Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
the change of resilience of an energy system can be used in the assessment of
the system behavior and the potential for its malfunction development. As the
sustainability index definition we have used specific quality indicators
reflecting corresponding criteria, it is possible to use the sustainability index as
the resilience metric parameter. The change of the economic indicator is
intrinsic to the specific characteristic to be measured in the time scale. The
time change of the economic indicators is common to the classical evaluation
of a system. Any crises of the economic system are preceded with
corresponding changes in the economic indicators of the system. Qualitative
measurement of the indicator changes may lead to the forecast of the economic
crises, which is only one element of the potential disastrous changes of the
system affecting its safety [10].
The mutual interaction between the system and its surrounding is
imminent for any system. The changes in the interaction rate will affect the
safety of the system. If these processes are in steady state, it can be considered
that the system is safe. As good example for this type of changes of indicator
is the interaction of system and its surrounding in the case of radioactive leaks
from nuclear facilities, which may lead to hazardous consequences.
The change of social element of complexity of the system is a property of
the complex system. The social aspect of the
system includes the risk of
changes as health hazards and may have to deal with a compounding of
complexity at different levels. It is of interest to notice that some of the social
changes are an inherent characteristic of the system. As an example we can
take any strike, which is the result of the economic changes of the system. A
similar example can be seen if there is a sudden change in the environment,
which will lead to social disturbances.
2.4.
M
ATHEMATICAL
F
ORMULATION
OF
S
USTAINABILITY
I
NDEX
If it is assumed that the Sustainability index is a linear agglomeration
function of products between indicators and corresponding weighting
coefficients, we can write the aggregation function, which is presented in the
form of additive convolution. If it is adapted
,
that each of the criteria is
weighted by the respective factor, the sum of the
criteria multiplied with the
corresponding factor will lead to the Sustainability Index [11].
