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• Carbon capturing technology is widely used in fossil fuel power generation sector to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions. • This paper presents a feasibility study of implementing carbon capturing technology on building heating systems. • It evaluates life cycle environmental impacts and costs of implementing carbon capturing on building heating systems and introduces a decision-making framework. • The paper shows carbon capturing technologies have the potential to be implemented in building heating systems compared to other greenhouse gas emissions mitigations technologies. Buildings are responsible for 40 % of the global energy consumption, thus leading to significant climate change and other environmental impacts. Adopting carbon capturing, storage, and utilization technologies (CCSU) can be a solution for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from natural gas building heating systems. However, the current knowledge base lacks definitive knowledge on the possibilities and impacts of building level CCSU. The goal of this study is to investigate the feasibility of implementing CCSU technologies in natural gas building heating systems. A comparative performance assessment framework was developed to evaluate the environmental and economic performance of building-level CCSU technologies over their life cycle. These performances were then compared against alternative GHG emissions mitigation methods used for building heating systems. The results obtained by a case study indicated that adopting CCSU technologies in residential buildings is not economically and environmentally competitive against electricity-based heating systems when the regional electricity is generated using renewable energy sources and nuclear energy. However, there is a potential for the building-level CCSU in regions that depend on fossil fuels to generate electricity. The research outcomes will further develop and improve building-level carbon capturing technologies and will provide confidence to stakeholders to invest. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abrasion of tires on road surfaces leads to the formation of tire and road wear particles (TRWPs). Approximately 5.9 million tonnes/year of TRWPs are emitted globally, and 12–20% of emissions generated on roads are transmitted into surface waters, where they can release (i.e., leach) chemical compounds that adversely affect aquatic species. To better understand the ecological risk of TRWPs, an acute, probabilistic ecological risk assessment model was developed and applied. This was a screening-level, conceptual ecological risk assessment (ERA) based on secondary data from published scientific studies. The model was demonstrated using British Columbia (BC) Highway 97 (TRWP source) and Kalamalka Lake (receiving water) in Canada, considering two spatial scenarios with varied highway (HWY) lengths and lake volumes. TRWP-derived chemical leachates considered for ERA were aniline, anthracene (ANT), benzo(a)pyrene (B(a)P), fluoranthene (Fl), mercaptobenzothiazole (MBT), and zinc (Zn). An assumed 'total TRWP-derived leachate set' was also assessed, representing all compounds present in tire-derived leachate test solutions. The results indicated the risk to aquatic species in two spatial scenarios. In scenario 1, ecotoxicity risk was high from exposure to TRWP-derived zinc and the total TRWP-derived leachate set. Scenario 2 results indicated acute risk was high from all TRWP-derived chemicals examined, except MBT. This preliminary ecological risk screening provides an early signal that freshwater lakes adjacent to busy highways may be at risk from TRWP contamination, indicating a need for further research. This research is the first ERA of TRWPs in Canada, and the results and methodology provide a foundation for future research and solutions development. [Display omitted] • Tire and road wear particles (TRWPs) are a major source of micropolymer • Ecological risk assessment (ERA) was conducted to assess the risk of TRWPs. • Two scenarios were developed by considering lake spatial factors. • The risk quotients for both scenarios ranged from 4.3E-05 to 2.5E+02. • ERA results can assist in minimizing the impacts of TRWPs in surface waters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Proposing a multi-model robust dynamic output feedback damping controller for the GCSC. • Investigating a two-step LMI approach for solving BMI optimization problem. • A multi-objective H 2 / H ∞ synthesis with regional pole-placement. • Power system operational uncertainties considering variations in operating conditions are represented as multi-model. In the recent decade, the power network has experienced a remarkable energy transition due to the large-scale integration of wind energy resources, especially converter-interfaced modern wind turbines. The increasing/decreasing wind penetration, on the other hand, unexpectedly affects the low frequency oscillations of the modern power grid. In this context, the proposed work adopts a multi-model multi-objective robust control framework to design a supplementary damping controller for the gate-controlled series capacitor (GCSC) to stabilize the hybrid power system with a permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG)-based off-shore wind farm (OSWF) and a doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG)-based onshore wind farm (ONWF). A bilinear matrix inequality (BMI) optimization problem, formulated as multi-objective synthesis considering H 2 / H ∞ performance along with pre-defined pole placement, is presented for the GCSC control design, which is solved by a two-step linear matrix inequality (LMI) approach. In addition, all LMI constraints are constructed based on the multi-model control framework to incorporate multiple operating conditions. Afterward, the significant improvement in the damping characteristics of the closed-loop system, covering a wide operating range, is confirmed using eigenvalue analysis. The effectiveness of the scheme is validated using two case studies based on the hybrid power system, subject to various disturbances and uncertainties. The simulation