Cost-Benefit, and Life-Cycle Analyses for Decision-Making to Support Responsible, Sustainable, and Alternative Tourism

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 1038
Author(s):  
Fabio Zagonari
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Cultural Dynamics ◽  
Dynamic Approach ◽  
Dynamic Framework ◽  
Alternative Tourism ◽  
Management Recommendations

This paper combines the most popular tourism typologies or goals (i.e., RT, responsible tourism, to represent impact minimisation; ST, sustainable tourism, to represent welfare maximisation; AT, alternative tourism, to represent continuity maximisation) and decision-making methodologies (i.e., MCA, multi-criteria analysis; CBA, cost-benefit analysis; WLCA, weighted life-cycle assessment; MLCA, monetary life-cycle assessment) in a single dynamic framework to operationally match the former with the latter. Normative insights show that MCA and WLCA are most suitable for RT and AT, respectively, whereas CBA and MLCA are most suitable for ST. Management recommendations (i.e., if a wrong static instead of a right dynamic approach must be adopted due to a lack of data, once chosen a tourism typology or goal, ST is the best in terms of level, correlation and likelihood of errors) are provided, and policy recommendations (i.e., if a right dynamic approach is adopted, in choosing among tourism typologies or goals, AT is the best in terms of precaution, ST is the best in terms of correlation, and RT is the best in terms of risk of investments) are suggested for a case study characterized by negative environmental and cultural dynamics. Positive insights show that two and many papers have applied WLCA and MLCA, respectively, to RT, but they did not account for cultural features; many papers have applied CBA to ST, but only one paper applied MLCA; few and no papers have applied MCA and WLCA, respectively, to AT.

Hybrid solar-seaweed biorefinery for co-production of biochemicals, biofuels, electricity, and water: Thermodynamics, life cycle assessment, and cost-benefit analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 246 ◽  
pp. 114679
Author(s):  
Alexander Golberg ◽  
Mark Polikovsky ◽  
Michael Epstein ◽  
Petronella Margaretha Slegers ◽  
Dušan Drabik ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Benefit Analysis

scholarly journals Evaluation of Investment Risks in CBA with Monte Carlo Method

2015 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 245-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jana Korytárová ◽  
Barbora Pospíšilová
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Development Strategy ◽  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Public Project ◽  
Investment Projects ◽  
The Public ◽  
Whole Life Cycle

Investment decisions are at the core of any development strategy. Economic growth and welfare depend on productive capital, infrastructure, human capital, knowledge, total factor productivity and the quality of institutions. Decision-making process on the selection of suitable projects in the public sector is in some aspects more difficult than in the private sector. Evaluating projects on the basis of their financial profitability, where the basic parameter is the value of the potential profit, can be misleading in these cases. One of the basic objectives of the allocation of public resources is respecting of the 3E principle (Economy, Effectiveness, Efficiency) in their whole life cycle. The life cycle of the investment projects consists of four main phases. The first pre-investment phase is very important for decision-making process whether to accept or reject a public project for its realization. A well-designed feasibility study as well as cost-benefit analysis (CBA) in this phase are important assumptions for future success of the project. A future financial and economical CF which represent the fundamental basis for calculation of economic effectiveness indicators are formed and modelled in these documents. This paper deals with the possibility to calculate the financial and economic efficiency of the public investment projects more accurately by simulation methods used.

scholarly journals The Social Cost of Sub-Soil Resource Use

Resources ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Huppertz ◽  
Bo Weidema ◽  
Simon Standaert ◽  
Bernard De Caevel ◽  
Elisabeth van Overbeke
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Discount Rate ◽  
Social Cost ◽  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Market Price ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Benefit Analysis ◽  
Hotelling Rule ◽  
The Social

This paper presents a market-price-based method to value sub-soil resources in environmental Cost-Benefit Analysis and Life Cycle Assessment. The market price incorporates the privileged information of the market agents, explicitly or implicitly anticipating future applications of the resource, future backstop technologies, recycling potentials, the evolution of reserves and extraction costs. The market price is therefore considered as the best available integrated information reflecting the actual values of these parameters. Our method is based on the Hotelling rule and the fact that private agents discount future costs and benefits at a higher rate than society as a whole. In practice, the price of the last resource unit sold is calculated with the Hotelling rule using a market discount rate. Then, the price at depletion is retropolated with a social discount rate smaller than the market discount rate. The resulting corrected “socially optimal” price is higher than the market price. The method allows to calculate the social cost of resource exhaustion, which is applicable in Cost-Benefit Analysis and Life Cycle Assessment. The method is applied to mineral and fossil resources and the results are compared with other recent methods that seek to place a monetary value on resource depletion.

scholarly journals Can Precise Irrigation Support the Sustainability of Protected Cultivation? A Life-Cycle Assessment and Life-Cycle Cost Analysis

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 6
Author(s):  
Kledja Canaj ◽  
Angelo Parente ◽  
Massimiliano D’Imperio ◽  
Francesca Boari ◽  
Vito Buono ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Life Cycle Cost ◽  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Irrigation Management ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Environmental Indicators ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Life Cycle Thinking ◽  
Irrigation Practices

To address sustainability challenges, agricultural advances in Mediterranean horticultural systems will necessitate a paradigmatic shift toward smart technologies, the impacts of which from a life cycle perspective have to be explored. Using life cycle thinking approaches, this study evaluated the synergistic environmental and economic performance of precise irrigation in greenhouse Zucchini production following a cradle-to-farm gate perspective. A cloud-based decision support system and a sensor-based irrigation management system (both referred to as “smart irrigation” approaches) were analyzed and compared to the farmer’s experience-based irrigation. The potential environmental indicators were quantified using life cycle assessment (LCA) with the ReCiPe 2016 method. For the economic analysis, life cycle costing (LCC) was applied, accounting not only for private product costs but also for so-called “hidden” or “external” environmental costs by monetizing LCA results. Smart irrigation practices exhibited similar performance, consuming on average 38.2% less irrigation water and energy, thus generating environmental benefits ranging from 0.17% to 62%. Single score results indicated that life cycle environmental benefits are up to 13% per ton of product. The cost-benefit analysis results showed that even though the implementation of smart irrigation imposes upfront investment costs, these costs are offset by the benefits to water and energy conservation associated with these practices. The reduction of investment costs and higher water costs in future, and lower internal rate of return can further enhance the profitability of smart irrigation strategies. The overall results of this study highlight that smart and innovative irrigation practices can enhance water-energy efficiency, gaining an economic advantage while also reducing the environmental burdens of greenhouse cultivation in a Mediterranean context.

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