No abstract

For road pavements, hot-mix asphalt (HMA) and Portland cement concrete (PCC) are the materials most commonly used. In the selection of one of these materials, their economic performance and environmental performance are evaluated to determine which material exhibits excellent overall performance. However, no overall performance assessment exists in the construction community attributed to the lack of method providing easy-to-use and informative criteria for the decision-making process. Thus, in this paper, a new method that enables a comprehensive overall performance assessment is proposed, which is called Improved Building for Environmental and Economic Sustainability. After an eco-economic life-cycle assessment is performed, along with environmental performance and economic performance evaluation, the best-fit pavement material can be selected. This method has proven that the use of HMA for road pavements reduces the environmental impact by 27.1%P (i.e., percentage point), whereas the use of PCC reduces cost by 19.7%P. The existing Building for Environmental and Economic Sustainability (BEES) method shows that the performances of both HMA and PCC were over-assessed by 4.6%P and 7.4%P, respectively, since the environmental performance and economic performance cannot be computed quantitatively by incorporating the environmental and cost impact index into existing BEES model, the Improved BEES method accurately projects environmental performance and economic performance attained through the application of the environmental and cost impact index, hence, encouraging more informed decision. This method facilitates in articulating a quality decision making through the consideration of both the environmental performance and economic performance, hence reducing unnecessary costs generated from the trial and error due to the use of the existing method. Moreover, it promotes the development of a sustainable construction technology.

Pile installation has an environmental impact through its various processes ranging from raw material extraction to construction. In addition, the environmental performance, productivity, and cost of pile installation depend on the construction plan. Therefore, the chain of activities must be considered when analyzing the sustainability of pile installation. A rational construction plan must carefully examine the factors that affect the productivity and sustainability of pile installations. This study presents a method for evaluating eco-economic performance by analyzing the resource utilization and processes of PHC pile installation. First, a process modeling technique, wherein details are broken down to the work task level, based on energy consumption and resource cost, is proposed. Second, a simulation method that calculates the eco-economic performance of the PHC pile process and resources (e.g., equipment) is presented. Third, a quantitative comparison of durations, costs, and emissions resulting from simulation, estimation based on the CSPR (Construction Standard Production Rate) and IUC (Itemized Unit Cost), site contract, and actual construction is presented. The results reveal that the method effectively reflects the prediction of duration, cost, and carbon emissions generated in the real world during the construction planning stage.