results show the robustness and higher damping performance of the proposed multi-model strategy, compared to a conventional and a robust damping controller, for mitigating power system oscillations alongside voltage fluctuations of the wind farms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental impact assessment of energy generation processes is essential to evaluate their contributions toward the global carbon footprint. Even though hydrogen is a non-carbonaceous energy source, the pathways undertaken for its production can have harmful environmental implications. Thus, this study focuses on investigating the exergoenvironmental performances of the copper-chlorine, iron-chlorine, and magnesium-chlorine thermochemical hydrogen generation processes. This study also performs a comparative exergoenvironmental analysis of the three processes. The performances of the various processes are examined based on of the environmental impact rates of exergy destruction, component-related environmental impact rates, cumulative environmental impact rates, and exergoenvironmental factors. The global warming potentials of the thermochemical cycles are also evaluated and compared for various electricity sources to obtain hydrogen. The modeling and simulation of each process are performed using Aspen-plus by considering various heat recovery approaches for thermal management. The results suggest that the environmental impact rates of exergy destruction are relatively much higher compared to the environmental impact rates associated with the components for all processes. Furthermore, the hydrolysis step yields the highest component-associated environment impact rate for all thermochemical cycles considered (Fe–Cl: 3497 mPts/h, Cu–Cl: 1997 mPt/h, and Mg–Cl: 910 mPts/h). Moreover, the magnesium-chlorine cycle results in the highest environmental impact rate of exergy destruction (650,328 mPts/h) while the iron-chlorine cycle has the highest component-related environmental impact rate (5219 mPts/h) among the three cycles. In addition, the global warming potential of the magnesium-chlorine cycle is relatively higher compared to the copper-chlorine cycle for several electricity sources. [Display omitted] • An exergoenvironmental analyses of three thermochemical cycles is performed. • Each cycle is incorporated with thermal management schemes for higher efficiencies. • Industrial waste flue gases are considered as a heat source for hydrolysis reaction. • A hydrogen production capacity of 668 kg/h is considered for each cycle. • A comparison of global warming potential for various electricity sources is made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small-sized urban neighbourhoods are facing challenges to achieve their sustainability objectives due to lack of resources and their limited economies of scale. Establishing benchmarks and evaluating the sustainability indicators (SIs) for such neighbourhoods using a fixed-point scoring approach without addressing the uncertainties associated with data limitations and vagueness in expert opinion may be misleading. In this research, a set of suitable SIs covering all the sustainability aspects of small-sized neighbourhoods is developed from state-of-the-art NSA tools and expert judgment. A hierarchical-based framework is developed to link the selected SIs with the desired objectives and to the key components of a small-sized neighbourhood. The neighbourhood is divided into three key components, i.e. land use, infrastructure, and socioeconomics, to categorize inputs from experts, based on their areas of expertise. A fuzzy synthetic evaluation technique is used to develop an overall sustainability index for each component by aggregating selected SIs. An excel-based NSA tool is implemented on a case study of the District of Peachland, British Columbia, to evaluate framework’s pragmatic application. Output of the tool in the form of a ‘sustainability radar diagram’ and a ‘sustainability thermometer’ will be useful for decision makers striving to improve the sustainability of small-sized urban neighbourhoods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even though there is a large body of knowledge related to buildings, only a limited number of examples with a focus on asset management exist in published literature. More importantly, current literature lacks rating systems that support tactical and operational management of building infrastructure. This paper addresses the aforementioned knowledge gap and building industry requirement by proposing an index for operational management of a public building using building level of service (LOS). In the context of buildings, LOS is defined as an assessment of the operational performance provided to building users, society, and the environment. A fuzzy synthetic evaluation (FSE)-based method was used to assess the LOS of buildings. First, key performance categories and indicators were defined for operating building performance assessment. Indicators and benchmarks were customized for an aquatic center building. A case study was conducted to demonstrate the application of the LOS index. Results from this approach provides an assessment of the operational performance of the aquatic center building with respect to nine LOS performance categories. Overall building LOS was evaluated as good for the three pseudo scenarios considered. The proposed LOS index facilitates asset management of public buildings by providing information for operational, tactical, and strategic decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small to medium sized water utilities face serious challenges to meet broad sustainability objectives, because of technical, human and financial constraints and limited involvement in the inter-utility benchmarking. Most of these utilities are unable to address the performance gaps for various functional components, such as personnel, operational, financial, etc., of their water supply systems and rely on emergency response. Even if the information obtained from such benchmarking process is available, the outcome (indices) showing performance of these components, at the utility level, is useful for top level management. The operations management is more