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To provide insight into the role and design of delivery services to address CO₂, NO _x , and PM₁₀ emissions from passenger travel.

A simulated North American data sample is served with three transportation structures: last-mile personal vehicles, local-depot-based truck delivery, and regional-warehouse-based truck delivery. CO₂, NO _x , and PM₁₀ emissions are modeled using values from the US EPA’s MOVES model and are added to an ArcGIS optimization scheme.

Local-depot-based truck delivery requires the lowest amount of vehicle miles traveled (VMT), and last-mile passenger travel generates the lowest levels of CO₂, NO _x , and PM₁₀. While last-mile passenger travel requires the highest amount of VMT, the efficiency gains of the delivery services are not large enough to offset the higher pollution rate of the delivery vehicle as compared to personal vehicles.

This research illustrates the clear role delivery structure and logistics have in impacting the CO₂, NO _x , and PM₁₀ emissions of goods transportation in North America.

This research illustrates tension between goals to reduce congestion (via VMT reduction) and CO₂, NO _x , and PM₁₀ emissions.

This chapter provides additional insight into the role of warehouse location in achieving sustainability targets and provides a novel comparison between delivery and personal travel for criteria pollutants.

The objective was to outline a process for selecting hazardous substances as pollution indicators that imply a chemical risk for the recycling of wastewater residues on arable land and for wastewater discharge into receiving waters. The reviewed methodologies showed one commonality: grouping of various characteristics that symbolise hazardous properties. From each group, one or several indicator substances were selected to represent the hazardous property of that specific group. The selected set of indicator substances represented the chemical risk characteristics as a whole. One conclusion is that it is difficult to create a comprehensive list of indicator substances for the monitoring of chemical risks in wastewater and residues. Due to the insufficiency of knowledge about the chemical risks from complex systems such as a wastewater system and the methodology for selecting indicator substances, many simplifications have to be accepted. The 100,000 substances present in the technosphere, of which 30,000 are regarded as “everyday” chemicals, may end up in wastewater systems. We have a limited knowledge of many of these substances, thereby providing a weak base for assessing the true chemical risks in wastewater and residues for reuse on arable land. Although the pollution situation will not entirely be understood by measuring the status of only a few substances (important substances may be overlooked), detected substances indicate a specific pollution situation in wastewater or sludge, thus increasing our knowledge about the current concentrations.

The self-cleaning properties of nanostructured titanium dioxide facade coatings are useful in Singapore's tropical climate. However, its potential maintenance issues need to be determined right at the design stage. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the development of the design for maintainability tool which is a multicriteria design decision score sheet that evaluates the maintainability potential of nano-facade coating applications on high-rise façades with concrete and stonemasonry finishes and curtain walls.

Quantitative methods (expert and practitioner surveys) are conducted in this research study. Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and sensitivity analysis were used to develop a robust Design for Maintainability tool.

Safety measures indicator received the highest weighted score by experts, while the maximizing performance, minimizing risk, minimizing negative environmental impact and minimizing consumption of matter and energy were the top ranking main criteria by both experts and practitioners. The top ranked design for maintainability sub-criteria identified by practitioners and experts were risk management, maintenance considerations, climatic conditions, safety measures, lifecycle cost and maintenance access, sun's path, rainfall intensity, biological growth measures and building age profile.

Most researches on the maintainability of nano-façade coatings uses experimentation to test the durability of nano-façade coatings, while this study focuses on design based empirical data such as establishing and ranking the list of design for maintainability criteria or indicators to minimize future defects and maintenance issues. The design for maintainability tool contributes to the maintainability of nano-façade coatings leading to maximizing its performance while minimizing cost, risks, resource consumption and negative environmental impact.

Purpose – The vulnerability and adaptive capacities of cities in Latin America have received relatively less attention compared to other regions of the world. This chapter seeks to address these gaps by (a) examining vulnerability to the health impacts from air pollution and temperature, and exploring whether socioeconomic factors between neighborhoods differentiate these risks within the cities of Bogota, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, and Santiago and (b) assessing the capacity of urban populations to perceive and respond to vulnerability and risk.

Design/methodology/approach – Because of the complex nature of vulnerability, we combined a set of quantitative and quantitative methods and data to determine whether and under what conditions the people in these cities are vulnerable (e.g., Time Series Analysis, Generalized Linear Model, and statistical correlations of exposure and human mortality with socioeconomic vulnerability).

Findings – We found high levels of PM10, ozone, and other criteria air pollutants in three cities for which we had data. However, the pattern of their impacts on health depends on the particulars of pollutant levels and atmospheric and weather conditions of each city. Our results reflect the varied facets of urban vulnerability and shed light on the nature of the associated human health risks. Although wealthy populations have access to education, good quality housing, and health services to mitigate some environmental risks, overall the data show that health impacts from air pollution and temperature in the study cities do not necessarily depend on socioeconomic differentiations.

Research limitations/implications – Although we sought to use quantitative and qualitative methods, given the complexity of the research, it has proven difficult to fully explore these issues across scales and with a full accounting of local context.

Practical implications – Our findings show that wealthy and educated populations may be equally at risk to the health implications of air pollution. Policies designed to mitigate these risks should not use socioeconomic characteristics as predictors of a population's risk in relation to air pollution.

Originality/value – This research contributes valuable insights into the dynamics of vulnerability to air pollution in Latin American cities, a region that has been historically underrepresented in empirical studies of urban risk. We have also combined a range of methods and approaches to improve our understanding of the multifaceted nature of urban vulnerability to global environmental change.

This paper analyzes two external costs often associated with port development, cost to fisheries from marine dredge disposal and damages from air pollution, using estimates of development and operation for a proposed (but since cancelled) container port as a case study. For dredge disposal, a bio-economic model was used to assess short- and long-term and indirect (joodweb) damages to fisheries from marine disposal of clean sediments. In the case of air pollution, estimates of annual activity levels and emission coefficients are used to estimate incremental annual emissions of three key pollutants (NOx, HC and CO) for trucks, trains, yard vehicles, and vessels. These estimates allow for phasing in of strict new air pollution regulations. For both external costs, sensitivity analyses are used to reflect uncertainty. Estimates of shadow values in year 2002 dollars amount from $0.094 per cubic yard to $0.169 per cubic yard of clean dredged material for the selected disposal site and from $0.0584 per mile (jor current control standards) to $ 0. 0023 per mile (after phasing in of new regulations) for air pollution from heavy trucks.