Economic indicators assessment

Finally, the carbon footprint of a product or a process can only rarely reflect all the important environmental aspects of a product or process choice. Therefore, other environmental impact categories or even technical, social and economic assessments are necessary complements. The carbon footprint has often been the only environmental indicator assessed, due to lack of data or well-developed impact assessment methodology for other impacts, or sometimes because of ignorance of the potential risks constituted by the other environmental aspects. The choice of making a carbon footprint assessment or not and how to complement it with other evaluations must be guided by the decision at hand. 

Fig. 11.2 presents areas of improvement considering two boundaries for the system supply chain assessment and process assessment. The economic indicators have been classified in these two levels, because (1) some retrofit actions influence the different stakeholders and therefore the economic aspects of the supply chain should be considered (2) some retrofit actions might have little influence on the external stakeholders and therefore the economic evaluation can be focused on the economic performance of the company. 

For the retrofit action, which does not affect the external stakeholders, the process assessment area is the most suitable boundary for sustainability analysis (Fig. 11.2). In the process assessment, the areas of improvement are the traditional economic indicators applied to retrofit design analysis. The operational results as well as the investment analysis of the proposed retrofit designs are accounted for. The operational results are the traditional indicators applied by engineers in retrofit design assessment [12]. They should be always contemplated, since after the implementation of a retrofit design those costs are going to be incurred at least for the next 5 years (minimum lifetime for a project). Regarding the operational results, several authors point out different aspects that should... 

In order to provide a firm basis for the economic assessment of EFR and to confirm the favourable trend deduced from the comparison of economic indicators, the EFR Associates launched a comprehensive cost enquiry campaign which involved expoienced component manufacturers in Europe. The manufacturers were asked to provide quotations against specific Cost Enquiry Specifications for a number of components typical of fast reactors. 

Attempting to measure all 45 socio-economic indicators in any given post-disaster context is the desirable objective, but data availability constraints mean this is not always feasible. Quite often multiple sources of data are required to measure all indicators (e.g., reinsurance companies such as MiinichRe or SwissRe, international organization situation reports such as produced from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) or the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) case studies, such as the ones conducted by the World Bank (WB)). Consequently, this may lead to slight variations exist in estimates and totals. 

Usually, the following two economic indicators are used to assess the effectiveness of an investment Net present value (NPV) and internal rate of return (IRR). In practice, it is difficult to compare different investments on the basis of only one indicator because NPV depends on the value of investments (not comparable for two investments with different initial values) whereas IRR value is determined at the end of the project. Additionally, NPV is sensitive to the assumed discount rate in contrast IRR is independent of the value of the initial investment and independent of the discount rate. A financial profile can be prepared for NPV which shows a very good return on the investment process over the period. Since cash flows were calculated according to the free cash flow for the firm (FCFF) formula, no financial costs were included. 

The economics of the arc-coal process is sensitive to the electric power consumed to produce a kilogram of acetylene. Early plant economic assessments indicated that the arc power consumption (SER = kwh/kgC2H2) must be below 13.2. The coal feedcoal quench experiments yielded a 9.0 SER with data that indicated a further reduction to below 6.0 with certain process improvements. In the propane quench experiment, ethylene as well as acetylene is produced. The combined process SER was 6.2 with a C2H2/C2H4 production ratio of 3 to 2. Economic analysis was completed uti1i2ing the achieved acetylene yields, and an acetylene price approximately 35% lower than the price of ethylene was projected. 

In making risk management decisions it is important to take into account nontechnical factors in addition to scientific and economic information. Recent crises in the food industry have indicated that consumers perceptions about risks are driven by factors that would not be considered in conventional risk assessments. Research has shown that factors such as whether sub-groups (particularly children) might be affected, whether the hazard is familiar, if there are effects on the environment or if risks and benefits are equitably shared can determine consumers reactions to an issue. 

The characteristic data, economic figures, general assessments and indications concerning all the properties are not guaranteed and cannot be used for calculations, computations or other operations to determine design, cost-effectiveness or profitability. 

Amoebophrya ceratii has several characteristics which indicate it may be useful as a biological agent for controlling PSP. However, much work remains to be done to assess the ecological acceptability, biological feasibility, and economic practicality of using A. ceratii to control Gonyaulax and PSP problems. 

The vendor estimates the cost of Cement-Lock plant construction to be about 200/yd times its annual capacity. According to the vendor, a preliminary economic assessment of the Cement-Lock processing plant indicates a payback of capital within 2 years of operation (D16285Q, p. 5). 

---