The Experts below are selected from a list of 882 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform
Hongping Yuan - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Construction Waste Challenges in Hong Kong and Pearl River Delta Region
The international journal of construction management, 2020Co-Authors: Hongping Yuan, Jiayuan WangAbstract:AbstractConstruction Waste is the main Waste generator in the Hong Kong and Pearl River Delta Regions. Its impacts on the environment in these two regions have become a serious problem to society. To minimize resource consumption and in accordance with worldwide environmental protection, Construction Waste Management is urgently needed. Therefore, this paper conducts analysis in Construction Waste problems and challenges in the Hong Kong and Pearl River Delta Regions. Structured interviews were conducted. Suggestions to improve Construction Waste Management in these two regions are given in this study.
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Modeling Effective Construction Waste Management Through Causal Loop Diagrams
Proceedings of the 17th International Symposium on Advancement of Construction Management and Real Estate, 2013Co-Authors: Hongping Yuan, Shaokai LuAbstract:Previous studies failed to investigate Construction Waste Management system from a holistic perspective. To fill the research gap, this study examines the relationship of three measures of performance (economic, environmental, and social) that underlie the key variables of Construction Waste Management practice through causal loop diagrams. The key variables involved in the causal loop diagrams are identified by a thorough review of existing literature. The interrelationships underlying all the variables are analyzed in detail to formulate a series of causal loop diagrams. The causal loop diagrams are efficient in depicting the interactions between these variables. This study contributes to the body of knowledge by formulating major variables affecting the effectiveness of Construction Waste Management in a Construction site from a holistic point of view. The underlying interrelationships among these variables can be well unveiled through a detailed analysis of the causal loop diagrams. The causal model comprising the causal loop diagrams provides a vehicle based on which quantitative model to assess effects of Management measures on effective Construction Waste Management can be developed.
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A SWOT analysis of successful Construction Waste Management
Journal of Cleaner Production, 2013Co-Authors: Hongping YuanAbstract:Recent years have witnessed a significant amount of Construction Waste as a result of rapid urbanization and large scale of Construction activities in China. However, compared to many advanced western countries, very few studies have been carried out for investigating the Construction Waste Management problems in China. This study, by conducting a strength, weakness, opportunity, and threat (SWOT) analysis, aims to help understand the status quo of Construction Waste Management based on the particular context of Shenzhen city in south China. Data supporting the analysis are derived from multiple channels including governmental reports, Waste Management related regulations, literature review, and focus group meetings. The study opens a window through which major stakeholders involved can perceive the internal and external conditions of Construction Waste Management in Shenzhen. The seven critical strategies, which are presented based on the SWOTs identified, could be useful for Shenzhen to develop and promote its future Construction Waste Management at the strategic level. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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a swot analysis of successful Construction Waste Management
Journal of Cleaner Production, 2013Co-Authors: Hongping YuanAbstract:Recent years have witnessed a significant amount of Construction Waste as a result of rapid urbanization and large scale of Construction activities in China. However, compared to many advanced western countries, very few studies have been carried out for investigating the Construction Waste Management problems in China. This study, by conducting a strength, weakness, opportunity, and threat (SWOT) analysis, aims to help understand the status quo of Construction Waste Management based on the particular context of Shenzhen city in south China. Data supporting the analysis are derived from multiple channels including governmental reports, Waste Management related regulations, literature review, and focus group meetings. The study opens a window through which major stakeholders involved can perceive the internal and external conditions of Construction Waste Management in Shenzhen. The seven critical strategies, which are presented based on the SWOTs identified, could be useful for Shenzhen to develop and promote its future Construction Waste Management at the strategic level.
