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Research has separately existed for life-cycle costs and environmental assessment of photovoltaic systems. This study provides a framework for the identification of the optimal set of residential photovoltaic system options in terms of costs and selected air emissions by assessing the life cycle of the product from manufacturing to disposal. Analyzed air emissions include carbon, nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, carbon monoxide, and particulate matter. The study focuses on general residential installations within the San Francisco Bay Area of California. Pareto frontiers are determined for costs and emissions, and the best options for suppliers are identified in each case, including sensitivity analysis of the installation planning horizon. Choosing multicrystalline silicon modules over thin film modules has the greatest impact on cost reduction. The electricity mix with which the modules are produced has the greatest impact on the emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

No other industry in the United States uses more materials by weight than the construction industry. Because of its economic strength and societal importance, it is also a significant polluter and a target of growing stakeholder scrutiny. This review offers an extended, supply chain inclusive framework for the study of the construction industry that serves all the life-cycle stages of society's infrastructure systems, and it summarizes selected literature on the life-cycle environmental assessment of construction materials, designs, and processes. On the basis of identified knowledge gaps, a research agenda is discussed for lesser-studied questions in order to first understand and then eventually reduce the environmental impacts of construction materials, processes, and activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The production of equipment and materials used for transportation facilities and services can have significant environmental effects. Considerable effort is expended to reduce such effects as efficiently and effectively as possible. In this paper, we estimate external environmental costs resulting from the production of common transportation equipment, materials, and services. These external cost estimates only include the effects from air emissions of conventional pollutants, including carbon monoxide, greenhouse gases (or global warming potential), volatile organics, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, and nitrogen oxides. The estimates include all the direct and indirect supply chain emissions, such as electricity generation and mining. The cost estimates are uncertain and are likely to be underestimates of total external costs. However, the estimates should be useful for an initial assessment of the total social costs of transportation projects, and to indicate products and processes worthy of additional pollution prevention efforts. In particular, we find that additional external environmental costs may range from as low as 1% to as high as 45% for transportation services. External environmental costs of transportation equipment manufacturing range between 0.3 and 11%, while the external environmental costs of transportation construction and operation materials are estimated to vary between 1 and 100%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]