Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
selecting impact categories, sustainability goals,
and functional areas that correspond to the project's
scope, (2), structuring the problem using criteria
clusters and objectives, (3) defining performance
indicators that provide data for decision criteria
used to evaluate each alternative's performance,
(4) calculating a score for each criteria, (5) esti-
mating criteria weights and aggregating individual
scores, and finally (6) ranking alternatives. The
final result and its details provide a basis for re-
solving conflicts and making a decision.
The result is an influence matrix relating im-
pact categories to functional areas (Table 3). For
a simpler evaluation, end-users may elect only
to retain categories and areas that show a high
degree of correlation. This first step gives end-
users a better understanding of the parameters
which influence the environmental sustainability
of each alternative. At this point, end-users should
also propose sustainability goals and strategies for
avoiding, minimizing, and mitigating impacts in
each category. The effective performance of these
strategies will be evaluated in the next steps of
the process.
Users may build their own influence matrix
by combining the impact categories that matter
most to their project stakeholders with the func-
tional areas that pertain to the development proj-
ect. This information is typically available in
planning and impact assessment documents.
Selection of Impact Categories,
Sustainability Goals and Functional
Areas
The first step of the process is to define the field
of analysis. This generic example considers master
plan components that cause most issues at airports
throughout the world as reported by ACI and the
Global Reporting Initiative. Assuming the role of
a master plan sustainability committee, we have
selected impact categories to be studied. It should
be noted that some airport functions will cause
impacts in more than one category. In this case,
supplementary categories are defined to combine
individual categories. Next, functional areas that
pertain to the scope of our master plan are defined
and related to each impact category.
Definition of Criteria
Clusters and Objectives
Assessment of the impacts caused by selected
functional areas can be made by appropriately
defining criteria clusters and objectives. Crite-
ria clusters relate to specific objectives and use
indicators to report on the fulfillment of these
objectives. The first step is to define a group for
Table 3. Example of influence matrix with impact categories and functional areas
General
Planning
Terminal
Facilities
Ground
Transportation
Airfield
GSE
Global Warming
●
●
Global Warming and Air Quality
●
●
●
Air Quality
●
Resource Depletion
●
Noise
●
Water Quality
●
●
Local Climate and Wildlife
●
●
●
Wildlife
●