interested in the performance of sub-components (under each functional component) of the water supply systems within the utility. An intra-utility performance management model is conceptualized and developed for effective decision making at both the levels. A hierarchical based top-down approach initiates from overall sustainability objectives at the top, followed by primary and secondary performance measures of the sub-components, and indicators (basic building blocks) receive inputs from data/decision variables at the bottom. The model assesses the performance of each component and sub-component as ‘ high ’, ‘medium’ , or ‘low’ . Fuzzy based technique has been employed to deal with uncertainty issues due to data limitations and vagueness in expert knowledge. Sensitivity analysis helped to rank the indicators for their contribution in decision making. The model is implemented for a medium sized utility containing three sub-systems in the Okanagan Basin (BC, Canada). The results demonstrate the model's practicality to efficiently achieve sustainable performance in small to medium sized water utilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The risk posed to Arctic marine life by microplastics, a Contaminants of Emerging Arctic Concern (CEAC), is poorly known. The reason is the limited understanding of the dose-response relationship due to the region's peculiar environmental and geophysical properties and the unique physiological properties of the species living there. The properties of microplastics in the region and their distribution across the oceanic profile further complicate the problem. This paper addresses the knowledge gap by proposing a novel comprehensive ecotoxicity model. The model uses oxidative stress caused by the Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) to assess cell mortality. Cell mortality has been used as an indicator of ecological risk. The model is implemented in the Bayesian Network (BN) framework to evaluate the cytotoxicity, measured as the probability of causing mortality. The work enhances the understanding and assessment of the cytotoxicity of microplastics in polar cod and associated risks. [Display omitted] • A novel approach for estimating risk of microplastic ingestion by Arctic aquatic biota is presented. • This risk evaluation approach is applied to polar cod. • A novel Bayesian Network model to predict cell death probabilities is described. • The model is tested across a wide range of ecological conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An efficient waste treatment strategy should be cost-effective and minimize potential impacts on various stakeholders and the environment. This study proposes a decision framework that can model the stakeholder's conflicting priorities over the sustainability criteria, when selecting a municipal solid waste treatment option. The proposed framework compares life cycle sustainability impacts of selected options and develops a weighing scheme for combining impacts based on stakeholders' preferences. It then uses game theory to help the stakeholders fairly share the costs and benefits, and guides the stakeholders to reach an agreement on a mutually sustainable and pragmatic solution. In this study, the application of the framework to select a waste-to-energy technology for Vancouver, Canada is demonstrated. The case study discusses the prospect of producing refuse-derived fuel by cement industry and the municipality. Results show that the cement industry and the municipality may mutually benefit from the refuse-derived fuel, if the industry pays a tipping fee of $0.077–0.96 per kg waste to access the required amount of solid waste from the municipality. The outcome of the framework can help in the approval and application of an overall sustainable option by both stakeholders and in making the negotiation more efficient and timely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A systematic analysis of how environmental factors affect the virus spread. • Examination of transmission pathway of COVID-19 into built and natural environment. • State of art review of systems analysis tools to assess the dynamics of COVID-19. • The One-Health based decision tool that would help policymakers to combat COVID-19. COVID-19 is deemed as the most critical world health calamity of the 21st century, leading to dramatic life loss. There is a pressing need to understand the multi-stage dynamics, including transmission routes of the virus and environmental conditions due to the possibility of multiple waves of COVID-19 in the future. In this paper, a systematic examination of the literature is conducted associating the virus-laden-aerosol and transmission of these microparticles into the multimedia environment, including built environments. Particularly, this paper provides a critical review of state-of-the-art modelling tools apt for COVID-19 spread and transmission pathways. GIS-based, risk-based, and artificial intelligence-based tools are discussed for their application in the surveillance and forecasting of COVID-19. Primary environmental factors that act as simulators for the spread of the virus include meteorological variation, low air quality, pollen abundance, and spatial-temporal variation. However, the influence of these environmental factors on COVID-19 spread is still equivocal because of other non-pharmaceutical factors. The limitations of different modelling methods suggest the need for a multidisciplinary approach, including the 'One-Health' concept. Extended One-Health-based decision tools would assist policymakers in making informed decisions such as social gatherings, indoor environment improvement, and COVID-19 risk mitigation by adapting the control measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with online water quality monitoring in distribution networks based on surrogate water quality parameters (WQPs). The present strategy is based on multi-level information fusion using hierarchical belief rule-based (BRB) systems. Networked fuzzy belief rule-based (NF-BRB) and high-level BRB systems are introduced for information fusion at the feature level. Primary and secondary features are extracted from online WQP signals. Primary features