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a model for evaluating the social performance of Construction Waste Management
Waste Management, 2012Co-Authors: Hongping YuanAbstract:It has been determined by existing literature that a lot of research efforts have been made to the economic performance of Construction Waste Management (CWM), but less attention is paid to investigation of the social performance of CWM. This study therefore attempts to develop a model for quantitatively evaluating the social performance of CWM by using a system dynamics (SD) approach. Firstly, major variables affecting the social performance of CWM are identified and a holistic system for assessing the social performance of CWM is formulated in line with feedback relationships underlying these variables. The developed system is then converted into a SD model through the software iThink. An empirical case study is finally conducted to demonstrate application of the model. Results of model validation indicate that the model is robust and reasonable to reflect the situation of the real system under study. Findings of the case study offer helpful insights into effectively promoting the social performance of CWM of the project investigated. Furthermore, the model exhibits great potential to function as an experimental platform for dynamically evaluating effects of Management measures on improving the social performance of CWM of Construction projects.
Weisheng Lu - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Construction Waste Management performance in green building: contextualising LEED in China
2020Co-Authors: Weisheng LuAbstract:Construction Waste issues have raised considerable concern in recent decades. Green building (GB) has been adopted around the globe as a strategy to curtail building-related environmental issues, including Construction Waste. Particularly in China, with the soaring Construction activities tied to urbanization and urban regeneration, massive Construction Waste has been generated, imposing tremendous pressure on the industry and beyond. China is also vigorously pursuing a national GB strategy, but its effects on Construction Waste Management (CWM) are yet to be confirmed. This paper evaluates CWM performance in GB by putting the dyads into China's particular Political, Economic, Social, and Technical (PEST) context. By analysing a total of 310 LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) accredited GB projects in China, it is surprisingly discovered that GB does not prominently improve CWM. The paper goes further to understand the causes of the mediocre CWM performance, by conducting ten semi-structured interviews with GB and CWM practitioners in China. Finally, a comprehensive PEST analysis is conducted to discuss the situation in the context of China. Factors such as (a) incomplete CWM regulations in China, (b) lack of economic incentives, (c) lacklustre awareness about CWM, and (d) lack of advanced technologies, caused the CWM performance in GB. Based on the PEST analyses, some targeted strategies are also recommended. This study is of benefits to both researchers and practitioners in the GB industry.
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Is the private sector more efficient? Big data analytics of Construction Waste Management sectoral efficiency
Resources Conservation and Recycling, 2020Co-Authors: Jinying Xu, Weisheng Lu, M. Ye, Xiaoling ZhangAbstract:Abstract Efficiency disparity between the public and private sectors is a non-trivial issue that concerns fundamental choices of socio-political-economic systems. Waste Management academia and industry also wrestle with issues relating to the choice between public and private sectors. To examine the disparity exclusively caused by “sector”, in statistics language, one needs data that is sufficiently big to control many other confounders, e.g., sites, project types, and Construction technologies. This paper attempts to ascertain the Construction Waste Management (CWM) efficiency disparity between the public and private sectors by using big data in Hong Kong. The Waste disposal records of 132 projects, including 70 public and 62 private projects, were extracted and analysed. By comparing the Waste generation flows (WGFs) and accumulative WGFs, it is found that, by and large, there is no significant efficiency disparity in CWM between the two sectors. However, a closer investigation discovered that the private sector outperforms their public counterpart in demolition projects, while the latter performs better in foundation and new building projects. Although there are private projects with higher CWM performance, their divergence between the best and average projects are larger than public ones. Such findings thus reject casual remarks that the private sector is more efficient in CWM. The underlying reasons maybe the Waste Management index practice promoted in public projects while the private sector is often incentivized to perform better CWM to save Waste disposal levies. Future research is recommended to delve into the causes of the efficiency disparity and introduce CWM interventions accordingly.
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Cost implications of obtaining Construction Waste Management-related credits in green building.
Waste Management, 2019Co-Authors: I. M. Chethana S. Illankoon, Weisheng LuAbstract:Abstract This research was motivated by the intriguing phenomena across several economies that green building clients/developers are observably lukewarm in pursuing Construction Waste Management (CWM). Recent studies, most of them in a qualitative nature, reported that to obtain CWM-related credits is “costlier” than obtaining credits from other green building aspects such as sites, lighting, and so on. Yet, there is a clear lack of empirical analysis of such cost implications with a view to providing convincing explanation to the phenomena. This research aims to identify the cost implications of achieving CWM-related credits as stipulated in green building rating tools by focusing in Hong Kong. The costs for using materials required for green certification were calculated and compared against conventional materials by introducing a life cycle perspective. It is discovered that to obtain the CWM-related credits, one needs to pay a higher cost ranging from 0.4% to 6%.
