Progress in sustainable energy technologies

CERN Document Server

Dincer, Ibrahim; Kucuk, Haydar

2014-01-01

This multi-disciplinary volume presents information on the state-of-the-art in sustainable energy technologies key to tackling the world's energy challenges and achieving environmentally benign solutions. Its unique amalgamation of the latest technical information, research findings and examples of successfully applied new developments in the area of sustainable energy will be of keen interest to engineers, students, practitioners, scientists and researchers working with sustainable energy technologies. Problem statements, projections, new concepts, models, experiments, measurements and simula

Is light water reactor technology sustainable?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rothwell, G.; Van der Zwaan, B.

2001-01-01

This paper proposes criteria for determining ''intermediate sustainability'' over a 500-year horizon. We apply these criteria to Light Water Reactor (LWR) technology and the LWR industry. We conclude that LWR technology does not violate intermediate sustainability criteria for (1) environmental externalities, (2) worker and public health and safety, or (3) accidental radioactive release. However, it does not meet criteria to (1) efficiently use depleted uranium and (2) avoid uranium enrichment technologies that can lead to nuclear weapons proliferation. Finally, current and future global demand for LWR technology might be below the minimum needed to sustain the current global LWR industry. (author)

Advanced Materials and Nano technology for Sustainable Energy Development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huo, Z.; Wu, Ch.H.; Zhu, Z.; Zhao, Y.

2015-01-01

Energy is the material foundation of human activities and also the single most valuable resource for the production activities of human society. Materials play a pivotal role in advancing technologies that can offer efficient renewable energy solutions for the future. This special issue has been established as an international foremost interdisciplinary forum that aims to publish high quality and original full research articles on all aspects of the study of materials for the deployment of renewable and sustainable energy technologies. The special issue covers experimental and theoretical aspects of materials and prototype devices for sustainable energy conversion, storage, and saving, together with materials needed for renewable energy production. It brings together stake holders from universities, industries, government agents, and businesses that are involved in the invention, design, development, and implementation of sustainable technologies. The research work has already been published in this special issue which discusses comprehensive technologies for wastewater treatment, strategies for controlling gaseous pollutant releases within chemical plant, evaluation of FCC catalysis poisoning mechanism, clean technologies for fossil fuel use, new-type photo catalysis material design with controllable morphology for solar energy conversion, and so forth. These studies describe important, intriguing, and systematic investigations on advanced materials and technologies for dealing with the key technologies and important issues that continue to haunt the global energy industry. They also tie together many aspects of current energy transportation science and technology, exhibiting outstanding industrial insights that have the potential to encourage and stimulate fresh perspectives on challenges, opportunities, and solutions to energy and environmental sustainability

Sustainability assessment of renewable power and heat generation technologies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dombi, Mihály; Kuti, István; Balogh, Péter

2014-01-01

Rationalisation of consumption, more efficient energy usage and a new energy structure are needed to be achieved in order to shift the structure of energy system towards sustainability. The required energy system is among others characterised by intensive utilisation of renewable energy sources (RES). RES technologies have their own advantages and disadvantages. Nevertheless, for the strategic planning there is a great demand for the comparison of RES technologies. Furthermore, there are additional functions of RES utilisation expected beyond climate change mitigation, e.g. increment of employment, economic growth and rural development. The aim of the study was to reveal the most beneficial RES technologies with special respect to sustainability. Ten technologies of power generation and seven technologies of heat supply were examined in a multi-criteria sustainability assessment frame of seven attributes which were evaluated based on a choice experiment (CE) survey. According to experts the most important characteristics of RES utilisation technologies are land demand and social impacts i.e. increase in employment and local income generation. Concentrated solar power (CSP), hydropower and geothermal power plants are favourable technologies for power generation, while geothermal district heating, pellet-based non-grid heating and solar thermal heating can offer significant advantages in case of heat supply. - highlights: • We used choice experiment to estimate the weights of criteria for the sustainability assessment of RES technologies. • The most important attributes of RES technologies according to experts are land demand and social impacts. • Concentrated solar power (CSP), hydropower and geothermal power plants are advantageous technologies for power generation. • Geothermal district heating, pellet-based non-grid heating and solar thermal heating are favourable in case of heat supply

Is light water reactor technology sustainable?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rothwell, G. [Stanford Univ., Dept. of Economics, CA (United States); Van der Zwaan, B. [Vrije Univ., Amsterdam, Inst. for Environmental Studies (Netherlands)

2001-07-01

This paper proposes criteria for determining ''intermediate sustainability'' over a 500-year horizon. We apply these criteria to Light Water Reactor (LWR) technology and the LWR industry. We conclude that LWR technology does not violate intermediate sustainability criteria for (1) environmental externalities, (2) worker and public health and safety, or (3) accidental radioactive release. However, it does not meet criteria to (1) efficiently use depleted uranium and (2) avoid uranium enrichment technologies that can lead to nuclear weapons proliferation. Finally, current and future global demand for LWR technology might be below the minimum needed to sustain the current global LWR industry. (author)

Patent Keyword Extraction for Sustainable Technology Management

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jongchan Kim

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Recently, sustainable growth and development has become an important issue for governments and corporations. However, maintaining sustainable development is very difficult. These difficulties can be attributed to sociocultural and political backgrounds that change over time [1]. Because of these changes, the technologies for sustainability also change, so governments and companies attempt to predict and manage technology using patent analyses, but it is very difficult to predict the rapidly changing technology markets. The best way to achieve insight into technology management in this rapidly changing market is to build a technology management direction and strategy that is flexible and adaptable to the volatile market environment through continuous monitoring and analysis. Quantitative patent analysis using text mining is an effective method for sustainable technology management. There have been many studies that have used text mining and word-based patent analyses to extract keywords and remove noise words. Because the extracted keywords are considered to have a significant effect on the further analysis, researchers need to carefully check out whether they are valid or not. However, most prior studies assume that the extracted keywords are appropriate, without evaluating their validity. Therefore, the criteria used to extract keywords needs to change. Until now, these criteria have focused on how well a patent can be classified according to its technical characteristics in the collected patent data set, typically using term frequency–inverse document frequency weights that are calculated by comparing the words in patents. However, this is not suitable when analyzing a single patent. Therefore, we need keyword selection criteria and an extraction method capable of representing the technical characteristics of a single patent without comparing them with other patents. In this study, we proposed a methodology to extract valid keywords from

PARTICIPATORY EVALUATION OF SUSTAINABLE LAND USE AND TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION IN TWO AGROECOSYSTEMS

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Jaime Ruiz

2011-12-01

Full Text Available In order to identify the main agroecosystems, their limiting factors and adequate technological options, participatory approaches, such as community ranking, were used in a micro-hydrological basin in Central Oaxaca, Mexico. This area is characterized by small farm size (1-2 ha, low input agriculture and low standards of living. The results of a pretested survey were presented at community meetings and were subjected to discussion to rank the problems found in order of importance. Overall, the main production constraints were: low soil fertility, insect pests and plant diseases, lack of rain and soil erosion. After field evaluations of several sustainable technologies, the following was found: a organic mulching can reduce soil erosion, weeds and conserve soil moisture, b intercropped green manures with maize could be a mean to improve soil fertility while still allowing producing this staple crop, c composting of crop residues with weeds and farmyard manure was also promoted amongst the peasants, but only a few of them adopted this practice due mostly to high labor requirements and d even though it is an expensive technology, the use of floating row covers to produce tomatoes and hot peppers was quickly adopted by the peasants. It was concluded that the best way to convince the peasants to adopt a technological innovation is to show them that it works under their own circumstances.

Sustainability of University Technology Transfer: Mediating Effect of Inventor’s Technology Service

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Fang Li

2018-06-01

Full Text Available Based on the perspective of knowledge transfer and the technology acceptance model (TAM, this paper constructs a university technology transfer sustainable development model that considers the inventor’s technology service from the perspective of the long-term cooperation of enterprise, and analyzes the mediating effect of the inventor’s technology service on university technology transfer sustainability. By using 270 questionnaires as survey data, it is found that the availability of an inventor’s technology service has a significant positive impact on the attitude tendency and practice tendency of enterprise long-term technological cooperation; enterprise technology absorption capacity and trust between a university and an enterprise also have significant influence on an inventor’s technical service availability. Therefore, the inventor’s technology service acts as a mediator in the relationship between university technology transfer sustainability and influence factors. Universities ought to establish the technology transfer model, which focuses on the inventor’s tacit knowledge transfer service, and promotes the sustainable development of the university.

Participatory Evaluation of Monitoring and Modeling of Sustainable Land Management Technologies in Areas Prone to Land Degradation

Science.gov (United States)

Stringer, L. C.; Fleskens, L.; Reed, M. S.; de Vente, J.; Zengin, M.

2014-11-01

Examples of sustainable land management (SLM) exist throughout the world. In many cases, SLM has largely evolved through local traditional practices and incremental experimentation rather than being adopted on the basis of scientific evidence. This means that SLM technologies are often only adopted across small areas. The DESIRE (DESertIfication mitigation and REmediation of degraded land) project combined local traditional knowledge on SLM with empirical evaluation of SLM technologies. The purpose of this was to evaluate and select options for dissemination in 16 sites across 12 countries. It involved (i) an initial workshop to evaluate stakeholder priorities (reported elsewhere), (ii) field trials/empirical modeling, and then, (iii) further stakeholder evaluation workshops. This paper focuses on workshops in which stakeholders evaluated the performance of SLM technologies based on the scientific monitoring and modeling results from 15 study sites. It analyses workshop outcomes to evaluate how scientific results affected stakeholders' perceptions of local SLM technologies. It also assessed the potential of this participatory approach in facilitating wider acceptance and implementation of SLM. In several sites, stakeholder preferences for SLM technologies changed as a consequence of empirical measurements and modeling assessments of each technology. Two workshop examples are presented in depth to: (a) explore the scientific results that triggered stakeholders to change their views; and (b) discuss stakeholders' suggestions on how the adoption of SLM technologies could be up-scaled. The overall multi-stakeholder participatory approach taken is then evaluated. It is concluded that to facilitate broad-scale adoption of SLM technologies, de-contextualized, scientific generalisations must be given local context; scientific findings must be viewed alongside traditional beliefs and both scrutinized with equal rigor; and the knowledge of all kinds of experts must be

4th International Conference on Sustainable Automotive Technologies

CERN Document Server

Wellnitz, Jörg; Leary, Martin; Koopmans, Lucien

2012-01-01

The book on Sustainable Automotive Technologies aims to draw special attention to the research and practice focused on new technologies and approaches capable of meeting the challenges to sustainable mobility. In particular, the book features incremental and radical technical advancements that are able to meet social, economic and environmental targets in both local and global contexts. These include original solutions to the problems of pollution and congestion, vehicle and public safety, sustainable vehicle design and manufacture, new structures and materials, new power-train technologies and vehicle concepts. In addition to vehicle technologies, the book is also concerned with the broader systemic issues such as sustainable supply chain systems, integrated logistics and telematics, and end-of-life vehicle management. It captures selected peer reviewed papers accepted for presentation at the 4th International Conference on Sustainable Automotive Technologies, ICSAT2012, held at the RMIT, Melbourne, Australi...

Sustainability of electricity supply technology portfolio

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roth, Stefan; Hirschberg, Stefan; Bauer, Christian; Burgherr, Peter; Heck, Thomas; Schenler, Warren; Dones, Roberto

2008-01-01

This paper outlines the approach to the evaluation of sustainability of current and future electricity supply options of interest for a major Swiss utility Axpo Holding AG. The motivation behind this effort has been to provide a solid basis for a state-of-the-art interdisciplinary assessment and use this framework within a dialog with a wide spectrum of stakeholders. The development and implementation of the methodology was coordinated by Axpo in co-operation with the Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI) and other scientific institutions. The evaluation covers environmental, social and economic dimensions of sustainability. Methods used include among others Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Impact Pathway Approach (IPA) and Probabilistic Safety Assessment (PSA). The associated databases developed by PSI have been extensively used, subject to major extensions necessary for analysing the future technologies. Learning curves were employed for future cost estimates. Furthermore, particularly in the social area expert surveys were used. The results were aggregated using total (internal plus external) costs approach and Multi-criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA). For MCDA a set of criteria and the associated indicators was established. In total 75 indicators were quantified, including 11 environmental, 33 social and 31 economic. 18 current and 18 future technologies have been analysed including nuclear as well as fossil and renewable technologies. Total costs were estimated for these technologies providing a clear ranking with nuclear having the lowest costs and some of the renewable showing remarkable cost reductions until 2030. This ranking is partially controversial mainly due to the limited representation of social aspects in the total costs. The results of MCDA-applications involving elicitation of preferences from a relatively homogeneous stakeholder group, i.e. 85 employees of the Axpo Group (including also NOK, EGL, CKW and Axpo IT), are summarized. In addition, sensitivity of

Sustainability of electricity supply technology portfolio

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roth, Stefan; Hirschberg, Stefan; Bauer, Christian; Burgherr, Peter; Dones, Roberto; Heck, Thomas; Schenler, Warren

2009-01-01

This paper outlines the approach to the evaluation of sustainability of current and future electricity supply options of interest for a major Swiss utility Axpo Holding AG. The motivation behind this effort has been to provide a solid basis for a state-of-the-art interdisciplinary assessment and use this framework within a dialog with a wide spectrum of stakeholders. The development and implementation of the methodology was coordinated by Axpo in co-operation with the Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI) and other scientific institutions. The evaluation covers environmental, social and economic dimensions of sustainability. Methods used include among others life cycle assessment (LCA), impact pathway approach (IPA) and probabilistic safety assessment (PSA). The associated databases developed by PSI have been extensively used, subject to major extensions necessary for analyzing the future technologies. Learning curves were employed for future cost estimates. Furthermore, particularly in the social area expert surveys were used. The results were aggregated using total (internal plus external) costs approach and multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA). For MCDA a set of criteria and the associated indicators was established. In total 75 indicators were quantified, including 11 environmental, 33 social and 31 economic. Eighteen current and 18 future technologies have been analysed including nuclear as well as fossil and renewable technologies. Total costs were estimated for these technologies providing a clear ranking with nuclear having the lowest costs and some of the renewables showing remarkable cost reductions until 2030. This ranking is partially controversial mainly due to the limited representation of social aspects in the total costs. The results of MCDA-applications involving elicitation of preferences from a relatively homogeneous stakeholder group, i.e. 85 employees of the Axpo Group (including also NOK, EGL, CKW and Axpo IT), are summarized. In addition

Sustainability, energy technologies, and ethics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Matson, R.J. [National Renewable Energy Lab., Golden, CO (United States); Carasso, M.

1999-01-01

A study of the economic, social-political, and environmental consequences of using renewable energy technologies (RETs, e.g., photovoltaics, wind, solar thermal, biofuels) as compared to those of conventional energy technologies (CETs e.g., oil, coal, gas) would show that RETs are singularly consistent with a whole ethic that is implicit in the concept of sustainability. This paper argues for sustainability as an ethical, as well as a pragmatic, imperative and for RETs as an integral part of this imperative. It brings to the fore some of the specific current economic, political, and environmental assumptions and practices that are inconsistent with both sustainability and with a rapid deployment of RETs. Reflecting an emerging planetary awareness and a pressing need to come to terms with intra- and intergenerational equity, the concept of sustainability explicitly entails the right of future generations to the same opportunity of access to a healthy ecological future and the finite endowment of the Earth`s resources as that of the present generation. (Author)

Reactor and process design in sustainable energy technology

CERN Document Server

Shi, Fan

2014-01-01

Reactor Process Design in Sustainable Energy Technology compiles and explains current developments in reactor and process design in sustainable energy technologies, including optimization and scale-up methodologies and numerical methods. Sustainable energy technologies that require more efficient means of converting and utilizing energy can help provide for burgeoning global energy demand while reducing anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions associated with energy production. The book, contributed by an international team of academic and industry experts in the field, brings numerous reactor design cases to readers based on their valuable experience from lab R&D scale to industry levels. It is the first to emphasize reactor engineering in sustainable energy technology discussing design. It provides comprehensive tools and information to help engineers and energy professionals learn, design, and specify chemical reactors and processes confidently. Emphasis on reactor engineering in sustainable energy techn...

Evaluation Indicators for Analysis of Nuclear Fuel Cycle Sustainability

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jeong, Chang Joon; Ko, Won Il; Chang, Hong Lae

2008-01-15

In this report, an attempt was made to derive indicators for the evaluation of the sustainability of the nuclear fuel cycle, using the methodologies developed by the INPRO, OECD/NEA and Gen-IV. In deriving the indicators, the three main elements of the sustainability, i.e., economics, environmental impact, and social aspect, as well as the technological aspect of the nuclear fuel cycle, considering the importance of the safety, were selected as the main criteria. An evaluation indicator for each criterion was determined, and the contents and evaluation method of each indicator were proposed. In addition, a questionnaire survey was carried out for the objectivity of the selection of the indicators in which participated some experts of the Korea Energy Technology and Emergency Management Institute (KETEMI) . Although the proposed indicators do not satisfy the characteristics and requirements of general indicators, it is presumed that they can be used in the analysis of the sustainability of the nuclear fuel cycle because those indicators incorporate various expert judgment and public opinions. On the other hand, the weighting factor of each indicator should be complemented in the future, using the AHP method and expert advice/consultations.

A Network Analysis Model for Selecting Sustainable Technology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sangsung Park

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Most companies develop technologies to improve their competitiveness in the marketplace. Typically, they then patent these technologies around the world in order to protect their intellectual property. Other companies may use patented technologies to develop new products, but must pay royalties to the patent holders or owners. Should they fail to do so, this can result in legal disputes in the form of patent infringement actions between companies. To avoid such situations, companies attempt to research and develop necessary technologies before their competitors do so. An important part of this process is analyzing existing patent documents in order to identify emerging technologies. In such analyses, extracting sustainable technology from patent data is important, because sustainable technology drives technological competition among companies and, thus, the development of new technologies. In addition, selecting sustainable technologies makes it possible to plan their R&D (research and development efficiently. In this study, we propose a network model that can be used to select the sustainable technology from patent documents, based on the centrality and degree of a social network analysis. To verify the performance of the proposed model, we carry out a case study using actual patent data from patent databases.

SUSTAINABILITY COST ACCOUNTING - PART 1: A MONETARY PROCEDURE TO EVALUATE THE SUSTAINABILITY OF TECHNOLOGIES IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN PROCESS INDUSTRY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. C. Brent

2012-01-01

Full Text Available

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The development and management of new technologies is fundamental to the manufacturing sector as a core operational initiative. Managers of a new technology are increasingly pressurised to consider the economic, environmental, and social impacts associated with the life cycle of the technology (and product during decision-making – i.e. the overall sustainability of the technology. At present, there is no consensus on a methodology to incorporate externalities – for example, environmental and social impacts at macro-level, for which a company is (typically not held financially liable – into management practices. This paper introduces the Sustainability Cost Accounting (SCA procedure, whereby externalities (burdens and benefits are translated into financial terms to assess the overall sustainability performance of a developed technology in the process industry.

AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: ‘n Sentrale operasionele initiatief van die vervaardigings-industrie is die ontwikkeling en bestuur van nuwe tegnologieë. Bestuurders van nuwe tegnologieë word toenemend onder druk geplaas om die ekonomiese-, omgewings-, en sosiale impakte, wat verwant is aan die lewenssiklus van ‘n tegnologie (of produk, in ag te neem tydens besluitneming ten opsigte van die globale volhoudbaarheid van die tegnologie. Op hierdie stadium is daar geen konsensus oor die metodologie wat gevolg moet word om eksterne faktore – bv. omgewings- en sosiale impakte op makrovlak, waarvoor ‘n maatskappy tipies nie aanspreeklik gehou word nie – te inkorporeer in die bestuurpraktyk. Hierdie artikel stel die Volhoudbaarheid Kosterekeningkunde (VKR prosedure voor, waarvolgens die oorgrote volhoudbare prestasie, in terme van eksterne voor- en nadele van ‘n ontwikkelde tegnologie, in die prosesindustrie ge-assesseer kan word in finansiële terme.

Sustainability Assessment of Electricity Generation Technologies in Egypt Using Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis

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Mostafa Shaaban

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Future electricity planning necessitates a thorough multi-faceted analysis of the available technologies in order to secure the energy supply for coming generations. To cope with worldwide concerns over sustainable development and meet the growing demands of electricity we assess the future potential technologies in Egypt through covering their technical, economic, environmental and social aspects. In this study we fill the gap of a lacking sustainability assessment of energy systems in Egypt where most of the studies focus mainly on the economic and technical aspects of planning future installation of power plants in Egypt. Furthermore, we include the stakeholder preferences of the indicators in the energy sector into our assessment. Moreover, we perform a sensitivity analysis through single dimension assessment scenarios of the technologies as well as a sustainable scenario with equal preferences of all dimensions of the sustainability. We employ two multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA methodologies: the analytical hierarchy process for weighing the assessment criteria, and the weighted sum method for generating a general integrated sustainability index for each technology. The study investigates seven technologies: coal, natural gas, wind, concentrated solar power, photovoltaics, biomass and nuclear. The results reveal a perfect matching between the ranking of the technologies by the stakeholders and the sustainable scenario showing the highest ranking for natural gas and the lowest for nuclear and coal. There is a strong potential for renewable energy technologies to invade the electricity market in Egypt where they achieve the second ranking after natural gas. The Monte-Carlo approach gives photovoltaics a higher ranking over concentrated solar power as compared to the sample data ranking. The study concludes the importance of a multi-dimensional evaluation of the technologies while considering the preferences of the stakeholders in

Sustainable protein technology : an evaluation on the STW Protein programme and an outlook for the future

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Voudouris, Panagiotis; Tamayo Tenorio, Angelica; Lesschen, Jan Peter; Kyriakopoulou, Konstantina; Sanders, Johan P.M.; Goot, van der Atze Jan; Bruins, Marieke E.

2017-01-01

In 2013 a new STW research programme was started on sustainable protein recovery. This STW Protein Programme consisted of five sustainable protein technology projects, which aimed at developing innovative methods to extract proteins from plant leaves, microalgae and insects to meet the increasing

Technology acceptance perception for promotion of sustainable consumption.

Science.gov (United States)

Biswas, Aindrila; Roy, Mousumi

2018-03-01

Economic growth in the past decades has resulted in change in consumption pattern and emergence of tech-savvy generation with unprecedented increase in the usage of social network technology. In this paper, the technology acceptance value gap adapted from the technology acceptance model has been applied as a tool supporting social network technology usage and subsequent promotion of sustainable consumption. The data generated through the use of structured questionnaires have been analyzed using structural equation modeling. The validity of the model and path estimates signifies the robustness of Technology Acceptance value gap in adjudicating the efficiency of social network technology usage in augmentation of sustainable consumption and awareness. The results indicate that subjective norm gap, ease-of-operation gap, and quality of green information gap have the most adversarial impact on social network technology usage. Eventually social networking technology usage has been identified as a significant antecedent of sustainable consumption.

Toward a sustainable biorefinery using high-gravity technology

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Xiros, Charilaos; Janssen, Matty; Bystrom, Roberth

2017-01-01

The realization of process solutions for a sustainable bioeconomy depends on the efficient processing of biomass. High-gravity technology is one important alternative to realizing such solutions. The aims of this work were to expand the knowledge-base on lignocellulosic bioconversion processes...... at high solids content, to advance the current technologies for production of second-generation liquid biofuels, to evaluate the environmental impact of the proposed process by using life cycle assessment (LCA), and to develop and present a technically, economically, and environmentally sound process....... Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biorefining published by Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd....

Sustainable technology and the limits of ecological modernization

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Brey, Philip A.E.

1997-01-01

This essay addresses the question of how sustainable development is possible, giving special reference to the role of technology. It argues that the dominant strategy for sustainable development that is now operative, ecological modernization, is insufficient, and that the reform of technology and

Development and Evaluation of High Bioavailable Sustained-Release Nimodipine Tablets Prepared with Monolithic Osmotic Pump Technology.

Science.gov (United States)

Kong, Hua; Yu, Fanglin; Liu, Yan; Yang, Yang; Li, Mingyuan; Cheng, Xiaohui; Hu, Xiaoqin; Tang, Xuemei; Li, Zhiping; Mei, Xingguo

2018-01-01

Frequent administration caused by short half-life and low bioavailability due to poor solubility and low dissolution rate limit the further application of poorly water-soluble nimodipine, although several new indications have been developed. To overcome these shortcomings, sophisticated technologies had to be used since the dose of nimodipine was not too low and the addition of solubilizers could not resolve the problem of poor release. The purpose of this study was to obtain sustained and complete release of nimodipine with a simple and easily industrialized technology. The expandable monolithic osmotic pump tablets containing nimodipine combined with poloxamer 188 and carboxymethylcellulose sodium were prepared. The factors affecting drug release including the amount of solubilizing agent, expanding agent, retarding agent in core tablet and porogenic agent in semipermeable film were optimized. The release behavior was investigated both in vitro and in beagle dogs. It was proved that the anticipant release of nimodipine could be realized in vitro. The sustained and complete release of nimodipine was also realized in beagles because the mean residence time of nimodipine from the osmotic pump system was longer and Cmax was lower than those from the sustained-release tablets in market while there was no difference in AUC(0-t) of the monolithic osmotic pump tablets and the sustained release tablets in market. It was reasonable to believe that the sustained and complete release of poorly watersoluble nimodipine could be realized by using simple expandable monolithic osmotic pump technology combined with surfactant. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.org.

Making technological innovation work for sustainable development

Science.gov (United States)

Anadon, Laura Diaz; Harley, Alicia G.; Matus, Kira; Moon, Suerie; Murthy, Sharmila L.

2016-01-01

This paper presents insights and action proposals to better harness technological innovation for sustainable development. We begin with three key insights from scholarship and practice. First, technological innovation processes do not follow a set sequence but rather emerge from complex adaptive systems involving many actors and institutions operating simultaneously from local to global scales. Barriers arise at all stages of innovation, from the invention of a technology through its selection, production, adaptation, adoption, and retirement. Second, learning from past efforts to mobilize innovation for sustainable development can be greatly improved through structured cross-sectoral comparisons that recognize the socio-technical nature of innovation systems. Third, current institutions (rules, norms, and incentives) shaping technological innovation are often not aligned toward the goals of sustainable development because impoverished, marginalized, and unborn populations too often lack the economic and political power to shape innovation systems to meet their needs. However, these institutions can be reformed, and many actors have the power to do so through research, advocacy, training, convening, policymaking, and financing. We conclude with three practice-oriented recommendations to further realize the potential of innovation for sustainable development: (i) channels for regularized learning across domains of practice should be established; (ii) measures that systematically take into account the interests of underserved populations throughout the innovation process should be developed; and (iii) institutions should be reformed to reorient innovation systems toward sustainable development and ensure that all innovation stages and scales are considered at the outset. PMID:27519800

Making technological innovation work for sustainable development.

Science.gov (United States)

Anadon, Laura Diaz; Chan, Gabriel; Harley, Alicia G; Matus, Kira; Moon, Suerie; Murthy, Sharmila L; Clark, William C

2016-08-30

This paper presents insights and action proposals to better harness technological innovation for sustainable development. We begin with three key insights from scholarship and practice. First, technological innovation processes do not follow a set sequence but rather emerge from complex adaptive systems involving many actors and institutions operating simultaneously from local to global scales. Barriers arise at all stages of innovation, from the invention of a technology through its selection, production, adaptation, adoption, and retirement. Second, learning from past efforts to mobilize innovation for sustainable development can be greatly improved through structured cross-sectoral comparisons that recognize the socio-technical nature of innovation systems. Third, current institutions (rules, norms, and incentives) shaping technological innovation are often not aligned toward the goals of sustainable development because impoverished, marginalized, and unborn populations too often lack the economic and political power to shape innovation systems to meet their needs. However, these institutions can be reformed, and many actors have the power to do so through research, advocacy, training, convening, policymaking, and financing. We conclude with three practice-oriented recommendations to further realize the potential of innovation for sustainable development: (i) channels for regularized learning across domains of practice should be established; (ii) measures that systematically take into account the interests of underserved populations throughout the innovation process should be developed; and (iii) institutions should be reformed to reorient innovation systems toward sustainable development and ensure that all innovation stages and scales are considered at the outset.

Technology assessment HTR. Part 8. Nuclear energy and sustainable development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Turkenburg, W.C.

1996-06-01

The small social acceptance of nuclear power for power generation suggests that in the present situation nuclear technology does not meet certain sustainable criteria. First, the concept of sustainable development is explained and which dimensions can be distinguished. Next, the sustainable development with regard to the development of the energy supply is outlined and the energy policy to obtain this situation is discussed. Subsequently, the impact of the sustainable development and the policy used to realize this on the nuclear technology are dealt with. As a result, criteria are formulated that can be used to verify how nuclear technology will meet this criteria and which demands should be used to fit this technology so it can be used in a sustainable development of the society. 55 refs

Technology management for environmentally sound and sustainable development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zaidi, S.M.J.