are analyzed using the NF-BRB system that is built through knowledge elicitation from experts. Secondary features are interpreted through the high-level BRB system that employs a fuzzy partitioning on the feature sets and a hybrid learning strategy for its rule base construction. Finally, the dynamic fuzzy evidential fusion is introduced to aggregate the local and spatial assessments in each analysis window. As an important contribution of this paper, we propose a new validation method for event detection in the water distribution network (WDN) based on adaptive projection of the signal patterns attributed to anomaly events, obtained through contamination experiments in a pilot facility, to the real WQP signals measured across the WDN. Single and composite contamination events based on several biological and chemical contaminants are simulated to evaluate the performance of the proposed framework in event detection. The proposed multi-level information fusion framework obtains a high detection rate and a reduced number of false negative and positive results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acid rock drainage (ARD) is a major pollution problem globally that has adversely impacted the environment. Identification and quantification of uncertainties are integral parts of ARD assessment and risk mitigation, however previous studies on predicting ARD drainage chemistry have not fully addressed issues of uncertainties. In this study, artificial neural networks (ANN) and support vector machine (SVM) are used for the prediction of ARD drainage chemistry and their predictive uncertainties are quantified using probability bounds analysis. Furthermore, the predictions of ANN and SVM are integrated using four aggregation methods to improve their individual predictions. The results of this study showed that ANN performed better than SVM in enveloping the observed concentrations. In addition, integrating the prediction of ANN and SVM using the aggregation methods improved the predictions of individual techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building energy retrofits have been identified as key to realizing climate mitigation goals in Canada. However, retrofit solutions that only produce greenhouse gas emission savings can place economic burdens on residential building owners and hinder the community penetration of building energy retrofitting projects. Therefore, investigating trade-offs between environmental and economic impacts of retrofitting is essential to identify optimal retrofit strategies that can produce emissions savings while delivering economic benefits for the stakeholders. This paper proposes a community-level building energy retrofit evaluation framework for residential buildings. The proposed framework evaluates building energy retrofits using a multi-objective optimization approach that accounts for associated life cycle economic and environmental impacts. Life cycle CO 2 emissions were selected as the indicator for environmental performance. The net present value of the cash flows involved in a given retrofit project throughout the project life cycle was selected as the economic performance indicator. Building energy simulation results were combined with economic and environmental impact data to quantify these performance indicators. The performance results were used to identify Pareto-optimal retrofit solutions. The results indicate that retrofitting existing residential buildings can produce considerable emission reductions (up to 245.1 tonCO 2 eq/residence) and cost savings (up to 12,900 $/residence). Moreover, retrofit packages should prioritize upgrading building envelope insulation and space heating systems. This study introduces a decision support tool for community-level retrofit planners that can account for life cycle environmental and life cycle economic performance of retrofitting while fulfilling capital investment constraints. • Energy retrofits were evaluated using life cycle assessment and cost analysis. • The trade-offs between life cycle emissions and costs were explored. • Optimal retrofit packages for residential buildings were identified. • Natural gas heated buildings should be prioritized for retrofitting. • Strategies for promoting community-level retrofit programs were proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transport infrastructure investments constitute 31% of the world's capital investments. However, there is a significant gap between the demand for large-scale transport infrastructure and investments in such infrastructure. An investigation into the causes of the above gap brings to light the inefficiencies of the current capital deployment practices throughout the project life cycle that result in additional expenditure over the optimal investments. This paper aims to review the existing body of knowledge on capital deployment efficiencies of large-scale transport infrastructure investments. The review looks into the causes of inefficiencies and practices applied for efficiency enhancement. Pareto analysis is used to prioritise the causes, and a cause and effect diagram is drawn to identify the root causes for inefficiencies. Finally, practices applied in different stages of the project life cycle are discussed. Based on these findings, a decision support outline is suggested to enhance the efficiency of each identified cause. The findings of this study provide an important foundation to set up a strategic approach to improve capital deployment efficiency of large-scale transport infrastructure investments. Accordingly, a strategic approach is proposed in policy, organisation, and project level activities to improve the capital deployment efficiency of large-scale transportation infrastructure investments in developing countries. Existing studies primarily focus on the technological advancements, without focusing on healthier governance practices. Therefore, it is essential to address the technical advancement and better governance practices to get the best value for investments. Further research is suggested on the application of a strategic approach in different types of projects. • Pareto analysis and causes and effect diagram indicated causes affect the