scholarly journals Environmental and Economic Evaluation of Small-Scale Bridge Repair Using Cross-Laminated Timber Floor Slabs

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 3424
Author(s):  
Tetsuya Iwase ◽  
Takanobu Sasaki ◽  
Shogo Araki ◽  
Tomohumi Huzita ◽  
Chihiro Kayo

Cross-laminated timber (CLT) has gained popularity worldwide in recent years, and its use in buildings and civil engineering structures has attracted attention in Japan. In this study, the life-cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) balance and costs associated with CLT floor slabs were evaluated with respect to small-scale bridge repair as the first instance of the use of CLT in civil engineering projects in Japan. Additionally, waterproofing treatment was applied to CLT slabs, and the potential GHG and cost reduction of CLT in comparison with reinforced concrete (RC) slabs were examined. GHG emissions were the smallest for non-waterproofed CLT slabs and the greatest for RC slabs. When replacing RC slabs with CLT slabs without waterproofing, fossil-derived GHG emissions can be reduced by 73 kg-CO2eq/m2 per slab, and fossil/wood-derived GHG emissions can be reduced by 67 kg-CO2eq/m2; however, the use of disposed CLT as fuel is essential. Moreover, a reduction in GHG emissions can be expected if RC slabs are replaced with CLT slabs that are waterproofed only once every 20 years. Further, the cost associated with RC slabs is 20% of that attributable to CLT slabs. Hence, measures need to be taken to reduce the cost of CLT and waterproofing materials.

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 43-52
Author(s):  
Anne Gunnarshaug Lien

The objective of this paper is to report and analyse strategies for cost reduction, design processes, and procurement models of one wooden nearly Zero Energy Building (nZEB) in Norway. The building investigated in this paper is the Moholt Allmenning, a newly-built student accommodation located in Moholt, Trondheim. Interviews with the building's owner and the contractor were carried out to obtain information on the decision-making process during the procurement phase, the planning phase, and the execution phase. The results show that the environmental goal and the criteria set for the use of wood in the tender announcement were a critical driving force for choosing cross laminated timber (CLT) in the final design. The results also show that the cost of using CLT in student residences is competitive against using concrete and steel. Given the requirement of little greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from materials production in nZEBs, the use of CLT is however a better choice. The objective of this paper is to report and analyse strategies for cost reduction, design processes, and procurement models of one wooden nearly Zero Energy Building (nZEB) in Norway. This publication is part of the dissemination activities of the EU Horizon 2020 project NERO, whose scope is to demonstrate the feasibility of cost reduction of nZEBs built with wood in the Nordic Countries. Case buildings from Estonia, Finland, Norway, and Sweden are studied with respect to their technological solutions, energy use, and construction cost. The Norwegian building investigated in this paper is the Moholt Allmenning, a newly-built student accommodation located in Moholt, Trondheim. Interviews with the building's owner and the contractor were carried out to obtain information on the decision-making process during the procurement phase, the planning phase, and the execution phase. The results show that the environmental goal and the criteria set for the use of wood in the tender announcement were a critical driving force for choosing cross laminated timber (CLT) in the final design. The results also show that the cost of using CLT in student residences is competitive against using concrete and steel. Given the requirement of little greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from materials production in nZEBs, the use of CLT is however a better choice.


2000 ◽  
Vol 17 (4/5) ◽  
pp. 479-492 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Barber ◽  
Andrew Graves ◽  
Mark Hall ◽  
Darryl Sheath ◽  
Cyril Tomkins

A methodology was developed to measure cost of quality failures in two major road projects, largely based upon a work‐shadowing method. Shows how the initial data were collected and categorised into definable groups and how the costs were estimated for each of these categories. The findings suggest that, if the projects examined are typical, the cost of failures may be a significant percentage of total costs, and that conventional means of identifying them may not be reliable. Moreover, the costs will not be easy to eradicate without widespread changes in attitudes and norms of behaviour within the industry and improved managerial co‐ordination of activities throughout the supply chain.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Aniek Wijayanti

Business Process Analysis can be used to eliminate or reduce a waste cost caused by non value added activities that exist in a process. This research aims at evaluating activities carried out in the natural material procurement process in the PT XYZ, calculating the effectiveness of the process cycle, finding a way to improve the process management, and calculating the cost reduction that can achieved by activity management. A case study was the approach of this research. The researcher obtained research data throughout deep interviews with the staff who directly involved in the process, observation, and documentation of natural material procurement. The result of this study show that the effectiveness of the process cycle of natural material procurement in the factory reached as much as 87,1% for the sand material and 72% for the crushed stone. This indicates that the process still carry activities with no added value and still contain ineffective costs. Through the Business Process Mechanism, these non value added activities can be managed so that the process cycle becomes more efficient and cost effectiveness is achieved. The result of the effective cycle calculation after the management activities implementation is 100%. This means that the cost of natural material procurement process has become effective. The result of calculation of the estimated cost reduction as a result of management activity is as much as Rp249.026.635,90 per year.


2003 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 153-160

The separation wall, one of the largest civil engineering projects in Israel's history, has been criticized even by the U.S. administration, with Condoleezza Rice stating at the end of June 2003 that it ““arouses our [U.S.] deep concern”” and President Bush on 25 July calling it ““a problem”” and noting that ““it is very difficult to develop confidence between the Palestinians and Israel with a wall snaking through the West Bank.”” A number of reports have already been issued concerning the wall, including reports by B'Tselem (available at www.btselem.org), the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (available at www.palestinianaid.info), and the World Bank's Local Aid Coordination Committee (LACC; also available at www.palestinianaid.info). UNRWA's report focuses on the segment of the wall already completed and is based on field visits to the areas affected by the barriers, with a special emphasis on localities with registered refugees. Notes have been omitted due to space constraints. The full report is available online at www.un.org/unrwa.


