Systemic Assessment for Sustainable Design. LCA-based Emergy Synthesis of an EMERGENCY NGO hospital in Sudan

In the present doctoral thesis, a systemic Emergy synthesis, integrated with the standardised Life Cycle Assessment, is proposed as an approach to support the planning, design and management of complex systems. A focus is dedicated to building design in conditions of resource scarcity (i.e., a scenario to become familiar with) as well as to an unquestionable service such as a healthcare structure. Through a thorough analysis, an application is carried out on a specialised humanitarian hospital run by an Italian NGO: the Salam Centre for Cardiac Surgery in Khartoum, Sudan. Conventional emergy performance indicators are computed, and new Unit Emergy Values designed and calculated to allow for conclusions on the sustainability of the healthcare structure as well as on its hierarchical role in the society. This way, the major inputs to the target hospital and its leverage points are identified. A comparative analysis is conducted to assess the effectiveness of some modern–vernacular low-tech hybrid solutions to exploit local renewable energy sources such as solar radiation and wind. A database architecture is drafted to update the analysis as well as to evaluate possible scenarios. This information technology would also allow for an easy adaptation to assess another healthcare structure.” Systemic emergy evaluation would support human actions in general – public, private, or nonprofit – towards a new systemic sustainability, allowing to identify and avoid unaware faux pas. Within the present PhD thesis, some published works produced throughout the author’s PhD programme are mentioned and partially cited. The abstracts of some of them are reported as Appendices, together with some wider thoughts that would not suit best in the main text.