transport infrastructure investment projects. • Analysis of issues affected the capital inefficiencies of the project life cycle in transport infrastructure investments. • Decision support matrix is proposed to reduce the effects of the inefficacies throughout the project life cycle. • Application of the best practice framework for policy, organisation and project level practices are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid urbanization and climate change have increased the risk of urban flooding, causing massive infrastructure and human losses. The concept of resilience proposes new solutions to manage flood disaster. An urban flood resilience evaluation framework considering the flood disaster cycle of actual historic flood event and objective physical-socio-economic status is necessary for future flood mitigation. This paper proposes a holistic evaluation framework for evaluating urban flood resilience with VIKOR and Grey Relational Analysis (GRA) method. The proposed framework consists of indicators of resistance, coping, recovery and adaptation capacity of resilience for three stages of the flood disaster cycle, namely pre, during and post-flood. The framework has been applied to Yangtze River Delta (YRD) consisting 27 cities in China. Following a rigorous analysis, the cities are ranked and mapped, among which Nanjing stands out to be the first, whereas the entire region presents a moderate level of urban flood resilience varying from city to city. The detailed comparison with sensitivity analysis of resilience at regional, provincial and city level suggests a better resilience in pre-flood stage than post-flood stage. Finally, practical recommendations to regional and local level are provided for further flood mitigation and resilience improvement. The proposed framework is generalizable and useful to develop flood related standards, establish benchmarks, perform evaluation at regional, provincial and city levels across China and other parts of the world. • The framework is built considering the flood disaster cycle of actual event and objective physical-socio-economic status. • A VIKOR and Grey Relational Analysis (GRA) method is developed to evaluate the urban flood resilience. • The framework is applied to Yangtze River Delta (YRD) consisting 27 cities in China. • The historic Yangtze River flood of 1954 is considered as the worst scenario for the adopted flood modeling. • The detailed comparison of urban flood resilience suggests a better resilience in pre-flood stage than post-flood stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The urban densification is putting pressure on buried water infrastructure (BWI). • Sixty-two key performance indicators (PIs) were selected for the assessment. • A hybrid approach was adopted to aggregate the selected PIs. • An integrated level of service (ILOS) index was developed. • The ILOS index was applied to four municipalities within British Columbia, Canada. Buried water infrastructure (BWI) services (drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater) are vital for sustainable urban development, which can be impacted by increasing densification needs. This study aims to develop an integrated level of service (ILOS) index to evaluate the performance of BWI underneath the urban densification. Development of the ILOS index involved identifying and selecting key performance indicators (PIs) under the pre-defined criteria and objectives. Initially, eighty-four PIs were identified through comprehensive literature. These PIs were reduced to sixty-two, based on experts' judgment and feedback using three selection criteria and further grouped into a hierarchical structure. A hybrid approach of dynamic fuzzy cognitive maps and an ordered weighted average operator was adopted to aggregate PIs into the ILOS index using the bottom-up approach. The developed ILOS index was applied to four municipalities within British Columbia, Canada. The results show that all four municipalities need to significantly improve their BWI for sustainable growth and effective urban management. A sensitivity analysis was conducted to identify the most important PIs for the design of the ILOS index. Future research will be conducted to apply the proposed approach for better decision-making of growth scenarios, which will provide early warning changes in urban densification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transportation is an economic sector that contributes significantly to global warming due to its high consumption of fossil fuels, and sustainably produced hydrogen is a major contender for an alternative clean energy source. Public transit is vital for environmental sustainability via reducing individual vehicle usage and traffic congestion, and the prospect of powering buses using hydrogen fuel has been extensively studied lately. This paper seeks to comprehensively review the current status of research on hydrogen-powered buses considering triple bottom line sustainability perspectives. A brief technical overview of prospective environmentally benign hydrogen production processes has been presented. Technological, economic, and environmental findings and research trends seen in recent analyses on hydrogen-powered buses have been summarized, along with the status quo of global hydrogen refuelling stations. Identified focal points for future studies include performance enhancements, refuelling infrastructure propagation, and policy formulation. The conclusions derived from this review will benefit the accelerated deployment of hydrogen-fuelled public transit fleets. • Environmentally benign hydrogen production is reviewed techno-economically. • The prospects of using hydrogen for public bus transport are discussed thoroughly. • Blue and green hydrogen production are likely to coexist in the hydrogen economy. • Costs and energy consumption of hydrogen-powered buses need improvement. • Refuelling facility deployment and public awareness of safety should be enhanced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Financial Incentives (FIs) for green buildings are a major component of energy policy planning and play a vital role in the promotion of sustainable development and carbon