Sustainable Use of Environmental Resources: Optimization of Logistics Operations

The use of natural resources is necessary for human life and activities. Finding strategies that can satisfy energy and material demands, be sustainable for the environment, and preserve natural resources from depletion, seems to be a crucial point for the modern society. This chapter deals with the role of Decision Support Systems (DSS) for environmental systems planning and management, with specific attention to the use of forest biomasses for energy production, and energy and material recovery from urban solid waste. The two mentioned issues are treated in two different sections to highlight the legislative and technological differences beyond the "treatment" and the "possibilities of use" of biomasses and solid wastes. Then, after a general introduction about how to build Environmental DSSs, decision models (characterized by decision variables, objectives, and constraints), and about the state of the art, the chapter is divided in two main sections: energy production from renewable resources, and material and energy recovery from solid urban waste. The first one is focused on forest biomass exploitation and includes a detailed mathematical description of the formalized decision model and its solution applied to a real case study. The DSS described in the present study is organized in three modules (GIS, data management system, optimization) and is innovative, with respect to the current literature, because of the design of the whole architecture and of the formalization of the different decision models. In particular, the optimization module includes three sub-modules: strategic planning, tactical planning, and operational management. In this chapter, an example related to strategic and tactical planning is given. The second one regards a more qualitative discussion about multi-objective decision problems for solid waste management in urban areas. In this case, the structure of DSSs able to help decision makers of a municipality in the development of incineration, disposal, treatment and recycling integrated programs, taking into account all possible economic costs, technical, normative, and environmental issues, is described. Finally, conclusions and future developments about EDSS for material recovery and energy production are reported. © 2009 Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.