A COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS OF GREEN BUILDINGS WITH RESPECT TO CONSTRUCTION WASTE MINIMIZATION USING BIG DATA IN HONG KONG

It is generally accepted that the extra construction costs involved in the construction of green buildings will result in benefits including lower operation costs,higher sale/rental prices,and better sustainability performance.However,there has been little recognition of construction waste minimization(CWM)as one of the important benefits of sustainability performance as designated in green building.is paper aims to provide a better understanding of the cost benefit of green buildings with respect to CWM by using big data in the context of Hong Kong.The study is innovative in that it conducts a cost-benefit analysis specifically on CWM of green buildings by mining large-volume datasets.A surprise finding is that Hong Kong’s green building rating system(GBRS),i.e.the BEAM Plus,has a negligible effect on CWM,while it generally increases construction costs by approximately 24%.Hence,the increased construction cost of green buildings cannot be offset by CWM if corresponding items in the BEAM Plus are not properly incentivized.is paper demonstrates the necessity of emphasizing CWM-related items in GBRSs and of taking appropriate measures to deal with them.It also provides better decision-support information on the increased construction costs and the attainable benefits of green building that developers may wish to consider when initiating a green building project.

EFFECTS OF COLLABORATION NETWORKS ON TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION IN THE SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC(PV)SECTOR:A CASE STUDY OF CHINA

Efficient use of energy is an essential aspect of green building development.In order to achieve a more energy efficient society,innovation of solar photovoltaic(PV)technologies is a necessity.Collaboration between innovators is regarded as important for innovation;however,the existing literature has made few attempts to investigate how a collaboration network can affect technology innovation in the context of the solar PV sector.This study aims to fill this research gap.In this study,innovation activities are categorized as exploratory innovation and exploitative innovation.A conceptual framework and a series of hypotheses are proposed from the perspectives of network structure(including direct ties,indirect ties,and network efficiency)and network composition(such as geographical proximity,institutional proximity,and technological proximity).The empirical results show that in the solar PV sector of China,collaboration networks with different kinds of structure and composition can imply diverse effects on exploratory innovation and exploitative innovation.Followed with the derived results,it can be concluded that network collaboration is not always beneficial for PV technology innovation.The research findings could convey useful information to both practitioners and policy-makers to adopt appropriate strategies for promoting effective innovation collaboration.

Blockchain-based smart contract for smart payment in construction: A focus on the payment freezing and disbursement cycle

Late payment,and indeed no payment,is a rampant and chronic problem that has plagued the global construction industry for too long.Recent development in blockchain technology,particularly its smart contract,seems to provide a new opportunity to improve this old problem.However,this opportunity is largely unexploited.This study aims to develop a blockchain-based smart contract(BBSC)system for smart payment in the construction industry by focusing on the fundamental cycle of payment freezing(sometimes also synonymously called payment guarantees)and disbursement application.Firstly,a BBSC framework,containing three processes of(a)initiation and configuration,(b)payment freezing,and(c)disbursement application,is developed.Next,based on the framework,the system architecture of the BBSC system,containing three layers of(1)Infrastructure as a Service(IaaS),(2)Blockchain as a Service(BaaS),and(3)Software as a Service(SaaS)is proposed and elaborated.Finally,based on the system architecture,a BBSC prototype system is developed using a real-life modular construction project as a case study.It was found that the prototype system can improve the certainty and efficiency of the progress payment,thereby enabling smart payment in construction transactions.Without advocating radical changes(e.g.,the contractual relationships or the intermediate role of banks in modem construction projects),the prototype can be developed into a real-life BBSC system that can work compatibly with current advancements in the field.Future works are recommended to fine-tune the findings and translate and implement them in real-life applications.