mitigation strategies. Despite the presence of numerous FIs in Canada, there is still a lack of understanding on their distribution and effectiveness. This review first investigates the FIs available for residential and commercial buildings in Canada, and then performs a comprehensive review of studies related to FIs' effectiveness evaluation. It is found that FIs for buildings in Canada can be distributed into four categories: tax, loans, grants, and rebates. Among these, rebates from utility providers are the most common and are administered in all provinces. In addition to these, special incentives are available for three end-users (low-income, aboriginal people, landlords and tenants) and for three types of buildings (heritage, non-profit and energy rated). A clear contrast is observed on FIs offered in three regulatory regimes (Federal, provincial and municipal). Four provinces (Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec) are leading in green building efforts. The in-depth literature review was also used to develop an understanding on the criteria used in effectiveness evaluation and the factors impacting effectiveness. Based on the findings of different studies on FIs effectiveness, a generic approach for evaluation of FIs is proposed that can help in deploying successful FIs programs. The results of this review are of importance to the policymakers, government authorities, and utilities engaged in designing and improving FIs for energy efficient buildings. • Reviews financial incentives (FIs) present for green buildings in Canada. • Determines Canadas' FIs vary with respect to number, type, and location. • Identifies factors impacting effectiveness of FIs. • Finds predominant criteria in FIs effectiveness evaluation studies. • Provides approach for evaluation of effectiveness of FIs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A fuzzy decision tree (FDT) based framework was developed to facilitate the selection of suitable oil spill response methods in the Arctic. Hypothetical oil spill cases were developed based on six identified attributes, while the suitability of three spill response methods (mechanical containment and recovery, use of chemical dispersants, and in-situ burning) for each spill case was obtained based on expert judgments. Fuzzy sets were used to address the associated uncertainties, and FDTs were then developed through generating: i) one decision tree for all three response methods (FDT-AP1) and ii) one decision tree for each response method and the development of linear regression models at terminal nodes (FDT-LR). The FDT-LR approach exhibited higher prediction accuracy than the FDT-AP1 approach. A maximum of 100% accurate predictions could be achieved for testing cases using it. On average, 75% of suitable oil spill response methods out of 10,000 performed iterations were predicted correctly. Unlabelled Image • A fuzzy decision tree-based tool is developed for selecting oil spill response method. • Fuzzy Interactive Dichotomizer 3 algorithm is used for developing decision trees. • The developed fuzzy decision trees are enhanced by linear regression models. • The maximum prediction accuracy of suitable selection by the tool can reach 100%. • The average prediction accuracy of suitable selection is 75% among 10,000 iterations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low Impact Developments (LIDs) employ a series of vegetative techniques to retain rainfall close to the site of origin. Although LIDs offer sustainable runoff management, these infrastructures can be considered a risk to public health due to the presence of pathogens in the runoff and human exposure to contaminated water held in and transported by LIDs. The objective of this study is to examine the disease burden of Gastrointestinal illness (GI) from exposure to LIDs at the residential, neighbourhood, and municipal levels. The authors conducted a meta-analysis of literature on three water features: (1) harvested rainwater obtained from LIDs, (2) surface water, and (3) floodwater. A set of 32 studies were systematically selected to collect values of risks of infection and expressed as the disease burden, i.e. disability adjusted life years (DALYs). The results showed that the percentage of GI illness exceeding the health guidelines were high for harvested rainwater, i.e. 22% of annual disease burden exceeded the WHO guidelines (0.001 DALYs/1000 persons), and 2% exceeded the US EPA guidelines (5.75 DALYs/1000 bathers). Among the six exposures for harvested rainwater, exposure to spray irrigation, exceeded US EPA guidelines whereas; five exposures, i.e. flushing, hosing, daily shower, spray irrigation, and children playing, surpassed the WHO guidelines. Considering LID treatment, the values of annual disease burden from all the selected barriers were below US EPA guidelines however, these values exceeded the WHO guidelines for three barriers i.e. water plaza, grass swale, and open storage ponds. These findings provide a broader perspective of the disease burden associated with LIDs and emphasise to consider the type of exposures and required treatment barriers for developing LID infrastructures in urban areas. Unlabelled Image • A meta-analysis was performed to assess health risks of low impact developments (LIDs). • Proportion of diarrheal illness exceeding WHO guidelines was high for harvested rainwater. • The disease burden of spray irrigation surpassed the WHO and US EPA guidelines. • The DALYs of LIDs in catchment with aged infrastructure exceeded the health guidelines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Globally the trend of water reuse has been increasing. The public perception and government regulations are supportive for reclaimed water use in Canada. Reclaimed water can be used in variety of applications that may have different performance in economic, environmental and social dimensions for various stakeholders, indicating decision on water reuse selection is complex. This research proposes a multi-criteria multi-decision-makers framework combining multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) and game theory for a selection of a sustainable water reuse application. The proposed framework is