1992-01-01

With the evolutionary change in the production activities of human societies, the concept of development has also been changing. In the recent years the emphasis has been on the environmentally sound and sustainable development. The environmentally sound and sustainable development can be obtained through judicious use of technology. Technology as a resource transformer has emerged as the most important factor which can constitute to economic growth. But technology is not an independent and autonomous force, it is only an instrument which needs to be used carefully, properly and appropriately which necessitates technology management. (author)

Sustainable Development and Airport Surface Access: The Role of Technological Innovation and Behavioral Change

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bilal Qazi

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Sustainable development reflects an underlying tension to achieve economic growth whilst addressing environmental challenges, and this is particularly the case for the aviation sector. Although much of the aviation-related focus has fallen on reducing aircraft emissions, airports have also been under increasing pressure to support the vision of a low carbon energy future. One of the main sources of airport-related emissions is passenger journeys to and from airports (the surface access component of air travel, which is the focus of this paper. Two aspects associated with the relationship between sustainable development and airport surface access are considered. Firstly, there is an evaluation of three technological innovation options that will enable sustainable transport solutions for surface access journeys: telepresence systems to reduce drop-off/pick-up trips, techniques to improve public transport and options to encourage the sharing of rides. Secondly, the role of behavioral change for surface access journeys from a theoretical perspective, using empirical data from Manchester airport, is evaluated. Finally, the contribution of technology and behavioral intervention measures to improvements in sustainable development are discussed.

Multi-Criteria Sustainability Assessment of Urban Sludge Treatment Technologies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

An, Da; Xi, Beidou; Ren, Jingzheng

2017-01-01

to determine the weights of the criteria for sustainability assessment, and extension theory was used to prioritize the alternative technologies for the treatment of urban sewage sludge and grade their sustainability performances. An illustrative case including three technologies (compositing, incineration...

Alternative Aviation Jet Fuel Sustainability Evaluation Report Task 1 : Report Evaluating Existing Sustainability Evaluation Programs

Science.gov (United States)

2011-10-25

This report describes how existing biofuel sustainability evaluation programs meet requirements that are under consideration or are in early phases of adoption and implementation in various US and international contexts. Biofuel sustainability evalua...

Evaluating Internal Technological Capabilities in Energy Companies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mingook Lee

2016-03-01

Full Text Available As global competition increases, technological capability must be evaluated objectively as one of the most important factors for predominance in technological competition and to ensure sustainable business excellence. Most existing capability evaluation models utilize either quantitative methods, such as patent analysis, or qualitative methods, such as expert panels. Accordingly, they may be in danger of reflecting only fragmentary aspects of technological capabilities, and produce inconsistent results when different models are used. To solve these problems, this paper proposes a comprehensive framework for evaluating technological capabilities in energy companies by considering the complex properties of technological knowledge. For this purpose, we first explored various factors affecting technological capabilities and divided the factors into three categories: individual, organizational, and technology competitiveness. Second, we identified appropriate evaluation items for each category to measure the technological capability. Finally, by using a hybrid approach of qualitative and quantitative methods, we developed an evaluation method for each item and suggested a method to combine the results. The proposed framework was then verified with an energy generation and supply company to investigate its practicality. As one of the earliest attempts to evaluate multi-faceted technological capabilities, the suggested model can support technology and strategic planning.

Promoting community socio-ecological sustainability through technology: A case study from Chile

Science.gov (United States)

Aguayo, Claudio; Eames, Chris

2017-12-01

The importance of community learning in effecting social change towards ecological sustainability has been recognised for some time. More recently, the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools to promote socio-ecological sustainability has been shown to have potential in community education for sustainable development (ESD). The effective design and use of technology for community learning implies an understanding of a range of cross-dimensional factors including: socio-cultural characteristics and needs of the target audience; considerations of available and culturally responsive types of technology; and non-formal pedagogical ESD strategies for community empowerment. In addition, both technology itself and social communities are dynamically evolving and complex entities. This article presents a case study which evaluated the potential of ICT for promoting ecological literacy and action competence amongst community members in southern Chile. The case study addressed the ecological deterioration of a lake, which is having deep social, economic, recreational and cultural implications locally. The authors' research involved developing a theoretical framework for the design, implementation and use of ICT for community learning for sustainability. The framework was based on key ideas from ESD, ICT and community education, and was underpinned by a systems thinking approach to account for the dynamism and complexity of such settings. Activity theory provided a frame to address overarching socio-cultural elements when using technology as a mediating tool for community learning. The authors' findings suggest that the use of an ICT tool, such as a website, can enhance ecological literacy in relation to a local socio-ecological issue.

Developing Sustainable Life Support System Concepts

Science.gov (United States)

Thomas, Evan A.

2010-01-01

Sustainable spacecraft life support concepts may allow the development of more reliable technologies for long duration space missions. Currently, life support technologies at different levels of development are not well evaluated against each other, and evaluation methods do not account for long term reliability and sustainability of the hardware. This paper presents point-of-departure sustainability evaluation criteria for life support systems, that may allow more robust technology development, testing and comparison. An example sustainable water recovery system concept is presented.

The role of technological innovation in sustainable economic development

OpenAIRE

Andreea Constantinescu; Simona Frone

2014-01-01

As in science an accurate picture of present is highlighted from a future outlook, we should recognize the crucial role of new technologies and innovation to improve knowledge in this field. They may give guarantee of sustainable economic development, provided prioritization of research in some fields such as: information technology and communication, resource depletion and climate change. Technological innovation becomes support of all strategies and policies aimed at ensuring sustainable ec...

Novel naval technologies: Sustaining or disrupting naval doctrine

NARCIS (Netherlands)

te Kulve, Haico; Smit, Willem A.

2010-01-01

The defense sector is generally known to be simultaneously conservative and enthusiastic about novel technologies. Uptake of new technologies by the military may differ depending on the perceived impact of new technologies. Introduction of technological changes can sustain or disrupt doctrine and

Sustainable Technology Entrepreneurship and Development – the Case of Serbia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maja Levi Jakšić

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Technology entrepreneurship is oriented towards competitiveness based on strong relationships between science, new technology, learning and creating new value for the customer in the form of advanced goods and services leading to their commercialization. In this paper special focus is on two crucial issues of sustainable technology entrepreneurship: definition of the cocept of techology entrepreneurship based on sustainable innovation and technology, and specific technology entrepreneurship indicators for Serbia related to vertical and horizontal technology transfer.

Sustainable thermal technologies and care homes: Productive alignment or risky investment?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Neven, Louis; Walker, Gordon; Brown, Sam

2015-01-01

The use of more sustainable thermal technologies is a policy imperative across the UK building stock. However, not all building uses provide the same opportunities for technology uptake as others. Care homes for older people have characteristics which in technical and economic terms suggest that they might be particularly appropriate for the implementation of more sustainable thermal technologies. They have comparatively high demands for space heating and hot water often sustained on a 24/7 basis. However there are many considerations, both generic and contextual, that will typically play into processes of technology uptake. Through qualitative research in six case study homes, focused on management and staff perspectives and experiences, we explore the degree to which there might be a productive alignment between care home operation and the use of sustainable thermal technologies. Two key themes emerge focused on business considerations and the importance of avoiding risk and damage to reputation; and the ways in which different thermal technologies are relevant to and can potentially impact on care practices. We conclude that despite potential benefits the sector could remain rather resistant to sustainability innovations. We suggest therefore areas in which productive action and further research could be undertaken. -- Highlights: •Care homes for older people might be particularly appropriate for the use of sustainable thermal technologies. •We examine if a productive alignment between care homes and the use of sustainable thermal technologies does exist in practice. •Two key themes are risks to business reputation; and relevance and potential benefits to care practices. •We conclude that the sector could remain rather reluctant to embrace sustainability innovation

The power of design product innovation in sustainable energy technologies

CERN Document Server

Reinders, Angele H; Brezet, Han

2012-01-01

The Power of Design offers an introduction and a practical guide to product innovation, integrating the key topics that are necessary for the design of sustainable and energy-efficient products using sustainable energy technologies. Product innovation in sustainable energy technologies is an interdisciplinary field. In response to its growing importance and the need for an integrated view on the development of solutions, this text addresses the functional principles of various energy technologies next to the latest design processes and innovation methods. From the perspec

An engineering dilemma: sustainability in the eyes of future technology professionals.

Science.gov (United States)

Haase, S

2013-09-01

The ability to design technological solutions that address sustainability is considered pivotal to the future of the planet and its people. As technology professionals engineers are expected to play an important role in sustaining society. The present article aims at exploring sustainability concepts of newly enrolled engineering students in Denmark. Their understandings of sustainability and the role they ascribe to sustainability in their future professional practice is investigated by means of a critical discourse analysis including metaphor analysis and semiotic analysis. The sustainability construal is considered to delimit possible ways of dealing with the concept in practice along the engineering education pathway and in professional problem solving. Five different metaphors used by the engineering students to illustrate sustainability are identified, and their different connotative and interpretive implications are discussed. It is found that sustainability represents a dilemma to the engineering students that situates them in a tension between their technology fascination and the blame they find that technological progress bears. Their sustainability descriptions are collected as part of a survey containing among other questions one open-ended, qualitative question on sustainability. The survey covers an entire year group of Danish engineering students in the first month of their degree study.

The sustainable nuclear energy technology platform. A vision report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2007-01-01

Nuclear fission energy can deliver safe, sustainable, competitive and practically carbon-free energy to Europe's citizens and industries. Within the framework of the Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET Plan), the European Commission's stakeholders in this field have formulated a collective vision of the contributions this energy could make towards Europe's transition to a low-carbon energy mix by 2050, with the aim of integrating and expanding R and D capabilities in order to further this objective. The groundwork has been prepared by the stakeholders listed in Annex II, within the framework of two EURATOM FP6 (Sixth Framework Programme) Coordination Actions, namely SNF-TP (Sustainable Nuclear Fission Technology Platform) and PATEROS (Partitioning and Transmutation European Road-map for Sustainable Nuclear Energy), with contributions from Europe's technical safety organisations. This vision report prepares the launch of the European Technology Platform on Sustainable Nuclear Energy (SNE-TP). It proposes a vision for the short-, medium- and long-term development of nuclear fission energy technologies, with the aim of achieving a sustainable production of nuclear energy, a significant progress in economic performance, and a continuous improvement of safety levels as well as resistance to proliferation. In particular, this document proposes road-maps for the development and deployment of potentially sustainable nuclear technologies, as well as actions to harmonize Europe's training and education, whilst renewing its research infrastructures. Public acceptance is also an important issue for the development of nuclear energy. Therefore, research in the fields of nuclear installation safety, protection of workers and populations against radiation, management of all types of waste, and governance methodologies with public participation will be promoted. The proposed road-maps provide the backbone for a strategic research agenda (SRA) to maintain Europe's leadership in

Technological Innovation – A Route Towards Sustainability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gráinne Kavanagh

2012-06-01

Full Text Available The sustainability of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs  is constantly challenged on today’s dynamic operating environment. Evolving regulatory trends, difficult economic conditions, and diminishing natural resources, pose serious questions for all players across the food system. Technological innovation, as a means of ensuring future sustainability in the same in the face of such challenges, has been the focus of significant government investment in Ireland. This paper, aims to facilitate a greater understanding of the motivations and barriers influencing the decision by food SMEs to invest in technological innovation emanating from research conducted in publicly‐funded research institutes.

Sustainable recycling technologies for Solar PV off-grid system

Science.gov (United States)

Uppal, Bhavesh; Tamboli, Adish; Wubhayavedantapuram, Nandan

2017-11-01

Policy makers throughout the world have accepted climate change as a repercussion of fossil fuel exploitation. This has led the governments to integrate renewable energy streams in their national energy mix. PV off-grid Systems have been at the forefront of this transition because of their permanently increasing efficiency and cost effectiveness. These systems are expected to produce large amount of different waste streams at the end of their lifetime. It is important that these waste streams should be recycled because of the lack of available resources. Our study found that separate researches have been carried out to increase the efficiencies of recycling of individual PV system components but there is a lack of a comprehensive methodical research which details efficient and sustainable recycling processes for the entire PV off-grid system. This paper reviews the current and future recycling technologies for PV off-grid systems and presents a scheme of the most sustainable recycling technologies which have the potential for adoption. Full Recovery End-of-Life Photovoltaic (FRELP) recycling technology can offer opportunities to sustainably recycle crystalline silicon PV modules. Electro-hydrometallurgical process & Vacuum technologies can be used for recovering lead from lead acid batteries with a high recovery rate. The metals in the WEEE can be recycled by using a combination of biometallurgical technology, vacuum metallurgical technology and other advanced metallurgical technologies (utrasonical, mechano-chemical technology) while the plastic components can be effectively recycled without separation by using compatibilizers. All these advanced technologies when used in combination with each other provide sustainable recycling options for growing PV off-grid systems waste. These promising technologies still need further improvement and require proper integration techniques before implementation.

Index of sustainability of the water resource for the definition of technological sustainable and competitives strategies in the Microbasin la Centella

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martha Constanza Daza; Aldemar Reyes Trujillo; Wilmar Loaiza Ceron; Martha Patricia Fajardo Vasquez

2012-01-01

The Index of Sustainable Water Resource Management in Agriculture (ISRHA) implemented in the watershed Centella (Dagua, Cauca Valley) assesses the sustainability of water resource management in agriculture, using pressure gauges, for State and Response factor analysis: biophysical, technological, socioeconomic and political-institutional. Each factor is composed of indicators which are evaluated based on parameters established by of ISRHA. The results of applying sustainability index shows a half the three study areas (watersheds La Virgen, Centella and Aguas Calientes), which were rated average to good in the proposed scale (1 to 5), identifying weaknesses and strengths in relation to the factors considered, which allows us to suggest some strategies for sustainability of and competitive for water resources in agricultural production systems in the watershed.

Sustainable Technology and Business Innovation Framework – A Comprehensive Approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maja Levi Jakšić

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Despite of the rising awareness of the urgency in finding more efficient and effective ways to achieve sustainable development, comprehensive and consistent meaning is still elusive both in theory and practice. The aim of this paper is to create a more structured theoretical framework related to macro and micro perspectives of sustainable development, relevant also to enhancing sustainable practices. We here propose a comprehensive framework model for structuring multiple sustainability principles and practices, detected in the literature as different sustainability categories related to both macro and micro perspectives of sustainability in the economy and society. The focus is on relevant sustainability principles of technology and business innovation in relation to basic technology and business innovation models as a contribution to less investigated theoretical aspects of sustainable business development. We developed a set of related matrices indicating the relevant roles and relationships between these principles in achieving sustainable business goals related to sustainable economy dimensions. Finally, the paper shows that the proposed Related Matrices Framework fulfils the main objective set in the initial research stages, i.e. to be of both theoretical and practical relevance. As a contribution to the theory it meets the need of building a structured, integrated, comprehensive model that serves the needs of better understanding different sustainability of macro and micro categories, indicating mutual relations and influences. In a practical sense, it can be used as a tool to support the management of change in companies oriented at achieving sustainable business goals based on sustainable technology and business innovation.

Economics of Sustainable Technologies : Private and Public Costs and Benefits

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Krozer, Yoram; Abraham, Martin

2017-01-01

This article is focused on the economics of sustainable technologies from the mainstream and heterodox perspectives. The aim is to present major concepts, methodologies, and debates for public use. The paper is focused on decision making aiming at the development and use of sustainable technologies.

Technology Foresight: A Tool for sustainability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Iraj Nabipour

2011-09-01

Full Text Available Our age is one of very rapid progress in the sciences and technologies, together with Globalization. Thus, interrelationships between science, technology and society are becoming more complex. This makes economic and social trends more difficult to predict and hence, more sophisticated approaches are needed to predict new challenges in science and technology. Technology foresight is the most attractive approach. In fact, technology foresight is a “… a systematic means of assessing those scientific and technological developments which could have a strong impact on industrial competitiveness, wealth creation and quality of life. This book presents a brief review or foresighting theory and methods. The book provides a series of key methodologies along with a discussion of how technology foresight relates to sustainability.

Sustainable recycling technologies for Solar PV off-grid system

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Uppal Bhavesh

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Policy makers throughout the world have accepted climate change as a repercussion of fossil fuel exploitation. This has led the governments to integrate renewable energy streams in their national energy mix. PV off-grid Systems have been at the forefront of this transition because of their permanently increasing efficiency and cost effectiveness. These systems are expected to produce large amount of different waste streams at the end of their lifetime. It is important that these waste streams should be recycled because of the lack of available resources. Our study found that separate researches have been carried out to increase the efficiencies of recycling of individual PV system components but there is a lack of a comprehensive methodical research which details efficient and sustainable recycling processes for the entire PV off-grid system. This paper reviews the current and future recycling technologies for PV off-grid systems and presents a scheme of the most sustainable recycling technologies which have the potential for adoption. Full Recovery End-of-Life Photovoltaic (FRELP recycling technology can offer opportunities to sustainably recycle crystalline silicon PV modules. Electro-hydrometallurgical process & Vacuum technologies can be used for recovering lead from lead acid batteries with a high recovery rate. The metals in the WEEE can be recycled by using a combination of biometallurgical technology, vacuum metallurgical technology and other advanced metallurgical technologies (utrasonical, mechano-chemical technology while the plastic components can be effectively recycled without separation by using compatibilizers. All these advanced technologies when used in combination with each other provide sustainable recycling options for growing PV off-grid systems waste. These promising technologies still need further improvement and require proper integration techniques before implementation.

The guide to sustainable energy technologies for schools; Un guide pour les technologies energetiques durables dans les ecoles

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2000-07-01

There are significant attractions for municipalities to opt for sustainable solutions which involve energy efficient technologies and measures. This is the challenging background which led to the production the Guide to Sustainable Energy Technologies for Schools. This guide is a decision-making tool intended for European municipalities and school managers. Its aim is to: assist them in choosing between the energy technologies that will be used in school building or retrofitting projects and provide them with a framework for measuring and comparing different aspects of energy performance that can be used to convince decision-makers to select sustainable energy technologies and measures. The guide is composed of three parts: an illustrative list of sustainable energy technologies, an introduction to energy performance indicators and fifteen case studies describing practical sustainable energy solutions applied to schools in seven European countries. (A.L.B.)

The sustainable nuclear energy technology platform. A vision report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2007-07-01

Nuclear fission energy can deliver safe, sustainable, competitive and practically carbon-free energy to Europe's citizens and industries. Within the framework of the Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET Plan), the European Commission's stakeholders in this field have formulated a collective vision of the contributions this energy could make towards Europe's transition to a low-carbon energy mix by 2050, with the aim of integrating and expanding R and D capabilities in order to further this objective. The groundwork has been prepared by the stakeholders listed in Annex II, within the framework of two EURATOM FP6 (Sixth Framework Programme) Coordination Actions, namely SNF-TP (Sustainable Nuclear Fission Technology Platform) and PATEROS (Partitioning and Transmutation European Road-map for Sustainable Nuclear Energy), with contributions from Europe's technical safety organisations. This vision report prepares the launch of the European Technology Platform on Sustainable Nuclear Energy (SNE-TP). It proposes a vision for the short-, medium- and long-term development of nuclear fission energy technologies, with the aim of achieving a sustainable production of nuclear energy, a significant progress in economic performance, and a continuous improvement of safety levels as well as resistance to proliferation. In particular, this document proposes road-maps for the development and deployment of potentially sustainable nuclear technologies, as well as actions to harmonize Europe's training and education, whilst renewing its research infrastructures. Public acceptance is also an important issue for the development of nuclear energy. Therefore, research in the fields of nuclear installation safety, protection of workers and populations against radiation, management of all types of waste, and governance methodologies with public participation will be promoted. The proposed road-maps provide the backbone for a strategic research agenda (SRA) to maintain

Science and Technology Research for Sustainable Development in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Science and Technology Research for Sustainable Development in Africa: The Imperative ... This has placed African countries at a disadvantage. ... In this paper, effort is made to establish the imperative of education to science and technology.

Socio-Environmental and Sustainability Assessment for Technology Innovations at Pectens Production in Brazil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Márcio Ricardo Costa dos Santos

2008-08-01

Full Text Available This study presents a practical impact assessment method for the adoption of technology innovations at Pectens In vitro Fertilization Laboratory in Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. To fulfill the system framework requirements, focused on reproductive and productive enterprises, field visits and interview with the laboratory executive director were carried out. Considering the pectens production activities, 24 socio-environmental indicators were developed and the impact indices were automatically calculated by the system’s spreadsheets. General performance index for the pectens reproduction activities indicated an important contribution of technological innovations for the sustainable production of the In vitro Fertilization Laboratory. The employed method was considered as appropriate for evaluations of sustainability at this agribusiness activity, dealing with indicators as tools in order to identify possible risks for negative impacts. Those indicators include aspects beyond those commonly presented by environmental impact assessments, and were capable to provide adequate management and sustainable development for the studied Organization.

Sustainable city policy. Economic, environmental, technological

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Camagni, R.; Capello, R. [Politecnico di Milano, Milan (Italy). Economics Dept.; Nijkamp, P. [Dept. of Spatial Economics. Fac. of Economics and Econometrics. Vrije Univ., Amsterdam (Netherlands)

1995-12-31

While the reasons for advocating intensified environmental concerns at the urban level are more and more accepted and clear, the question how to overcome such concerns is still fraught with many difficulties. The aim of the present paper is to formulate some policy guidelines, based on economic principles, for a `sustainable city`; it is an ambitious aim, since a unique and operationally defined `recipe` is difficult to envisage. An urban policy for a sustainable city needs to take different (and contrasting) aspects and many conflicting interests into consideration, while many political, social and economic frictions need to be overcome. A description of various aspects and concepts concerning sustainability issues at the urban level is given in Section 2. Section 3 then provides some considerations on possible technological, economic and environmental urban policies, by creating a typo logy of policy tools associated with different causes of urban decline. Section 4 provides some new, and partly provocative, suggestions for specific urban sustainability policies; in particular it deals with the problem of urban sustainability indicators, measures, and critical threshold levels at which urban sustainability policies should be implemented. Some reflective remarks will conclude the paper. 3 figs., 4 tabs., 25 refs.

Sustainable city policy. Economic, environmental, technological

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Camagni, R.; Capello, R.

1995-01-01

While the reasons for advocating intensified environmental concerns at the urban level are more and more accepted and clear, the question how to overcome such concerns is still fraught with many difficulties. The aim of the present paper is to formulate some policy guidelines, based on economic principles, for a 'sustainable city'; it is an ambitious aim, since a unique and operationally defined 'recipe' is difficult to envisage. An urban policy for a sustainable city needs to take different (and contrasting) aspects and many conflicting interests into consideration, while many political, social and economic frictions need to be overcome. A description of various aspects and concepts concerning sustainability issues at the urban level is given in Section 2. Section 3 then provides some considerations on possible technological, economic and environmental urban policies, by creating a typo logy of policy tools associated with different causes of urban decline. Section 4 provides some new, and partly provocative, suggestions for specific urban sustainability policies; in particular it deals with the problem of urban sustainability indicators, measures, and critical threshold levels at which urban sustainability policies should be implemented. Some reflective remarks will conclude the paper. 3 figs., 4 tabs., 25 refs

Sustainable Development Technology Canada : partnering for real results

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sharpe, V.

2002-01-01

The mission of Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) is to act as the primary catalyst in building a sustainable development technology infrastructure in Canada. Their mandate is to develop new technologies that focus on climate change and clean air, and to foster new partnership throughout Canada. This Power Point presentation identified the combustion research at SDTC with particular reference to the technologies that deal with: (1) the reduction of energy intensity, emissions and waste, (2) the efficient conversion of fuel to electricity, and (3) the capture, treatment and storage of carbon dioxide at large facilities. Graphs and charts depicting the impact of GHG emissions and climate change were also included. The presentation made reference to energy efficiency efforts at the DuPont Adipic Pipe Plant, the Allentown Pennsylvania wastewater treatment plant, and the pulp and paper dryer at Clean Energy Technologies. It was noted that each of the technologies mentioned have commercial value and SDTC helps in funding projects related to energy efficiency in the transportation sector, energy production, and enabling technologies. 2 figs

Application of nuclear technology for sustainable development, and IAEA activities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Machi, Sueo

1998-01-01

The role of radiation and isotopes for sustainable development in improving agriculture, industry and environmental conservation is presented. The radiation and isotope technology can increase productivity in a sustainable way. The IAEA programmes encompass mutation breeding, soil fertility and crop production, animal production, food irradiation, agrochemicals and insect pest control using nuclear technology

Thirty Years Researches on Development for Sustainable Concrete Technology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sim Jongsung

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The enormous amount of concrete production has a serious impact on energy, resources, environment and ecosystem. Therefore, the issue of development of sustainable concrete technology with little impact on the environment is becoming a major issue. In this paper, researches related with sustainable development of concrete are presented in last three decades. FRP has high corrosion resistance and lightweight, thus it can be potential solution for sustainable development of concrete structures as strengthening material or reinforcement instead of steel. Researches and techniques are presented on performance of concrete beam with FRP rebar and enhancing performance of existing concrete structure using FRP strengthening methods. The application of recycled concrete aggregate (RCA has sometimes been limited in the practice and remained in the low-valued purposes only such as road base materials. In past 10 years, a great improvement in the recycling technique to produce RCA of which quality is close to natural aggregate, hence the applicability and evaluation of RCA are presented in this paper. This paper includes experimental studies for application of waste glass which could decrease CO2 emission from cement producing. The achievements of these studies are presented in this paper to contribute for sustainable development of concrete infrastructures.

Sustained orderly development of the solar electric technologies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aitken, D.W.

1992-01-01

This article examines the need of electric utilities to support the commercialization of solar electric technologies now in order to have the technology available for future energy resources. The topics of the article include deteriorating opportunities, sustained orderly development of solar electric technologies, historical aspects, and market forces in the solar electric industry

Sustainable Technology Analysis of Artificial Intelligence Using Bayesian and Social Network Models

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Juhwan Kim

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Recent developments in artificial intelligence (AI have led to a significant increase in the use of AI technologies. Many experts are researching and developing AI technologies in their respective fields, often submitting papers and patent applications as a result. In particular, owing to the characteristics of the patent system that is used to protect the exclusive rights to registered technology, patent documents contain detailed information on the developed technology. Therefore, in this study, we propose a statistical method for analyzing patent data on AI technology to improve our understanding of sustainable technology in the field of AI. We collect patent documents that are related to AI technology, and then analyze the patent data to identify sustainable AI technology. In our analysis, we develop a statistical method that combines social network analysis and Bayesian modeling. Based on the results of the proposed method, we provide a technological structure that can be applied to understand the sustainability of AI technology. To show how the proposed method can be applied to a practical problem, we apply the technological structure to a case study in order to analyze sustainable AI technology.

Accelerating technological change. Towards a more sustainable transport system

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Vooren, A.

2014-01-01

This thesis provides insights into the mechanisms of technological change by capturing the complexity that characterises the current technological transition of the transport system into existing evolutionary models of technological change. The transition towards a more sustainable transport system

Effectiveness of Financial and Fiscal Instruments for Promoting Sustainable Renewable Energy Technologies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Renata Dombrovski

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The new EU target of achieving 80-95% emission reductions by 2050 calls for novel energy policy solutions. Previous research has failed to evaluate the influence of all relevant elements of energy policy on technology-specific sustainable renewable energy diffusion. This paper adds to existing research by studying the effectiveness of financial and fiscal instruments on diffusion, additionally controlling for potential political, economic, social, and environmental drivers. These drivers are analysed for 26 EU countries over the period 1990-2011. The main results show that feed-in tariffs, quotas, and tenders effectively promote wind technologies. Other explanatory variables have technology- and model-dependent impacts.

Using persuasive technology to promote sustainable behavior in smart home environments

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Midden, C.J.H.

2009-01-01

Sustainable living is to a large extent the outcome of how consumers use the technology surrounding them. Seen from this perspective the rather strict separation of technological and behavioral solution is not only artificial but also detrimental to finding real sustainable solutions. Persuasive

SELECTION OF KURAU FISHING TECHNOLOGY UNITS Eleutheronema tetradactylum WHICH COMPETITIVE AND SUSTAINABLE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Muhammad Natsir Kholis

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Environmentally friendly fishing technology unit is needed in sustainable fisheries management. The purpose of this study was to determine the fishing technology unit of kurau competitive and sustainable. Data collection was carried out from July to September 2016 in the Coastal Pambang of Bengkalis District of Riau Province, by using the survey method. The analytical data method used is scoring the biological, technical and socioeconomic aspects the fishing technology unit of kurau. Results of research show that combined analysis of biological, technical and socioeconomic aspects have the value of the VA fishing line function (2.48 is higher than the other three fishing gear. Thus, the fishing line is a selected fishing technology unit of kurau competitive and sustainable in the Coastal Pambang Bengkalis District. Keywords: competitive,coastal pambang, fishing technology, kurau fish,sustainable fishing

Sustainability performance evaluation: Literature review and future directions.

