Quantifying the Environmental and Economic Performance of Remote Communities

Abstract

Remote communities such as oil production sites, post-disaster housing camps, and military forwardoperating bases (FOB) are often detached from established infrastructure grids, requiring a constantresupply of resources. In one instance, a 600-person FOB required 22 trucks per day to delivernecessary fuel and water and remove generated wastes. This logistical burden produces negativeenvironmental impacts and increases operational costs. To minimize these consequences,construction planners can implement sustainability measures such as renewable energy systems,improved waste management practices, and energy-efficient equipment. However, integration ofsuch upgrades can increase construction costs, presenting the need for a tool that identifies tradeoffsamong conflicting criteria. To assist planners in these efforts, this paper presents the development ofa novel remote site sustainability assessment model capable of quantifying the environmental andeconomic performance of a set of infrastructure alternatives. Through field data and literatureestimates, a hypothetical FOB is designed and evaluated to demonstrate the model’s distinctivecapability to accurately and efficiently assess construction alternatives. The proposed model willenable construction planners to maximize the sustainability of remote communities, creating sitesthat are more self-sufficient with reduced environmental impacts.Keywords: Sustainability, infrastructure, remote communities

Optimizing the Environmental and Economic Sustainability of Remote Community Infrastructure

“…By quantifying the logistical impact of equipment and the volume of fuel, water, and waste transported on-and off-site each day, the work identified infrastructure alternatives that improved personnel safety and minimized transportation expenses. Filer and Schuldt [25] expanded Putnam's approach to quantify the impact of an infrastructure alternative's resource consumption and logistics on the environment. While the authors computed GHG emissions and total cost for various infrastructure systems, they failed to fully consider the impact of transportation requirements or establish optimal tradeoffs between competing objectives.…”

Cost Analysis of Optimized Islanded Energy Systems in a Dispersed Air Base Conflict

“…Connecting a solar array to an energy-storage system allows excess energy produced during peak hours to be captured and discharged during periods of darkness, further reducing the fuel consumed by the generator [10]. Several military studies have also demonstrated the feasibility of connecting photovoltaic (PV) panels to soft-walled shelters to reduce the overall power demand [4,[11][12][13][14][15]. Additionally, tents with integrated PV cells have proven effective in meeting the electricity needs of a displaced refugee population [16,17].…”