applied to the City of Penticton, BC, Canada. The evaluation criteria included were environmental: fresh water saving, energy use, and carbon emissions; economic: annualized life cycle cost; and social: government policy, public perception, and human health risk for three stakeholders: municipality, citizens, and farm operators. The game theory is applied to eight water reuse options considering a cooperative game. The result shows that lawn, golf course and public park irrigation and toilet flushing with an equal sharing of municipal benefits between the municipality and citizens is the optimal solution. By using the solution, the municipality can have an additional saving of approximately $35/household/year and the citizens have to spend an additional amount of approximately $100/household/year for dual plumbing of toilet and lawn for reclaimed water use. The additional expenditure for the citizens is within Canada's public willingness to pay an additional charge for reclaimed water use. The scenario analysis shows that the weights of sustainability criteria are important in decision-making. Also, the sensitivity analysis shows that the change in the amount of reclaimed water availability can affect water reuse sustainability performance. The proposed framework can also be used in other applications by changing the number of evaluation criteria and stakeholders as required. Graphical abstract Unlabelled Image Highlights • Water reuse decision is complex having conflicting criteria and multi-stakeholders. • Multicriteria decision analysis and game theory are combined and applied. • Game theory efficiently gives solutions in water reuse decision conflict. • Estimated expenses for water reuse are within the willingness to pay by citizens. • The framework can be adapted to other applications involving multi-stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermochemical water-splitting processes are among the most promising options for producing sustainable and green hydrogen due to being extremely environmentally benign. Being extensively investigated in the literature, the thermochemical copper-chlorine cycle has demonstrated much promise in this regard as one of the most efficient options for thermochemically obtaining hydrogen. Thus, this study focuses on investigating the exergoeconomic performances of the different variants of the copper-chlorine cycle including the three-, four-, and five-step versions. All cycles are modeled and simulated in Aspen-plus software by considering a recovery of thermal energy from industrial waste flue gases in addition to internal heat recovery. Moreover, a hydrogen production capacity of 668 kg/h is considered for all cycles. The Specific Exergy Costing methodology is employed to study the exergoeconomic performance of each cycle. All cycles are initially examined in terms of the cost rates of energy transfer and hourly levelized cost rates for each step. The cycle variants are further examined through a comparative assessment of several performance parameters including hydrogen cost rates, overall cost rates of energy transfer, and overall hourly levelized cost rates. According to the performed analyses, the three-step variant of the cycle that constitutes a high-temperature electrolysis process produces hydrogen at the lowest cost rate (0.83 $/kg) while the four-step cycle produces hydrogen at the highest cost rate (1.82 $/kg). Furthermore, the hydrolysis step is found to have the highest hourly levelized cost rates for all variants of the cycle. Several factors that impact the hydrogen cost rate are also examined comprehensively. In addition, the extent to which the hydrogen cost rate is sensitive to those factors is discussed. [Display omitted] • Exergoeconomic analyses of three variants of thermochemical copper-chlorine cycle. • Thermal management schemes incorporated for each cycle. • Comparative assessment of the exergoeconomic performances of all cycles. • Hydrogen production capacity of 668 kg/h for each cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving the environmental performance of built environments has received wider interest in the recent past. Asset management is an under-utilized strategy to enhance and maintain desired environmental performance of a building at low life cycle costs (LCC). Current asset management decision-making methods are not fully capable of incorporating future technological changes and complex time sensitive environmental demands. There is a knowledge gap in incorporating factors such as environmental performance, risk and time sensitivity to foster dynamic asset management decision making. This paper presents a multi-period asset management method for public buildings to minimize LCC and attain climate action goals. A scenario planning approach is used to incorporate future changes in technologies, costs and organizational policies. Risk based prioritization is used to compare and select maintenance alternatives in a given period. Value at risk is used to identify the lowest risk capital planning strategy for an organization. The proposed approach was demonstrated using an operating aquatic centre building in British Columbia, Canada. Three possible future scenario were considered. Proposed method was used to develop multi-period maintenance plans for future scenarios. Based on the analysis, Great Transitions scenario is expected to achieve the least financial risk. The proposed approach enable capital asset planning by complying with changing climate action targets in a stochastic environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is the first in a series of two papers. Paper I focuses on model conceptualization and development, and Paper II in the series focuses on model validation and implementation. The amount of water reuse has been increasing across the globe. Wastewater can be treated based on the intended end use of reclaimed water. Fit-for-purpose wastewater treatment (WWT) simultaneously considers intended end use, economic viability, and environmental sustainability. WWT technologies differ mainly in terms of treatment efficiency, cost, energy use, and associated carbon emissions. The planning and evaluation of water reuse projects requires