Science.gov (United States)

Büyüközkan, Gülçin; Karabulut, Yağmur

2018-07-01

Current global economic activities are increasingly being perceived as unsustainable. Despite the high number of publications, sustainability science remains highly dispersed over diverse approaches and topics. This article aims to provide a structured overview of sustainability performance evaluation related publications and to document the current state of literature, categorize publications, analyze and link trends, as well as highlight gaps and provide research recommendations. 128 articles between 2007 and 2018 are identified. The results suggest that sustainability performance evaluation models shall be more balanced, suitable criteria and their interrelations shall be well defined and subjectivity of qualitative criteria inherent to sustainability indicators shall be considered. To address this subjectivity, group decision-making techniques and other analytical methods that can deal with uncertainty, conflicting indicators, and linguistic evaluations can be used in future works. By presenting research gaps, this review stimulates researchers to establish practically applicable sustainability performance evaluation frameworks to help assess and compare the degree of sustainability, leading to more sustainable business practices. The review is unique in defining corporate sustainability performance evaluation for the first time, exploring the gap between sustainability accounting and sustainability assessment, and coming up with a structured overview of innovative research recommendations about integrating analytical assessment methods into conceptual sustainability frameworks. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation Model for Sustainability Risk Evaluation of PPP Projects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Libiao Bai

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Evaluating the sustainability risk level of public–private partnership (PPP projects can reduce project risk incidents and achieve the sustainable development of the organization. However, the existing studies about PPP projects risk management mainly focus on exploring the impact of financial and revenue risks but ignore the sustainability risks, causing the concept of “sustainability” to be missing while evaluating the risk level of PPP projects. To evaluate the sustainability risk level and achieve the most important objective of providing a reference for the public and private sectors when making decisions on PPP project management, this paper constructs a factor system of sustainability risk of PPP projects based on an extensive literature review and develops a mathematical model based on the methods of fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model (FCEM and failure mode, effects and criticality analysis (FMECA for evaluating the sustainability risk level of PPP projects. In addition, this paper conducts computational experiment based on a questionnaire survey to verify the effectiveness and feasibility of this proposed model. The results suggest that this model is reasonable for evaluating the sustainability risk level of PPP projects. To our knowledge, this paper is the first study to evaluate the sustainability risk of PPP projects, which would not only enrich the theories of project risk management, but also serve as a reference for the public and private sectors for the sustainable planning and development. Keywords: sustainability risk eva

Evaluating the sustainability of ceramic filters for point-of-use drinking water treatment.

Science.gov (United States)

Ren, Dianjun; Colosi, Lisa M; Smith, James A

2013-10-01

This study evaluates the social, economic, and environmental sustainability of ceramic filters impregnated with silver nanoparticles for point-of-use (POU) drinking water treatment in developing countries. The functional unit for this analysis was the amount of water consumed by a typical household over ten years (37,960 L), as delivered by either the POU technology or a centralized water treatment and distribution system. Results indicate that the ceramic filters are 3-6 times more cost-effective than the centralized water system for reduction of waterborne diarrheal illness among the general population and children under five. The ceramic filters also exhibit better environmental performance for four of five evaluated life cycle impacts: energy use, water use, global warming potential, and particulate matter emissions (PM10). For smog formation potential, the centralized system is preferable to the ceramic filter POU technology. This convergence of social, economic, and environmental criteria offers clear indication that the ceramic filter POU technology is a more sustainable choice for drinking water treatment in developing countries than the centralized treatment systems that have been widely adopted in industrialized countries.

Sustainable development, clean technology and knowledge from industry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sokolović Slobodan M.

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Clean technology or clean production is the most important factor for the economic growth of a society and it will play the main role not only in the area of cleaner production, but also in sustainable development. The development of clean technology will be the main factor of the company’s strategy in the future. Each company, which wants to reach the competitive position at the market and wants to be environmentally friendly, has to accept the new approach in corporate management and the strategy of new clean technology. The main principles of clean technology are based on the concept of maximum resource and energy productivity and virtually no waste. This approach may be limited by human resources and the level of their environmental knowledge. Companies are committed to the development of the workers’ skills, and thus to the improvement of the company for the full implementation of the environmental legislation and clean production concept. Based on this commitment, one of Tempus projects is designed to improve the university-enterprise cooperation in the process of creating sustainable industry in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. To achieve this goal, partner universities will create special courses on sustainable industry and thus enhance the lifelong learning process and cooperation between industry and universities in the Western Balkan countries.

Sustainable development: the contributions of gas technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cappe, D.; Buchet, P.; Muller, T.; Millet, B.

2007-01-01

The aim of this workshop was to debate the following questions in relation with sustainable development: what are the contributions of gas technology to the short- and medium-term mastery of demand in residential, tertiary and industry markets? What are the efficient applications of gas technology and what are the energy saving potentialities by type of market? Three participants present their experience in this domain. (J.S.)

Sustainable technology. Development of a non-perishable world

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Van Kasteren, J.

2002-01-01

An overview is given of the research proggramme Sustainable Technological Development - Knowledge Transfer and Embedment, which was finalized September 2001. The book provides an overview of new technology, which at present is developed and applied in the sectors food, housing, transport, industry, water, energy, trade and services [nl

Scenarios for the hierarchical evaluation of the global sustainability of electric generator plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roldan A, M.C.; Martinez F, M.

2007-01-01

The AHP multi criteria method was applied (Analytic Hierarchy Process-Analytic process of Hierarchization) to evaluate the sustainability in the whole life cycle of the electricity generation technologies (hydroelectric, carboelectric, thermoelectric natural fuel oil, natural gas thermoelectric, geothermal, nucleo electric, wind electric, photo thermic and photovoltaic) with the purpose of offering an useful method in the taking of decisions to impel the sustainable development. Eight scenarios are analyzed. The results in most of the scenarios reflect the benefit of the renewable energy: the hydroelectric energy, photo thermic and wind driven its are those more sustainable. To reach the sustainable development in Mexico, the energy politicians should be more near to the use of the renewable energy. (Author)

Sustainability assessment of electricity generation technologies using weighted multi-criteria decision analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maxim, Alexandru

2014-01-01

Solving the issue of environmental degradation due to the expansion of the World's energy demand requires a balanced approach. The aim of this paper is to comprehensively rank a large number of electricity generation technologies based on their compatibility with the sustainable development of the industry. The study is based on a set of 10 sustainability indicators which provide a life cycle analysis of the plants. The technologies are ranked using a weighted sum multi-attribute utility method. The indicator weights were established through a survey of 62 academics from the fields of energy and environmental science. Our results show that large hydroelectric projects are the most sustainable technology type, followed by small hydro, onshore wind and solar photovoltaic. We argue that political leaders should have a more structured and strategic approach in implementing sustainable energy policies and this type of research can provide arguments to support such decisions. - Highlights: • We rank 13 electricity generation technologies based on sustainability. • We use 10 indicators in a weighted sum multi-attribute utility approach. • Weights are calculated based on a survey of 62 academics from the field. • Large hydroelectric projects are ranked as the most sustainable. • Decision makers can use the results to promote a more sustainable energy industry

Sustainable BECCS pathways evaluated by an integrated assessment model

Science.gov (United States)

Kato, E.

2017-12-01

Negative emissions technologies, particularly Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS), are key components of mitigation strategies in ambitious future socioeconomic scenarios analysed by integrated assessment models. Generally, scenarios aiming to keep mean global temperature rise below 2°C above pre-industrial would require net negative carbon emissions in the end of the 21st century. Also, in the context of Paris agreement which acknowledges "a balance between anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases in the second half of this century", RD&D for the negative emissions technologies in this decade has a crucial role for the possibility of early deployment of the technology. Because of the requirement of potentially extensive use of land and water for producing the bioenergy feedstock to get the anticipated level of gross negative emissions, researches on how to develop sustainable scenarios of BECCS is needed. Here, we present BECCS deployment scenarios that consider economically viable flow of bioenergy system including power generation and conversion process to liquid and gaseous fuels for transportation and heat with consideration of sustainable global biomass use. In the modelling process, detailed bioenergy representations, i.e. various feedstock and conversion technologies with and without CCS, are implemented in an integrated assessment (IA) model GRAPE (Global Relationship Assessment to Protect the Environment). Also, to overcome a general discrepancy about assumed future agricultural yield between 'top-down' IA models and 'bottom-up' estimates, which would crucially affect the land-use pattern, we applied yields change of food and energy crops consistent with process-based biophysical crop models in consideration of changing climate conditions. Using the framework, economically viable strategy for implementing sustainable bioenergy and BECCS flow are evaluated in the scenarios targeting to keep global average

User-led innovations and participation processes: lessons from sustainable energy technologies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ornetzeder, Michael [ZSI - Centre for Social Innovation, Linke Wienzeile 246, A-1150 Vienna (Austria); Rohracher, Harald [IFF/IFZ - Inter-University Research Centre for Technology, Work and Culture, Schloegelgasse 2, A-8010 Graz (Austria)

2006-01-01

In this paper we will pose the question whether a higher level of user participation could be used as a strategy to improve the development and dissemination of sustainable energy technologies. We will especially focus on user-led innovation processes with a high involvement of individual end-users. In our argument we will draw on several case studies in the field of renewable energy technologies-in particular solar collectors and biomass heating systems-and sustainable building technologies. Users in these case studies were involved in the design or planning processes, sometimes in a very selective way and with limited influence, sometimes very active and for quite a long period of time. Especially in the case of renewable energy technologies self-building groups were highly successful and resulted in improved and widely disseminated technologies. Based on the empirical results of our case studies we will critically discuss the potential of user involvement (especially in self-building groups) for the development and promotion of sustainable energy technologies and outline technological and social pre-conditions for the success of such approaches. (author)

User-led innovations and participation processes: lessons from sustainable energy technologies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ornetzeder, Michael; Rohracher, Harald

2006-01-01

In this paper we will pose the question whether a higher level of user participation could be used as a strategy to improve the development and dissemination of sustainable energy technologies. We will especially focus on user-led innovation processes with a high involvement of individual end-users. In our argument we will draw on several case studies in the field of renewable energy technologies-in particular solar collectors and biomass heating systems-and sustainable building technologies. Users in these case studies were involved in the design or planning processes, sometimes in a very selective way and with limited influence, sometimes very active and for quite a long period of time. Especially in the case of renewable energy technologies self-building groups were highly successful and resulted in improved and widely disseminated technologies. Based on the empirical results of our case studies we will critically discuss the potential of user involvement (especially in self-building groups) for the development and promotion of sustainable energy technologies and outline technological and social pre-conditions for the success of such approaches

Multi-criteria sustainability assessment: A tool for evaluation of new energy system

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Afgan Naim H.

2007-01-01

Full Text Available One of perspective methods for the evaluation of quality of energy system is the multi-criteria sustainability assessment, based on the analysis and synthesis of indicators expressing different aspects of the system. Application of this methodology in the cases of information deficiency (ASPID methodology enables evaluation of various energy systems. In the paper, the multi-criteria sustainability assessment of energy systems of various energy sources is used to evaluate the energy power system of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Eight different energy system options are taken into a consideration as the potential options for the capacity building within the energy power system of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It has included various renewable sources and fossil fuel clean technologies. Within the multi-criteria sustainability assessment method, sustainability indicators and weighting coefficients are defined and calculated, including: resource indicator, environment indicator, social indicator and economic indicator with respective weighting factors. The methodology includes the system of stochastic models of uncertainty in order to realize the assessment from various supporting systems, and to obtain respective normalization indexes by using non-numeric (ordinal, non-exact (interval, and non-complete information (NNN- information, for sources of various reliability and probability. By the analysis of multi-criteria sustainability assessment of selected options, the decision makers could be enabled to form opinion on quality of considered energy systems, and from the aspect of sustainability, make selection an optimum option of energy system. .

A Sustainable Evaluation Framework and Its Application

Science.gov (United States)

Powell, Robert B.; Stern, Marc J.; Ardoin, Nicole

2006-01-01

This article presents a framework for developing internally sustainable evaluation systems for environmental education organizations, although the framework can be applied to other types of organizations. The authors developed a sustainable evaluation framework (SEF) with the intent of creating an evaluation system that could be self-administered…

Multidimensional Scaling Approach to Evaluate the Level of Community Forestry Sustainability in Babak Watershed, Lombok Island, West Nusa Tenggara

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ryke Nandini

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Community forestry in Babak watershed is one of the efforts to reduce critical land area. The aim of this research was to evaluate the level of community forestry sustainability in both of community forest (HKm and private forest in Babak watershed. Multidimensional scaling (MDS was used to analyse the level of community forest sustainability based on the five dimensions of ecology, economy, social, institutional, and technology as well as 29 attributes. Leverage analysis was used to know the sensitive attributes of sustainability, while Monte Carlo analysis and goodness of fit was used to find the accuracy of MDS analysis. The result shows that HKm was in moderate sustainability level (sustainability index 54.08% and private forest was in less sustainability level (sustainability index 48.53%. Furthermore, the ecology and technology in HKm were classified as less sustainable, while the institution and technology in private forest were considered less sustainable. There were 11 sensitive attributes of HKm and 19 sensitive attributes of private forest. The priorities of attribute improvement in HKm include land recovering (the dimension of ecology and cooperative development (the dimension of technology. In private forest, the priorities of attribute improvement include leadership capacity building (the institutional dimension and also the use of silviculture intensive and soil conservation (the dimension of technology.

Making technological innovation work for sustainable development

OpenAIRE

Anadon, Laura Diaz; Chan, Gabriel; Harley, Alicia G.; Matus, Kira; Moon, Suerie; Murthy, Sharmila L.; Clark, William C.

2016-01-01

Sustainable development requires harnessing technological innovation to improve human well-being in current and future generations. However, poor, marginalized, and unborn populations too often lack the economic or political power to shape innovation processes to meet their needs. Issues arise at all stages of innovation, from invention of a technology through its selection, production, adaptation, adoption, and retirement. Three insights should inform efforts to intervene in innovation syste...

Sustainable Wearables: Wearable Technology for Enhancing the Quality of Human Life

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jaewoon Lee

2016-05-01

Full Text Available This paper aims to elicit insights about sustainable wearables by investigating recent advancements in wearable technology and their applications. Wearable technology has advanced considerably from a technical perspective, but it has stagnated due to barriers without penetrating wider society despite early positive expectations. This situation is the motivation behind the focus on studies by many research groups in recent years into wearable applications that can provide the best value from a human-oriented perspective. The expectation is that a new means to resolve the issue can be found from a viewpoint of sustainability; this is the main point of this paper. This paper first focuses on the trend of wearable technology like bodily status monitoring, multi-wearable device control, and smart networking between wearable sensors. Second, the development intention of such technology is investigated. Finally, this paper discusses about the applications of current wearable technology from the sustainable perspective, rather than detailed description of the component technologies employed in wearables. In this paper, the definition of sustainable wearables is discussed in the context of improving the quality of individual life, social impact, and social public interest; those wearable applications include the areas of wellness, healthcare, assistance for the visually impaired, disaster relief, and public safety. In the future, wearables will not be simple data trackers or fun accessories but will gain extended objectives and meanings that play a valuable role for individuals and societies. Successful and sustainable wearables will lead to positive changes for both individuals and societies overall.

Analysis and evaluation of the applicability of green energy technology

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Z. J.; Song, Y. K.

2017-11-01

With the seriousness of environmental issues and the shortage of resources, the applicability of green energy technology has been paid more and more attention by scholars in different fields. However, the current researches are often single in perspective and simple in method. According to the Theory of Applicable Technology, this paper analyzes and defines the green energy technology and its applicability from the all-around perspectives of symbiosis of economy, society, environment and science & technology etc., and correspondingly constructs the evaluation index system. The paper further applies the Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation to the evaluation of its applicability, discusses in depth the evaluation models and methods, and explains in detail with an example. The author holds that the applicability of green energy technology involves many aspects of economy, society, environment and science & technology and can be evaluated comprehensively by an index system composed of a number of independent indexes. The evaluation is multi-object, multi-factor, multi-level and fuzzy comprehensive, which is undoubtedly correct, effective and feasible by the Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation. It is of vital theoretical and practical significance to understand and evaluate comprehensively the applicability of green energy technology for the rational development and utilization of green energy technology and for the better promotion of sustainable development of human and nature.

An Evaluation Model for Sustainable Development of China’s Textile Industry: An Empirical Study

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Hong; Lu, Xiaodong; Yu, Ting; Yin, Yanbin

2018-04-01

With economy’s continuous rapid growth, textile industry is required to search for new rules and adjust strategies in order to optimize industrial structure and rationalize social spending. The sustainable development of China’s textile industry is a comprehensive research subject. This study analyzed the status of China’s textile industry and constructed the evaluation model based on the economical, ecologic, and social benefits. Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) were used for an empirical study of textile industry. The result of evaluation model suggested that the status of the textile industry has become the major problems in the sustainable development of China’s textile industry. It’s nearly impossible to integrate into the global economy if no measures are taken. The enterprises concerned with the textile industry status should be reformed in terms of product design, raw material selection, technological reform, technological progress, and management, in accordance with the ideas and requirements of sustainable development. The results of this study are benefit for 1) discover the main elements restricting the industry’s sustainable development; 2) seek for corresponding solutions for policy formulation and implementation of textile industry; 3) provide references for enterprises’ development transformation in strategic deployment, fund allocation, and personnel assignment.

Let nuclear technology create new brilliancy for china's sustainable development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Du Xiangwan

2008-01-01

This paper summarizes the development and application directions of nuclear technology, including five aspects: nuclear technology and energy nuclear technology and medicine, nuclear anclear analysis technology, nuclear radiation technology, astronautics and voyage's nuclear power, etc. The paper discusses the importance of them to sustainable development and generalizes the development trilogy of nuclear science and technology and its prospect. (authors)

5th International Conference on Sustainable Automotive Technologies

CERN Document Server

Subic, Aleksandar; Trufin, Ramona

2014-01-01

This book captures selected peer reviewed papers presented at the 5th International Conference on Sustainable Automotive Technologies, ICSAT 2013, held in Ingolstadt, Germany. ICSAT is the state-of-the-art conference in the field of new technologies for transportation. The book brings together the work of international researchers and practitioners under the following interrelated headings: fuel transportation and storage, material recycling, manufacturing and management costs, engines and emission reduction. The book provides a very good overview of research and development activities focused on new technologies and approaches capable of meeting the challenges to sustainable mobility. About the Editors: Prof. Dr. Jörg Wellnitz is the Dean of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt, Germany. Prof. Dr. Aleksandar Subic is the Head of the School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, RMIT University, Australia. Ramona Trufin, M.A. is the coordinator of the Facul...

Coordinating Leader-Follower Supply Chain with Sustainable Green Technology Innovation on Their Fairness Concerns.

Science.gov (United States)

Du, Bisheng; Liu, Qing; Li, Guiping

2017-11-08

Sustainable green technology innovation is essential in all the stages of the supply chain development. The members of the supply chain in each stage need to invest in sustainable green technology innovation research and development. However, whether the sustainable green technology innovation investments and profits for all the members are fairness concerned is a critical factor to motivate the supply chain members. Motivated by a real business investigation, in this study, a supply chain model with one supplier and one manufacturer is analyzed. We consider fairness concerns for the supplier and the manufacturer with sustainable green technology innovation development. We derive the optimal results in both with and without fairness concern. The results indicate that fairness concerns can promote and coordinate the supply chain members without advantage inequity averseness, to invest more on their sustainable green technology innovation development.

Beyond Adoption: A New Framework for Theorizing and Evaluating Nonadoption, Abandonment, and Challenges to the Scale-Up, Spread, and Sustainability of Health and Care Technologies

Science.gov (United States)

Wherton, Joseph; Papoutsi, Chrysanthi; Lynch, Jennifer; Hughes, Gemma; A'Court, Christine; Hinder, Susan; Fahy, Nick; Procter, Rob; Shaw, Sara

2017-01-01

Background Many promising technological innovations in health and social care are characterized by nonadoption or abandonment by individuals or by failed attempts to scale up locally, spread distantly, or sustain the innovation long term at the organization or system level. Objective Our objective was to produce an evidence-based, theory-informed, and pragmatic framework to help predict and evaluate the success of a technology-supported health or social care program. Methods The study had 2 parallel components: (1) secondary research (hermeneutic systematic review) to identify key domains, and (2) empirical case studies of technology implementation to explore, test, and refine these domains. We studied 6 technology-supported programs—video outpatient consultations, global positioning system tracking for cognitive impairment, pendant alarm services, remote biomarker monitoring for heart failure, care organizing software, and integrated case management via data sharing—using longitudinal ethnography and action research for up to 3 years across more than 20 organizations. Data were collected at micro level (individual technology users), meso level (organizational processes and systems), and macro level (national policy and wider context). Analysis and synthesis was aided by sociotechnically informed theories of individual, organizational, and system change. The draft framework was shared with colleagues who were introducing or evaluating other technology-supported health or care programs and refined in response to feedback. Results The literature review identified 28 previous technology implementation frameworks, of which 14 had taken a dynamic systems approach (including 2 integrative reviews of previous work). Our empirical dataset consisted of over 400 hours of ethnographic observation, 165 semistructured interviews, and 200 documents. The final nonadoption, abandonment, scale-up, spread, and sustainability (NASSS) framework included questions in 7 domains: the

Teaching Sustainable Entrepreneurship to Engineering Students: The Case of Delft University of Technology

Science.gov (United States)

Bonnet, Hans; Quist, Jaco; Hoogwater, Daan; Spaans, Johan; Wehrmann, Caroline

2006-01-01

Sustainability, enhancement of personal skills, social aspects of technology, management and entrepreneurship are of increasing concern for engineers and therefore for engineering education. In 1996 at Delft University of Technology this led to the introduction of a subject on sustainable entrepreneurship and technology in the course programmes of…

Sustainability, arid grasslands and grazing: New applications for technology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pregenzer, A.L.; Parmenter, R.; Passell, H.D.; Budge, T.; Vande Caste, J.

1999-12-08

The study of ecology is taking on increasing global importance as the value of well-functioning ecosystems to human well-being becomes better understood. However, the use of technological systems for the study of ecology lags behind the use of technologies in the study of other disciplines important to human well-being, such as medicine, chemistry and physics. The authors outline four different kinds of large-scale data needs required by land managers for the development of sustainable land use strategies, and which can be obtained with current or future technological systems. They then outline a hypothetical resource management scenario in which data on all those needs are collected using remote and in situ technologies, transmitted to a central location, analyzed, and then disseminated for regional use in maintaining sustainable grazing systems. They conclude by highlighting various data-collection systems and data-sharing networks already in operation.

A Sustainability Assessment Methodology for Prioritizing the Technologies of Groundwater Contamination Remediation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

An, Da; Xi, Beidou; Wang, Yue

2016-01-01

More and more groundwater has 23 been polluted recently, and technologies for groundwater contamination remediation are of vital importance; however, it is usually difficult for the users to select the most suitable technology among multiple alternatives. In order to address this, this study aims...... at developing a sustainability assessment framework for prioritizing the technologies for groundwater contamination remediation by combining the concept of sustainability and multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) method. A criterion system which consists of six criteria in three aspects has been proposed...... for sustainability assessment of technologies for groundwater contamination remediation, and a novel MCDM method by combining the logarithmic fuzzy preference programming based fuzzy analytic hierarchy process and the improved ELECTRE method has been developed for prioritizing the alternatives. In order...

Extension Sustainability Camp: Design, Implementation, and Evaluation

Science.gov (United States)

Brain, Roslynn; Upton, Sally; Tingey, Brett

2015-01-01

Sustainability Camps provide an opportunity for Extension educators to be in the forefront of sustainability outreach and to meet the growing demand for sustainability education. This article shares development, implementation, and evaluation of an Extension Sustainability Camp for youth, grades 4-6. Camp impact was measured via daily pre-and…

Sustainability evaluation of automatic and conventional milking systems on organic dairy farms in Denmark

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Oudshoorn, F.W.; Kristensen, T.; Zijpp, van der A.J.; Boer, de I.J.M.

2012-01-01

Organic dairy farmers in Denmark currently are implementing automatic milking systems (AMS) to save labour costs. As organic agriculture aims at sustainable production, the introduction of a new technology such as AMS should be evaluated regarding its economic viability, environmental impact, and

Modern technologies and equipment for environment and sustainable development at ROMAG-PROD Heavy Water Plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Preda, Marius Cristian; Patrascu, Mihai; Pop, Artimisia; Chilom, Rodica

2004-01-01

At ROMAG-PROD Heavy Water Plant, the sustainable development concept incorporates as a priority the environmental protection through the production process technology. Norway's Prime Minister, Mr. Gro Harlem Brundtland used the concept of 'sustainable development' in 1987, when as President of International Commission for Environment and Sustainable Development, he presented his report 'Our common future'. Sustainable development means that development that allows satisfying our present needs without spoiling the next generation capacity to meet their own needs. Any technology has both advantages and disadvantages; when considering the concept of sustainable development we have to take into account all the aspects, namely: - causes identification and review; - results evaluation; - corrective and preventive actions. Thus, ROMAG-PROD Heavy Water Plant has implemented a typical environment management system by means of what the general and specific objectives have been established, these objectives being stated in an Environment Policy Declaration: - Environment Management System as per SR EN ISO 14001/1997; - Quality Management System as per SR EN ISO 9001/2000; - IQNet- The International Certification Network. The paper presents the modern equipment for emissions and in-missions management with real time data transmission, for air and water as environment elements. Section two deals with trial of modern technology for industrial discharged wastewater treatment using the method of controlled batching of surface-active materials. Investigations on method application and laboratory testing as well as findings are given. As a conclusion, one can state that ROMAG-PROD Heavy Water Plant, has as one of its main concern keeping on high standards the safety of its equipment operation, sustainable development and risk eliminating so that neither environment or the population in vicinity is affected. (authors)

Keeping options open. Energy, technology and sustainable development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rogner, Hans-Holger; Langlois, Lucille; McDonald, Alan

2001-01-01

The Ninth Session of the the Commission for Sustainable Development (CSD-9) in April 2001 provided an excellent opportunity for a full debate on the role of nuclear power in sustainable development, as part of its over-all discussion of energy, transport and the atmospheric change issues. On nuclear power, there were two important conclusions. First, countries agreed to disagree on the role of nuclear power in sustainable development. CSD-9's final text recognizes that some countries view nuclear power as incompatible with sustainable development while others believe it is an important contributor to sustainable development. For each case, the reasoning is presented in the text. The second conclusion, on which there was consensus agreement, is that 'the choice of nuclear energy rests with countries'. The arguments in favor of an important role for nuclear power role in sustainable development are that it broadens the resource base by putting uranium to productive use; it reduces harmful emissions; it expands electricity supplies and it increases the world's stock of technological and human capital. It is ahead of other energy technologies in internalizing all externalities, from safety to waste disposal to decommissioning - the costs of all of these are already included in the price of nuclear electricity in most countries. The complete nuclear power chain, from resource extraction to waste disposal including reactor and facility construction, emits only two to kilowatt-hour -- about the same as wind and solar power and two orders of magnitude below coal, oil, and even natural gas. In addition, nuclear power avoids the emission of many other air pollutants, such as SO 2 , NO x and particulates

Commercialization of sustainable energy technologies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Balachandra, P.; Kristle Nathan, Hippu Salk; Reddy, B. Sudhakara

2010-01-01

Commercialization efforts to diffuse sustainable energy technologies (SETs) have so far remained as the biggest challenge in the field of renewable energy and energy efficiency. Limited success of diffusion through government driven pathways urges the need for market based approaches. This paper reviews the existing state of commercialization of SETs in the backdrop of the basic theory of technology diffusion. The different SETs in India are positioned in the technology diffusion map to reflect their slow state of commercialization. The dynamics of SET market is analysed to identify the issues, barriers and stakeholders in the process of SET commercialization. By upgrading the 'potential adopters' to 'techno-entrepreneurs', the study presents the mechanisms for adopting a private sector driven 'business model' approach for successful diffusion of SETs. This is expected to integrate the processes of market transformation and entrepreneurship development with innovative regulatory, marketing, financing, incentive and delivery mechanisms leading to SET commercialization. (author)

New Technologies and Sustainable Development of Industry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Muggli, Christoph; Baumgartner, Walter; Werner, Frank

1996-08-01

The present technology assessment study examines the effects of three technology scenarios on future energy consumption and the energy-related emissions by industrial manufacturing in Switzerland. The three paths of development (Trend, High-Tech, Alternative) can be represented as follows: After a reduction until 2015, the Trend development entails a slight increase in consumption of energy. Until then consumption is some 10 percent lower in both the High-Tech and the Alternative Scenarios. Consumption of electricity increases in all scenarios, the proportion is highest in 20 year's time under the High-Tech scenario. SO 2 and CO 2 emissions decrease in all scenarios until 2000 and then level out at a low level. The emissions are lowest in the High-Tech scenario. In contrast the NO x and the VOC emissions diminish until 2000 and then rise again continuously. At this juncture important bases are still not yet available for a definitive evaluation with respect to the sustainable development. Sustainability objectives are currently being compiled for Switzerland in the wake of the Berlin Climate Conference and the Rio Conference. In the political lobbies the Green factions are making demands, such as those currently under discussion internationally (e.g. CO 2 reductions on a scale of some 80 percent by 2050), whereas conservative and industrial circle representatives support the objective of sustainable development but reject a quantification of objectives. The official objectives of the Swiss Energy 2000 programme can be achieved with all scenarios. With the High-Tech and Alternative scenarios, concepts of a reduction in CO 2 by 20 percent by 2015 (as currently under discussion in Switzerland), are realistic. However, further energy-relevant efficiency potentials in industrial production can be activated by energy-policy motivated measures. More extensive objectives, such as e.g. a CO 2 reduction of 50 percent, are hardly attainable, even in the long-term, without

Electricity Technology Roadmap. Technology for the Sustainable Society. 2025

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2002-01-01

The Dutch Electricity Technology Roadmap Initiative is being developed by KEMA as a joint effort of Dutch and European experts of universities, industry and (non)governmental organisations. It aims to assess how to structure the ongoing collaborative research and technological advancement, the exploration of the opportunities and the threats for the electricity-based innovations over the next twenty-five years. In addition it analyses how to manage the transition towards a knowledge based economy and a more sustainable society. To date, about 100 organisations have participated with KEMA and its sponsors in shaping a comprehensive vision of the opportunities to structure the knowledge based economy in the Digital Society with as basis the increase of electricity's value to society. This vision is being translated into a set of technology development destinations and a total of six distinct initiatives for targeted projects. KEMA is leading this ongoing road-mapping effort, with the support of TENNET and EPRI (USA). The Dutch power generation utilities and the Ministry of Economics (EZ) financially support the work. It is an investment in the future of the Dutch knowledge based economy and a guidance to structure and strengthen the value of public and private RandD investments. The Electricity Technology Roadmap Initiative explores a period of fast regulatory, political, technological and institutional change in the electricity enterprise and in the society. The strategic choices made in this period of change can have profound consequences on whether future opportunities are opened or closed, and whether threats increase or are eliminated The reluctance to proceed with important changes is understandable, given the extreme uncertainty under which decisions must be made. No regrets solutions may be appropriate in some circumstances. These situations highlight the need for foresight and the importance of strategic roadmapping. The first year of the Roadmap

Development of sanitation technologies in African context : how could we make it more sustainable?

