Browsing by Subject "environmental impact"
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Item Automated analysis of product disassembly to determine environmental impact(2009-08) Agu, David Ikechukwu; Campbell, Matthew I.; Crawford, Richard H.Manufacturers are increasingly being held responsible for the fate of their products once they reach their end-of-life phase. This research uses a combination of total disassembly time and recyclability to gauge the environmental impact of a product at this stage of its use. Recyclability, or wasted weight, is a function of the material contained by a product’s subassemblies as it is taken apart. This project suggests a graph-based method of representing product assemblies. Unlike many existing representation methods which are used in the field of automated disassembly, the method proposed here takes component connection methods into account. This, combined with a library of disassembly defining graph grammars, ensures that the disassembly simulation performed on this assembly approximates real-life disassembly procedures as closely as possible. The results of this simulation are Pareto sets whose contents represent various points in the disassembly process. Each member of the set is evaluated using the two primary parameters of disassembly time and wasted weight. This Pareto set can be used to judge a particular product’s performance during end-of-life, from the perspective of recyclability, against that of another product.Item The Economic and Workforce Impacts of Hurricane Katrina, Demographic and Related Changes on NASA's Space Shuttle Program(IC² Institute, The University of Texas at Austin, 2007-03-30) King, Christopher T.; Kellison, J. Bruce; Smith, Tara; Evans, Eliza; Anderson, MaryAnn; Merjanian, Ara; Hadley, Bryan; Stackhouse, AndrewTwo reports on the economic and workforce effects of Hurricane Katrina, aging workforce and related factors on NASA's Space Shuttle Program efforts along the Gulf Coast. The research was conducted by a joint team from the Ray Marshall Center and the IC² Institute and is based on field interviews, focus groups and surveys. The reports conclude with a series of recommendations for NASA, its contractors and others.Item Environmental Analysis of Geo Pressured Geothermal Prospect Areas, Brazoria and Kennedy Counties, Texas(1978) White, William Allen, 1939-; McGraw, Maryann; Gustavson, Thomas C.Here's the revised text with potential OCR misreads fixed and some small adjustments for consistency and readability: Preliminary environmental data, including current land use, substrate lithology, soils, natural hazards, water resources,biological assemblages, meteorological data, and regulatory considerations, have been collected and analyzed for approximately 150 km² of land: (1) near Chocolate Bayou, Brazoria County, Texas, where a geopressured-geothermal test well is being drilled in 1978, and (2) near the rural community of Armstrong, Kenedy County, Texas, where future geopressured-geothermal test well development may occur. The study was designed to establish an environmental data base and to determine, within spatial constraints set by subsurface reservoir conditions, environmentally suitable sites for geopressured-geothermal wells. In Brazoria County, preliminary analyses of data revealed the need for focusing on the following areas: potential for subsidence and fault activation susceptibility of test well and support facilities to fresh- and salt-water flooding possible effects of produced saline waters on biological assemblages and groundwater resources distribution of expansive soils effect of drilling and associated support activities on known archaeological/cultural resources.Item Going Local: Understanding Chinese Transnational Hydroelectric Projects in Ecuador(LLILAS Benson Latin American Studies and Collections, 2015) Peng, RuijieItem Opportunity on the Horizon: Photovoltaics in Texas(IC² Institute, The University of Texas at Austin, 2007-06) Kellison, J. Bruce; Evans, Eliza; Houlihan, Katharine; Hoffman, Michael; Kuhn, Michael; Serface, Joel; Pham, TuanReport on the economic potential of the solar energy industry in Texas.Item Planning Forum Volume 06(The University of Texas School of Architecture, 2000) Danenfelzer, DavidItem Planning Forum Volume 10(The University of Texas School of Architecture, 2004) Ferguson, Tommi; Otto, Seth S.Item The Politics of Sustainable Development in Japan(IC² Institute, 1999-01-28) Park, JacobDiscusses three important questions and issues regarding Japan’s role in global environmental affairs: how the environmental movement has evolved in Japan; what the country’s major environmental policy challenges are on the local-national, regional and global level; and, how Japanese companies are responding to the sustainability