• Title/Summary/Keyword: construction environmental impacts

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Development of the Assessment Framework for the Environmental Impacts in Construction

  • Tahoon Hong;Changwoon Ji;Kwangbok Jeong;Joowan Park
    • International conference on construction engineering and project management
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    • 2013.01a
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    • pp.196-203
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    • 2013
  • Environmental problems like global warming have now become important issues that should be considered in all industries, including construction. In South Korea, many studies have been conducted to achieve the government's goals of reduction in environmental impacts. However, the research on buildings has only focused on CO2 emission as a research target despite the fact that other environmental impacts resulting from ozone depletion and acidification should also be considered, in addition to global warming. In this regard, this study attempted to propose assessment criteria and methods to evaluate the environmental performance of the structures from various aspects. The environmental impact category can be divided into global impacts, regional impacts, and local impacts. First, global impacts include global warming, ozone layer depletion, and abiotic resource depletion, while regional impacts include acidification, eutrophication, and photochemical oxidation. In addition, noise and vibration occurring in the building construction phase are defined as local impacts. The evaluation methods on the eight environmental impacts will be proposed after analyzing existing studies, and the methods representing each environmental load as monetary value will be presented. The methods presented in this study will present benefits that can be obtained through green buildings with a clear quantitative assessment on structures. Ultimately, it is expected that if the effects of green buildings are clearly presented through the findings of this study, the greening of structures will be actively expanded.

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Development of the Assessment Framework for the Environmental Impacts in Construction

  • Hong, Tahoon;Ji, Changwoon;Jeong, Kwangbok;Park, Joowan
    • Journal of Construction Engineering and Project Management
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    • v.3 no.3
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    • pp.1-9
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    • 2013
  • Environmental problems like global warming have now become important issues that should be considered in all industries, including construction. In South Korea, many studies have been conducted to achieve the government's goals of reduction in environmental impacts. However, the research on buildings has only focused on CO2 emission as a research target despite the fact that other environmental impacts resulting from ozone depletion and acidification should also be considered, in addition to global warming. In this regard, this study attempted to propose assessment criteria and methods to evaluate the environmental performance of the structures from various aspects. The environmental impact category can be divided into global impacts, regional impacts, and local impacts. First, global impacts include global warming, ozone layer depletion, and abiotic resource depletion, while regional impacts include acidification, eutrophication, and photochemical oxidation. In addition, noise and vibration occurring in the building construction phase are defined as local impacts. The evaluation methods on the eight environmental impacts will be proposed after analyzing existing studies, and the methods representing each environmental load as monetary value will be presented. The methods presented in this study will present benefits that can be obtained through green buildings with a clear quantitative assessment on structures. Ultimately, it is expected that if the effects of green buildings are clearly presented through the findings of this study, the greening of structures will be actively expanded.

Environmental Impact Assessment and Environmental Management of Railways (I) (철도사업 환경영향평가와 환경관리(I))

  • Lee, Hyun-Woo;Lee, Young-Joon;Park, Young Min;Lee, Jeongho;Yoon, Mikyung
    • Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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    • v.13 no.6
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    • pp.295-305
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    • 2004
  • After the Rio declaration on environment and development in 1992, developed countries are undertaking "environmentally sustainable transportation (EST)" projects. To meet the needs for EST, current transportation policies in Korea are rapidly reforming and one of its concerns is modernizing and upgrading railway freight system. Planning new railroad construction projects is increasing and subsequent environmental impact assessment (EIA) demands improvements, especially in both the EIA and decision making systems. In this paper, we discuss the present status of EIA for railroad construction projects, especially, by analyzing the EIA documents for the last six years. The EIA for railroad construction projects accounts for only 4.9% of total 918 project EIAs during 1998-2003, and the portion is gradually increasing. Major environmental concerns for EIA in railroad construction projects were geomorphological and ecological changes, protection of rare organisms, air pollution, water pollution, waste management, and noise, etc. We compared characteristics of environmental impacts of railroad construction with those of vehicle road construction, based on environmental and construction-planning indicators appeared in Environmental Impact Statements. Railroad construction usually requires longer tunnels and bridges for a given length than those for vehicle road construction. In addition, the amounts of geomorphological and ecological changes (road-cutting, embankment, devegetation, etc.) in railroad construction were generally less than 50% of those in vehicle road construction. To develop environmentally friendly railway systems, monitoring studies for environmental impacts of railroads such as habitat fragmentation and road kills, dispersal of alien plants, tunnelling effects on groundwater and vegetation, and noise impacts are highly recommended.