Science.gov (United States)

Dakouré, M. S.; Traoré, M. B.; Sossou, S. K.; Maïga, A. H.

2017-03-01

Access to sanitation technologies remains one of the biggest challenges in sub-Saharan Africa. To overcome this gap, a sanitation project called “Ameli-EAUR” translated from French as improvement of water and sanitation in urban and rural areas, was implemented in Burkina Faso for 5 years (2010-2016). The technologies from the project were designed on the basis of agro-sanitation concept, leading to package containing a composting toilet, a grey water treatment facility and a set of urine collection and treatment. The study aimed to evaluate of Ameli-EAUR project, one year after the end, and identify some key factors of sustainability of technologies. As methodology, a survey and a technical diagnostic of implemented technologies were done. The results showed that, the pilot families stopped using all the technologies one year after the end of the project. However, two main lessons can be learnt: (1) in term of efficiency and effectiveness of the project the technology of composting toilet was not robust enough, leading to a rapid abandonment after the project (2) in term of impact and sustainability, the economic incentive of the resource oriented sanitation concept was very weak compared to the needed workload. The technologies development in this kind of project should be carried on and associated with a more inclusive system driven by economic incentive.

The Social Agenda of Education for Sustainable Development within Design & Technology: The Case of the Sustainable Design Award

Science.gov (United States)

Pitt, James; Lubben, Fred

2009-01-01

The paper explores the adoption of the social dimensions of sustainability in technological design tasks. It uses a lens which contrasts education for sustainability as "a frame of mind" with an attempt to bridge a "value-action gap". This lens is used to analyse the effectiveness of the Sustainable Design Award, an intervention in post-16…

A framework of performance criteria defining sustainable construction technologies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sturges, W.G.

1992-01-01

As our global culture encounters accelerating rates of resource depletion, environmental degradation, and societal inequality, it increasingly needs tools to rate building systems by environmental and socioeconomic criteria. By investigating light frame structural systems based on principles of ecological design, it is possible to not only identify the structures' potential impacts on the health of their site and larger community, but also to establish a framework of performance criteria for comparatively evaluating a variety of construction technologies. This paper summarizes the development and application of such a framework, based upon the ecosystems and culture of the Pacific Northwest's Cascadia Bioregion. The framework has been comparatively applied to solid-sawn lumber, trusses, and composite wood I-joists. These three framing technologies together represent traditional, contemporary, and progressive structural systems. Their individual and collective performance, based upon the application of the hypothesized criteria, offer insights into what might be a more ideal framing system of the sustainable future

Evaluating the environmental sustainability of biomass-based energy strategy: Using an impact matrix framework

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Weldu, Yemane W., E-mail: ywweldem@ucalgary.ca [Faculty of Environmental Design, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta 2500, University Drive NW, T2N 1N4 (Canada); Assefa, Getachew [Faculty of Environmental Design, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta 2500, University Drive NW, T2N 1N4 (Canada); Athena Chair in Life Cycle Assessment in Design (Canada)

2016-09-15

A roadmap for a more sustainable energy strategy is complex, as its development interacts critically with the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. This paper applied an impact matrix method to evaluate the environmental sustainability and to identify the desirable policy objectives of biomass-based energy strategy for the case of Alberta. A matrix with the sustainability domains on one axis and areas of environmental impact on the other was presented to evaluate the nexus effect of policy objectives and bioenergy production. As per to our analysis, economic diversification, technological innovation, and resource conservation came up as the desirable policy objectives of sustainable development for Alberta because they demonstrated environmental benefits in all environmental impact categories, namely climate change, human health, and ecosystem. On the other hand, human health and ecosystem impacts were identified as trade-offs when the policy objectives for sustainability were energy security, job creation, and climate change. Thus, bioenergy can mitigate climate change but may impact human health and ecosystem which then in turn can become issues of concern. Energy strategies may result in shifting of risks from one environmental impact category to another, and from one sustainable domain to another if the technical and policy-related issues are not identified.

Evaluating the environmental sustainability of biomass-based energy strategy: Using an impact matrix framework

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Weldu, Yemane W.; Assefa, Getachew

2016-01-01

A roadmap for a more sustainable energy strategy is complex, as its development interacts critically with the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. This paper applied an impact matrix method to evaluate the environmental sustainability and to identify the desirable policy objectives of biomass-based energy strategy for the case of Alberta. A matrix with the sustainability domains on one axis and areas of environmental impact on the other was presented to evaluate the nexus effect of policy objectives and bioenergy production. As per to our analysis, economic diversification, technological innovation, and resource conservation came up as the desirable policy objectives of sustainable development for Alberta because they demonstrated environmental benefits in all environmental impact categories, namely climate change, human health, and ecosystem. On the other hand, human health and ecosystem impacts were identified as trade-offs when the policy objectives for sustainability were energy security, job creation, and climate change. Thus, bioenergy can mitigate climate change but may impact human health and ecosystem which then in turn can become issues of concern. Energy strategies may result in shifting of risks from one environmental impact category to another, and from one sustainable domain to another if the technical and policy-related issues are not identified.

Editorial: Creating, Supporting, Sustaining and Evaluating Virtual Learning Communities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xun Ge

2011-12-01

Full Text Available This special issue is dedicated to creating, building, supporting, sustaining and evaluating virtual learning communities (VLCs using emerging technologies. The contributors from diverse disciplines have come together to share their valuable experiences and findings through their research in the following themes: (a instructional models, strategies, approaches for building, supporting and evaluating VLCs, (b designing effective use of tools to promote discourse and scaffold peer interactions among members, (c iterative processes and models of designing and evaluating VLCs; and (d various variables concerning VLCs, such as virtual community behaviors, cultural factors, adoption patterns of tools. It is hoped that these articles will provide practical guidance and offer valuable experience to both educators and researchers who are interested in designing effective VLCs and examining various aspects of VLCs to advance our understanding of VLCs.

Beyond Adoption: A New Framework for Theorizing and Evaluating Nonadoption, Abandonment, and Challenges to the Scale-Up, Spread, and Sustainability of Health and Care Technologies.

Science.gov (United States)

Greenhalgh, Trisha; Wherton, Joseph; Papoutsi, Chrysanthi; Lynch, Jennifer; Hughes, Gemma; A'Court, Christine; Hinder, Susan; Fahy, Nick; Procter, Rob; Shaw, Sara

2017-11-01

Many promising technological innovations in health and social care are characterized by nonadoption or abandonment by individuals or by failed attempts to scale up locally, spread distantly, or sustain the innovation long term at the organization or system level. Our objective was to produce an evidence-based, theory-informed, and pragmatic framework to help predict and evaluate the success of a technology-supported health or social care program. The study had 2 parallel components: (1) secondary research (hermeneutic systematic review) to identify key domains, and (2) empirical case studies of technology implementation to explore, test, and refine these domains. We studied 6 technology-supported programs-video outpatient consultations, global positioning system tracking for cognitive impairment, pendant alarm services, remote biomarker monitoring for heart failure, care organizing software, and integrated case management via data sharing-using longitudinal ethnography and action research for up to 3 years across more than 20 organizations. Data were collected at micro level (individual technology users), meso level (organizational processes and systems), and macro level (national policy and wider context). Analysis and synthesis was aided by sociotechnically informed theories of individual, organizational, and system change. The draft framework was shared with colleagues who were introducing or evaluating other technology-supported health or care programs and refined in response to feedback. The literature review identified 28 previous technology implementation frameworks, of which 14 had taken a dynamic systems approach (including 2 integrative reviews of previous work). Our empirical dataset consisted of over 400 hours of ethnographic observation, 165 semistructured interviews, and 200 documents. The final nonadoption, abandonment, scale-up, spread, and sustainability (NASSS) framework included questions in 7 domains: the condition or illness, the technology

A global sustainability perspective on 3D printing technologies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gebler, Malte; Schoot Uiterkamp, Anton J.M.; Visser, Cindy

2014-01-01

Three-dimensional printing (3DP) represents a relative novel technology in manufacturing which is associated with potentially strong stimuli for sustainable development. Until now, research has merely assessed case study-related potentials of 3DP and described specific aspects of 3DP. This study represents the first comprehensive assessment of 3DP from a global sustainability perspective. It contains a qualitative assessment of 3DP-induced sustainability implications and quantifies changes in life cycle costs, energy and CO 2 emissions globally by 2025. 3DP is identified to cost-effectively lower manufacturing inputs and outputs in markets with low volume, customized and high-value production chains as aerospace and medical component manufacturing. This lowers energy use, resource demands and related CO 2 emissions over the entire product life cycle, induces changes in labour structures and generates shifts towards more digital and localized supply chains. The model calculations show that 3DP contains the potential to reduce costs by 170–593 billion US $, the total primary energy supply by 2.54–9.30 EJ and CO 2 emissions by 130.5–525.5 Mt by 2025. The great range within the saving potentials can be explained with the immature state of the technology and the associated uncertainties of predicting market and technology developments. The energy and CO 2 emission intensities of industrial manufacturing are reducible by maximally 5% through 3DP by 2025, as 3DP remains a niche technology. If 3DP was applicable to larger production volumes in consumer products or automotive manufacturing, it contains the (theoretical) potential to absolutely decouple energy and CO 2 emission from economic activity. - Highlights: • Global sustainability aspects of 3DP in manufacturing are assessed in two ways. • 3DP will strongly influence manufacturing in aerospace, medical components, tooling. • 3DP re-shifts production to consumer countries due to decreased labour costs. �

SUSTAINABILITY IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: AN ANALYSIS OF THE ASPECTS CONSIDERED IN THE MODEL COBIT

OpenAIRE

Machado, Marcia Cristina; Hourneaux Junior, Flavio; Sobral, Fernanda Aparecida

2017-01-01

ABSTRACT Parallel to the development of technology in its different fronts and particularly about the various applications of Information Technology (IT), another trend that has been consolidated in organizations is the search for sustainability. There are initiatives such as Green IT, Sustainable IT, and Green software that combine these two elements (IT and sustainability). In this context, this study aims to identify the presence of sustainability aspects in the COBIT (Control Objectives f...

An Assessment of the Sustainability of Information Technology at the ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The paper examined the extent to which the University of Zambia (UNZA) Library was addressing the information technology (IT) sustainability challenges. This was with a view to establishing a feasible IT sustainability model approach that could be adopted by the Library. In this case study, multiple sources of data, ...

An Evaluation System for University–Industry Partnership Sustainability: Enhancing Options for Entrepreneurial Universities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Artūras Kaklauskas

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The concept of university–industry partnership sustainability (UIPS stands for well-adjusted progress among key players from universities and industry by sustaining their welfare, both in the present and in the future. This paper sought to develop an evaluation system for UIPS. The need for such a system is justified at three levels: the micro level (i.e., research and innovation performance, transfer and absorptive capability, and technology development, the meso level (i.e., institutional arrangements, communication networks, and local and indigenous rules and the macro level (i.e., supply and demand, regulations, financing, taxes, culture, traditions, market, climate, politics, demographics, and technology. The UIPS evaluation system developed in this study offers the possibility of calculating a fair value of UIPS and providing recommendations for improving university–industry (U–I partnerships. This can be of great importance for entrepreneurial universities that would like to strengthen their corporate links and/or reduce/reverse the “hollowing effect” of globalisation in disadvantaged regions. Additionally, this paper also contains discussions on the advantages, limitations, and managerial implications of this proposal.

Trade-off analysis for sustainability evaluation: a case study of the Purhepecha region, Mexico

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Speelman, E.N.; Astier, M.; López Ridaura, S.; Leffelaar, P.A.; Ittersum, van M.K.

2006-01-01

This paper describes the use and role of trade-off analysis as a decision-making tool in the implementation of new technologies and sustainability evaluation. As an example, soils in the Purhepecha region in Mexico have been eroding for decades and crop residue retention has been suggested as an

Negotiating sustainable innovation? Hydrogen and fuel cell technologies in Germany

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Weert Canzler

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Recently, the German Federal Government made the consequential decision to change its energy program. This not only as a result of the decision to shut down the existing nuclear power plants within the next few years, but also due to vital challenges like climate change and security of energy supply. The shift in the energy-technology paradigm from fossil fuel technologies to regenerative energies might appear as a merely technical process at first glance. Yet, the road to environmental sustainability is paved with economic and social stumbling blocks. The concept of sustainable development is not a blueprint for technical progress but requires deliberations on questions about innovations and governance: How do we want to live and how do we want to get there? This paper traces the negotiations of sustainable innovation on the example of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies in Germany. The institutional set up in this field is analyzed and the new organizational actors are identified. These actors attempt to inform and persuade others of the benefits of hydrogen and fuel cells in order to establish a common view that is to guide the further development. However, while they succeeded in mobilizing enough actors to launch the largest Public Private Partnership in this sector in the EU, they could not attain the leadership in the public discourse on these technologies. It seems that an attractive guiding vision of a sustainable, post-fossil energy future and a broad acceptance in daily use would have been major prerequisites for such leadership.

The Two Faces of Sustainability : Fuzzy Evaluation of Sustainable Development

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Cornelissen, T.

2003-01-01

An evaluative framework of sustainable development operates at both the production system level and the society level: objective information gathered at the production system level is given subjective meaning at the society level. The evaluative framework constitutes a complete cycle to monitor

A thermodynamic perspective on technologies in the Anthropocene : analyzing environmental sustainability

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Liao, Wenjie

2012-01-01

Technologies and sustainable development are interrelated from a thermodynamic perspective, with industrial ecology (IE) as a major point of access for studying the relationship in the Anthropocene. To offer insights into the potential offered by thermodynamics in the environmental sustainability

Decision making tools for selecting sustainable wastewater treatment technologies in Thailand

Science.gov (United States)

Wongburi, Praewa; Park, Jae K.

2018-05-01

Wastewater consists of valuable resources that could be recovered or reused. Still it is under threat because of ineffective wastewater management and systems. In Thailand, less than 25% of wastewater generated may be treated while then rest is inadequately treated and sent back directly into waterbodies or the environment. Furthermore, the technologies that have been applied may be inefficient and unsustainable. Efficiency, sustainability, and simplicity are important concepts when designing an appropriate wastewater treatment system in developing countries. The objectives of this study were to review and evaluate wastewater treatment technologies and propose a method to improve or select an appropriate technology. An expert system in Excel® program was developed to determine the best solution. Sensitivity analysis was applied to compare and assess uncertainty factors. Due to the different conditions of each area, the key factor of interest was varied. Furthermore, Robust Decision Making tool was applied to determine the best way to improve existing wastewater treatment facility and to choose the most appropriate wastewater treatment technology.

Sustainable Biofuels Development Center

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Reardon, Kenneth F. [Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO (United States)

2015-03-01

The mission of the Sustainable Bioenergy Development Center (SBDC) is to enhance the capability of America’s bioenergy industry to produce transportation fuels and chemical feedstocks on a large scale, with significant energy yields, at competitive cost, through sustainable production techniques. Research within the SBDC is organized in five areas: (1) Development of Sustainable Crops and Agricultural Strategies, (2) Improvement of Biomass Processing Technologies, (3) Biofuel Characterization and Engine Adaptation, (4) Production of Byproducts for Sustainable Biorefining, and (5) Sustainability Assessment, including evaluation of the ecosystem/climate change implication of center research and evaluation of the policy implications of widespread production and utilization of bioenergy. The overall goal of this project is to develop new sustainable bioenergy-related technologies. To achieve that goal, three specific activities were supported with DOE funds: bioenergy-related research initiation projects, bioenergy research and education via support of undergraduate and graduate students, and Research Support Activities (equipment purchases, travel to attend bioenergy conferences, and seminars). Numerous research findings in diverse fields related to bioenergy were produced from these activities and are summarized in this report.

Technology Platform on Sustainable Nuclear Energy - a report on the vision

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Potocnik, J.

2008-01-01

The aim of the report is to prepare the establishment of the Technology Platform on Sustainable Nuclear Energy (SNP-TP). The report puts forth a version of the short-term, medium-term and long-term development of nuclear fission technologies, whose goal it is to achieve sustainable nuclear power generation, significant improvement of its economic indices, and continuous safety improvement, and to prevent it from abuse. The document includes proposals for timescales and milestones of the development and deployment of potentially sustainable nuclear technologies and provisions for a harmonization of educational and training activities in all EU Member States and for innovation of their research infrastructures. For the development of nuclear it is vital that it gains public acceptance. Therefore it is necessary to support research in the safety of nuclear facilities, staff and public protection from ionizing radiation, handling of all kinds of nuclear waste, and inspection methods involving the public. The time plans proposed will form the backbone of the Strategic Research Agenda (SRA), which should help Europe keep its leadership position in nuclear power, both in the research domain and in the industrial domain. The report emphasizes that nuclear will hold a key position among European energy sources, and calls upon European countries to make all efforts to meet the vision for a sustainable nuclear energy in line with European Commission's Strategic Plan for Energy Technologies. (author)

Materials and membrane technologies for water and energy sustainability

KAUST Repository

Le, Ngoc Lieu; Nunes, Suzana Pereira

2016-01-01

Water and energy have always been crucial for the world’s social and economic growth. Their supply and use must be sustainable. This review discusses opportunities for membrane technologies in water and energy sustainbility by analyzing their potential applications and current status; providing emerging technologies and scrutinizing research and development challenges for membrane materials in this field.

Materials and membrane technologies for water and energy sustainability

KAUST Repository

Le, Ngoc Lieu

2016-03-10

Water and energy have always been crucial for the world’s social and economic growth. Their supply and use must be sustainable. This review discusses opportunities for membrane technologies in water and energy sustainbility by analyzing their potential applications and current status; providing emerging technologies and scrutinizing research and development challenges for membrane materials in this field.

Cloud manufacturing distributed computing technologies for global and sustainable manufacturing

CERN Document Server

Mehnen, Jörn

2013-01-01

Global networks, which are the primary pillars of the modern manufacturing industry and supply chains, can only cope with the new challenges, requirements and demands when supported by new computing and Internet-based technologies. Cloud Manufacturing: Distributed Computing Technologies for Global and Sustainable Manufacturing introduces a new paradigm for scalable service-oriented sustainable and globally distributed manufacturing systems.   The eleven chapters in this book provide an updated overview of the latest technological development and applications in relevant research areas.  Following an introduction to the essential features of Cloud Computing, chapters cover a range of methods and applications such as the factors that actually affect adoption of the Cloud Computing technology in manufacturing companies and new geometrical simplification method to stream 3-Dimensional design and manufacturing data via the Internet. This is further supported case studies and real life data for Waste Electrical ...

Promoting Community Socio-Ecological Sustainability through Technology: A Case Study from Chile

Science.gov (United States)

Aguayo, Claudio; Eames, Chris

2017-01-01

The importance of community learning in effecting social change towards ecological sustainability has been recognised for some time. More recently, the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools to promote socio-ecological sustainability has been shown to have potential in community education for sustainable development (ESD). The…

Catalytic Science and Technology in Sustainable Energy II

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wang, Yuxin; Xiao, Feng-Shou; Seshan, Kulathu K.

2017-01-01

This special issue of Catalysis Today results from four sessions, under the collective theme "Catalysis in Sustainable Energy", of the 2ndInternational Symposium on Catalytic Science and Technology in Sustainable Energy and Environment, held in Tianjin, China during October 12-14, 2016. This bien...... whom the special issue would not have been possible. As the organizer of the EECAT 2016, Y Li expresses his special gratitude to the sponsors, especially Haldor Topsoe and Synfuels China, the participants and the co-organizers for their great contribution to the success of EECAT 2016....

Permeable Reactive Barriers: a multidisciplinary approach of a new emerging sustainable groundwater treatment technology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Diels, L.; Bastiaens, L. [Vito, Mol (BL); O' Hannessin, S. [EnviroMetal Technologies Inc., Ontario (Canada); Cortina, J.L. [Univ. Politecnica de Catalunya, Barcelona (Spain). Dept. d' Enginyeria Quimica; Alvarez, P.J. [Univ. of Iowa, Iowa-City (United States). Center for Biocatalysis and Bioprocessing; Ebert, M. [Christian-Albrechts Univ. Kiel (Germany). Inst. fuer Geowissenschaften; Schad, H. [I.M.E.S. GmbH, Amtzell (Germany)

2003-07-01

Permeable reactive barriers or zones are becoming an interesting sustainable and cost-effective technology for in situ treatment of contaminated groundwater. The technology is based on chemical processes as the dehalogenating activity of zerovalent iron, biological processes in bioscreens or reactive zones and on sorption technology (e.g. heavy metal adsorption or adsorption on granular activated carbon). Three technical sessions will be devoted to this nowadays becoming mature technology. This special session intends to pay attention to the discussion about some questions related to PRBs. These include the sustainability (e.g. life time and clogging) especially for zerovalent iron barriers, the need and quality of feasibility tests, drawbacks and restrictions of PRBs. Combined with long term performance monitoring os these systems will be discussed. Further attention will be paid to cost evaluation and the relationship between zerovalent barriers and bacterial growth. Also attention will be paid to new reactive materials (e.g. activated carbon for organics and inorganic materials for heavy metals) and consequences (e.g. environmental impact). Finally the session will combine al these approaches in a discussion about combined barriers or multibarriers for treatment of mixed pollution (e.g. landfill leachates contaminated groundwater). Specialists involved in these subjects will introduce these topics and allow for a large and intensive discussion to improve future applications of this technology. (orig.)

New Technologies for Parliaments Managing Knowledge for Sustaining Democracy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mauro ROMANELLI

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Parliaments as information and knowledge-based organizations are embracing the Internet and new technologies of information and communication for coping with the crisis of legitimacy relying on citizens feeling disenchanted about politics. Parliaments as democratic institutions engaging citizens use technology for better managing sources of knowledge and information and developing public policies as result of knowledge sharing and dialogue between public institutions and citizens. Parliaments dealing with an increasing complexity of governing tend to introduce new technologies following an information or knowledge approach to achieve legitimacy as credible institutions encouraging an active participation of citizens, for building a sustainable and democratic path promoting active citizenship. Parliaments sustain democracy by managing knowledge and information, structuring the e-parliament between merely providing a channel for citizens having access to information and developing active communication for engendering a dialogue with citizens to be included and exert influence in the policy process by encouraging participatory models driving the search of knowledge for building policies.

Technological solution for vulnerable communities: Questioning the sustainability of Appropriate Technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sianipar, C P M; Dowaki, K; Yudoko, G

2015-01-01

Vulnerability eradication has become an emerging concern in today's society following the increasing uncertainties in achieving societal resilience, particularly in vulnerable communities. Furthermore, incorporating technological solution, especially appropriate technology (AT), into such concern requires interdisciplinary understandings to achieve a holistic eradication based on the particularities of each community. This study aims to briefly reveal existing scholarly discourses and investigate potential gap(s) between previous researches. Literatures, particularly consisting meta-analysis on previous scholarly discussions, are surveyed. The findings reveal three progress among scientific discourses. The first one is the paradigm shift of developmental purposes from typical development to empowerment. Next, concerns in technology development indicate the parallel movement toward empowerment. Then, previous methodological developments, including approach in sustaining AT, indicate the needs to assess the future based on sustainability. Therefore, a new research is proposed to develop an assessment framework on AT for vulnerability eradication on the basis of empowerment paradigm, extended focuses in technology development, and extended coverage of future changes in dynamic matter. The framework needs to be developed based on the combination of positivist-deductive-qualitative research paradigms. This is intended to generalize the framework for being used in different cases, to build an applicative framework as an integral part of existing body of knowledge, and to develop an enriched and flexible construction of framework. Looking at existing researches, this brief study proposes insights to move scientific progress toward a more holistic vulnerability eradication using AT solution both in conceptual and practical levels

Energy, sustainability and the environment technology, incentives, behavior

CERN Document Server

2011-01-01

The complexity of carbon reduction and economic sustainability is significantly complicated by competing aspects of socioeconomic practices as well as legislative, regulatory, and scientific requirements and protocols. An easy to read and understand guide, Sioshansi, along with an international group of contributors, moves through the maze of carbon reduction methods and technologies, providing steps and insights to meet carbon reduction requirements and maintaining the health and welfare of the firm. The book's three part treatment is based on a clear and rigorous exposition of a wide range of options to reduce the carbon footprint Part 1 of the book, Challenge of Sustainability, examines the fundamental drivers of energy demand - economic growth, the need for basic energy services, and the interdependence of economic, political, environmental, social, equity, legacy and policy issues. Part 2 of the book, Technological Solutions, examines how energy can be used to support basic energy service needs of homes...

Technologies for a sustainable development; Technologies pour un developpement durable

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2002-07-01

The European Event on Technology (EET), a recurrent annual event since 1992, is a major meeting opportunity for researchers and engineers as well as private and public decision-makers, on technologies, their evolution and their industrial and social implications. In less than a decade, sustainable development has become both an economic and a political priority. It was urgent and legitimate that those who are the mainsprings should take hold of the subject and give it technological content, estimate its costs and define clear timetables. The debates consist of: plenary sessions on environmental, social and economic stakes of sustainable development and the challenges for, and commitment of engineers, managers and politicians with respect to these goals; and workshops, which provide an overview of recently acquired or upcoming technologies developed by sector: energy, transports, new information technologies, new industrial manufacturing technologies (materials, products, services), waste management, global environment monitoring, water management, bio-technologies, and innovation management. This document brings together the different talks given by the participants. Among these, the following ones fall into the energy and environment scope: energy efficiency of buildings: towards energy autonomy; superconductors enable in new millennium for electric power industry; advanced gas micro-turbine-driven generator technology; environmental and technical challenges of an offshore wind farm; future nuclear energy systems; modelling combustion in engines: progress and prospects for reducing emissions; on-board computers: reduction in consumption and emissions of engine-transmission units for vehicles; polymer-lithium batteries: perspectives for zero-emission traction; hybrid vehicles and energy/environmental optimization: paths and opportunities; fuel cells and zero-emission: perspectives and developments; global change: causes, modeling and economic issues; the GMES

Energy, society and environment. Technology for a sustainable future

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Elliott, D.

1997-04-01

Energy, Society and Environment examines energy and energy use, and the interactions between technology, society and the environment. The book is clearly structured to examine; Key environmental issues, and the harmful impacts of energy use; New technological solutions to environmental problems; Implementation of possible solutions, and Implications for society in developing a sustainable approach to energy use. Social processes and strategic solutions to problems are located within a clear, technological context with topical case studies. (UK)

The right of all nations to access science, new technologies and sustainable development.

Science.gov (United States)

Majidi, Mohammad Reza; Dehshiri, Mohammad Reza

2009-01-01

This article explores the need for reflection on the right of developing countries to science and technology in addition to explaining the place of the scientific rights of nations in human rights as a whole. The discussion was conducted in relation to sustainable development. Through the examination of the current situation and the challenges to sustainable development, and taking into account the imbalance in the distribution of the benefits of science and new technologies, the authors advocate a comprehensive approach to promote cooperation and capacity-building in this area. They argue that linkages should be adopted between micro-levels and macro-levels of analysis by elevating rights and related issues from individuals to the national level in the field of the right to science and technology, and from the national to the international level in the field of sustainable development in order to institutionalise and ensure individual and national rights to science, technology and sustainable development. The authors also believe in a multidimensional perspective based on the balanced flourishing of the material and immaterial aspects of humankind in order to realise these rights in the context of dialogue and cultural diversity and to promote the culture of sustainable and dynamic peace based on justice in knowledge societies.

