Establishing the Economic and Environmental Life-Cycle Costs of Marine Systems: A Case Study from the Recreational Craft Sector

This paper presents a robust methodology for the investigation of economic and environmental costs within a marine system. It describes the methods used to establish system life-cycle costs, and compares them with their environmental effects to establish the cost-benefit of reducing environmental hazards (Landamore et al. 2006: Life Cycle and Cost Benefit Analysis of Selected Technologies for Sustainable Inland Boating, Newcastle University, January). The case study is a small inland charter boat, operating on the Norfolk Broads, with varying options for powering, hull material, and graywater (GW) treatment. The principles described in this paper can be used to guide the efficient, cost-effective design of any system along sustainable principles. Environmental life-cycle analysis is performed, and the economic cost of each alternative is established. The results presented in the paper show that the majority of systems are cost effective for reducing environmental impact. In addition, a number of systems can be implemented without extra cost, though it is demonstrated that the high cost of the most environmentally effective technologies makes them an inefficient use of resources.