Sustainability and Remediation - Dealing with Contaminated Sites: From Theory Towards Practical Application - page 930

• loss of volume of groundwater;

• energy consumption (equivalent CO 2 );

• air emissions (including CO 2 equivalent greenhouse gases);

• surface water emissions;

• waste creation;

• use of space.

REC is not designed to be a full sustainability appraisal, for example considering
a full range of environmental, social and economic factors, but does provide decision
makers with a perspective on the environmental sustainability versus direct costs of
different remediation options.

20.3.4.15 Quality of Life Capital Assessment

Quality of life capital assessment is a sustainability appraisal tool for maximising
and integrating environmental, economic and social benefits as part of any land
use or management decision. The core idea of Quality of life Capital is that the
environment, the economy and society provide a range of benefits for human life,
and that it is these benefits or services which need to be protected and/or enhanced.
Assessment examines these benefits and services systematically, using a series of
questions:

• who the services matter to, why, and at what spatial scale;

• how important are they, distinct question from the previous one;

• whether the benefits and services are in short supply;

• what (if anything) could make up for any loss or damage to the service.

Expert judgement and community views both need to be reflected, so quality of
life capital uses both public consultation and involvement processes and technical
appraisal methods including (for environmental benefits and services) environmen-
tal impact assessment, landscape, ecological, archaeological and characterisation
studies (Countryside Agency et al. 2001 ). The output of the process is a matrix of
written conclusions, rather than a formal valuation.

20.4 Applied Sustainable Remediation

In practice, remediation planning can take place during project design and during
remedy selection. During project design, there is an opportunity for enhanced sus-
tainability compared with decisions made at the level of remedy selection alone.
Opportunities for improving sustainability at the level of remedy selection only
relate to the impacts of the remediation process options, for example their use
of energy and resources, their impacts on soil functionality, their direct and indi-
rect costs, or the possibilities that they might cause nuisance or have wider effects