Supporting Sustainable Markets Through Life Cycle Assessment: Evaluating emerging technologies, incorporating uncertainty and the consumer perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Merugula, Laura

As civilization's collective knowledge grows, we are met with the realization that human-induced physical and biological transformations influenced by exogenous psychosocial and economic factors affect virtually every ecosystem on the planet. Despite improvements in energy generation and efficiencies, demand of material goods and energy services increases with no sign of a slowing pace. Sustainable development requires a multi-prong approach that involves reshaping demand, consumer education, sustainability-oriented policy, and supply chain management that does not serve the expansionist mentality. Thus, decision support tools are needed that inform developers, consumers, and policy-makers for short-term and long-term planning. These tools should incorporate uncertainty through quantitative methods as well as qualitatively informing the nature of the model as imperfect but necessary and adequate. A case study is presented of the manufacture and deployment of utility-scale wind turbines evaluated for a proposed change in blade manufacturing. It provides the first life cycle assessment (LCA) evaluating impact of carbon nanofibers, an emerging material, proposed for integration to wind power generation systems as blade reinforcement. Few LCAs of nanoproducts are available in scientific literature due to research and development (R&D) for applications that continues to outpace R&D for environmental, health, and safety (EHS) and life cycle impacts. LCAs of emerging technologies are crucial for informing developers of potential impacts, especially where market growth is swift and dissipative. A second case study is presented that evaluates consumer choice between disposable and reusable beverage cups. While there are a few studies that attempt to make the comparison using LCA, none adequately address uncertainty, nor are they representative for the typical American consumer. By disaggregating U.S. power generation into 26 subregional grid production mixes and evaluating

Thermal Treatment of Hydrocarbon-Impacted Soils: A Review of Technology Innovation for Sustainable Remediation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Julia E. Vidonish

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Thermal treatment technologies hold an important niche in the remediation of hydrocarbon-contaminated soils and sediments due to their ability to quickly and reliably meet cleanup standards. However, sustained high temperature can be energy intensive and can damage soil properties. Despite the broad applicability and prevalence of thermal remediation, little work has been done to improve the environmental compatibility and sustainability of these technologies. We review several common thermal treatment technologies for hydrocarbon-contaminated soils, assess their potential environmental impacts, and propose frameworks for sustainable and low-impact deployment based on a holistic consideration of energy and water requirements, ecosystem ecology, and soil science. There is no universally appropriate thermal treatment technology. Rather, the appropriate choice depends on the contamination scenario (including the type of hydrocarbons present and on site-specific considerations such as soil properties, water availability, and the heat sensitivity of contaminated soils. Overall, the convergence of treatment process engineering with soil science, ecosystem ecology, and plant biology research is essential to fill critical knowledge gaps and improve both the removal efficiency and sustainability of thermal technologies.

QuEST: Qualifying Environmentally Sustainable Technologies

Science.gov (United States)

Lewis, Pattie

2012-01-01

Articles in this issue inlude: (1) Foundation of Technology Evaluation for Environmental Risk Mitigation Principal Center (TEERM) Technology Evaluation is Testing and Qualification, (2) Materials Management and Substitution Efforts, (3 Recycling and Pollution Control Efforts, and (4) Remediation Efforts

EU policy: Which technological strategies for smart, sustainable growth?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liberali, Raffaele; )

2011-01-01

The EU's Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET Plan) was launched in November 2007 in response to issues having to do with energy and the climate. Its priority is to speed up the development and deployment of new energy technology thanks to a global approach providing coordination among member states. This plan is to position Europe as a world leader in the transition toward smart, sustainable growth

competitive technologies for sustainable development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chriqui, Vincent; Bergougnoux, Jean; Hossie, Gaelle; Beeker, Etienne; Buba, Johanne; Delanoe, Julien; Ducos, Geraldine; Hilt, Etienne; Rigard-Cerison, Aude; Teillant, Aude; Auverlot, Dominique; Martinez, Elise; Dambrine, Fabrice; Roure, Francoise

2012-08-01

By letter dated 27 April 2011, the Director General of the Centre for Strategic Analysis, Vincent Chriqui, confided to Jean Bergougnoux, honorary president of the SNCF, Honorary General Director of EDF, the task of animating a reflection Prospective Technological Studies of the sectors of energy, transport and construction. This synthesis report, prepared with the assistance of rapporteurs Centre for Strategic Analysis, attempts to summarize and put into perspective all the work which show these specific reports. Admittedly some very complex issues still need supplements. It may therefore be useful to extend this work in a number of areas. Beyond its role in the competitiveness of a country, technological innovation is essential to provide appropriate responses to the challenges of our commitment to sustainable development in terms of economic growth, preservation of the environmental and social progress. Mission for Prospective Technological conducted by the Centre for Strategic Analysis has sought to clarify this dual problem by proposing a long-term vision for the energy, transport and construction. For each technology studied, it has attempted to assess both the possible contribution to sustainable development and the competitive potential of our country on the international scene. His work, chaired by Jean Bergougnoux have reviewed the technological advances that may occur in the coming decades in the sectors concerned. They examined the conditions for integration of these advances in systems and subsystems existing (or create) and the conditions of a mature technical, economic but also social. Wherever possible, two time horizons were identified: a medium-term horizon, 2030, for which we have a fairly clear vision of future developments and long-term horizon, 2050, which allows to consider jumps Scientists are still uncertain. Finally, the mission is interested in four transverse technologies involved consistently in the three study areas, which are likely to

Assessment of UASB-DHS technology for sewage treatment: a comparative study from a sustainability perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Maharjan, Namita; Nomoto, Naoki; Tagawa, Tadashi; Okubo, Tsutomu; Uemura, Shigeki; Khalil, Nadeem; Hatamoto, Masashi; Yamaguchi, Takashi; Harada, Hideki

2018-04-06

This paper assesses the technical and economic sustainability of a combined system of an up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB)-down-flow hanging sponge (DHS) for sewage treatment. Additionally, this study compares UASB-DHS with current technologies in India like trickling filters (TF), sequencing batch reactor (SBR), moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR), and other combinations of UASB with post-treatment systems such as final polishing ponds (FPU) and extended aeration sludge process (EASP). The sustainability of the sewage treatment plants (STPs) was evaluated using a composite indicator, which incorporated environmental, societal, and economic dimensions. In case of the individual sustainability indicator study, the results showed that UASB-FPU was the most economically sustainable system with a score of 0.512 and aeration systems such as MBBR, EASP, and SBR were environmentally sustainable, whereas UASB-DHS system was socially sustainable. However, the overall comparative analysis indicated that the UASB-DHS system scored the highest value of 2.619 on the global sustainability indicator followed by EASP and MBBR with scores of 2.322 and 2.279, respectively. The highlight of this study was that the most environmentally sustainable treatment plants were not economically and socially sustainable. Moreover, sensitivity analysis showed that five out of the seven scenarios tested, the UASB-DHS system showed good results amongst the treatment system.

Social Technology as a Sustainable Public Policy: The Mandalla Project in Ceará

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Josimar Souza Costa

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Environmental degradation in semi-arid Northeast has been a great challenge for the Brazilian government. The need to generate employment and income, justifies the establishment of productive activities competitive and covering the dimensions of sustainability. In this context, there is the movement of Social Technology (ST, aimed at social inclusion and development through the appropriation of simple technologies, inexpensive and consolidated in the culture of the community benefit. As a public policy of the government of Ceará, appeared the Mandalla Project, using irrigated agriculture and agribusiness production system, which includes the creation of small animals from natural methods. This study aims to analyze the ST Mandalla as a public policy that promotes sustainable development. The results show that this technology, contributes significantly to the sustainable development of semi-arid and improving the quality of life of communities served when examined against the dimensions of Sustainable Development model of Sachs (2002.

NYU3T: teaching, technology, teamwork: a model for interprofessional education scalability and sustainability.

Science.gov (United States)

Djukic, Maja; Fulmer, Terry; Adams, Jennifer G; Lee, Sabrina; Triola, Marc M

2012-09-01

Interprofessional education is a critical precursor to effective teamwork and the collaboration of health care professionals in clinical settings. Numerous barriers have been identified that preclude scalable and sustainable interprofessional education (IPE) efforts. This article describes NYU3T: Teaching, Technology, Teamwork, a model that uses novel technologies such as Web-based learning, virtual patients, and high-fidelity simulation to overcome some of the common barriers and drive implementation of evidence-based teamwork curricula. It outlines the program's curricular components, implementation strategy, evaluation methods, and lessons learned from the first year of delivery and describes implications for future large-scale IPE initiatives. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Evaluating Sustainability Models for Interoperability through Brokering Software

Science.gov (United States)

Pearlman, Jay; Benedict, Karl; Best, Mairi; Fyfe, Sue; Jacobs, Cliff; Michener, William; Nativi, Stefano; Powers, Lindsay; Turner, Andrew

2016-04-01

Sustainability of software and research support systems is an element of innovation that is not often discussed. Yet, sustainment is essential if we expect research communities to make the time investment to learn and adopt new technologies. As the Research Data Alliance (RDA) is developing new approaches to interoperability, the question of uptake and sustainability is important. Brokering software sustainability is one of the areas that is being addressed in RDA. The Business Models Team of the Research Data Alliance Brokering Governance Working Group examined several support models proposed to promote the long-term sustainability of brokering middleware. The business model analysis includes examination of funding source, implementation frameworks and challenges, and policy and legal considerations. Results of this comprehensive analysis highlight advantages and disadvantages of the various models with respect to the specific requirements for brokering services. We offer recommendations based on the outcomes of this analysis that suggest that hybrid funding models present the most likely avenue to long term sustainability.

Technical Education--The Key to Sustainable Technological Development

Science.gov (United States)

Odo, J. U.; Okafor, W. C.; Odo, A. L.; Ejikeugwu, L. N.; Ugwuoke, C. N.

2017-01-01

Technical education has been identified as one of the most effective human resource development that needs to be embraced for rapid industrialization and sustainable technological development of any nation. Technical education has been an integral part of national development in many societies because of its impact on productivity and economic…

Incorporating Sustainability and Green Design Concepts into Engineering and Technology Curricula

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Radian G. Belu

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Human society is facing an uncertain future due to the present day unsustainable use of natural resources and the growing imbalance with our natural environment. Sustainability is an endeavour with uncertain outcomes requiring collaboration, teamwork, and abilities to work with respect and learn from other disciplines and professions, as well as with governments, local communities, political and civic organizations. The creation of a sustainable society is a complex and multi-stage endeavour that will dominate twenty first century.  Sustainability has four basic aspects: environment, technology, economy, and societal organization. Schools with undergraduate engineering or engineering technology programs are working to include sustainability and green design concepts into their curricula. Teaching sustainability and green design has increasingly become an essential feature of the present day engineering education. It applies to all of engineering, as all engineered systems interact with the environment in complex and important ways. Our project main goals are to provide the students with multiple and comprehensive exposures, to what it mean to have a sustainable mindset and to facilitate the development of the passion and the skills to integrate sustainable practices into engineering tools and methods. In this study we are describing our approaches to incorporating sustainability and green design into our undergraduate curricula and to list a variety of existing resources that can easily be adopted or adapted by our faculty for this purpose. Our approaches are: (1 redesigning existing courses through development of new curricular materials that still meet the objectives of the original course and (2 developing upper division elective courses that address specific topics related to sustainability, green design, green manufacturing and life-cycle assessment. 

International Conference on Sustainable Vital Technologies in Engineering and Informatics

CERN Document Server

Hassan, Maguid

2017-01-01

This book reports on cutting-edge technologies that have been fostering sustainable development in a variety of fields, including built and natural environments, structures, energy, advanced mechanical technologies as well as electronics and communication technologies. It reports on the applications of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Internet-of-Things, predictive maintenance, as well as modeling and control techniques to reduce the environmental impacts of buildings, enhance their environmental contribution and positively impact the social equity. The different chapters, selected on the basis of their timeliness and relevance for an audience of engineers and professionals, describe the major trends in the field of sustainable engineering research, providing them with a snapshot of current issues together with important technical information for their daily work, as well as an interesting source of new ideas for their future research. The works included in this book were selected among the contributions...

Neighborhood Sustainability Assessment: Evaluating Residential Development Sustainability in a Developing Country Context

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Tan Yigitcanlar

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Rapid urbanization, improved quality of life, and diversified lifestyle options have collectively led to an escalation in housing demand in our cities, where residential areas, as the largest portion of urban land use type, play a critical role in the formation of sustainable cities. To date there has been limited research to ascertain residential development layouts that provide a more sustainable urban outcome. This paper aims to evaluate and compare sustainability levels of residential types by focusing on their layouts. The paper scrutinizes three different development types in a developing country context—i.e., subdivision, piecemeal, and master-planned developments. This study develops a “Neighborhood Sustainability Assessment” tool and applies it to compare their sustainability levels in Ipoh, Malaysia. The analysis finds that the master-planned development, amongst the investigated case studies, possesses the potential to produce higher levels of sustainability outcomes. The results reveal insights and evidence for policymakers, planners, development agencies and researchers; advocate further studies on neighborhood-level sustainability analysis, and; emphasize the need for collective efforts and an effective process in achieving neighborhood sustainability and sustainable city formation.

Performance Evaluation for Sustainability of Strong Smart Grid by Using Stochastic AHP and Fuzzy TOPSIS Methods

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Huiru Zhao

2016-01-01

Full Text Available As an efficient way to deal with the global climate change and energy shortage problems, a strong, self-healing, compatible, economic and integrative smart gird is under construction in China, which is supported by large amounts of investments and advanced technologies. To promote the construction, operation and sustainable development of Strong Smart Grid (SSG, a novel hybrid framework for evaluating the performance of SSG is proposed from the perspective of sustainability. Based on a literature review, experts’ opinions and the technical characteristics of SSG, the evaluation model involves four sustainability criteria defined as economy, society, environment and technology aspects associated with 12 sub-criteria. Considering the ambiguity and vagueness of the subjective judgments on sub-criteria, fuzzy TOPSIS method is employed to evaluate the performance of SSG. In addition, different from previous research, this paper adopts the stochastic Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP method to upgrade the traditional Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS by addressing the fuzzy and stochastic factors within weights calculation. Finally, four regional smart grids in China are ranked by employing the proposed framework. The results show that the sub-criteria affiliated with environment obtain much more attention than that of economy from experts group. Moreover, the sensitivity analysis indicates the ranking list remains stable no matter how sub-criteria weights are changed, which verifies the robustness and effectiveness of the proposed model and evaluation results. This study provides a comprehensive and effective method for performance evaluation of SSG and also innovates the weights calculation for traditional TOPSIS.

Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program: Digital Technology Business Case Methodology Guide

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Thomas, Ken [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Lawrie, Sean [ScottMadden, Inc., Raleigh, NC (United States); Hart, Adam [ScottMadden, Inc., Raleigh, NC (United States); Vlahoplus, Chris [ScottMadden, Inc., Raleigh, NC (United States)

2014-09-01

The Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program aims to develop and deploy technologies that will make the existing U.S. nuclear fleet more efficient and competitive. The program has developed a standard methodology for determining the impact of new technologies in order to assist nuclear power plant (NPP) operators in building sound business cases. The Advanced Instrumentation, Information, and Control (II&C) Systems Technologies Pathway is part of the DOE’s Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) Program. It conducts targeted research and development (R&D) to address aging and reliability concerns with the legacy instrumentation and control and related information systems of the U.S. operating light water reactor (LWR) fleet. This work involves two major goals: (1) to ensure that legacy analog II&C systems are not life-limiting issues for the LWR fleet and (2) to implement digital II&C technology in a manner that enables broad innovation and business improvement in the NPP operating model. Resolving long-term operational concerns with the II&C systems contributes to the long-term sustainability of the LWR fleet, which is vital to the nation’s energy and environmental security. The II&C Pathway is conducting a series of pilot projects that enable the development and deployment of new II&C technologies in existing nuclear plants. Through the LWRS program, individual utilities and plants are able to participate in these projects or otherwise leverage the results of projects conducted at demonstration plants. Performance advantages of the new pilot project technologies are widely acknowledged, but it has proven difficult for utilities to derive business cases for justifying investment in these new capabilities. Lack of a business case is often cited by utilities as a barrier to pursuing wide-scale application of digital technologies to nuclear plant work activities. The decision to move forward with funding usually hinges on

Horizontal directional drilling: a green and sustainable technology for site remediation.

Science.gov (United States)

Lubrecht, Michael D

2012-03-06

Sustainability has become an important factor in the selection of remedies to clean up contaminated sites. Horizontal directional drilling (HDD) is a relatively new drilling technology that has been successfully adapted to site remediation. In addition to the benefits that HDD provides for the logistics of site cleanup, it also delivers sustainability advantages, compared to alternative construction methods.

Bridge to a sustainable future: National environmental technology strategy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1995-04-01

For the past two years the Administration has sought the views of Congress, the states, communities, industry, academia, nongovernmental organizations, and interested citizens on ways to spur the development and use of a new generation of environmental technologies. This document represents the views of thousands of individuals who participated in events around the country to help craft a national environmental technology strategy that will put us on the path to sustainable development.

City Sustainable Development Evaluation Based on Hesitant Multiplicative Fuzzy Information

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiaorong He

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Sustainable development evaluation is the basis of city sustainable development research, and effective evaluation is the foundation for guiding the formulation and implementation of sustainable development strategy. In this paper, we provided a new city sustainable development evaluation method called hesitant multiplicative fuzzy TODIM (HMF-TODIM. The main advantage of this method is that it can deal with the subjective preference information of the decision-makers. The comparison study of existing methods and HMF-TODIM is also carried out. Additionally, real case analysis is presented to show the validity and superiority of the proposed method. Research results in this paper can provide useful information for the construction of sustainable cities.

Business Models for Sustainable Technologies: Exploring Business Model Evolution in the Case of Electric Vehicles

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bohnsack, R.; Pinkse, J.; Kolk, A.

2014-01-01

Sustainable technologies challenge prevailing business practices, especially in industries that depend heavily on the use of fossil fuels. Firms are therefore in need of business models that transform the specific characteristics of sustainable technologies into new ways to create economic value and

Technological innovation, human capital and social change for sustainability. Lessons learnt from the industrial technologies theme of the EU's Research Framework Programme.

Science.gov (United States)

Sabadie, Jesús Alquézar

2014-05-15

Europe is facing a twofold challenge. It must maintain or even increase its competitiveness, a basic requirement in a globalised economy and under the current demographic threat. It needs also to tackle the so-called "grand challenges", especially environmental issues, through a sustainable model of production and consumption. Such challenges should lead to new business and industrial models, based on more sustainable production and consumption chains, from design to end of life. This implies a need for new industrial materials and processes, new skills and, indeed, new values and life-styles. Sustainability and innovation are key elements of EU's Research and Innovation Framework Programmes, particularly in the field of industrial technologies (nanotechnologies, materials and industrial technologies), which objective is to "improve the competitiveness of the European industry and generate knowledge to ensure its transformation from a resource intensive to a knowledge intensive industry". Sustainability and innovation are interrelated challenges for R&D. Research can develop technical solutions to tackle environmental or societal challenges, but such technologies need to be successfully commercialised to have a real environmental impact. Several socio-economic studies carried-out by the European Commission show not only the emerging technological and industrial trends, but they also emphasise the need for linking sustainable technologies with social change. Human capital and new social behaviours are critical factors to combine economic competitiveness and sustainability: technology alone is no longer able to solve global challenges. But what kind of human capital (skills, behaviours, and values) are we referring to? How to encourage the shift towards a greener society through human capital? Which reforms are needed in education systems to move towards a sustainable economy? Are there examples of social innovation to be extrapolated and/or generalised? © 2013

Cyber security evaluation of II&C technologies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Thomas, Ken [Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

2014-11-01

The Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) Program is a research and development program sponsored by the Department of Energy, which is conducted in close collaboration with industry to provide the technical foundations for licensing and managing the long-term, safe and economical operation of current nuclear power plants The LWRS Program serves to help the US nuclear industry adopt new technologies and engineering solutions that facilitate the continued safe operation of the plants and extension of the current operating licenses. Within the LWRS Program, the Advanced Instrumentation, Information, and Control (II&C) Systems Technologies Pathway conducts targeted research and development (R&D) to address aging and reliability concerns with the legacy instrumentation and control and related information systems of the U.S. operating light water reactor (LWR) fleet. The II&C Pathway is conducted by Idaho National Laboratory (INL). Cyber security is a common concern among nuclear utilities and other nuclear industry stakeholders regarding the digital technologies that are being developed under this program. This concern extends to the point of calling into question whether these types of technologies could ever be deployed in nuclear plants given the possibility that the information in them can be compromised and the technologies themselves can potentially be exploited to serve as attack vectors for adversaries. To this end, a cyber security evaluation has been conducted of these technologies to determine whether they constitute a threat beyond what the nuclear plants already manage within their regulatory-required cyber security programs. Specifically, the evaluation is based on NEI 08-09, which is the industry’s template for cyber security programs and evaluations, accepted by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) as responsive to the requirements of the nuclear power plant cyber security regulation found in 10 CFR 73.54. The evaluation was conducted by a

Sustainable electric energy supply by decentralized alternative energy technologies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zahedi, A., E-mail: Ahmad.Zahedi@jcu.edu.au [James Cook University, Queensland (Australia). School of Engineering and Physical Sciences

2010-07-01

The most available and affordable sources of energy in today's economic structure are fossil fuels, namely, oil, gas, and coal. Fossil fuels are non-renewable, have limited reserves, and have serious environmental problems associated with their use. Coal and nuclear energy are used in central and bulky power stations to produce electricity, and then this electricity is delivered to customers via expensive transmission lines and distribution systems. Delivering electric power via transmission and distribution lines to the electricity users is associated with high electric power losses. These power losses are costly burdens on power suppliers and users. One of the advantages of decentralized generation (DG) is that DG is capable of minimizing power losses because electric power is generated at the demand site. The world is facing two major energy-related issues, short term and long term. These issues are (i) not having enough and secure supplies of energy at affordable prices and (ii) environmental damages caused by consuming too much energy in an unsustainable way. A significant amount of the current world energy comes from limited resources, which when used, cannot be replaced. Hence the energy production and consumption do not seem to be sustainable, and also carries the threat of severe and irreversible damages to the environment including climate change.The price of energy is increasing and there are no evidences suggesting that this trend will reverse. To compensate for this price increase we need to develop and use high energy efficient technologies and focusing on energy technologies using renewable sources with less energy conversion chains, such as solar and wind. The world has the potential to expand its capacity of clean, renewable, and sustainable energy to offset a significant amount of greenhouse gas emissions from conventional power use. The increasing utilization of alternative sources such as hydro, biomass, geothermal, ocean energy, solar and

Promoting Sustainability through Investment in Building Information Modeling (BIM Technologies: A Design Company Perspective

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Marius Reizgevičius

2018-02-01

Full Text Available The aim of this article is to enhance the understanding of how design companies perceive the benefits of Building Information Modeling (BIM technologies application. BIM is recognized in the literature as a (potentially powerful driver leading the construction sector towards sustainability. However, for design companies, the choice to invest in BIM technologies is basically an economic one. Specifically, a design company assesses economic benefits and efficiency improvements thanks to the application of BIM technologies. The article discusses the return on investments (ROI in BIM technologies and reviews ROI calculation methodologies proposed by other authors. In order to evaluate BIM return on investment correctly practical ROI calculations are carried out. Appropriate methods, together with the relevant variables for ROI calculation, are developed. The study allows for adjusting the calculation method making it more accurate and understandable using the Autodesk Revit based ROI calculation of the first year.

How to consistently make your product, technology or system more environmentally-sustainable?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Laurent, Alexis; Cosme, Nuno Miguel Dias; Molin, Christine

Human activities are currently uns ustainable, causing many damages to ecosystems, human health and natural resources. In this setting, the development of new products and technologies has been increasingly required to relate to sustainability and ensure that such development goes hand -in-hand w...... of the system. We rely on state-of -the-art science in the food sector, the aquaculture sector and the energy sector to showcase and illustrate the potential of LCA to undertake the environmental sustainability challenge and support product/technology/system development....

Sustainable school infrastructure through effective innovative building technology selection

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Mphahlele, C

2014-10-01

Full Text Available The aim of the paper is to provide an overview of a model proposed for the selection Innovative Building Technologies (IBTs) and procurement of services supporting the erection of the IBTs that will ensure the construction of a sustainable school...

Innovation and new technologies – pillars for a business sustainable development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lavinia DOVLEAC

2015-12-01

Full Text Available This paperwork approach the topic of sustainability as an essential condition for business survival on any market. In this context, the question is if companies are actively integrating sustainability principles into their businesses. The objective for this paper is to present how much innovation and new technologies help companies on their path to achieving sustainability and what could be done more in this direction. The paper aim is realised based on the results of a marketing research conducted among Romanian companies from different industries.

Technological Innovation and Developmental Strategies for Sustainable Management of Aquatic Resources in Developing Countries

Science.gov (United States)

Agboola, Julius Ibukun

2014-12-01

Sustainable use and allocation of aquatic resources including water resources require implementation of ecologically appropriate technologies, efficient and relevant to local needs. Despite the numerous international agreements and provisions on transfer of technology, this has not been successfully achieved in developing countries. While reviewing some challenges to technological innovations and developments (TID), this paper analyzes five TID strategic approaches centered on grassroots technology development and provision of localized capacity for sustainable aquatic resources management. Three case studies provide examples of successful implementation of these strategies. Success requires the provision of localized capacity to manage technology through knowledge empowerment in rural communities situated within a framework of clear national priorities for technology development.

A technological infrastructure to sustain Internetworked Enterprises

Science.gov (United States)

La Mattina, Ernesto; Savarino, Vincenzo; Vicari, Claudia; Storelli, Davide; Bianchini, Devis

In the Web 3.0 scenario, where information and services are connected by means of their semantics, organizations can improve their competitive advantage by publishing their business and service descriptions. In this scenario, Semantic Peer to Peer (P2P) can play a key role in defining dynamic and highly reconfigurable infrastructures. Organizations can share knowledge and services, using this infrastructure to move towards value networks, an emerging organizational model characterized by fluid boundaries and complex relationships. This chapter collects and defines the technological requirements and architecture of a modular and multi-Layer Peer to Peer infrastructure for SOA-based applications. This technological infrastructure, based on the combination of Semantic Web and P2P technologies, is intended to sustain Internetworked Enterprise configurations, defining a distributed registry and enabling more expressive queries and efficient routing mechanisms. The following sections focus on the overall architecture, while describing the layers that form it.

Sustainable Mobility: Using a Global Energy Model to Inform Vehicle Technology Choices in a Decarbonized Economy

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Timothy Wallington

2013-04-01

Full Text Available The reduction of CO2 emissions associated with vehicle use is an important element of a global transition to sustainable mobility and is a major long-term challenge for society. Vehicle and fuel technologies are part of a global energy system, and assessing the impact of the availability of clean energy technologies and advanced vehicle technologies on sustainable mobility is a complex task. The global energy transition (GET model accounts for interactions between the different energy sectors, and we illustrate its use to inform vehicle technology choices in a decarbonizing economy. The aim of this study is to assess how uncertainties in future vehicle technology cost, as well as how developments in other energy sectors, affect cost-effective fuel and vehicle technology choices. Given the uncertainties in future costs and efficiencies for light-duty vehicle and fuel technologies, there is no clear fuel/vehicle technology winner that can be discerned at the present time. We conclude that a portfolio approach with research and development of multiple fuel and vehicle technology pathways is the best way forward to achieve the desired result of affordable and sustainable personal mobility. The practical ramifications of this analysis are illustrated in the portfolio approach to providing sustainable mobility adopted by the Ford Motor Company.

Ceramic Technologies for Sustainability: Perspectives from Siemens Corporate Technology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rossner, W, E-mail: wolfgang.rossner@siemens.com [Ceramic Materials and Devices, Siemens AG, Corporate Technology, 81739 Munich (Germany)

2011-05-15

Climate change, environmental care, energy efficiency, scarcity of resources, population growth, demographic change, urbanization and globalization are the most pressing questions in the coming century. They will have an effect on all regions and groups of global society. Effective solutions will require immediate, efficient and concerted activities in all areas at the social, economic and environmental level. Since the 1980s it has been understood that developments should examine their sustainability more seriously to ensure that they do not compromise the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. This has also attributes to the sustainability demand of ceramic technologies. In the last decades a wide variety of ceramics developments have been brought to the markets, ranging from human implants to thermal barrier coatings in fossil power plants. There are innovative developments which should enter the market within the next years like solid oxide fuel cells or separation membranes for gas and liquids. Further ahead there will be ceramics with self-adapting, self-healing and multifunctional features to generate novel applications to save energy and to reduce carbon footprints across the entire value creation process of energy, industry, transportation and manufacturing.

Ceramic Technologies for Sustainability: Perspectives from Siemens Corporate Technology

Science.gov (United States)

Rossner, W.

2011-05-01

Climate change, environmental care, energy efficiency, scarcity of resources, population growth, demographic change, urbanization and globalization are the most pressing questions in the coming century. They will have an effect on all regions and groups of global society. Effective solutions will require immediate, efficient and concerted activities in all areas at the social, economic and environmental level. Since the 1980s it has been understood that developments should examine their sustainability more seriously to ensure that they do not compromise the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. This has also attributes to the sustainability demand of ceramic technologies. In the last decades a wide variety of ceramics developments have been brought to the markets, ranging from human implants to thermal barrier coatings in fossil power plants. There are innovative developments which should enter the market within the next years like solid oxide fuel cells or separation membranes for gas and liquids. Further ahead there will be ceramics with self-adapting, self-healing and multifunctional features to generate novel applications to save energy and to reduce carbon footprints across the entire value creation process of energy, industry, transportation and manufacturing.