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evaluating the effects of green building on Construction Waste Management a comparative study of three green building rating systems
Building and Environment, 2019Co-Authors: Weisheng Lu, Anna ZetkulicAbstract:Abstract The impacts of buildings on our life, business, and natural environment have fueled a global trend in the building industry to “go green”. This has helped proliferate various green building rating systems (GBRSs) around the world. While previous studies have examined the effects of these systems on such aspects as resources consumption, indoor air quality and property value, little research, if any, has examined their effects on Construction Waste Management (CWM). This study aims to evaluate the effects of GBRSs on CWM, and to understand the causes behind the effects thereof ascertained. Three GBRSs, including the U.S.-developed Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), Mainland China's GB Evaluation Label (GBEL) and Hong Kong's Building Environmental Assessment Method (BEAM Plus) are selected for comparative study. A combination of desktop archive analysis and semi-structured interviews formed the study's mixed method approach. Surprisingly, the study reveals that the three GBRSs do not greatly promote superior CWM performance despite their respective CWM targeted credits. Possible causes, as informed by the interviewees, include the design of rating systems themselves, developers' biases, and lack of incentives to improve CWM. Legal and economic incentives are more decisive drivers of responsible CWM. This paper also provides demonstrable qualitative evidence for legislators and associated bodies to achieve continued improvement in CWM via GBRSs.
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Big Data In Construction Waste Management: Prospects And Challenges
2018Co-Authors: Weisheng Lu, Chris Webster, Yi Peng, Xi Chen, Ke ChenAbstract:‘Big data’ has been rapidly sprawling in various research disciplines such as biology, ecology, medical science, business, finance, and public governance but rarely in Construction Waste Management (CWM). The CWM community around the world generally relies on ‘small data’ collected via active solicitation such as sampling and ethnographic methods. This small data is intrinsically limited by its inability to account for the totality of CWM and research findings generated from the small data cannot be accepted with a high level of confidence. With the growing interests in big data, it can be reasonably expected that the Waste Management community will augment efforts to develop big data and its analytics. However, the efforts are currently constrained by the limited knowledge to do so. This research aims to provide a synoptic overview of the prospects and challenges of big data in CWM. It adopts an inductive, qualitative case study method whereby the empirical data is collected using an ethnographic–action-meta-analysis research approach and triangulated with data from literature, ongoing debate, and other sources. The paper offers some insights on big data acquisition, storage, analytics, implementation, and challenges. Although having a focus on Waste Management in the Construction sector, the insights generated from this study can be of value to general Waste Management research, which suffers from the same problems of erratic and poor quality data as CWM.
Liyin Shen - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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A comparative analysis of Waste Management requirements between five green building rating systems for new residential buildings
Journal of Cleaner Production, 2016Co-Authors: Zezhou Wu, Ann T W Yu, Liyin Shen, Xiaoling ZhangAbstract:The annual generation of Construction Waste is immense in both developed and developing economies. The environmental impacts caused by disposal of this Waste stream are in multiple aspects, involving soil pollution, air pollution, water pollution, etc. Meanwhile, the green building concept is becoming more and more popular with the public; hence the building developers are eager to obtain green building certifications to increase the added value of buildings. Green building rating system (GBRS) is a tool for evaluating whether a particular building is green or not, and corresponding rank is given according to the detailed assessment requirements. In previous studies, GBRS has acted as a guideline to improve energy use and indoor air quality. However, the effectiveness of GBRS as applied to Construction Waste Management has not been explored. To bridge this research gap, this study examines five selected GBRSs worldwide and proposes a comparative analysis, attempting to give a better understanding of measures that assist in improving Construction Waste Management. The importance of Construction Waste Management in different GBRSs is evaluated according to the accumulation of the corresponding scores of the related assessment items. Furthermore, the foci of Construction Waste Management in different GBRSs are investigated in three dimensions based on the "3Rs" principle which is referring to reduce, reuse and recycle. The research findings reveal that of the five rating systems studied, the highest relative significance index of Waste Management is given to Evaluation Standard for Green Building, while the lowest belongs to Green Building Index. In relation to the 3Rs principle, Evaluation Standard for Green Building and Green Globes focus more on the reduce principle, while the other three systems propose Waste Management measures that largely based on the reuse and recycle principles. Discussions are further given based on the outcomes of the comparative analysis, future research topics are suggested as well.
