Matching Items (4)
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- All Subjects: Environmental Economics
- All Subjects: Construction and Demolition Waste
- Creators: Abbott, Joshua
- Creators: Aldaaja, Mohammad
- Member of: Theses and Dissertations
- Resource Type: Text
- Status: Published
Description
The built environment is responsible for a significant portion of global waste generation.
Construction and demolition (C&D) waste requires significant landfill areas and costs
billions of dollars. New business models that reduce this waste may prove to be financially
beneficial and generally more sustainable. One such model is referred to as the “Circular
Economy” (CE), which promotes the efficient use of materials to minimize waste
generation and raw material consumption. CE is achieved by maximizing the life of
materials and components and by reclaiming the typically wasted value at the end of their
life. This thesis identifies the potential opportunities for using CE in the built environment.
It first calculates the magnitude of C&D waste and its main streams, highlights the top
C&D materials based on weight and value using data from various regions, identifies the
top C&D materials’ current recycling and reuse rates, and finally estimates a potential
financial benefit of $3.7 billion from redirecting C&D waste using the CE concept in the
United States.
ContributorsAldaaja, Mohammad (Author) / El Asmar, Mounir (Thesis advisor) / Buch, Rajesh (Committee member) / Kaloush, Kamil (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
Sustainable Materials Management and Circular Economy are both frameworks for considering the way we interact with the world's resources. Different organizations and institutions across the world have adopted one philosophy or the other. To some, there seems to be little overlap of the two, and to others, they are perceived as being interchangeable. This paper evaluates Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) and Circular Economy (CE) individually and in comparison to see how truly different these frameworks are from one another. This comparison is then extended into a theoretical walk-through of an SMM treatment of concrete pavement in contrast with a CE treatment. With concrete being a ubiquitous in the world's buildings and roads, as well as being a major constituent of Construction & Demolition waste generated, its analysis is applicable to a significant portion of the world's material flow. The ultimate test of differentiation between SMM and CE would ask: 1) If SMM principles guided action, would the outcomes be aligned with or at odds with CE principles? and conversely 2) If CE principles guided action, would the outcomes be aligned with or at odds with SMM principles? Using concrete pavement as an example, this paper seeks to determine whether or not Sustainable Materials Management and Circular Economy are simply different roads leading to the same destination.
ContributorsAbdul-Quadir, Anisa (Author) / Kelman, Candice (Thesis director) / Buch, Rajesh (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
Three demand systems were estimated to examine demand sensitivity and welfare changes for each commodity under study. In the first essay, a Quadratic Almost Ideal Demand System (QUAIDS) was used to examine the effect of the Fukushima Daichi nuclear disaster on the demand for imported pelagic fish in the domestic Japanese market. The effect of the Fukushima Daichi nuclear disaster was measured using changes in demand after the disaster as well as measures of changes in social welfare changes caused by the disaster. A significant effect of the disaster on demand sensitivity measures was found, but no significant changes in welfare. In the second essay, a differential demand system examined the effect of exchange rate fluctuations on the demand for fresh tomatoes in the U.S. Market. It was found that the U.S. Dollar-Mexican Peso exchange rate had a significant positive effect on the demand for Mexican fresh tomatoes. In the third essay, a Hurdle Negative Binomial demand system was estimated for recreational trips to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. This model was estimated using Bayesian methods to obtain parameter estimates that could not be obtained by maximum likelihood. The parameters were used to calculate recreational welfare measures for trips to seventy-two entry points.
ContributorsValdez Lafarga, Octavio (Author) / Englin, Jeffrey (Thesis advisor) / Schmitz, Troy (Committee member) / Abbott, Joshua (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
Water scarcity in the Western United States has been the focus of recent policy discussion. Researchers and policymakers agree that the implications of water scarcity are severe and widespread, and as such have stressed the importance of addressing water allocation in the short term and long term. However, this urgency has led to some short-term solutions, like rotational fallowing, being implemented without evaluation, or some long-term solutions, like re-structuring of rights, being suggested without precedent. This dissertation aims at reducing the gap between proposed solutions, existing data, and program evaluation by developing and analyzing two novel datasets useful for causal identification, evaluating both a long-term and short-term approach to water scarcity with these data, and finally demonstrating the ability of overlapping institutions to respond to increasing weather variability. Chapter 1 evaluates a short-term approach, rotational fallowing, and identifies the impact of this approach on water savings. Chapter 2 develops novel trade panel data and exploits the only share-based water market in the US: the Colorado-Big Thompson Project. This chapter compares trade and crop choice outside of the CBT, to those same outcomes within the CBT, and identifies the differences. Chapter 3 expands on crop choice within the CBT and identifies the extent to which overlapping institutions can mediate weather variability compared to prior appropriation.
ContributorsWright, Katherine (Author) / Leonard, Bryan (Thesis advisor) / Abbott, Joshua (Committee member) / York, Abigail (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023