Ceramic Technologies for Sustainability: Perspectives from Siemens Corporate Technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rossner, W

2011-01-01

Climate change, environmental care, energy efficiency, scarcity of resources, population growth, demographic change, urbanization and globalization are the most pressing questions in the coming century. They will have an effect on all regions and groups of global society. Effective solutions will require immediate, efficient and concerted activities in all areas at the social, economic and environmental level. Since the 1980s it has been understood that developments should examine their sustainability more seriously to ensure that they do not compromise the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. This has also attributes to the sustainability demand of ceramic technologies. In the last decades a wide variety of ceramics developments have been brought to the markets, ranging from human implants to thermal barrier coatings in fossil power plants. There are innovative developments which should enter the market within the next years like solid oxide fuel cells or separation membranes for gas and liquids. Further ahead there will be ceramics with self-adapting, self-healing and multifunctional features to generate novel applications to save energy and to reduce carbon footprints across the entire value creation process of energy, industry, transportation and manufacturing.

Assessment of the Technological Changes Impact on the Sustainability of State Security System of Ukraine

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Olexandr Yemelyanov

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Currently, the governments of many countries are facing with a lack of funds for financing programs for social protection of population. Among the causes of this problem, we can indicate the high unemployment rate, which, among other things, is due to implementation of labor-saving technologies. The purpose of this work is to study the impact of technological changes on the sustainability of the state social security system in Ukraine. The general approaches to the assessment of the stability of the state social security system are described. The simulation of the effect of economically efficient technological changes on the company’s income and expenses was carried out. Some patterns of such changes are established. The group of productive technological changes types is presented. The model is developed, and an indicator of the impact estimation of efficiently effective technological changes on the stability of the state social security system is proposed. The analysis of the main indicators of the state social security system functioning of Ukraine is carried out. The dynamics of indicators characterizing the labor market of Ukraine is analyzed. The influence of changes in labor productivity on costs and profits by industries of Ukraine is estimated. The evaluation of the impact of economically efficient technological changes in the industries of Ukraine on the stability of its state social security system is carried out. The different state authorities can use the obtained results for developing measures to manage the sustainability of the state social security system.

Exergy and Sustainability : Insights into the Value of Exergy Analysis in Sustainability Assessment of Technological Systems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Stougie, L.

2014-01-01

A major challenge in striving for a more sustainable society is the selection of technological systems. Given the capital intensity of industrial production plants, power generation systems and infrastructure, investment decisions create path dependencies for decades to come. It is difficult to know

Psychological factors influencing sustainable energy technology acceptance : A review-based comprehensive framework

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Huijts, N. M. A.; Molin, E. J. E.; Steg, L.

Environmental and societal problems related to energy use have spurred the development of sustainable energy technologies, such as wind mills, carbon capture and storage, and hydrogen vehicles. Public acceptance of these technologies is crucial for their successful introduction into society.

Agro-energy supply chain planning: a procedure to evaluate economic, energy and environmental sustainability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fabrizio Ginaldi

2012-07-01

Full Text Available The increasing demand for energy and expected shortage in the medium term, solicit innovative energy strategies to fulfill the increasing gap between demand-supply. For this purpose it is important to evaluate the potential supply of the energy crops and finding the areas of EU where it is most convenient. This paper proposes an agro-energy supply chain approach to planning the biofuel supply chain at a regional level. The proposed methodology is the result of an interdisciplinary team work and is aimed to evaluate the potential supply of land for the energy production and the efficiency of the processing plants considering simultaneously economic, energy and environmental targets. The crop simulation, on the basis of this approach, takes into account environmental and agricultural variables (soil, climate, crop, agronomic technique that affect yields, energy and economic costs of the agricultural phase. The use of the Dijkstra’s algorithm allows minimizing the biomass transport path from farm to collecting points and the processing plant, to reduce both the transport cost and the energy consumption. Finally, a global sustainability index (ACSI, Agro-energy Chain Sustainability Index is computed combining economic, energy and environmental aspects to evaluate the sustainability of the Agroenergy supply chain (AESC on the territory. The empirical part consists in a pilot study applied to the whole plain of Friuli Venezia Giulia (FVG a region situated in the North-Eastern part of Italy covering about 161,300 ha. The simulation has been applied to the maize cultivation using three different technologies (different levels of irrigation and nitrogen fertilization: low, medium and high input. The higher input technologies allow to achieve higher crop yields, but affect negatively both the economic and energy balances. Low input levels provides, on the average, the most favourable energy and economic balances. ACSI indicates that low inputs levels

The Opportunities and Challenges of Persuasive Technology in Creating Sustainable Innovation and Business Model Innovation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Aagaard, Annabeth; Lindgren, Peter

2015-01-01

The opportunities of persuasive technology in facilitating sustainable innovation and business model innovation have been witnessed continuously during the last decade. The unique ability of persuasive technology in interacting and mediating across users, customers, decisions makers and other...... stakeholders provides access to core knowledge about behavior and opportunities to influence and even change their behavior in a positive and more sustainable manner. Sustainable innovation and business model innovation is gaining more and more competitive leverage due to customer requirements, the growing...

Evaluating Water Management Practice for Sustainable Mining

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiangfeng Zhang

2014-02-01

Full Text Available To move towards sustainable development, the mining industry needs to identify better mine water management practices for reducing raw water use, increasing water use efficiency, and eliminating environmental impacts in a precondition of securing mining production. However, the selection of optimal mine water management practices is technically challenging due to the lack of scientific tools to comprehensively evaluate management options against a set of conflicting criteria. This work has provided a solution to aid the identification of more sustainable mine water management practices. The solution includes a conceptual framework for forming a decision hierarchy; an evaluation method for assessing mine water management practices; and a sensitivity analysis in view of different preferences of stakeholders or managers. The solution is applied to a case study of the evaluation of sustainable water management practices in 16 mines located in the Bowen Basin in Queensland, Australia. The evaluation results illustrate the usefulness of the proposed solution. A sensitivity analysis is performed according to preference weights of stakeholders or managers. Some measures are provided for assessing sensitivity of strategy ranking outcomes if the weight of an indicator changes. Finally, some advice is given to improve the mine water management in some mines.

Health promotion and sustainability programmes in Australia: barriers and enablers to evaluation.

Science.gov (United States)

Patrick, Rebecca; Kingsley, Jonathan

2017-08-01

In an era characterised by the adverse impacts of climate change and environmental degradation, health promotion programmes are beginning to actively link human health with environmental sustainability imperatives. This paper draws on a study of health promotion and sustainability programmes in Australia, providing insights to evaluation approaches being used and barriers and enablers to these evaluations. The study was based on a multi-strategy research involving both quantitative and qualitative methods. Health promotion practitioners explained through surveys and semi-structured interviews that they focused on five overarching health and sustainability programme types (healthy and sustainable food, active transport, energy efficiency, contact with nature, and capacity building). Various evaluation methods and indicators (health, social, environmental, economic and demographic) were identified as being valuable for monitoring and evaluating health and sustainability programmes. Findings identified several evaluation enablers such as successful community engagement, knowledge of health and sustainability issues and programme champions, whereas barriers included resource constraints and competing interests. This paper highlights the need for ecological models and evaluation tools to support the design and monitoring of health promotion and sustainability programmes.

The Impact of Sustainable Development Technology on a Small Economy-The Case of Energy-Saving Technology.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Xiding; Huang, Qinghua; Huang, Weilun; Li, Xue

2018-02-08

We investigated the impact of a sustainable development technology on the macroeconomic variables in a small economy utilizing a case study with a stochastically improving energy saving technology and a stochastically increasing energy price. The results show the technological displacement effects of energy saving technology are stronger, but there are more ambiguous instantaneous returns to physical capital. However, the energy saving technology's displacement effects might not affect the conditions under which the Harberger-Laursen-Metzler (HLM) effect holds. The effects of rising energy prices on bonds are stronger, and there are more ambiguous instantaneous returns, but the conditions under which the HLM effect holds are different.

Fostering sustainable energy entrepreneurship among students : the Business Oriented Technological System Analysis (BOTSA) program at Eindhoven University of Technology

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wijnker, M.A.S.G.; Kasteren, van Han; Romijn, H.A.

2015-01-01

The Business Oriented Technological System Analysis (BOTSA) program is a new teaching and learning concept developed by Eindhoven University of Technology (the Netherlands) with participation from innovative companies in renewable energy. It is designed to stimulate sustainable entrepreneurship

Evaluating Sustainability Education: Lessons from International Development Experience

Science.gov (United States)

Koehn, Peter H.; Uitto, Juha I.

2014-01-01

Since the mid 1970s, a series of international declarations that recognize the critical link between environmental sustainability and higher education have been endorsed and signed by universities around the world. While academic initiatives in sustainability are blossoming, higher education lacks a comprehensive evaluation framework that is…

Sustainable technological development in chemistry. Improving the quality of life through chemistry and agriculture

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1999-08-01

The importance of agricultural products, their potential conversion to energy sources and their applications for fibre-reinforced construction materials is emphasized. Another potentially important technology is the conversion of sunlight into electricity such as occurs in the leaves of plants. Parallels with nature exist, even though conversions with inorganic materials have, until now, been promising. The ability to control chemical reactions is the subject throughout all the following chapters. The goal is to achieve high reaction efficiencies and to use fewer basic materials, both of which will lead to a reduction in environmental stress. Sustainable developments in chemistry can be described by two approaches: (1) Improvements in society, with challenges for chemistry; and (2) Improvement in the chemical sector itself. Both approaches are dealt with in this report. Five areas for development have been chosen in the discussions for `DTO-Chemie`: Integrated plant conversion (IPC), in particular Valorisation of plant parts for raw materials and energy; Biomass conversion (C1 Chemistry), in particular Technologies for (among others) C1-based chemicals and energy carriers; Photovoltaic cells (PSC), in particular Technologies for the conversion of solar light into electricity; Process Technology in Fine chemistry (PFC), in particular Methodology of manufacturing processes for Fine chemicals; and Sustainable Construction Materials (FRC); in particular Techniques for using fibre-reinforced composites in construction applications. These areas can be viewed as clusters of technologies, with a strong chemistry and agricultural component, which are necessary for achieving a sustainable future. Furthermore, it is important to recognise that technology requires a progressive development (technology lifecycle). The five areas of technology development are tested against a number of criteria: (1) Sustainability / leap / volume; (2) Horizon 2050; (3) Commitment from industry

Geospatial technology perspectives for mining vis-a-vis sustainable forest ecosystems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Goparaju Laxmi

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Forests, the backbone of biogeochemical cycles and life supporting systems, are under severe pressure due to varied anthropogenic activities. Mining activities are one among the major reasons for forest destruction questioning the survivability and sustainability of flora and fauna existing in that area. Thus, monitoring and managing the impact of mining activities on natural resources at regular intervals is necessary to check the status of their depleted conditions, and to take up restoration and conservative measurements. Geospatial technology provides means to identify the impact of different mining operations on forest ecosystems and helps in proposing initiatives for safeguarding the forest environment. In this context, the present study highlights the problems related to mining in forest ecosystems and elucidates how geospatial technology can be employed at various stages of mining activities to achieve a sustainable forest ecosystem. The study collates information from various sources and highlights the role of geospatial technology in mining industries and reclamation process.

MINERGY CORPORATION GLASS FURNACE TECHNOLOGY EVALUATION: INNOVATION TECHNOLOGY EVALUATION REPORT

Science.gov (United States)

This report presents performance and economic data for a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluation (SITE) Program demonstration of the Minergy Corporation (Minergy) Glass Furnace Technology (GFT). The demonstration evaluated the techno...

Emerging technologies for sustainable individual mobility

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wokaun, A [Paul Scherrer Inst., Villigen PSI (Switzerland)

1996-11-01

In the long term, sustainable transport technology must be based on renewable fuel supplies. Waste biomass and solar energy may be used for the CO{sub 2}-neutral production of gases with high calorific value (syngas, hydrogen). For power generation, low temperature polymer electrolyte fuel cells and hybrid vehicles are particularly promising as they combine an attractive cruising range with ultra-low emissions. In view of transport logistics, the production of synthetic liquid fuels, and the possibility of recovering hydrogen from these liquid by on-board fuel processing, are key issues for the successful introduction of both renewable fuels and of zero emission converters. (author) 8 figs., 1 tab., 24 refs.

SELECTION OF SUSTAINABLE TECHNOLOGIES FOR COMBUSTION OF BOSNIAN COALS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anes Kazagić

2010-01-01

Full Text Available This paper deals with optimization of coal combustion conditions to support selection a sustainable combustion technology and an optimal furnace and boiler design. A methodology for optimization of coal combustion conditions is proposed and demonstrated on the example of Bosnian coals. The properties of Bosnian coals vary widely from one coal basin to the next, even between coal mines within the same basin. Very high percentage of ash (particularly in Bosnian brown coal makes clear certain differences between Bosnian coal types and other world coal types, providing a strong argument for investigating specific problems related to the combustion of Bosnian coals, as well as ways to improve their combustion behaviour. In this work, options of the referent energy system (boiler with different process temperatures, corresponding to the different combustion technologies; pulverised fuel combustion (slag tap or dry bottom furnace and fluidized bed combustion, are under consideration for the coals tested. Sustainability assessment, based on calculation economic and environment indicators, in combination with common low cost planning method, is used for the optimization. The total costs in the lifetime are presented by General index of total costs, calculated on the base of agglomeration of basic economic indicators and the economic indicators derived from environmental indicators. So, proposed methodology is based on identification of those combustion technologies and combustion conditions for coals tested for which the total costs in lifetime of the system under consideration are lowest, provided that all environmental issues of the energy system is fulfilled during the lifetime. Inputs for calculation of the sustainability indicators are provided by the measurements on an experimental furnace with possibility of infinite variation of process temperature, supported by good praxis from the power plants which use the fuels tested and by thermal

Sustainability evaluation of nanotechnology processing and production

OpenAIRE

Teresa M. Mata; Nídia de Sá Caetano; António A. Martins

2015-01-01

This article discusses the current situation and challenges posed by nanotechnology from a sustainability point of view. It presents an objective methodology to evaluate the sustainability of nanotechnology products, based on a life cycle thinking approach, a framework particularly suited to assess all current and future relevant economic, societal and environmental impacts products and processes. It is grounded on a hierarchical definition of indicators, starting from 3D indicators that take...

Measurement and evaluation of sustainable development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kondyli, Julia

2010-01-01

This paper develops a methodology to analyse, measure and evaluate sustainable development (SD). A holistic approach (systems analysis) is applied to operationalise the SD concept and an integrated approach (composite indicator construction) is adopted for the measurement of SD. The operationalisation of the SD concept is based on an in-depth systems analysis of issues associated with economic, social and environmental problems in a policy context. The composite indicator (overall sustainability index) is developed based on the three composite sub-indicators of the SD dimensions. The valuation of the SD is based both on the aggregated sub-indicators and the overall composite indicator. The methodology is used to evaluate the SD of the North Aegean islands between different temporal points. The assessment of the change in the islands' SD is based on a quartile grading scale of the overall SD composite scores.

Assessing the Value of Housing Schemes through Sustainable Return on Investment: A Path towards Sustainability-Led Evaluations?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kevin Dean

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The 2016 United Nations (UN New Urban Agenda clearly reaffirms the concept that sustainable cities require intertwined environmental and social sustainability. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 11—“Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable”—sets (as a primary target the provision of sufficient affordable housing. Despite the central role that housing plays in ensuring sustainability and the importance of both environmental and social pillars in ensuring sustainable development, current evaluative methods that support decision making on social housing interventions fail to capture all of the socio-environmental value contained in the UN SDG 11. This paper addresses the issue by demonstrating how Sustainable Return on Investment can successfully describe and analyse a range of externalities related to the sustainable value generated by social housing regeneration schemes. To achieve this goal, a single case study strategy has been chosen. Two extant projects—a high-rise housing scheme and an environmental-led program developed by City West Housing Trust (a nonprofit housing association based in the Manchester area—have been assessed in order to monetise their social and environmental value through different methods. The findings show that, historically, the environmental and social value of regeneration schemes have been largely disregarded because of a gap in the evaluation methods, and that there is room for significant improvement for future evaluation exercises.

Environmental and sustainability evaluation of livestock waste management practices in Cyprus.

Science.gov (United States)

Lijó, Lucía; Frison, Nicola; Fatone, Francesco; González-García, Sara; Feijoo, Gumersindo; Moreira, Maria Teresa

2018-04-05

The aim of this study was to compare the environmental performance and sustainability of different management options for livestock waste in Cyprus. The two most common practices in the country, i.e. the use of anaerobic lagoons and conventional biogas plants, were compared with the innovative scheme developed in the LiveWaste project (LIFE12 ENV/CY/000544), which aims not only to produce bioenergy, but also to treat the digestate for nutrient recovery and water reuse. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology was combined with the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to compare the performance of these alternatives. Four relevant indicators were selected for each dimension of sustainability (environmental, social and economic). The results of the evaluations showed that anaerobic lagoons are not an appropriate option for the sustainable management of livestock waste due to environmental (e.g. climate change, acidification and eutrophication) and social impacts (e.g. noise exposure, visual impact and risk perception for human health). The most important strengths and weaknesses of anaerobic treatment with and without digestate treatment were identified. Compared to conventional anaerobic digestion where digestate is directly applied as an organic fertiliser, the technology proposed in the project entails higher technological complexity due to nitrogen removal and phosphorus recovery. The rise in chemical and electricity requirements increased the impacts on some indicators, such as climate change and operational cost (emissions of greenhouse gases and operation costs were around 50% higher), while reduced impacts in others due to proper nutrient management, as acidification and eutrophication impacts (which were 10 and almost two times lower, respectively). For the specific Cypriot conditions, where the overapplication of nutrients leads to pollution of water bodies, the innovative treatment scheme with higher technological development presents an interesting

Sustainable biomass products development and evaluation, Hamakua project. Final draft report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1998-05-01

The PICHTR Sustainable Biomass Energy Program was developed to evaluate the potential to cultivate crops for energy production as an alternative use of lands made available by the closing of large sugar plantations. In particular, the closing of the Hamakua Sugar Company on the island of Hawaii brought a great deal of attention to the future of agriculture in this region and in the state. Many options were proposed. Several promising alternatives had been proposed for cane lands. These included dedicated feedstock supply systems (DFSS) for electrical energy production, cultivation of sugarcane to produce ethanol and related by-products, and the production of feed and crops to support animal agriculture. Implementation of some of the options might require preservation of large tracts of land and maintenance of the sugar mills and sugar infrastructure. An analysis of the technical, financial, and other issues necessary to reach conclusions regarding the optimal use of these lands was required. At the request of the Office of State Planning and Senator Akaka`s office, the Pacific International Center for High Technology Research (PICHTR) established and coordinated a working group composed of state, county, federal, and private sector representatives to identify sustainable energy options for the use of idle sugar lands on the island of Hawaii. The Sustainable Biomass Energy Program`s Hamakua Project was established to complete a comprehensive evaluation of the most viable alternatives and assess the options to grow crops as a source of raw materials for the production of transportation fuel and/or electricity on the island of Hawaii. The motivation for evaluating biomass to energy conversion embraced the considerations that Hawaii`s energy security would be improved by diversifying the fuels used for transportation and reducing dependency on imported fossil fuels. The use of waste products as feedstocks could divert wastes from landfills.

Electricity intensity backstop level to meet sustainable backstop supply technologies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Verbruggen, Aviel

2006-01-01

The concept of a backstop level of electricity intensity is introduced and illustrated for the highest income economies of the world. The backstop level corresponds with the intensity that would be triggered by applying end-use electricity prices equal to the cost price of a fully sustainable electricity supply. Section 1 of the paper discusses the issue of electricity (also energy) intensity of economies. It is argued that identifying a 'demand for electricity intensity' bridges the gap between the high willingness to pay for electricity services on the one hand and the disinterested attitude of consumers regarding the invisible and impalpable product electricity on the other hand. Assessment of the demand curve for electricity intensity in a cross section of high income OECD countries comes to a long-run price elasticity of almost -1. Section 2 revives Nordhaus' concept of backstop supply technologies for weighing three power sources (fossil, nuclear, and renewable sources) in meeting today's criteria of sustainable backstop technology. Only renewable sources meet the main sustainability criteria, but the economic cost of a fully sustainable electricity supply will be elevated. The closing question of Section 3, that is, whether the countries can afford the high cost of backstop electricity supplies, is answered by indicating what reductions in intensity are required to keep the electricity bills stable. The targeted intensity level is called the backstop level, and provides a fixed point for electricity efficiency policies. The analysis supports the call for comprehensive and enduring tax reform policies

The Impact of Sustainable Development Technology on a Small Economy—The Case of Energy-Saving Technology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiding Chen

2018-02-01

Full Text Available We investigated the impact of a sustainable development technology on the macroeconomic variables in a small economy utilizing a case study with a stochastically improving energy saving technology and a stochastically increasing energy price. The results show the technological displacement effects of energy saving technology are stronger, but there are more ambiguous instantaneous returns to physical capital. However, the energy saving technology’s displacement effects might not affect the conditions under which the Harberger-Laursen-Metzler (HLM effect holds. The effects of rising energy prices on bonds are stronger, and there are more ambiguous instantaneous returns, but the conditions under which the HLM effect holds are different.

The Impact of Sustainable Development Technology on a Small Economy—The Case of Energy-Saving Technology

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Qinghua; Huang, Weilun; Li, Xue

2018-01-01

We investigated the impact of a sustainable development technology on the macroeconomic variables in a small economy utilizing a case study with a stochastically improving energy saving technology and a stochastically increasing energy price. The results show the technological displacement effects of energy saving technology are stronger, but there are more ambiguous instantaneous returns to physical capital. However, the energy saving technology’s displacement effects might not affect the conditions under which the Harberger-Laursen-Metzler (HLM) effect holds. The effects of rising energy prices on bonds are stronger, and there are more ambiguous instantaneous returns, but the conditions under which the HLM effect holds are different. PMID:29419788

Creating the integral engineer : Combining development education, sustainability, entrepreneurship and technology at Delft University of Technology

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Zwarteveen, J.W.; Blom, E.M.; Vastbinder, B.; Brezet, J.C.

2010-01-01

A modern engineer is more than a technical specialist. Training an integral engineer requires education in non-technical skills, including social and ethical aspects. Therefore, Delft University of Technology (DUT) introduced sustainable development and entrepreneurship into its bachelor and master

Sustainability evaluation of decentralized electricity generation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Karger, Cornelia R.; Hennings, Wilfried

2009-01-01

Decentralized power generation is gaining significance in liberalized electricity markets. An increasing decentralization of power supply is expected to make a particular contribution to climate protection. This article investigates the advantages and disadvantages of decentralized electricity generation according to the overall concept of sustainable development. On the basis of a hierarchically structured set of sustainability criteria, four future scenarios for Germany are assessed, all of which describe different concepts of electricity supply in the context of the corresponding social and economic developments. The scenarios are developed in an explorative way according to the scenario method and the sustainability criteria are established by a discursive method with societal actors. The evaluation is carried out by scientific experts. By applying an expanded analytic hierarchy process (AHP), a multicriteria evaluation is conducted that identifies dissent among the experts. The results demonstrate that decentralized electricity generation can contribute to climate protection. The extent to which it simultaneously guarantees security of supply is still a matter of controversy. However, experts agree that technical and economic boundary conditions are of major importance in this field. In the final section, the article discusses the method employed here as well as implications for future decentralized energy supply. (author)

Developing a Global Mindset: Integrating Demographics, Sustainability, Technology, and Globalization

Science.gov (United States)

Aggarwal, Raj

2011-01-01

Business schools face a number of challenges in responding to the business influences of demographics, sustainability, and technology--all three of which are also the fundamental driving forces for globalization. Demographic forces are creating global imbalances in worker populations and in government finances; the world economy faces…

Proceedings of the International Conferences on Internet Technologies & Society (ITS), Education Technologies (ICEduTECH), and Sustainability, Technology and Education (STE) (Melbourne, Australia, December 6-8, 2016)

Science.gov (United States)

Kommers, Piet, Ed.; Issa, Tomayess, Ed.; Issa, Theodora, Ed.; McKay, Elspeth, Ed.; Isias, Pedro, Ed.

2016-01-01

These proceedings contain the papers and posters of the International Conferences on Internet Technologies & Society (ITS 2016), Educational Technologies (ICEduTech 2016) and Sustainability, Technology and Education (STE 2016), which have been organised by the International Association for Development of the Information Society and…

Education for sustainable development in technology education in Irish schools: a curriculum analysis

OpenAIRE

McGarr, Oliver

2010-01-01

peer-reviewed This paper explores the integration of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in technology education and the extent to which it is currently addressed in curriculum documents and state examinations in technology education at post-primary level in Ireland. This analysis is conducted amidst the backdrop of considerable change in technology education at post-primary level. The analysis of the provision of technology education found, that among the range of technology relat...

Sustainability Risk Evaluation for Large-Scale Hydropower Projects with Hybrid Uncertainty

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Weiyao Tang

2018-01-01

Full Text Available As large-scale hydropower projects are influenced by many factors, risk evaluations are complex. This paper considers a hydropower project as a complex system from the perspective of sustainability risk, and divides it into three subsystems: the natural environment subsystem, the eco-environment subsystem and the socioeconomic subsystem. Risk-related factors and quantitative dimensions of each subsystem are comprehensively analyzed considering uncertainty of some quantitative dimensions solved by hybrid uncertainty methods, including fuzzy (e.g., the national health degree, the national happiness degree, the protection of cultural heritage, random (e.g., underground water levels, river width, and fuzzy random uncertainty (e.g., runoff volumes, precipitation. By calculating the sustainability risk-related degree in each of the risk-related factors, a sustainable risk-evaluation model is built. Based on the calculation results, the critical sustainability risk-related factors are identified and targeted to reduce the losses caused by sustainability risk factors of the hydropower project. A case study at the under-construction Baihetan hydropower station is presented to demonstrate the viability of the risk-evaluation model and to provide a reference for the sustainable risk evaluation of other large-scale hydropower projects.

Sustainability Through Technology Licensing and Commercialization: Lessons Learned from the TRIAD Project.

Science.gov (United States)

Payne, Philip R O

2014-01-01

Ongoing transformation relative to the funding climate for healthcare research programs housed in academic and non-profit research organizations has led to a new (or renewed) emphasis on the pursuit of non-traditional sustainability models. This need is often particularly acute in the context of data management and sharing infrastructure that is developed under the auspices of such research initiatives. One option for achieving sustainability of such data management and sharing infrastructure is the pursuit of technology licensing and commercialization, in an effort to establish public-private or equivalent partnerships that sustain and even expand upon the development and dissemination of research-oriented data management and sharing technologies. However, the critical success factors for technology licensing and commercialization efforts are often unknown to individuals outside of the private sector, thus making this type of endeavor challenging to investigators in academic and non-profit settings. In response to such a gap in knowledge, this article will review a number of generalizable lessons learned from an effort undertaken at The Ohio State University to commercialize a prototypical research-oriented data management and sharing infrastructure, known as the Translational Research Informatics and Data Management (TRIAD) Grid. It is important to note that the specific emphasis of these lessons learned is on the early stages of moving a technology from the research setting into a private-sector entity and as such are particularly relevant to academic investigators interested in pursuing such activities.

Spatial Variation of Regional Sustainable Development and its Relationship to the Allocation of Science and Technology Resources

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jian Wu

2014-09-01

Full Text Available With the increasing of labor salaries, the RMB exchange rate, resource product prices and requirements of environmental protection, inexpensive labor and land are no longer the decisive factor of regional competitiveness. From this perspective, China needs to shift from the extensive development mode to the sustainable development mode. Science and technology resources rational allocation is one of the key issues in sustainable development. Based on the counties (districts data of Zhejiang Province in China, this paper portrays the spatial variation of regional sustainable development level of this area. This paper finds that counties tend to cluster in groups with the same sustainable development level, and this agglomeration trend has been enforced during the past several years. It then testifies to the relationship between the allocation of science and technology resources and local sustainable development, identifies science and technology human resources, financial resources and environmental resource are positively related to local sustainable development, except government financial support. The economic level has a negative relationship with regional sustainable development. This is because the development of the Zhejiang economy grown at the expense of the environment and ecosystem. Some advice is given according to the empirical analysis result.

Innovative technologies for sustainable electrical grids

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pagana-Hammer, B.

