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The article proposes indicators to evaluate a thermal insulation investment in a building, such as net present value (NPV), profitability index, discounted payback period, and ecological cost efficiency. Economic and ecological aspects were taken into account. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was used in the ecological analysis. The following heat sources in the building were considered: condensing gas boiler and heat pump. The developed indicators also depend on the pre-set temperature in residential premises. A methodology to determine the optimum thermal insulation thickness for both economic and ecological reasons was also proposed. A case study was analyzed, and a reference building, typical for Polish construction conditions, was used for research. Various solutions were suggested regarding the type of thermal insulation material and heat sources. The values of the indicators were determined for the proposed variants and for the economically and ecologically optimum thermal insulation thicknesses. Based on the conducted research, it was found that air temperatures maintained in the rooms of the building undergoing thermal modernization should be taken into account in the energy audit. The energy demand of the building for a room temperature of 26 °C is higher by 61% compared to the demand for the same building at the design temperature (20 °C). The innovation in the proposed approach to the economic and ecological assessment of a building is the combination of a wide range of temperatures potentially maintained in living spaces with ecological cost-effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a new algorithm that enables the allocation of the optimal scheduling of the production orders in the two-machine system based on the minimum cost of order delays. The formulated algorithm uses the method of branch and bounds and it is a particular generalisation of the algorithm enabling for the determination of the sequence of the production orders with the minimal sum of the delays. In order to illustrate the proposed algorithm in the best way, the article contains examples accompanied by the graphical trees of solutions. The research analysing the utility of the said algorithm was conducted. The achieved results proved the usefulness of the proposed algorithm when applied to scheduling of orders. The formulated algorithm was implemented in the Matlab programme. In addition, the studies for different sets of production orders were conducted.

Plaster plays an important role in the building industry. Besides an aesthetic function it provides the protection of external walls from weather conditions. In the paper thermo insulating Thermopor plaster was described. Its chemical and physical properties and manner of using were defined. The impact on the environment with the use of LCA technique was examined. Thennopor plaster can fulfil a thermo insulating function. The economic and ecological analysis of applying this plaster in the thermo insulation of the external walls of the building was conducted. The use of Thermopor plaster on external walls brings ecological benefits. The reimbursement of ecological cost related to the use of this plaster appears already after 2 to 5 years, depending on the source of heat used, which results from the decrease of thermal energy consumption for heating the building. For economic reasons, the partial reimbursement of cost is obtained as a result of the reduction of heating cost. Although Thermopor plaster has thermo insulating properties similar to typical insulating materials, such as polystyrene or mineral wool, the economic cost of using the plaster for thermo insulation becomes several times higher. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The heat insulation of the outer partitions of a building brings economic profits at the stage of using the building. The article analyzes the range of influence of the heat-insulating investment on the environment for different variants of heat insulation. The analysis was conducted with the use of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Moreover, the determinants with the biggest impact on economic and ecological profits resulting from heat insulation were verified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article evaluates the retrospective implementation of the aims of the National Plan for Waste Management 2010 as well as the entries of the Voivodeship Plan for Waste Management in the Lubuskie Voivodeship, with a special consideration of managing biodegradable municipal waste. The legal regulations in the European Union and Poland in terms of managing bio waste were describedal together with the proposal of the solutions for the system of biodegradable wastecollection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a new method of subgradient selection in a projection method with level control for convex minimization problems. The presented selection ensures long steps and leads to an essential acceleration of the convergence of projection methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article proposes methods for determining the optimal thermal insulation thickness for economic and ecological reasons, depending on the number of degree days of the heating period. Life cycle assessment was used for the ecological analysis. Analyses were performed for selected variants typical of Polish conditions. The optimal thermal insulation thickness as well as the amount of economic and ecological benefits depends very much on the condition of the building without thermal insulation, but also on the heat source used and the thermal insulation material to be used. For each variant, the optimal thermal insulation thickness for ecological reasons is much greater than the optimal for economic reasons. Taking into consideration the climatic zone and the associated number of degree days of the heating period, the colder the zone, the greater the optimal insulation thickness, as well as economic and ecological benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study introduces the concept of ecological cost of heating modeled on the economic cost of heating. A method of determining these costs is also proposed. This method allows for an analytical description of the ecological as well as economic net present value of a thermal insulation investment. Consequently, it is possible to determine the optimal values for ecological reasons of the heat transfer coefficient of the building external wall and the thickness of thermal insulation. The present study uses life-cycle assessment (LCA) analysis to determine the environmental impact of thermal insulation materials used to insulate the external vertical wall and to determine the environmental impact of thermal energy production in the energy phase of the building's life cycle. Various variants characteristic of Polish conditions were studied. Different types of construction materials of the wall, types of heat sources, thermal insulation materials and climate zones occurring in Poland were considered. For all analysed variants, the obtained thermal insulation thickness, optimum for ecological reasons, was much larger than the optimum for economic reasons. Even at the thickness of thermal insulation optimum for economic reasons, the investment was profitable for ecological reasons, i.e., a reduction in environmental load was obtained as a result of the thermal insulation investment. On the basis of the conducted study, it can be concluded that it is preferable to use thermal insulation thicknesses larger than required by current regulations and larger than optimum for economic reasons. The ecological benefits of thermal insulation investments are then significantly greater, with not much smaller economic benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]