INDEX environmentally acceptable

The PMV index can be used to check whether a given thermal environment complies with specified comfort criteria and to establish requirements for different levels of acceptability. By setting PMV = 0, an equation is established that predicts combinations of activity, clothing, and environmental parameters that will provide a thermally neutral sensation. Figure 6.1 shows the optimal operative temperature as a function of activity and clothing for different levels of acceptability. 

In order to improve the policy relevanee of the results, it is necessary to aggregate the indicators analysed to one final result, e.g. a sustainability index. Data aggregation currently faees the faet that there is no commonly accepted methodology to alleviate the problem of evaluating and summarising the environmental indicator data. 

The battery of test approach for toxicity testing is now a universally-accepted concept. It has recently been applied in Latin American countries and is presently recognized as a critical tool for the assessment of complex mixtures. Interpretation of hazard by reducing complex ecotoxicological data into a single numerical value (e.g., PEEP index) is generally favoured by decision-makers involved in various facets of environmental regulation. 

Generally, any proposal to incorporate a nonconventional material, and particularly a waste or by-product material, into a pavement structure requires, in addition to an engineering evaluation, an investigation of its physical (size distribution, specific gravity, specific surface area, hygroscopic moisture, plasticity index) and chemical properties (pH, composition, absorption capacity). These properties need be addressed prior to determining the acceptability of the material in order to determine the environmental, occupational health and safety, recyclabiUty, economic and implementation issues. Such an evaluation is complicated by the number of technical disciplines as well as institutional considerations that must be included in the process. 

The environmental impacts of both the solvent to be replaced and the replacement solvent are considered using two indexes an air index and an overall environmental index. Since the object here is to formulate substitute solvents that have better environmental performance, the indexes for the solvent to be replaced are not matched but are rather treated as an upper bound on the indexes of the acceptable replacement. This insures that the replacement solvent is environmentally better than the original solvent as measured by the indexes. The inherent toxic effects of the solvent and the toxic effects due to volatile organic emissions are considered separately because, when chemicals are mixed, their volatility changes due to the non-idealities in the mixture. Therefore, a chemical that has low risk by inhalation due to low volatility in pure form can have a much higher volatility and a much higher risk when mixed with other chemicals. The air index,... 

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