a decision support tool (DST) to evaluate alternative WWT trains and water reuse applications. However, such a DST is not available in the publically accessible literature. A DST, FitWater, has been developed for the evaluation of WWT for various urban reuses. The evaluation is based on the following criteria: amount of reclaimed water production, health risk of water reuse, cost, energy use, and carbon emissions. The cost is estimated as annualized life cycle cost and health risk is estimated using quantitative microbial risk assessment. The uncertainty analysis has been performed using probabilistic and fuzzy-based methods. A multi-criteria decision analysis, using fuzzy weighted average, is employed to aggregate different criteria and generate a final score. FitWater ranks alternative WWT trains based on the resulting final score. The proposed FitWater DST is user-friendly, and its application is demonstrated using an example. The DST can be enhanced to include additional treatment technologies and carbon emissions of different treatment processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is the second in a series of two papers. In Paper I, a decision support tool (DST), FitWater, was developed for evaluating the potential of wastewater treatment (WWT) trains for various water reuse applications. In the present paper, the proposed DST has been tested and implemented. FitWater has been tested with several existing WWT plants in Canada and the USA, demonstrating FitWater's effectiveness in estimating life cycle cost (LCC), health risk, and energy use. FitWater has also been implemented in a newly planned neighbourhood in the Okanagan Valley (BC, Canada) by developing 12 alternative WWT trains for water reuse in lawn and public parks irrigation. The results show that FitWater can effectively rank WWT train alternatives based on LCC, health risk, amount of reclaimed water, energy use, and carbon emissions. Moreover, functions have been developed for the variation of unit annualized LCC and energy intensity per unit log removal of microorganisms in different treatment technologies with varying plant capacities. The functions have power relations, showing the economies of scale. FitWater can be applied to identify a cost-effective, risk-acceptable, and energy efficient wastewater treatment train with a plant capacity of 500 m 3 /day or more. Furthermore, FitWater can be used to assess potential economic impacts of developing microbiologically stringent effluent standards. The capability of FitWater can be enhanced by including physio-chemical quality of wastewater, additional treatment technologies, and carbon emissions from wastewater decomposition processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Road transportation is responsible for 23% of Canada's Greenhouse Gas (GHG) inventory due to complete dependence on fossil fuels. Decarbonizing the transportation sector using alternative energy sources is one of the most effective strategies to achieve GHG emission reduction targets. Alternative transportation modes such as electric and hydrogen fuel cell based vehicles are considered as scalable technologies for decarbonizing the transportation sector. However, there is a knowledge gap for a systematic investigation approach on regional viability of aforementioned vehicles. The main objective of this paper is to evaluate the financial feasibility and environmental impact of the electric light duty vehicles (LD-EVs) and hydrogen fuel cell light duty vehicles (LD-HFCVs) use in Canada. A life cycle thinking based approach has been proposed to compare costs and emissions of transportation based on electric and Hydrogen with traditional fossil fuel. The carbon offset saving was used to quantify the economic impact of GHG reduction. The carbon taxes for selected provinces were recommended as a potential policy implementation to reduce transport based GHG emissions. The results indicate that the provinces with low emission factor electric grids have a higher potential for LD-EV based transportation system in terms of costs and footprint. Presently LD-HFCVs are less desirable due to high purchase and operational cost. Development of a Hydrogen based transportation system through the production of cost effective hydrogen is preferable for provinces with a higher emission factor electric grids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neighborhood densification is a strategy primarily applied to reduce per capita infrastructure and land requirement. In particular, densification alters residential landscaping that in turn affects water distribution systems. An integrated study of the water-energy-carbon (WEC) dynamics of water distribution and residential landscaping under neighborhood densification is lacking in the published literature. A conceptual framework was developed and applied as a case study to a planned neighborhood in the Okanagan Valley (BC, Canada). For this neighborhood, 11 alternative designs with varying combinations of single-family and multi-family lots representing different residential densities were investigated. Water consumption, energy use, and net carbon emissions by water distribution and residential landscaping systems were combined and represented by ecological footprint. The results show that per capita ecological footprint has a power relationship with net residential density despite of a linear relationship between population and net residential density. The power relationship reveals a high dependency of per capita ecological footprint on residential density, which helps to identify an optimal density. Two-dimensional analysis of the WEC nexus scenarios indicates that xeriscaping can reduce per capita ecological footprint ranging from roughly 1% reduction in high density to 66% in low density neighborhood. Also, the effects of xeriscaping on the WEC nexus are highly density dependent. This research can be extended by including varying neighborhood configuration and building stories. The results emphasize the importance of amending relevant policies for constructing medium to high-density buildings in urban neighborhoods to achieve an optimal WEC nexus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]