2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 202-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. G. Buriy ◽  
V. S. Shherbakov ◽  
S. B. Skobelev ◽  
V. F. Kovalevskiy

Introduction.Construction of engineering structures is impossible without building and road machines. The large volume of financing is allocated for such machines’ purchase. The main ways of reducing costs of the equipment consist in more rational operation of the equipment and also in decrease of equipment’s cost by constructive changes. The paper demonstrates the new design of the single-bucket hydraulic excavator with smaller cost.Materials and methods.The main ways of cost reduction for construction machines are more rational operation and depreciation of a design with the required characteristics’ maintaining. The paper describes constructive changes of the working equipment of the single-bucket hydraulic excavator, which allow decreasing the production costs.Results.The authors describe the new bucket design of the single-bucket hydraulic excavator. Moreover, the authors carry out the analysis of the existing buckets’ design. The paper also illustrates the functioning on bucket forces while digging process. The authors describe the solutions of the problem for productivity increase of the single-bucket in hydraulic excavators. In addition, the authors make the scheme of the bucket loading while digging process. Such scheme helps to reduce resistance forces of digging.Discussion and conclusions.As a result, the paper presents the design of the working equipment of the hydraulic excavator’s single-bucket, which allows reducing resistance forces of digging. Such results would help to establish buckets of bigger capacity and would lead to the productivity increase.


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 81-107
Author(s):  
Dheny Biantara

Summarized Indonesian airline executive views on the reason for the cost problem in mayor airline andon the potential areas and measures of cost reduction in airline operation. Present an introductionsurvey where 3 executives from 3 Indonesian airlines were respondent. In the executive opinion the costproblem in mayor Indonesian airline is primarily due to fuel and oil pricing and money currency. Of thevarious function in airline maintenance was seen as least cost efficiency, whereas flight operation wasseen as an area with most potential for cost reduction. Indonesian airline had made route and fleetchanges after the beginning of 2011 to reduce cost, concludes from the analisys result havingprivatization would be an important step towards more efficient airline operation. Flexibility fromIndonesian airline regulatory would be very much welcome and the value chain concept to improveIndonesian airline having competitive adventage and cost leadership differentiation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 61
Author(s):  
Kazuhiro Aruga

In this study, two operational methodologies to extract thinned woods were investigated in the Nasunogahara area, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. Methodology one included manual extraction and light truck transportation. Methodology two included mini-forwarder forwarding and four-ton truck transportation. Furthermore, a newly introduced chipper was investigated. As a result, costs of manual extractions within 10 m and 20 m were JPY942/m3 and JPY1040/m3, respectively. On the other hand, the forwarding cost of the mini-forwarder was JPY499/m3, which was significantly lower than the cost of manual extractions. Transportation costs with light trucks and four-ton trucks were JPY7224/m3 and JPY1298/m3, respectively, with 28 km transportation distances. Chipping operation costs were JPY1036/m3 and JPY1160/m3 with three and two persons, respectively. Finally, the total costs of methodologies one and two from extraction within 20 m to chipping were estimated as JPY9300/m3 and JPY2833/m3, respectively, with 28 km transportation distances and three-person chipping operations (EUR1 = JPY126, as of 12 August 2020).


Author(s):  
Mohammad Istiak Hossain ◽  
Jan I. Markendahl

AbstractSmall-scale commercial rollouts of Cellular-IoT (C-IoT) networks have started globally since last year. However, among the plethora of low power wide area network (LPWAN) technologies, the cost-effectiveness of C-IoT is not certain for IoT service providers, small and greenfield operators. Today, there is no known public framework for the feasibility analysis of IoT communication technologies. Hence, this paper first presents a generic framework to assess the cost structure of cellular and non-cellular LPWAN technologies. Then, we applied the framework in eight deployment scenarios to analyze the prospect of LPWAN technologies like Sigfox, LoRaWAN, NB-IoT, LTE-M, and EC-GSM. We consider the inter-technology interference impact on LoRaWAN and Sigfox scalability. Our results validate that a large rollout with a single technology is not cost-efficient. Also, our analysis suggests the rollout possibility of an IoT communication Technology may not be linear to cost-efficiency.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (8) ◽  
pp. 2263
Author(s):  
Mahmood Ebadian ◽  
Shahab Sokhansanj ◽  
David Lee ◽  
Alyssa Klein ◽  
Lawrence Townley-Smith

In this study, an inter-continental agricultural pellet supply chain is modeled, and the production cost and price of agricultural pellets are estimated and compared against the recent cost and price of wood pellets in the global marketplace. The inter-continental supply chain is verified and validated using an integration of an interactive mapping application and a simulation platform. The integrated model is applied to a case study in which agricultural pellets are produced in six locations in Canada and shipped and discharged at the three major ports in Western Europe. The cost of agricultural pellets in the six locations is estimated to be in the range of EUR 92–95/tonne (CAD 138–142/tonne), which is comparable with the recent cost of wood pellets produced in small-scale pellet plants (EUR 99–109/tonne). The average agricultural pellet price shipped from the six plants to the three ports in Western Europe is estimated to be in a range of EUR 183–204 (CAD 274–305/tonne), 29–42% more expensive that the average recent price of wood pellets (EUR 143/tonne) at the same ports. There are several potential areas in the agricultural pellet supply chains that can reduce the pellet production and distribution costs in the mid and long terms, making them affordable supplement to the existing wood pellet markets. Potential economic activities generated by the production of pellets in farm communities can be significant. The generated annual revenue in the biomass logistics system in all six locations is estimated to be about CAD 21.80 million. In addition, the logistics equipment fleet needs 176 local operators with a potential annual income of CAD 2.18 million.


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