2016-01-01

This year's Energy Day is under the motto "Innovative Technologies for Sustainable Energy Networks". According to the ideas of the European Commission, a sustainable, secure, efficient, affordable and competitive energy supply with particular attention to the limitation of greenhouse gas emissions is to be created. In future, energy should flow freely through Europe without technical barriers in an integrated internal market. For the power supply, this means a renewal and consolidation of the 50-year-old and largely isolated national distribution networks. In addition, the decentralized power plants, which are often remote from the consumers and dependent on the whims of the sun or the wind, are also to be integrated into this network. The fact that electricity can only be saved insufficiently is a further hurdle. In this light, the target of a minimum degree of synchronisation in the European grid of 10% to 2020 and 15% to 2030 seems ambitious. According to the European Commission, the construction of new infrastructure is to be given priority, but there are considerable difficulties with implementation. In addition to the technical barriers, the barriers to the expansion of the energy market and the protracted licensing procedures, the lack of confidence on the part of the citizens question the realization of the plans for a European Supergrid. Today's event attempts to illuminate the large-scale technical possibilities for the exchange of fluctuating renewable energies over long distances as well as the regional grids, which are of interest to the private consumer. The question of the sustainability and expediency of the planned European internal electricity market completes the 2016 Energy Day program. (rössner) [de

Current Trends in Sustainability of Bitcoins and Related Blockchain Technology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pasquale Giungato

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Bitcoin is a digital currency based on a peer-to-peer payment system managed by an open source software and characterized by lower transaction costs, greater security and scalability than fiat money and no need of a central bank. Despite criticisms about illegal uses and social consequences, it is attracting the interest of the scientific community. The purpose of this work is to define and evaluate the current trends of the literature concerned with the sustainability of bitcoin, considering the environmental impacts, social issues and economic aspects. From the analysis it emerges that the transition of the whole monetary system in the new cryptocurrency will result in an unacceptable amount of energy consumed to mine new bitcoins and to maintain the entire virtual monetary system, and probably bitcoin will remain a niche currency. Blockchain, which is the base for a distributed and democratically-sustained public ledger of the transactions, could foster new and challenging opportunities. Sharing the framework of medical data, energy generation and distribution in micro-grids at the citizen level, block-stack and new state-driven cryptocurrencies, may benefit from the wide spread of blockchain-based transactions. Under the perspective of its being a driver of social change, bitcoins and related blockchain technologies may overcome the issues highlighted by numerous detractors.

Impact of Sustainable Cool Roof Technology on Building Energy Consumption

Science.gov (United States)

Vuppuluri, Prem Kiran

Highly reflective roofing systems have been analyzed over several decades to evaluate their ability to meet sustainability goals, including reducing building energy consumption and mitigating the urban heat island. Studies have isolated and evaluated the effects of climate, surface reflectivity, and roof insulation on energy savings, thermal load mitigation and also ameliorating the urban heat island. Other sustainable roofing systems, like green-roofs and solar panels have been similarly evaluated. The motivation for the present study is twofold: the first goal is to present a method for simultaneous evaluation and inter-comparison of multiple roofing systems, and the second goal is to quantitatively evaluate the realized heating and cooling energy savings associated with a white roof system compared to the reduction in roof-top heat flux. To address the first research goal a field experiment was conducted at the International Harvester Building located in Portland, OR. Thermal data was collected for a white roof, vegetated roof, and a solar panel shaded vegetated roof, and the heat flux through these roofing systems was compared against a control patch of conventional dark roof membrane. The second research goal was accomplished using a building energy simulation program to determine the impact of roof area and roof insulation on the savings from a white roof, in both Portland and Phoenix. The ratio of cooling energy savings to roof heat flux reduction from replacing a dark roof with a white roof was 1:4 for the month of July, and 1:5 annually in Portland. The COP of the associated chillers ranges from 2.8-4.2, indicating that the ratio of cooling energy savings to heat flux reduction is not accounted for solely by the COP of the chillers. The results of the building simulation indicate that based on energy savings alone, white roofs are not an optimal choice for Portland. The benefits associated with cooling energy savings relative to a black roof are offset by

Sustainable Phosphorus Measures: Strategies and Technologies for Achieving Phosphorus Security

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stuart White

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Phosphorus underpins the world’s food systems by ensuring soil fertility, maximising crop yields, supporting farmer livelihoods and ultimately food security. Yet increasing concerns around long-term availability and accessibility of the world’s main source of phosphorus—phosphate rock, means there is a need to investigate sustainable measures to buffer the world’s food systems against the long and short-term impacts of global phosphorus scarcity. While the timeline of phosphorus scarcity is contested, there is consensus that more efficient use and recycling of phosphorus is required. While the agricultural sector will be crucial in achieving this, sustainable phosphorus measures in sectors upstream and downstream of agriculture from mine to fork will also need to be addressed. This paper presents a comprehensive classification of all potential phosphorus supply- and demand-side measures to meet long-term phosphorus needs for food production. Examples range from increasing efficiency in the agricultural and mining sector, to technologies for recovering phosphorus from urine and food waste. Such measures are often undertaken in isolation from one another rather than linked in an integrated strategy. This integrated approach will enable scientists and policy-makers to take a systematic approach when identifying potential sustainable phosphorus measures. If a systematic approach is not taken, there is a risk of inappropriate investment in research and implementation of technologies and that will not ultimately ensure sufficient access to phosphorus to produce food in the future. The paper concludes by introducing a framework to assess and compare sustainable phosphorus measures and to determine the least cost options in a given context.

Japan's post-Fukushima reconstruction: A case study for implementation of sustainable energy technologies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nesheiwat, Julia; Cross, Jeffrey S.

2013-01-01

Following World War II, Japan miraculously developed into an economic powerhouse and a model of energy efficiency among developed countries. This lasted more than 65 years until the Northeastern Japan earthquake and tsunami induced nuclear crisis of March 2011 brought Japan to an existential crossroads. Instead of implementing its plans to increase nuclear power generation capacity from thirty percent to fifty percent, Japan shut-down all fifty-four nuclear reactors for safety checks and stress-checks (two have since been restarted), resulting in reduced power generation during the summer of 2012. The reconstruction of Northeastern Japan approaches at a time when the world is grappling with a transition to sustainable energy technologies—one that will require substantial investment but one that would result in fundamental changes in infrastructure and energy efficiency. Certain reconstruction methods can be inappropriate in the social, cultural and climatic context of disaster affected areas. Thus, how can practitioners employ sustainable reconstructions which better respond to local housing needs and availability of natural energy resources without a framework in place? This paper aims at sensitizing policy-makers and stakeholders involved in post disaster reconstruction by recognizing advantages of deploying sustainable energy technologies, to reduce dependence of vulnerable communities on external markets. - Highlights: • We examine the energy challenges faced by Japan in the aftermath of Fukushima. • We identify policy measures for the use of energy technologies applicable to disaster prone nations. • We evaluate the potential for renewable energy to support reduced reliance on nuclear energy in Japan. • We model scenarios for eco-towns and smart-cities in post-disaster reconstruction. • We assess the role of culture in formulating energy policy in post-disaster reconstruction

Report from the Light Water Reactor Sustainability Workshop on On-Line Monitoring Technologies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baldwin, Thomas; Tawfik, Magdy; Bond, Leonard

2010-01-01

In support of expanding the use of nuclear power, interest is growing in methods of determining the feasibility of longer term operation for the U.S. fleet of nuclear power plants, particularly operation beyond 60 years. To help establish the scientific and technical basis for such longer term operation, the DOE-NE has established a research and development (R and D) objective. This objective seeks to develop technologies and other solutions that can improve the reliability, sustain the safety, and extend the life of current reactors. The Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) Program, which addresses the needs of this objective, is being developed in collaboration with industry R and D programs to provide the technical foundations for licensing and managing the long-term, safe, and economical operation of nuclear power plants. The LWRS Program focus is on longer-term and higher-risk/reward research that contributes to the national policy objectives of energy and environmental security. In moving to identify priorities and plan activities, the Light Water Reactor Sustainability Workshop on On-Line Monitoring (OLM) Technologies was held June 10-12, 2010, in Seattle, Washington. The workshop was run to enable industry stakeholders and researchers to identify the nuclear industry needs in the areas of future OLM technologies and corresponding technology gaps and research capabilities. It also sought to identify approaches for collaboration that would be able to bridge or fill the technology gaps. This report is the meeting proceedings, documenting the presentations and discussions of the workshop and is intended to serve as a basis for a plan which is under development that will enable the I and C research pathway to achieve its goals. Benefits to the nuclear industry accruing from On Line Monitoring Technology cannot be ignored. Information gathered thus far has contributed significantly to the Department of Energy's Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program. DOE

Report from the Light Water Reactor Sustainability Workshop on On-Line Monitoring Technologies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Thomas Baldwin; Magdy Tawfik; Leonard Bond

2010-06-01

In support of expanding the use of nuclear power, interest is growing in methods of determining the feasibility of longer term operation for the U.S. fleet of nuclear power plants, particularly operation beyond 60 years. To help establish the scientific and technical basis for such longer term operation, the DOE-NE has established a research and development (R&D) objective. This objective seeks to develop technologies and other solutions that can improve the reliability, sustain the safety, and extend the life of current reactors. The Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) Program, which addresses the needs of this objective, is being developed in collaboration with industry R&D programs to provide the technical foundations for licensing and managing the long-term, safe, and economical operation of nuclear power plants. The LWRS Program focus is on longer-term and higher-risk/reward research that contributes to the national policy objectives of energy and environmental security. In moving to identify priorities and plan activities, the Light Water Reactor Sustainability Workshop on On-Line Monitoring (OLM) Technologies was held June 10–12, 2010, in Seattle, Washington. The workshop was run to enable industry stakeholders and researchers to identify the nuclear industry needs in the areas of future OLM technologies and corresponding technology gaps and research capabilities. It also sought to identify approaches for collaboration that would be able to bridge or fill the technology gaps. This report is the meeting proceedings, documenting the presentations and discussions of the workshop and is intended to serve as a basis for a plan which is under development that will enable the I&C research pathway to achieve its goals. Benefits to the nuclear industry accruing from On Line Monitoring Technology cannot be ignored. Information gathered thus far has contributed significantly to the Department of Energy’s Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program. DOE has

Beyond the buildingcentric approach: A vision for an integrated evaluation of sustainable buildings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Conte, Emilia; Monno, Valeria

2012-01-01

The available sustainable building evaluation systems have produced a new environmental design paradigm. However, there is an increasing need to overcome the buildingcentric approach of these systems, in order to further exploit their innovate potential for sustainable building practices. The paper takes this challenge by developing a cross-scale evaluation approach focusing on the reliability of sustainable building design solutions for the context in which the building is situated. An integrated building–urban evaluation model is proposed based on the urban matrix, which is a conceptualisation of the built environment as a social–ecological system. The model aims at evaluating the sustainability of a building considering it as an active entity contributing to the resilience of the urban matrix. Few holistic performance indicators are used for evaluating such contribution, so expressing the building reliability. The discussion on the efficacy of the model shows that it works as a heuristic tool, supporting the acquisition of a better insight into the complexity which characterises the relationships between the building and the built environment sustainability. Shading new lights on the meaning of sustainable buildings, the model can play a positive role in innovating sustainable building design practices, thus complementing current evaluation systems. - Highlights: ► We model an integrated building–urban evaluation approach. ► The urban matrix represents the social–ecological functioning of the urban context. ► We introduce the concept of reliability to evaluate sustainable buildings. ► Holistic indicators express the building reliability. ► The evaluation model works as heuristic tool and complements other tools.

From green technology development to green innovation: inducing regulatory adoption of pathogen detection technology for sustainable forestry

OpenAIRE

Hall, Jeremy; Matos, Stelvia; Bachor, Vernon

2017-01-01

Technological entrepreneurship has been widely acknowledged as a key driver of modern industrial economies, and more recently, a panacea for environmental and social problems. However, our current understanding of how green-technology ventures emerge and diffuse more sustainable innovations remains limited. We advance theory on green entrepreneurship by drawing on institutional work to refine and extend our understanding of how entrepreneurs may influence government policies and practices in ...

Applying Technology Management concepts in analyzing e Waste, sustainability and technology development in Mobile Industry: A conceptual perspective

OpenAIRE

Lasrado, Lester Allan; Agnihothri, Subodh; Lugmayr, Artur

2013-01-01

In the highly globalized, competitive and technocrat world, mobile industry is heavily focused on making itself sustainable. In order to achieve this focus should be on improving the e waste management in the industry. Currently the industry is advanced beyond market demand in delivery services to customers in terms of ICT and smart phones. This research paper is trying to conceptualize the aspect of technology management by comparing technology advancement of mobile phone technology and the ...

Evaluation of sustainability indicators for decision-making in mining companies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Miletić Slavica

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Evaluation of sustainability indicators in terms of their importance for decision making in mining companies (RTB Bor, RTB can significantly affect the steady economic growth and development of the country. In the paper are ranked sustainability indicators in terms of their importance by illustration of implementation of multicriteria decision making. The essence of the problem is to reduce the subjectivity in the mining companies (RTB Bor who are carriers of the economic development of the country. Evaluation of sustainability indicators of mining companies was carried out using the PROMETHEE methods for multi-criteria decision making. In this method the determination of criteria weights for ranking is done firstly, then the assessment of sustainability indicators and their complete ranking is performed. Based on the obtained results by PROMETHEE method, it is determined the most important sustainability indicators for decision-making, and that is an alternative A1 (economic indicators. The most influential criteria for a complete ranking of sustainability indicators is criteria C1 (increase the utilization of resources and C3 (environmental protection. The obtained result indicates to managers how the implementation of MCDM method should treat the indicators of sustainability during the planning and management process, all with aim to sustain mining companies (RTB Bor.

Sustainability, Ethics and Nuclear Energy: Escaping the Dichotomy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Céline Kermisch

2017-03-01

Full Text Available In this paper we suggest considering sustainability as a moral framework based on social justice, which can be used to evaluate technological choices. In order to make sustainability applicable to discussions of nuclear energy production and waste management, we focus on three key ethical questions, namely: (i what should be sustained; (ii why should we sustain it; and (iii for whom should we sustain it. This leads us to conceptualize the notion of sustainability as a set of values, including safety, security, environmental benevolence, resource durability, and economic viability of the technology. The practical usefulness of sustainability as a moral framework is highlighted by demonstrating how it is applicable for understanding intergenerational dilemmas—between present and future generations, but also among different future generations—related to nuclear fuel cycles and radioactive waste management.

Technologies for sustainable energy development in the long term. Proceedings

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sønderberg Petersen, Leif; Larsen, Hans Hvidtfeldt

2005-01-01

The Risø International Energy Conference took place 23 - 25 May 2005 and the aim of the conference was to present and discuss new developments and trends in energy technologies which may make major contributions to sustainable energy developments in thecoming decades. The conference addressed R......&D related to the individual technologies as well as their integration into the local, regional and global energy systems. The proceedings are prepared from papers presented at the conference and received withcorrections, if any, until the final deadline on 15 June 2005....

Municipal solid waste management. Strategies and technologies for sustainable solutions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ludwig, C.; Hellweg, S.; Stucki, S. (eds.)

2002-10-01

The way municipal solid waste is handled greatly determines its impact on the local as well as the global environment. New technologies habe emerged for the treatment of waste, for the recovery of raw materials and energy, and for safe final disposal. The environmental performance of technologies, their social acceptance and their economic viability are key issues to be considered in sustainable waste management. This book provides an overview of current practices in waste management and a synthesis of new developments achieved through interdisciplinary discussions of recent research results. (orig.)

Information and Telecommunications Technology – Factor of Sustainable Rail Development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gheorghe-Stelian Balan

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Among today’s modes of transportation, rail remains of great interest because of its explicit advantages arising from the fact that it is the least polluting and most environmentally friendly. These are just some of the reasons why, in recent years, the European Union strategies seek to develop and implement programs to revive Community’s rail transport. The paper makes a brief analysis of the economic impact of the implementation of information and telecommunication technologies in railway transport, technologies that can contribute significantly to the achievement of sustainable, competitive and reliable transport

Incentives to create and sustain healthy behaviors: technology solutions and research needs.

Science.gov (United States)

Teyhen, Deydre S; Aldag, Matt; Centola, Damon; Edinborough, Elton; Ghannadian, Jason D; Haught, Andrea; Jackson, Theresa; Kinn, Julie; Kunkler, Kevin J; Levine, Betty; Martindale, Valerie E; Neal, David; Snyder, Leslie B; Styn, Mindi A; Thorndike, Frances; Trabosh, Valerie; Parramore, David J

2014-12-01

Health-related technology, its relevance, and its availability are rapidly evolving. Technology offers great potential to minimize and/or mitigate barriers associated with achieving optimal health, performance, and readiness. In support of the U.S. Army Surgeon General's vision for a "System for Health" and its Performance Triad initiative, the U.S. Army Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center hosted a workshop in April 2013 titled "Incentives to Create and Sustain Change for Health." Members of government and academia participated to identify and define the opportunities, gain clarity in leading practices and research gaps, and articulate the characteristics of future technology solutions to create and sustain real change in the health of individuals, the Army, and the nation. The key factors discussed included (1) public health messaging, (2) changing health habits and the environmental influence on health, (3) goal setting and tracking, (4) the role of incentives in behavior change intervention, and (5) the role of peer and social networks in change. This report summarizes the recommendations on how technology solutions could be employed to leverage evidence-based best practices and identifies gaps in research where further investigation is needed. Reprint & Copyright © 2014 Association of Military Surgeons of the U.S.

Technological Approaches to Sustainable Agriculture at a Crossroads: An Agroecological Perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Miguel A. Altieri

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Most efforts to improve agricultural production remain focused on practices driven by an intensification agenda and not by an agroecological one. Agroecology transcends the reformist notion of organic agriculture and sustainable intensification proponents who contend that changes can be achieved within the dominant agroindustrial system with minor adjustments or “greening” of the current neoliberal agricultural model. In the technological realm, merely modifying practices to reduce input use is a step in the right direction but does not necessarily lead to the redesign of a more self sufficient and autonomous farming system. A true agroecological technological conversion calls into question monoculture and the dependency on external inputs. Traditional farming systems provide models that promote biodiversity, thrive without agrochemicals, and sustain year-round yields. Conversion of conventional agriculture also requires major social and political changes which are beyond the scope of this paper.

An algorithmic interactive planning framework in support of sustainable technologies

Science.gov (United States)

Prica, Marija D.

This thesis addresses the difficult problem of generation expansion planning that employs the most effective technologies in today's changing electric energy industry. The electrical energy industry, in both the industrialized world and in developing countries, is experiencing transformation in a number of different ways. This transformation is driven by major technological breakthroughs (such as the influx of unconventional smaller-scale resources), by industry restructuring, changing environmental objectives, and the ultimate threat of resource scarcity. This thesis proposes a possible planning framework in support of sustainable technologies where sustainability is viewed as a mix of multiple attributes ranging from reliability and environmental impact to short- and long-term efficiency. The idea of centralized peak-load pricing, which accounts for the tradeoffs between cumulative operational effects and the cost of new investments, is the key concept in support of long-term planning in the changing industry. To start with, an interactive planning framework for generation expansion is posed as a distributed decision-making model. In order to reconcile the distributed sub-objectives of different decision makers with system-wide sustainability objectives, a new concept of distributed interactive peak load pricing is proposed. To be able to make the right decisions, the decision makers must have sufficient information about the estimated long-term electricity prices. The sub-objectives of power plant owners and load-serving entities are profit maximization. Optimized long-term expansion plans based on predicted electricity prices are communicated to the system-wide planning authority as long-run bids. The long-term expansion bids are cleared by the coordinating planner so that the system-wide long-term performance criteria are satisfied. The interactions between generation owners and the coordinating planning authority are repeated annually. We view the proposed

Education for Sustainable Development in Technology Education in Irish Schools: A Curriculum Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

McGarr, Oliver

2010-01-01

This paper explores the integration of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in technology education and the extent to which it is currently addressed in curriculum documents and state examinations in technology education at post-primary level in Ireland. This analysis is conducted amidst the backdrop of considerable change in technology…

Scientific challenges in sustainable energy technology

Science.gov (United States)

Lewis, Nathan

2006-04-01

We describe and evaluate the technical, political, and economic challenges involved with widespread adoption of renewable energy technologies. First, we estimate fossil fuel resources and reserves and, together with the current and projected global primary power production rates, estimate the remaining years of oil, gas, and coal. We then compare the conventional price of fossil energy with that from renewable energy technologies (wind, solar thermal, solar electric, biomass, hydroelectric, and geothermal) to evaluate the potential for a transition to renewable energy in the next 20-50 years. Secondly, we evaluate - per the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - the greenhouse constraint on carbon-based power consumption as an unpriced externality to fossil-fuel use, considering global population growth, increased global gross domestic product, and increased energy efficiency per unit GDP. This constraint is projected to drive the demand for carbon-free power well beyond that produced by conventional supply/demand pricing tradeoffs, to levels far greater than current renewable energy demand. Thirdly, we evaluate the level and timescale of R&D investment needed to produce the required quantity of carbon-free power by the 2050 timeframe. Fourth, we evaluate the energy potential of various renewable energy resources to ascertain which resources are adequately available globally to support the projected demand. Fifth, we evaluate the challenges to the chemical sciences to enable the cost-effective production of carbon-free power required. Finally, we discuss the effects of a change in primary power technology on the energy supply infrastructure and discuss the impact of such a change on the modes of energy consumption by the energy consumer and additional demands on the chemical sciences to support such a transition in energy supply.

Sustainability, Ethics and Nuclear Energy : Escaping the Dichotomy

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kermisch, C.F.N.; Taebi, B.

2017-01-01

In this paper we suggest considering sustainability as a moral framework based on social justice, which can be used to evaluate technological choices. In order to make sustainability applicable to discussions of nuclear energy production and waste management, we focus on three key ethical questions,

The University and Transformation towards Sustainability: The Strategy Used at Chalmers University of Technology

Science.gov (United States)

Holmberg, John; Lundqvist, Ulrika; Svanstrom, Magdalena; Arehag, Marie

2012-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present the strategy used for achieving change towards sustainability at Chalmers University of Technology (Chalmers). Examples of how this strategy has been used are described and discussed, and exemplified with different lines of activities in a project on Education for Sustainable Development, the ESD…

Evaluating the Sustainability in Complex Agri-Food Systems: The SAEMETH Framework

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cristiana Peano

2015-05-01

Full Text Available During the last few years, the definition of sustainability and the translation of its general principles into practical and operative tasks have come into the foreground of scientific research and political agendas throughout the world. The understanding and the evaluation of the environmental, social and economic performances of complex agricultural food systems is probably the real challenge, and the design of more sustainable alternatives has been recognized as necessary for a correct territorial management. This study’s primary goal is the proposition of an interpretive structure “Sustainable Agri-Food Evaluation Methodology” (SAEMETH, able to guide the evaluation of the sustainability of the various organizational forms of the small-scale agri-food supply chain. As a case study, the methodology was applied to 10 small-scale agri-food systems. The application of SAEMETH, as a monitoring tool based on qualitative indicators that are user-friendly and strongly communicative, demonstrates that it is possible to carry out sustainability evaluations of the small-scale agri-food systems through a long-term approach that is participatory, interdisciplinary and multi-institutional and that integrates a solid theoretical base with an operative framework tested in the field. SAEMETH can, in this way, generate a cyclical process that increases the probability of success in the design of sustainable alternatives and the implementation of projects and initiatives at the local/regional scale.

The Sustainable Process Index. A new dimension in ecological evaluation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Krotscheck, Christian; Narodoslawsky, Michael

1996-01-01

The Sustainable Process Index (SPI) is a measure developed to evaluate the viability of processes under sustainable economic conditions. Its advantages are its universal applicability, its scientific basis, the possibility of adoption in process analyses and syntheses, the high sensitivity for sustainable qualities, and the capability of aggregation to one measure. It has proved to be useful in industrial strategic planning. The concept of the SPI is based on the assumption that in a truly sustainable society the basis of economy is the sustainable flow of solar exergy. The conversion of the solar exergy to services needs area. Thus, area becomes the limiting factor of a sustainable economy. The SPI evaluates the areas needed to provide the raw materials and energy demands and to accommodate by-product flows from a process in a sustainable way. It relates these areas to the area available to a citizen in a given geographical (from regional to global) context. The data necessary to calculate the SPI are usually known at an early stage in process development. The result of the computation is the ratio between the area needed to supply a citizen with a given service and the area needed to supply a citizen with all possible services. Thus, it is a measure of the expense of this service in an economy oriented towards sustainability

Sustainable built environments

CERN Document Server

Haase, Dagmar

2013-01-01

Sustainable design is a collective process whereby the built environment achieves unprecedented levels of ecological balance through new and retrofit construction, with the goal of long-term viability and humanization of architecture. Focusing on the environmental context, sustainable design merges the natural, minimum resource conditioning solutions of the past (daylight, solar heat, and natural ventilation) with the innovative technologies of the present.  The desired result is an integrated “intelligent” system that supports individual control with expert negotiation for resource consciousness. International experts in the field address the fundamental questions of sustainable design and landscape management: How should the sustainability of landscapes and buildings be evaluated? Which targets have to be set and which thresholds should not be exceeded? What forms of planning and governance structures exist and to what extent do they further the goals of sustainability?  Gathering 30 peer-reviewed ent...

Biofloc technology application in aquaculture to support sustainable development goals.

Science.gov (United States)

Bossier, Peter; Ekasari, Julie

2017-09-01

Biofloc technology (BFT) application offers benefits in improving aquaculture production that could contribute to the achievement of sustainable development goals. This technology could result in higher productivity with less impact to the environment. Furthermore, biofloc systems may be developed and performed in integration with other food production, thus promoting productive integrated systems, aiming at producing more food and feed from the same area of land with fewer input. The biofloc technology is still in its infant stage. A lot more research is needed to optimise the system (in relation to operational parameters) e.g. in relation to nutrient recycling, MAMP production, immunological effects. In addition research findings will need to be communicated to farmers as the implementation of biofloc technology will require upgrading their skills. © 2017 The Authors. Microbial Biotechnology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd and Society for Applied Microbiology.

Evaluative conditioning of food technologies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Loebnitz, Natascha; Grunert, Klaus G

2015-01-01

Consumer attitudes play an important role in the acceptance of new technologies. The success of food innovations depends on understanding how consumers form and change attitudes toward food technologies. Earlier post hoc explanations suggest that evaluative conditioning can change consumer...... attitudes toward food technologies. The present study tests how evaluative conditioning can affect consumer acceptance of new food technologies. Furthermore, authors investigate whether evaluative conditioning is resistant to extinction after a two-month period and whether the evaluative conditioning effect...... prevails in a product-related context. Within an evaluative conditioning paradigm including between-subjects control groups in addition to standard within-subjects control conditions, participants were presented with three food technologies (conventional, enzyme, and genetic technology) paired...

International Conference on Information and Communication Technology for Sustainable Development

CERN Document Server

Joshi, Amit; Modi, Nilesh; Pathak, Nisarg

2016-01-01

The two volumes of this book collect high-quality peer-reviewed research papers presented in the International Conference on ICT for Sustainable Development (ICT4SD 2015) held at Ahmedabad, India during 3 – 4 July 2015. The book discusses all areas of Information and Communication Technologies and its applications in field for engineering and management. The main focus of the volumes are on applications of ICT for Infrastructure, e-Governance, and contemporary technologies advancements on Data Mining, Security, Computer Graphics, etc. The objective of this International Conference is to provide an opportunity for the researchers, academicians, industry persons and students to interact and exchange ideas, experience and expertise in the current trend and strategies for Information and Communication Technologies.

Evaluating New Technology.

Science.gov (United States)

Carniol, Paul J; Heffelfinger, Ryan N; Grunebaum, Lisa D

2018-05-01

There are multiple complex issues to consider when evaluating any new technology. First evaluate the efficacy of the device. Then considering your patient population decide whether this technology brings an added benefit to your patients. If it meets these 2 criteria, then proceed to the financial analysis of acquiring this technology. The complete financial analysis has several important components that include but are not limited to cost, value, alternatives, return on investment, and associated marketing expense. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Sustainable Land-use Evaluation on Steep Landscapes and Flood

African Journals Online (AJOL)

processes of mountain ecosystems (Buttle et al, 2000). They minimise ... Conscious of the critical roles played by vegetation ecosystems on steep landscapes· and ... gco-informalion technology in the analysis of sustainable land and cm·ironmenlal .... surface and uncertainty of the predicted values to be calculated. This is.

GREEN TECHNOLOGY COMPLIANCE IN MALAYSIA FOR SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

OpenAIRE

Kamarudin Abu Bakar; Mohd Fazli Mohd Sam; Md Nor Hayati Tahir; Ismi Rajiani; Norhana Muslan

2011-01-01

Economic growth, industrialization and growing population in developing countries such as Malaysia, demands a huge growth for renewable energy as global environmental problem call for drastic cuts on fossil fuel consumption. It has resulted in the promotion of green technology that presents the most viable way of meeting with the new green-related activities for environmental conservation. The Malaysian government has played a strong role in ensuring environmental sustainability by way of int...

Skill Development in Science and Technology Education for Sustainable Development in Nigeria

Science.gov (United States)

Modebelu, M. N.; Ugwuanyi, S. A.

2014-01-01

This paper reviews skill development in science and technology education, which is of crucial importance for sustainable development in Nigeria. The relevant concepts are introduced and robust argumentation is made with respect to the context of Nigeria.

Sustainable Supplier Performance Evaluation and Selection with Neofuzzy TOPSIS Method

OpenAIRE

Chaharsooghi, S. K.; Ashrafi, Mehdi

2014-01-01

Supplier selection plays an important role in the supply chain management and traditional criteria such as price, quality, and flexibility are considered for supplier performance evaluation in researches. In recent years sustainability has received more attention in the supply chain management literature with triple bottom line (TBL) describing the sustainability in supply chain management with social, environmental, and economic initiatives. This paper explores sustainability in supply chain...

