Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
INTRODUCTION
managers, planners, and designers, and second, to
establish a dynamic dialogue between all airport
stakeholders, while overcoming the shortcomings
of traditional environmental impact assessments
and thus ensuring capacity enhancement. This
chapter contributes to the state of the knowledge in
airport environmental management by proposing
the combination of five distinct considerations:
(1) the evaluation of environmental sustainability
with a focus on the planning and design stages of
airport facilities, (2) a procedure for screening and
ranking alternatives, (3) examples of applicable
performance criteria, objectives and indicators
with sample scoring procedures, (4) a Multi-
Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) approach
combined with cost and utility functions, and (5)
a flexible implementation strategy to enable end-
users to adjust the complexity of the evaluation.
This study is intended to open a discussion for
the development of a methodological tool that
fulfills aims of promoting greener airport design,
while at the same time satisfactorily addressing
stakeholder concerns.
In this chapter, we start by reviewing existing
practices and argue the need for an evaluation
methodology specifically tailored for airport
systems. From there, we identify the main chal-
lenges for an effective and transparent evaluation
process in line with our two fundamental objec-
tives. We analyze the respective pros and cons of
features from existing methods to determine the
most relevant concepts and techniques. We sub-
sequently present our step-by-step methodology
for evaluating the environmental sustainability of
airport systems and demonstrate how it addresses
the shortcomings of existing methods. A numerical
example and a selection of performance criteria
illustrate real-world applicability. Finally, argu-
ments on the inclusion of a life-cycle perspective
and discussion on the development of a dynamic
stakeholder platform call for further research on
the topic.
Transportation infrastructure is a key strategic
asset for economic development but it also has a
major impact on the environment. In recent years,
the adoption of green practices has been mostly
occurring in the case of individual building projects
and there is a lack of environmental assessment
tools capable of handling complex infrastructure
systems such as airports. To address these needs,
this chapter introduces theoretical concepts for an
environmental evaluation of airport systems. The
development of a new methodology demonstrates
how to implement greener practices from the early
stages of a transportation infrastructure project in
an economically rational and stakeholder-focused
manner. The concepts presented here also remain
valid and applicable to other types of infrastruc-
ture systems.
Airport development is facing growing con-
cerns from direct stakeholders and the general
public as a result of its significant adverse impacts
on local communities and the environment. There
is widespread recognition of the environmental
repercussions of airport construction and opera-
tion at both the local and global levels (Janic,
1999). Such concerns consistently constrain
airport development, despite its crucial role
in the economic growth of a region. Although
many airports implement programs that address
a variety of daily operational issues such as the
use of alternative fuels and improved air traf-
fic management procedures (ACI, 2009b; GRI,
2009), there is currently no uniform or structured
approach in place to improve the planning and
design of airport development. This study seeks
to specifically address the environmental aspect
under consideration at these life-cycle stages since
decisions made at the beginning of a project have
considerable long-term environmental impact.
The development of an evaluation method-
ology has two fundamental objectives: first, to
foster greener design practices among airport