Environmental Impact Assessment of the Yangyang Pumped Storage Power Plant Construction on the Namdae-Chun River, Korea (남대천 양양 양수발전소의 환경영향과 대책)

  • Chun, Sang-Ki
    • Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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    • v.6 no.1
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    • pp.151-160
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    • 1997
  • The Yangyang Pumped Storage Power Plant is being constructed by Korea Electric Power Corporation in Namdae-Chun River, Korea. The Yangyang Pumped Storage Power Plant has 1000MW capacity with upper reservior, lower reservior, hydrauric tunnel and underground power plant facilities. But NGO(Non Governmental Groups) and residents are worried about the power plant construction because of some problems, as follows. (1) Namdae-Chun River is principal salmon returning river in Korea. (2) Namdae-Chun River is main water supply source of the Yangyang country. So, brief explanation of Environmental Impacts Assessment executed by Korea Electric Power Corporation, main environmental impacts and countermeasures will be introduced.

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Toward a better environment impact assessment on dam construction (댐건설의 환경영향평가 현황과 바람직한 발전방향)

  • 이수재
    • Proceedings of the Korean Society of Environment and Ecology Conference
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    • 2003.10a
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    • pp.55-72
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    • 2003
  • Dam is a barrier constructed to divert, hold water and raise its level for purpose of water supply, irrigation, power generation, flood control, and recreational facilities, etc. Therefore, there are many inevitable environmental impacts on dam construction. We need some better tools to predict the impacts and mitigate measures before and after dam construction. For this purpose I discussed several feasible suggestions and provisions mainly related to environmental impact assessment.

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A study of LCA(Life Cycle Assessment) to a office building remodeling - Focused on Electrical Equipment - (사무소건축 리모델링에서의 전과정 평가에 관한 연구 - 전기 부분을 중심으로 -)

  • Lee, Seon-Dong;Yoo, Ho-Chun
    • Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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    • v.24 no.3
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    • pp.85-92
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    • 2004
  • Environmental issues become one of today's central concerns due to draining natural resources and environmental pollution. Architecture is given a great deal of weight on the evoking environmental pollution. In this point of view, polluting factors in architectural planning and construction were predicted in advance and alternative plans were studied, In investigation of alternative plans, both environmental pollution and economical efficiency of various alternatives were considered. A office building was analyzed for energy consumption and construction environmental load by appling LCA. Applying LCA to a office building includes a total amount of materials and energy consumption, environmental impacts and economical efficiency evaluation. In present study, LCA applied to electrical part of a office building and economical efficiency evaluation was considered.

Life cycle analysis of concrete and asphalt used in road pavements

  • lvel, Jocelyn;Watson, Rachel;Abbassi, Bassim;Abu-Hamatteh, Ziad Salem
    • Environmental Engineering Research
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    • v.25 no.1
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    • pp.52-61
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    • 2020
  • The article examines the impact differences between producing concrete and asphalt. Both materials are widely used in the construction industry. Construction activities account for a large portion of greenhouse gases. Therefore, it is important to consider the Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) to reduce environmental impacts. In this study, the material processes were inputted into an LCA program called SimaPro. The database used for the study was Ecoinvent as it is one of the major databases within SimaPro. The materials were compared against impacts per kg of material produced as the functional unit. Each process was created using the materials, energy and transportation required to produce the materials. Waste streams were also included in the process to determine the impacts after the product was done with its useful life. Using the ReCiPe method, an LCA was conducted. Midpoint and endpoint categories were examined for both the productions. The processes had similar results for the human health and ecosystems categories; however asphalt was marginally higher for both. Asphalt had exceeded concrete in the resource impact category by 100 mPt. The results indicate that concrete is the more sustainable building material. Determination of various impacts of the materials is important for material selection.

INTEGRATED LIFE-CYCLE COST ANALYSIS CONSIDERING ENVIRONMENTAL COSTS: A HIGHWAY PROJECT CASE

  • Woo-Sik Jang;Heedae Park;Sungmin Kim;Seung Heon Han;Jong Seo Jeon
    • International conference on construction engineering and project management
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    • 2011.02a
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    • pp.273-279
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    • 2011
  • Concerns over the environment have spawned a number of research studies in the construction industry, as the construction of built environments and large infrastructures involves diverse environmental impacts and loads of hazardous emissions. Many researchers have attempted to quantify these environmental loads, including greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and sulfur dioxide, to name a few. However, little research has been conducted regarding integrating the life-cycle assessment (LCA) of environmental loads with the current life-cycle cost analysis (LCCA) approach. This study aims to estimate the environmental loads as a monetary value using the European Climate Exchange (ECX) rate and, then, to integrate those impacts with the pure construction cost. Toward this end, this study suggests an integrated approach that takes into account the environmental effect on the evaluation of the life-cycle cost (LCC). The bill of quantity (BOQ) data of a real highway project are collected and analyzed for this purpose. As a result, considering the environmental loads in the pavement process, the total LCC increased 16% from the traditional LCC cost. This study suggests an integrated approach that will account the environmental effect on the LCC. Additionally, this study is expected to contribute to better decision-making, from the perspective of more sustainable development, for government as well as for contractors.

