LOS PROYECTOS DE INGENIERÍA Y SUS IMPACTOS

Abstract

Projects impact differently according to their type, scope and interaction with the medium they are involved. This paper suggests a methodology to quantitatively determine the effects of each impacting action on the final objective. It works with a series of steps, some already commented and documented (Conesa, 2003) such as grouping projects according to large areas (dams, irrigation, energy, etc.), analyzing and evaluating impacts quantitatively on the grounds of averages, data, experience and similar projects. However, having each impact quantitatively evaluated doesn’t necessarily mean that the largest value matches the most influential impact, for such evaluation is subjective and because it doesn’t consider impacts over impacts, i.e. serial impacts. A hydroelectric project for instance, produces many impacts which can be revealed and evaluated, but what is important is not so much as to learn how much its weight is but how it influences the objective. This methodology – based on Linear Programming – is able to compute the marginal contribution of each effect and because of that to proceed with an ordering of impacts, and also – very important – to analyze the sensitivity of each effect, i.e. how much it can vary without changing the result found. Keywords: impacts; restrictions; objective; criteria; linear programming; simus