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benchmarking Construction Waste Management performance using big data
Resources Conservation and Recycling, 2015Co-Authors: Weisheng Lu, Yi Peng, Xi Chen, Liyin ShenAbstract:The Waste generation rate (WGR) is usually used as a key performance indicator (KPI) to benchmark Construction Waste Management (CWM) performance, with a view to improving the performance continuously. However, existing researches, for different reasons, only investigated a relatively small amount of Construction projects, whose WGRs cannot be confidently accepted as KPIs. This study develops a set of more reliable KPIs/WGRs using an available big dataset on CWM in Hong Kong. By mining the 2,212,026 Waste disposal records generated from 5764 projects in two consecutive years of 2011 and 2012, the WGRs/KPIs are revisited and refined. Demolition is found the most Wasteful works. New building, and maintenance and renovation (M&R) works individually produce the least Waste amount but by accumulating all M&R works, their contribution to the total amount of Construction Waste could be phenomenal. Based on the more reliable WGRs from the big data, CWM performance benchmarks for different categories of projects are set up. A contractor can benchmark its CWM performance against its counterparts or its past performance as ‘Good’, ‘Average’, and ‘Not-so-good’, and thus identify better CWM practices that induce superior performance. Based on the benchmarks, the government may consider setting up a WGR-step toll system to encourage those ‘Not-so-good’ contractors to perform well in the future, and initiate incentives to the companies conducting ‘Good’ projects to spur better CWM performance. Overall, the WGRs derived from the big data and more robust analyses provide a very powerful and handy tool for CWM.
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simulating effects of Management measures on the improvement of the environmental performance of Construction Waste Management
Resources Conservation and Recycling, 2012Co-Authors: Gui Ye, Hongping Yuan, Liyin Shen, Hongxia WangAbstract:Construction Waste Management (CWM) can affect society from an economic perspective, a social perspective and an environmental perspective. It is found from existing literature that scant attention has been paid to take account of the dynamics nature of the CWM system and interactions among major variables in the system when evaluating its environmental performance. Therefore, in order to fill the research gap, we develop a model for evaluating the environmental performance of CWM by using a system dynamics approach; particular focus is given to the dynamic interrelations among major variables in the CWM system and how the dynamics interactions can influence the environmental performance of CWM. The application of the proposed model is demonstrated based on a real case from the Construction industry of China. The simulation results not only provide valuable information on how to improve the environmental performance of CWM in the studied project, but also help build confidence in the dynamic model in general so that it can be adopted to simulate, evaluate, and subsequently improve the environmental performance of CWM in Construction projects.
Zezhou Wu - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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system dynamics versus agent based modeling a review of complexity simulation in Construction Waste Management
Sustainability, 2018Co-Authors: Zhi-kun Ding, Wenyan Gong, Shenghan Li, Zezhou WuAbstract:The environmental impacts caused by Construction Waste have attracted increasing attention in recent years. The effective Management of Construction Waste is essential in order to reduce negative environmental influences. Construction Waste Management (CWM) can be viewed as a complex adaptive system, as it involves not only various factors (e.g., social, economic, and environmental), but also different stakeholders (such as developers, contractors, designers, and governmental departments) simultaneously. System dynamics (SD) and agent-based modeling (ABM) are the two most popular approaches to deal with the complexity in CWM systems. However, the two approaches have their own advantages and drawbacks. The aim of this research is to conduct a comprehensive review and develop a novel model for combining the advantages of both SD and ABM. The research findings revealed that two options can be considered when combining SD with ABM; the two options are discussed.
