Strategies for Prioritizing Projects in Sustainability Improvement Programs:

Hessami, A.R., Faghihi, V., Kim A., & Ford, D.N. (2020). "Evaluating Planning Strategies for Prioritizing Projects in Sustainability Improvement Programs", Journal of Construction Management and Economics

Evaluating Planning Strategies for Prioritizing Projects in Sustainability Improvement Programs

Hessami, A.R., Faghihi, V.PhD Graduate from Construction Engineering and Management, Texas A&M University, Kim, A. and Ford, D.N.

Abstract

Sustainability improvement programs for built infrastructures often consist of a set of projects that must be prioritized in an appropriate chronological fashion to maximize the program benefits. Multiple program objectives and limited funds throughout the program duration can make this prioritization process a challenging endeavor. A revolving fund approach is often used to leverage savings from the initial projects to pay for later ones within a sustainability program; this factor makes the appropriate prioritization of projects even more pressing and complex. In the current research a dynamic model was used to assess the impacts of five different project prioritizing strategies on three program performance measures, across a wide range of initial financing levels. The results indicate that prioritizing projects based on decreasing return on investment generates the highest program net present value, the lowest per-unit cost of carbon reduction, and typically the shortest program duration. This finding supports the integrated use of both benefits and costs for prioritizing projects. The contributions of this finding to infrastructure program planning and future research are discussed in detail.

Keywords: Program planning, Project sequencing, System dynamics, Sustainability improvement

Permalink: http://doi.org/10.1080/01446193.2019.1608369

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