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Present Status and Future Vision of EIA for Railroad Construction Projects (철도건설사업 환경영향평가의 현황과 과제)

  • Lee Hyun-Woo;Lee Young-Joon;Park Young Min;Yoon Mikyung
    • Proceedings of the KSR Conference
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    • 2004.06a
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    • pp.296-302
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    • 2004
  • After the Rio declaration on environment and development in 1992, developed countries are undertaking 'environmentally sustainable transportation (EST)' projects. To meet the needs for EST, current transportation policies in Korea are rapidly reforming and one of its concerns is modernizing and upgrading railway freight system. Planning new railroad construction projects is increasing and subsequent environmental impact assessment (EIA) demands improvements, especially in both the EIA and decision making systems. In this paper, we discuss the present status of EIA for railroad construction projects, especially, by analyzing the EIA documents accumulated for last six years. The EIA for railroad construction projects .accounts for only $4.9\%$ of total project EIAs during 1998-2003. However, the portion is gradually increasing. Major environmental concerns for EIA in railroad construction projects were geomorphological and ecological changes, protection of rare organisms, air pollution, water quality, wast management, noise, etc. We also compared the characteristics of environmental impacts of railroad construction with those of vehicle road construction. The result shows that railroad construction usually requires 3${\~}$4 times longer tunnels and bridges for a given length than vehicle road construction. In addition, the amounts of geomorphological and ecological changes (road-cutting, embankment, devegetation, etc.) in railroad construction were generally less than $40\%$ of those in vehicle road construction. In order to develop environmentally friendly railway systems, monitoring studies for environmental impacts of railroads such as habitat fragmentation and road kills, dispersal of alien plants, tunnelling effects on groundwater and vegetation, and noise impacts are highly required.

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New Environmental Impact Assessment Technology (신환경영향평가기술(新環境影響評價技術)의 개발방향(開發方向))

  • Han, Sang-Wook;Lee, Jong-Ho;Nam, Young-Sook
    • Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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    • v.9 no.4
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    • pp.277-290
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    • 2000
  • The purpose of this study is to identify the problems of environmental impact assessment(EIA) and to suggest new EIA technology. The problems of EIA in Korea can be summarized as follows. First, the EIA does not reflect the impact of policy, plan and program on environment. Second, the project EIA does not consider the cumulative impacts such as additive impacts, synergistic impacts, threshold/saturation impacts, induced and indirect impacts, time-crowded impacts, and space-crowded impacts. Third, the EIA techniques in Korea are not standardized. Finally, the present EIA suggests only alternatives to reduce adverse impacts. To solve above-mentioned problems, the development of new EIA technology is essential. First, the new EIA technology should be developed toward pollution prevention technology and comprehensive and integrated environmental management technology. Second, new fields of EIA for pollution prevention contain strategic environmental assessment, cumulative impacts assessment, socio-economic impact assessment, cyber EIA and EIA technology necessary after the reunification of Korean Peninsula. Third, EIA technology for integrated environmental management contains the development of integated environment assessment system and the development of packaged EIA technology. The EIA technology for integrated environmental assessment system contains (1) development of integrated impact assessment technology combining air/water quality model, GIS and remote sensing, (2) integrated impact assessment of EIA, traffic impact assessment, population impact assessment and disaster impact assessment. (3) development of integrated technology combining risk assessment and EIA (4) development of integrated technology of life cycle assessment and EIA, (5) development of integrated technology of spatial planning and EIA, (6) EIA technology for biodiversity towards sustainable development, (7) mathematical model and GIS based location decision techniques, and (8) environmental monitoring and audit. Furthermore, there are some fields which need packaged EIA technology. In case of dam development, urban or industrial complex development, tourist development, landfill or combustion facilities construction, electric power plant development, development of port, road/rail/air port, is necessary the standardized and packaged EIA technology which considers the common characteristics of the same kind of development project.

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