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comparative environmental evaluation of Construction Waste Management through different Waste sorting systems in hong kong
Waste Management, 2017Co-Authors: Md Uzzal Hossain, Zezhou Wu, Chi Sun PoonAbstract:Abstract This study aimed to compare the environmental performance of building Construction Waste Management (CWM) systems in Hong Kong. Life cycle assessment (LCA) approach was applied to evaluate the performance of CWM systems holistically based on primary data collected from two real building Construction sites and secondary data obtained from the literature. Different Waste recovery rates were applied based on compositions and material flow to assess the influence on the environmental performance of CWM systems. The system boundary includes all stages of the life cycle of building Construction Waste (including transportation, sorting, public fill or landfill disposal, recovery and reuse, and transformation and valorization into secondary products). A substitutional LCA approach was applied for capturing the environmental gains due to the utilizations of recovered materials. The results showed that the CWM system by using off-site sorting and direct landfilling resulted in significant environmental impacts. However, a considerable net environmental benefit was observed through an on-site sorting system. For example, about 18–30 kg CO 2 eq. greenhouse gases (GHGs) emission were induced for managing 1 t of Construction Waste through off-site sorting and direct landfilling, whereas significant GHGs emission could be potentially avoided (considered as a credit −126 to −182 kg CO 2 eq.) for an on-site sorting system due to the higher recycling potential. Although the environmental benefits mainly depend on the Waste compositions and their sortability, the analysis conducted in this study can serve as guidelines to design an effective and resource-efficient building CWM system.
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A comparative analysis of Waste Management requirements between five green building rating systems for new residential buildings
Journal of Cleaner Production, 2016Co-Authors: Zezhou Wu, Ann T W Yu, Liyin Shen, Xiaoling ZhangAbstract:The annual generation of Construction Waste is immense in both developed and developing economies. The environmental impacts caused by disposal of this Waste stream are in multiple aspects, involving soil pollution, air pollution, water pollution, etc. Meanwhile, the green building concept is becoming more and more popular with the public; hence the building developers are eager to obtain green building certifications to increase the added value of buildings. Green building rating system (GBRS) is a tool for evaluating whether a particular building is green or not, and corresponding rank is given according to the detailed assessment requirements. In previous studies, GBRS has acted as a guideline to improve energy use and indoor air quality. However, the effectiveness of GBRS as applied to Construction Waste Management has not been explored. To bridge this research gap, this study examines five selected GBRSs worldwide and proposes a comparative analysis, attempting to give a better understanding of measures that assist in improving Construction Waste Management. The importance of Construction Waste Management in different GBRSs is evaluated according to the accumulation of the corresponding scores of the related assessment items. Furthermore, the foci of Construction Waste Management in different GBRSs are investigated in three dimensions based on the "3Rs" principle which is referring to reduce, reuse and recycle. The research findings reveal that of the five rating systems studied, the highest relative significance index of Waste Management is given to Evaluation Standard for Green Building, while the lowest belongs to Green Building Index. In relation to the 3Rs principle, Evaluation Standard for Green Building and Green Globes focus more on the reduce principle, while the other three systems propose Waste Management measures that largely based on the reuse and recycle principles. Discussions are further given based on the outcomes of the comparative analysis, future research topics are suggested as well.