challenge. Describes unresolved sustainability questions facing Japan and how the current economic situation has overshadowed the urgency of sustainability. Describes the passing of the pollutant release and transfer register (PRTR) system and as encouraging sign for future sustainability efforts, not only because it gives the Environment Agency administrative authority over companies, but also because it signals a path towards increased accountability and transparency.Item Pollution Abatement Spending and Corporate Profitability: Texas Manufacturing(Bureau of Business Research, The University of Texas at Austin, 2010-08) Fujii, Hidemichi; Kellison, J. Bruce; Gibson, David V.Manufacturing firms are generally on the front lines of environmental protection because most industrial pollution is a result of manufacturing activity. The problem is that firms do not have strong incentives for pollution abatement because they see it as an additional cost and investment in nonproductive activity. This article focuses on the Texas manufacturing sector, where PACE (pollution abatement costs and expenditures) spending, perhaps surprisingly, led the nation in 2005.Item Site Investigation and Preliminary Assessment of the Colorado River Seep Site in Wharton County, Texas (RRC CU# 03-51041)(2000) Smyth, Rebecca C.; Dutton, Alan R.; GutieÌ�rrez, Roberto, 1951-The University of Texas at Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology (BEG), investigated the Colorado River Seep site near the border of Wharton and Matagorda Counties for the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) in July and August 1999. The area of concern occupies 0.03 mi2 (0.07 km2) on the H. C. Cockburn lease adjacent to the east bank of the Colorado River. The RRC and Magnet-Withers field operators have attempted to identify possible sources of the crude-oil seep since 1992; however, there have been no conclusive findings. The objectives of this study were to (1) characterize the extent of hydrocarbon impacts, (2) determine whether further work is needed to eliminate possible hydrocarbon sources, and (3) produce a summary report containing results of the field investigation. The scope of work consisted of collecting continuous cores and installing groundwater monitoring wells in 12 boreholes, located as to assess each of several possible sources of the crude oil: • a plugged and abandoned oil well, • two tank batteries, and • as many as four former surface pits that are reported to have been used for oil storage, salt-water storage, or drilling-mud containment. Data from both this and previous studies indicate that crude oil impacts several locations within the study area, but not all of them are related to the currently observed crude-oil seep.Item Site Investigation of the Motague Salt-Water Seep, Montague County, Texas(1999) Hovorka, Susan D.; Dutton, Alan R.; Paine, Jeffrey G.This study focuses on one of the options proposed to reduce United States CO2 emissions by extracting CO2 from power-plant exhaust and pumping it down boreholes into deeply buried saline formations. Developing a method for compiling realistic information to identify, assess, and compare saline formations to "prospect" for those with the optimum capacity for sequestration is the purpose of this study. The target is defined as saline-water-bearing formations isolated from the atmosphere and potable water supplies by very long travel times, which allows for exploration for large volumes of saline formations near high CO2 output power plants. This study was undertaken in four tasks: (1) a literature search to define properties to evaluate a saline-water-bearing formation, (2) identification of prospective study areas for this pilot study using 1996 carbon output from power plants, (3) review of literature to extract information to create case studies of saline-water-bearing formations, and (4) tabulation of information and demonstration of the utility of the data compiled using a GIS.Item Texas Wind Industry's Rapid Growth Creates New Challenges(Bureau of Business Research, The University of Texas at Austin, 2010-02) Furgeson, WillIn the past decade, Texas began to harness some of its abundant wind potential and, in the process, became an international wind energy leader. The state currently accounts for more than 25 percent of installed wind energy capacity in the United States. But for the first time since 2006, the growth of the state's new installed capacity fell below 40 percent. While the recession-induced credit crunch and falling natural gas prices were two obvious culprits, Texas faces a host of other challenges as it seeks to retain its position atop the domestic wind energy market and attract the capital and new jobs that the booming renewable energy industry can bring.