Xiaoling Zhang - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Is the private sector more efficient? Big data analytics of Construction Waste Management sectoral efficiency
Resources Conservation and Recycling, 2020Co-Authors: Jinying Xu, Weisheng Lu, M. Ye, Xiaoling ZhangAbstract:Abstract Efficiency disparity between the public and private sectors is a non-trivial issue that concerns fundamental choices of socio-political-economic systems. Waste Management academia and industry also wrestle with issues relating to the choice between public and private sectors. To examine the disparity exclusively caused by “sector”, in statistics language, one needs data that is sufficiently big to control many other confounders, e.g., sites, project types, and Construction technologies. This paper attempts to ascertain the Construction Waste Management (CWM) efficiency disparity between the public and private sectors by using big data in Hong Kong. The Waste disposal records of 132 projects, including 70 public and 62 private projects, were extracted and analysed. By comparing the Waste generation flows (WGFs) and accumulative WGFs, it is found that, by and large, there is no significant efficiency disparity in CWM between the two sectors. However, a closer investigation discovered that the private sector outperforms their public counterpart in demolition projects, while the latter performs better in foundation and new building projects. Although there are private projects with higher CWM performance, their divergence between the best and average projects are larger than public ones. Such findings thus reject casual remarks that the private sector is more efficient in CWM. The underlying reasons maybe the Waste Management index practice promoted in public projects while the private sector is often incentivized to perform better CWM to save Waste disposal levies. Future research is recommended to delve into the causes of the efficiency disparity and introduce CWM interventions accordingly.
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computational building information modelling for Construction Waste Management moving from rhetoric to reality
Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2017Co-Authors: Weisheng Lu, Xiaoling Zhang, Chris Webster, Ke Chen, Xi ChenAbstract:There is a lively debate on the application of Building Information Modelling (BIM) to Construction Waste Management (CWM). BIM can be utilized as a less expensive, virtual, and computational environment to enable designers to ponder different design options, or contractors to evaluate different Construction schemes, both with a view to minimizing Construction Waste generation. However, existing debate on this topic too frequently treats BIM as a cure-all silver bullet; without some major hurdles being adequately addressed, the applications of BIM will remain rhetorical. This paper aims to demystify BIM's computational application to CWM. Based on a critical literature review, a prototypical framework of a computational BIM for CWM is delineated, within which the two key prerequisites of ‘information readiness’ and ‘computational algorithms’ are highlighted. Then, the paper details the required information and how it can be organized in a standalone database or encapsulated in existing BIM for CWM. Learning from the historical development of data infrastructure in the field of BIM-based cost Management, the process to develop the required information is likely to be tortuous but is unavoidable. The paper further explores computational BIM algorithms that can manipulate the information to facilitate decision-making for CWM. Finally, the operation of computational BIM is elaborated by relating it to various prevailing procurement models within which BIM applications are contextualized. Although the framework reported here has been substantially developed for experimental application, , it is not to be taken as an immediately applicable solution but rather as an illustration of the kind of platform on which future development of computational BIM for CWM can proceed in a more efficient and effective fashion.
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A comparative analysis of Waste Management requirements between five green building rating systems for new residential buildings
Journal of Cleaner Production, 2016Co-Authors: Zezhou Wu, Ann T W Yu, Liyin Shen, Xiaoling ZhangAbstract:The annual generation of Construction Waste is immense in both developed and developing economies. The environmental impacts caused by disposal of this Waste stream are in multiple aspects, involving soil pollution, air pollution, water pollution, etc. Meanwhile, the green building concept is becoming more and more popular with the public; hence the building developers are eager to obtain green building certifications to increase the added value of buildings. Green building rating system (GBRS) is a tool for evaluating whether a particular building is green or not, and corresponding rank is given according to the detailed assessment requirements. In previous studies, GBRS has acted as a guideline to improve energy use and indoor air quality. However, the effectiveness of GBRS as applied to Construction Waste Management has not been explored. To bridge this research gap, this study examines five selected GBRSs worldwide and proposes a comparative analysis, attempting to give a better understanding of measures that assist in improving Construction Waste Management. The importance of Construction Waste Management in different GBRSs is evaluated according to the accumulation of the corresponding scores of the related assessment items. Furthermore, the foci of Construction Waste Management in different GBRSs are investigated in three dimensions based on the "3Rs" principle which is referring to reduce, reuse and recycle. The research findings reveal that of the five rating systems studied, the highest relative significance index of Waste Management is given to Evaluation Standard for Green Building, while the lowest belongs to Green Building Index. In relation to the 3Rs principle, Evaluation Standard for Green Building and Green Globes focus more on the reduce principle, while the other three systems propose Waste Management measures that largely based on the reuse and recycle principles. Discussions are further given based on the outcomes of the comparative analysis, future research topics are suggested as well.