Fostering Sustainable Energy Entrepreneurship among Students: The Business Oriented Technological System Analysis (BOTSA Program at Eindhoven University of Technology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mara Wijnker

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The Business Oriented Technological System Analysis (BOTSA program is a new teaching and learning concept developed by Eindhoven University of Technology (the Netherlands with participation from innovative companies in renewable energy. It is designed to stimulate sustainable entrepreneurship among engineering students in this field. The program combines the placement of students in companies to study and contribute to the development and incubation of sustainable energy innovations, with a curriculum at the university designed to support these internships from a scientific perspective. The teaching method assists students in developing a broad system view that enables them to analyze the potential of, and bottlenecks to promising innovations from a realistic business perspective. This empowers students to identify those techno-economic aspects that are critical to innovation success, and advise the entrepreneurs about these aspects. Experience indicates that teachers, students, and entrepreneurs find BOTSA a valuable way of coaching, learning and working. Theoretical support for this method is found in system analysis originating in evolutionary innovation theory in combination with concepts of entrepreneurship, business model generation and sustainable/green innovation.

Sustainable energy planning decision using the intuitionistic fuzzy analytic hierarchy process: choosing energy technology in Malaysia: necessary modifications

Science.gov (United States)

Al-Qudaimi, Abdullah; Kumar, Amit

2018-05-01

Recently, Abdullah and Najib (International Journal of Sustainable Energy 35(4): 360-377, 2016) proposed an intuitionistic fuzzy analytic hierarchy process to deal with uncertainty in decision-making and applied it to establish preference in the sustainable energy planning decision-making of Malaysia. This work may attract the researchers of other countries to choose energy technology for their countries. However, after a deep study of the published paper (International Journal of Sustainable Energy 35(4): 362-377, 2016), it is noticed that the expression used by Abdullah and Najib in Step 6 of their proposed method for evaluating the intuitionistic fuzzy entropy of each aggregate of each row of intuitionistic fuzzy matrix is not valid. Therefore, it is not genuine to use the method proposed by Abdullah and Najib for solving real-life problems. The aim of this paper was to suggest the required necessary modifications for resolving the flaws of the Abdullah and Najib method.

Emergy-based sustainability evaluation of wind power generation systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang, Jin; Chen, Bin

2016-01-01

Highlights: • Emergy is used to quantify the sustainability level of wind farms. • A GHG-based indicator is incorporated into emergetic accounting. • Possible pathways to achieve sustainable wind farm management are analyzed. - Abstract: With large-scale commercialization of wind technology, one must investigate economical and sustainable wind resource utilization. In this paper, emergy analysis is used to quantify the environmental pressure, renewability, economic efficiency, and sustainability of a typical wind power system, considering the lifetime stages from extraction and processing of raw materials and resources to the final product (electricity) via material transportation, construction and operation. Possible pathways to achieve sustainable management of wind energy supply chain were also analyzed based on scenario analysis. Results show that wind power is a promising means of substituting traditional fossil fuel-based power generation systems, with the lowest transformity of 4.49 × 10"4 sej/J, smaller environmental loading ratio of 5.84, and lower greenhouse gas emission intensity of 0.56 kg/kWh. To shed light on potential pathways to achieve sustainable and low-carbon wind energy supply chain management and make informed choices, a sensitivity analysis was done by establishing scenarios from the perspectives of material recycling and technical development. Results suggest that using new materials of lower energy intensity or recycled materials in upstream wind turbine manufacturing and construction materials are the most effective measures.

Soil washing technology evaluation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suer, A.

1995-04-01

Environmental Restoration Engineering (ERE) continues to review innovative, efficient, and cost effective technologies for SRS soil and/or groundwater remediation. As part of this effort, this technical evaluation provides review and the latest information on the technology for SRS soil remediation. Additional technology evaluation reports will be issued periodically to update these reports. The purpose of this report is to review the soil washing technology and its potential application to SRS soil remediation. To assess whether the Soil Washing technology is a viable option for SRS soil remediation, it is necessary to review the technology/process, technology advantages/limitations, performance, applications, and cost analysis

Sustainability Evaluation of Power Grid Construction Projects Using Improved TOPSIS and Least Square Support Vector Machine with Modified Fly Optimization Algorithm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dongxiao Niu

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The electric power industry is of great significance in promoting social and economic development and improving people’s living standards. Power grid construction is a necessary part of infrastructure construction, whose sustainability plays an important role in economic development, environmental protection and social progress. In order to effectively evaluate the sustainability of power grid construction projects, in this paper, we first identified 17 criteria from four dimensions including economy, technology, society and environment to establish the evaluation criteria system. After that, the grey incidence analysis was used to modify the traditional Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution (TOPSIS, which made it possible to evaluate the sustainability of electric power construction projects based on visual angle of similarity and nearness. Then, in order to simplify the procedure of experts scoring and computation, on the basis of evaluation results of the improved TOPSIS, the model using Modified Fly Optimization Algorithm (MFOA to optimize the Least Square Support Vector Machine (LSSVM was established. Finally, a numerical example was given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model.

The role of values in sustainability evaluation: insights from three Dutch approaches

NARCIS (Netherlands)

De Kraker, Joop; Cörvers, Ron J. M.

2010-01-01

This paper reviews three recent approaches to sustainability evaluation by Dutch scientists. Conclusions are drawn with respect to the possibility and desirability of excluding normative and subjective elements from the evaluation of sustainability. Suggestions are given on how such elements can

Confirmatory factor analysis of Post-Occupancy Evaluation Model (POEM) for sustainable neighborhood development

Science.gov (United States)

Yaman, R.; Thadaniti, S.; Abdullah, J.; Ahmad, N.; Ishak, N. M.

2018-02-01

The sustainable urban development growth in the ASEAN region has accelerated tremendously. More demand on the sustainable development has led to bigger market driven certified green neighborhood and buildings. However, there is a lack of post-occupancy evaluation study conducted in assessing the end-users perspective on the certified sustainable neighborhood development. This paper aims to investigate the end-users point of view on sustainable dimension pillar (SDP) adaptation based on environment dimension, social dimension and economic dimension using Post-Occupancy Evaluation Model (POEM) framework. The research methodology employed stakeholders-Inclusion Approach survey questionnaires in order to obtained the sustainable dimensional adaptation score. The results show that there is sustainable dimension gap in POEM evaluation, hence, suggested the pre- occupancy criteria did not fulfill the SDP adaptation and pre-occupancy criteria and variables if differ from post-occupancy criteria and variables.

Next-generation cellulosic ethanol technologies and their contribution to a sustainable Africa.

Science.gov (United States)

van Zyl, W H; Chimphango, A F A; den Haan, R; Görgens, J F; Chirwa, P W C

2011-04-06

The world is currently heavily dependent on oil, especially in the transport sector. However, rising oil prices, concern about environmental impact and supply instability are among the factors that have led to greater interest in renewable fuel and green chemistry alternatives. Lignocellulose is the only foreseeable renewable feedstock for sustainable production of transport fuels. The main technological impediment to more widespread utilization of lignocellulose for production of fuels and chemicals in the past has been the lack of low-cost technologies to overcome the recalcitrance of its structure. Both biological and thermochemical second-generation conversion technologies are currently coming online for the commercial production of cellulosic ethanol concomitantly with heat and electricity production. The latest advances in biological conversion of lignocellulosics to ethanol with a focus on consolidated bioprocessing are highlighted. Furthermore, integration of cellulosic ethanol production into existing bio-based industries also using thermochemical processes to optimize energy balances is discussed. Biofuels have played a pivotal yet suboptimal role in supplementing Africa's energy requirements in the past. Capitalizing on sub-Saharan Africa's total biomass potential and using second-generation technologies merit a fresh look at the potential role of bioethanol production towards developing a sustainable Africa while addressing food security, human needs and local wealth creation.

CREATING AND EVALUATING SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MODELS – A CROSS-INDUSTRY CASE STUDY

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Aagaard, Annabeth

of understanding, creating and evaluating businesses and their business models. The objective of this article is to explore how sustainable business models can be created and evaluated across different companies and industrial contexts. Although many authors have stressed the business potentials of sustainable...

Sustainability appraisal. Quantitative methods and mathematical techniques for environmental performance evaluation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Erechtchoukova, Marina G.; Khaiter, Peter A. [York Univ., Toronto, ON (Canada). School of Information Technology; Golinska, Paulina (eds.) [Poznan Univ. of Technology (Poland)

2013-06-01

The book will present original research papers on the quantitative methods and techniques for the evaluation of the sustainability of business operations and organizations' overall environmental performance. The book contributions will describe modern methods and approaches applicable to the multi-faceted problem of sustainability appraisal and will help to fulfil generic frameworks presented in the literature with the specific quantitative techniques so needed in practice. The scope of the book is interdisciplinary in nature, making it of interest to environmental researchers, business managers and process analysts, information management professionals and environmental decision makers, who will find valuable sources of information for their work-related activities. Each chapter will provide sufficient background information, a description of problems, and results, making the book useful for a wider audience. Additional software support is not required. One of the most important issues in developing sustainable management strategies and incorporating ecodesigns in production, manufacturing and operations management is the assessment of the sustainability of business operations and organizations' overall environmental performance. The book presents the results of recent studies on sustainability assessment. It provides a solid reference for researchers in academia and industrial practitioners on the state-of-the-art in sustainability appraisal including the development and application of sustainability indices, quantitative methods, models and frameworks for the evaluation of current and future welfare outcomes, recommendations on data collection and processing for the evaluation of organizations' environmental performance, and eco-efficiency approaches leading to business process re-engineering.

The contribution of nuclear science and technology to sustainable development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hardy, C.J.

1997-01-01

The United Nations and many individual States and organisations have given increasing attention to the topic of sustainable development in recent years. This has arisen because of concerns about the increasing population of the planet, increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and other pollutants in the biosphere, and the need for increasing amounts of food, water and energy. The paper will use the recent reports of these organisations as background and give an overview of the perceived problems needed to be addressed in the 21st Century to allow sustainable development. The ways in which nuclear science and technology is already contributing to the solution of these problems will then be summarised and comments made on how it can contribute even more in the future

Multi-Metric Sustainability Analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cowlin, Shannon [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Heimiller, Donna [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Macknick, Jordan [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Mann, Margaret [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Pless, Jacquelyn [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Munoz, David [Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO (United States)

2014-12-01

A readily accessible framework that allows for evaluating impacts and comparing tradeoffs among factors in energy policy, expansion planning, and investment decision making is lacking. Recognizing this, the Joint Institute for Strategic Energy Analysis (JISEA) funded an exploration of multi-metric sustainability analysis (MMSA) to provide energy decision makers with a means to make more comprehensive comparisons of energy technologies. The resulting MMSA tool lets decision makers simultaneously compare technologies and potential deployment locations.

A Methodology for Sustainability Evaluation and Reporting in Higher Education Institutions

Science.gov (United States)

Madeira, Ana C.; Carravilla, Maria Antonia; Oliveira, Jose F.; Costa, Carlos A. V.

2011-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to present a methodology that allows higher education institutions (HEIs) to promote, to evaluate and to report on sustainability. The ultimate goal of the afore-mentioned methodology is to help HEIs achieve sustainability. First, a model entitled Sustainability in Higher Education Institutions (SusHEI) that generally…

Environmental evaluation for sustainable development of coal mining in Qijiang, Western China

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Si, Hu; Bi, Haipu [College of Resource and Environment Science, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400030 (China); Key Lab for the Exploitation of Southwestern Resource and the Environment Disaster Control Engineering, the Ministry of Education, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400030 (China); Li, Xiaohong; Yang, Chunhe [Key Lab for the Exploitation of Southwestern Resource and the Environment Disaster Control Engineering, the Ministry of Education, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400030 (China)

2010-03-01

Environmental degradation associated with mining activities may seriously threaten the health of local people and the sustainable development of coal mining, which may need to be addressed by improved environmental evaluation system. Based on analyzing environmental pollution from coal mining and the increasing need for raw coal, this paper establishes an environmental evaluation system, covering environmental situation, resource protection and economic benefit, for sustainable development in coal mining. This paper proposes methods for calculating the weight of each index and the environmental sustainable capability taking into account the method of Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). Finally, the index system is used to evaluate the environmental sustainability of coal mining in the Qijiang area, Western China, which has demonstrated the validity of the index system. It may also be useful as a tool to assess the environmental impact of mining areas, as well as a measure to promote sustainable development in coal mining. (author)

Implications of Danish Regulatory Policies for Technologies Supporting Sustainable Energy Development

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Meyer, Niels I

1997-01-01

The goal of the official Danish energy plans is to establish a sustainable energy development.This goal has been promoted by government programmes and regulations in different ways. Thus, the government has established test stations to secure a high quality of the new technologies and to certify...... of the electricity market is raising serious questions for a sustainable development. The above points are discussed in the paper....... the new products. Extensive development and demonstration programmes have ben sponsored by government money in the fields of biogas and wind power, followed up by government investment subsidies. Regulations by the EU Commission have been counterproductive in several cases, and the present liberalisation...

Evaluating Technology Transfer and Diffusion.

Science.gov (United States)

Bozeman, Barry; And Others

1988-01-01

Four articles discuss the evaluation of technology transfer and diffusion: (1) "Technology Transfer at the U.S. National Laboratories: A Framework for Evaluation"; (2) "Application of Social Psychological and Evaluation Research: Lessons from Energy Information Programs"; (3) "Technology and Knowledge Transfer in Energy R and D Laboratories: An…

Sustainability evaluation of automatic and conventional milking systems on organic dairy farms in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Oudshoorn, Frank W; Kristensen, Troels; van der Zijpp, A J

2012-01-01

Organic dairy farmers in Denmark currently are implementing automatic milking systems (AMS) to save labour costs. As organic agriculture aims at sustainable production, the introduction of a new technology such as AMS should be evaluated regarding its economic viability, environmental impact...... conventional milking systems (CMS). Sustainability indicators were quantified for economic performance of the farm, on-farm eutrophication, on-farm biodiversity, animal welfare (including health), grazing time, milk composition and labour time. Milk yield per cow per year was higher for AMS farms (9021 kg...... was not due to the use of AMS but was caused by a higher export of manure by the CMS farms. The number of veterinary treatments per cow per year was unaffected by AMS use, but culling rate was higher for the AMS farms (38%) than for the CMS farms (32%). There was no difference between the AMS and CMS farms...

Thermal energy storage technologies for sustainability systems design, assessment and applications

CERN Document Server

Kalaiselvam, S

2014-01-01

Thermal Energy Storage Technologies for Sustainability is a broad-based overview describing the state-of-the-art in latent, sensible, and thermo-chemical energy storage systems and their applications across industries. Beginning with a discussion of the efficiency and conservation advantages of balancing energy demand with production, the book goes on to describe current state-of-the art technologies. Not stopping with description, the authors also discuss design, modeling, and simulation of representative systems, and end with several case studies of systems in use.Describes how thermal energ

Skill Development in Science and Technology Education for Sustainable Development in Nigeria

OpenAIRE

M. N. Modebelu; S. A. Ugwuanyi

2014-01-01

This paper reviews skill development in science and technology education, which is of crucial importance for sustainable development in Nigeria. The relevant concepts are introduced and robust argumentation is made with respect to the context of Nigeria. Keywords: skill development, education, Nigeria

Evaluating Tourist Destination Performance: Expanding the Sustainability Concept

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wenbin Luo

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Performance evaluations are a critical tool in promoting the sustainability of tourist destinations. The literature shows a lack of consensus on basic terminology and definitions of destination performance. While research focuses on business efficiency, areas such as development effectiveness, social equality, and environmental integrity are still not well understood, even though these are salient elements of sustainable development. This paper provides a framework for evaluating destination performance under the 4E rubric of economy, efficiency, effectiveness, and environmental quality, which reflects a more holistic and effective destination performance. The information entropy weight method and a multi-factor comprehensive evaluation model are developed and applied to an international destination, Zhangjiajie, China, which was selected as a case study to test the framework developed. Results show that the economy, efficiency, effectiveness, and environmental quality aspects should be considered when evaluating tourism development performance. The empirical analysis shows that based on these criteria, Zhangjiajie’s destination performance improved measurably during the test period from 2005 to 2009. The results indicate that significant events, natural disasters, and financial crises influence performance most.

Describing an Environment for a Self-Sustaining Technology Transfer Service in a Small Research Budget University: A Case Study

Science.gov (United States)

Nieb, Sharon Lynn

2014-01-01

This single-site qualitative study sought to identify the characteristics that contribute to the self sustainability of technology transfer services at universities with small research budgets through a case study analysis of a small research budget university that has been operating a financially self-sustainable technology transfer service for…

Evaluation Framework for Alternative Fuel Vehicles: Sustainable Development Perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dong-Shang Chang

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Road transport accounts for 72.06% of total transport CO2, which is considered a cause of climate change. At present, the use of alternative fuels has become a pressing issue and a significant number of automakers and scholars have devoted themselves to the study and subsequent development of alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs. The evaluation of AFVs should consider not only air pollution reduction and fuel efficiency but also AFV sustainability. In general, the field of sustainable development is subdivided into three areas: economic, environmental, and social. On the basis of the sustainable development perspective, this study presents an evaluation framework for AFVs by using the DEMATEL-based analytical network process. The results reveal that the five most important criteria are price, added value, user acceptance, reduction of hazardous substances, and dematerialization. Price is the most important criterion because it can improve the popularity of AFVs and affect other criteria, including user acceptance. Additional, the energy usage criterion is expected to significantly affect the sustainable development of AFVs. These results should be seriously considered by automakers and governments in developing AFVs.

Sustainability assessment of one industrial region: A combined method of emergy analysis and IPAT (Human Impact Population Affluence Technology)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yu, Xiaoman; Geng, Yong; Dong, Huijuan; Ulgiati, Sergio; Liu, Zhe; Liu, Zuoxi; Ma, Zhixiao; Tian, Xu; Sun, Lu

2016-01-01

Resource over-exploitation and resource depletion have received increasing attentions, especially for industrial regions. In this paper an innovative method that combines emergy analysis and an IPAT (Human Impact Population Affluence Technology) equation is developed in order to create an integrated framework for uncovering the driving forces on resource consumption in one industrial region. Liaoning province, one of the old heavy industrial bases in China, is selected as the case study region. The main results show that total emergy of Liaoning province increased from 9.25E + 23 sej in 2002 to 1.92E + 24 sej in 2012, with 165% growth on non-renewable emergy and 250% growth on imported emergy. Regional emergy/RMB ratio was higher than other developed regions and the average value of China, indicating that this province consumed more local free non-renewable resources to support its own development. The lower ESI (emergy sustainability index) indicates that Liaoning province's sustainability is still weak and far away from sustainable development. IPAT analysis further identifies that rapid economic growth was the main driving force to increase its total emergy use, while technology innovation offset the increase of total emergy use. Policy insights suggest that industrial regions should improve their energy efficiency and optimize their economic and energy structure by applying economic instruments and capacity building efforts. - Highlights: • Emergy analysis and IPAT are combined to evaluate the sustainability of Liaoning. • Total emergy of Liaoning increased from 2002 to 2011 and then decreased in 2012. • Economic scale is the key driving force to induce higher emergy consumption. • Valuable policy insights are proposed in order to promote sustainable development.

QuEST: Qualifying Environmentally Sustainable Technologies. Volume 2

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Christina (Editor)

2007-01-01

TEERM focuses its validation efforts on technologies that have shown promise in laboratory testing, but lack testing under realistic or field environment. Mature technologies have advantages over those that are still in the developmental stage such as being more likely to be transitioned into a working environment. One way TEERM begins to evaluate the suitability of technologies is through Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs). TRLs are a systematic metric/measurement system that supports assessments of the maturity of a particular technology and the consistent comparison of maturity between different types of technology. TEERM generally works on demonstrating/validating alternatives that fall within TRLs 5-9. In instances where a mature technology does not exist for a particular Agency application, TEERM works with technology development groups and programs such as NASA's Innovative Partnerships Program (IPP). The IPP's purpose is to identify and document available technologies in light of NASA's needs, evaluate and prioritize those technologies, and reach out to find new partners. All TEERM projects involve multiple partners. Partnering reduces duplication of effort that otherwise might occur if individuals worked their problems alone. Partnering also helps reduce individual contributors' shares of the total cost of technology validation. Through collaboration and financial commitment from project stakeholders and third-party sources, it is possible to fully fund expensive demonstration/validation efforts.

The Three Pitfalls of Sustainable City: A Conceptual Framework for Evaluating the Theory-Practice Gap

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Valeria Saiu

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Over the last three decades the environmental, economic and social crisis and the challenges and possibilities offered by new technologies have become the drivers of plans and projects for sustainable cities. In the face of a wide experimentation, the aim of this paper is to answer the question: what progress is implemented by the goal of sustainable city? To this end, I hold it is important point at the watershed between the declared intended goals of the projects realized to date and the results on the ground. To analyze this discrepancy, I have identified a common theory-practice gap in the form of the three pitfalls of sustainable city, which bring about economic and ethical conflicts and risks creating socio-spatial utopias. The three pitfalls are: (1 the idea of the city as a business; (2 the oversimplification of urban complexity; (3 the quest for the ideal community. This conceptual framework has two purposes. First, it helps to systematize the existing literature on the sustainable city project, focusing on few selected issues. Second, it offers a project evaluation framework, useful both for the management of resources and for the planning of urban space. To pinpoint these pitfalls in projects for sustainable cities could allow us to adopt a holistic approach to the city project and practice.

Application of Fuzzy TOPSIS for evaluating machining techniques using sustainability metrics

Science.gov (United States)

Digalwar, Abhijeet K.

2018-04-01

Sustainable processes and techniques are getting increased attention over the last few decades due to rising concerns over the environment, improved focus on productivity and stringency in environmental as well as occupational health and safety norms. The present work analyzes the research on sustainable machining techniques and identifies techniques and parameters on which sustainability of a process is evaluated. Based on the analysis these parameters are then adopted as criteria’s to evaluate different sustainable machining techniques such as Cryogenic Machining, Dry Machining, Minimum Quantity Lubrication (MQL) and High Pressure Jet Assisted Machining (HPJAM) using a fuzzy TOPSIS framework. In order to facilitate easy arithmetic, the linguistic variables represented by fuzzy numbers are transformed into crisp numbers based on graded mean representation. Cryogenic machining was found to be the best alternative sustainable technique as per the fuzzy TOPSIS framework adopted. The paper provides a method to deal with multi criteria decision making problems in a complex and linguistic environment.

Sustainable Agriculture Evaluation for Red Soil Hill Region of Southeast China

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

ZHAO Qi-Guo; XU Meng-Jie

2004-01-01

Agricultural sustainability for economic development is important and a complex issue throughout the world; however,it is difficult to synthetically evaluate its use in the policy making process. The objective of this study was to evaluate sustainable agriculture in the red soil hill region of Southeast China through a newly proposed method combining four separate sub-systems: regional population (P), resource (R), environmental (E), and socio-economic (S). This new index system was proposed to appraise synthetically the agricultural sustainability of the red soil hill region from 1988 to 1996 with a two-step method assessing: a) the agricultural sustainability in each province independently and b) the relative sustainability of each province to the whole region. The first step only provided a development trend for each province based on its original situation, while the second step provided additional information on the comparative status of each province in agricultural development to the region as a whole. Higher index scores were found for the economy and resource categories denoting improvement. However, lower scores in the environment category indicated the improvement was achieved at the cost of deteriorating ecological surroundings due to an increasing population that demanded more from the agro-ecosystem and put heavier pressures on it. Results also showed that water and soil losses in this region were the major obstacles encountered in sustainable agriculture development. The assessment results were verified when compared with results from another method. This suggested that the new assessment system was reliable and credible in evaluating agricultural sustainability on a regional scale.

ECOLOGY SAFETY TECHNOLOGIES OF UNCONVENTIONAL OIL RESERVES RECOVERY FOR SUSTAINABLE OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Viacheslav Zyrin

2016-09-01

Full Text Available The problem of effective technology for heavy oil recovery nowadays has a great importance, because of worsening geological conditions of the developed deposits, decreasing recovery factor, increasing the part of heavy oil. For the future sustainable development of oil producing industry the involved technologies must require energy effectiveness and ecological safety. The paper proves the enhanced oil recovery methods necessity for heavy oil deposits, highlighted thermal technologies as the most effective. But traditional thermal treatment technologies is a source of air pollutant emission, such as CO, NO etc. The calculation of emissions for traditional steam generator is provided. Besides, the paper shows the effectiveness of electrical enhanced oil recovery methods. The advantages of associated gas as a fuel for cogeneration plants is shown. The main approaches to implementation of carbon dioxide sequestration technologies in the oil and gas industry of Russia are defined. Conceptual view of СО2-EOR technologies potential within the context of sustainable development of oil and gas industry are presented. On the basis of the conducted research a number of scientific research and practical areas of the CCS technology development are revealed.

Information technology for sustainable development

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Holgaard, Jette Egelund; Guerra, Aida; Knoche, Hendrik

2013-01-01

implications of the different approaches to integrate sustainability. We conclude that students indeed chose divers strategies to integrate sustainability into their projects and those diverse strategies are indeed needed to obtain student engagement. Furthermore, the introduction of an open-ended thematic...

Application of House of Quality in evaluation of low rank coal pyrolysis polygeneration technologies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang, Qingchun; Yang, Siyu; Qian, Yu; Kraslawski, Andrzej

2015-01-01

Highlights: • House of Quality method was used for assessment of coal pyrolysis polygeneration technologies. • Low rank coal pyrolysis polygeneration processes based on solid heat carrier, moving bed and fluidized bed were evaluated. • Technical and environmental criteria for the assessment of technologies were used. • Low rank coal pyrolysis polygeneration process based on a fluidized bed is the best option. - Abstract: Increasing interest in low rank coal pyrolysis (LRCP) polygeneration has resulted in the development of a number of different technologies and approaches. Evaluation of LRCP processes should include not only conventional efficiency, economic and environmental assessments, but also take into consideration sustainability aspects. As a result of the many complex variables involved, selection of the most suitable LRCP technology becomes a challenging task. This paper applies a House of Quality method in comprehensive evaluation of LRCP. A multi-level evaluation model addressing 19 customer needs and analyzing 10 technical characteristics is developed. Using the evaluation model, the paper evaluates three LRCP technologies, which are based on solid heat carrier, moving bed and fluidized bed concepts, respectively. The results show that the three most important customer needs are level of technical maturity, wastewater emissions, and internal rate of return. The three most important technical characteristics are production costs, investment costs and waste emissions. On the basis of the conducted analysis, it is concluded that the LRCP process utilizing a fluidized bed approach is the optimal alternative studied

Teachers' Initial and Sustained Use of an Instructional Assistive Technology Tool: Exploring the Mitigating Factors

Science.gov (United States)

Bouck, Emily C.; Flanagan, Sara; Heutsche, Anne; Okolo, Cynthia M.; Englert, Carol Sue

2011-01-01

This qualitative research project explored factors that mitigated teachers implementing an instructional assistive technology and factors that mitigated its sustained use. Specifically, it explored these issues in relation to a social studies based instructional assistive technology (Virtual History Museum [VHM]), which was originally implemented…

Energy Sustainability Evaluation Model Based on the Matter-Element Extension Method: A Case Study of Shandong Province, China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Siqi Li

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Energy sustainability is of vital importance to regional sustainability, because energy sustainability is closely related to both regional economic growth and social stability. The existing energy sustainability evaluation methods lack a unified system to determine the relevant influencing factors, are relatively weak in quantitative analysis, and do not fully describe the ‘paradoxical’ characteristics of energy sustainability. To solve those problems and to reasonably and objectively evaluate energy sustainability, we propose an energy sustainability evaluation model based on the matter-element extension method. We first select energy sustainability evaluation indexes based on previous research and experience. Then, a variation coefficient method is used to determine the weights of these indexes. Finally, the study establishes the classical domain, joint domain, and the matter-element relationship to evaluate energy sustainability through matter-element extension. Data from Shandong Province is used as a case study to evaluate the region’s energy sustainability. The case study shows that the proposed energy sustainability evaluation model, based on the matter-element extension method, can effectively evaluate regional energy sustainability.

Contribution of microreactor technology and flow chemistry to the development of green and sustainable synthesis.

Science.gov (United States)

Fanelli, Flavio; Parisi, Giovanna; Degennaro, Leonardo; Luisi, Renzo

2017-01-01

Microreactor technology and flow chemistry could play an important role in the development of green and sustainable synthetic processes. In this review, some recent relevant examples in the field of flash chemistry, catalysis, hazardous chemistry and continuous flow processing are described. Selected examples highlight the role that flow chemistry could play in the near future for a sustainable development.

Evaluating impacts of development and conservation projects using sustainability indicators: Opportunities and challenges

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Agol, Dorice, E-mail: d.agol@uea.a.c.uk [University of East Anglia, School of International Development, Norwich NR4 7TJ (United Kingdom); Latawiec, Agnieszka E., E-mail: a.latawiec@iis-rio.org [International Institute for Sustainability, Estrada Dona Castorina 124, 22460-320 Rio de Janeiro (Brazil); Opole University of Technology, Department of Production Engineering and Logistics, Luboszycka 5, 45-036 Opole (Poland); University of East Anglia, School of Environmental Sciences, Norwich NR4 7TJ (United Kingdom); Strassburg, Bernardo B.N., E-mail: b.strassburg@iis-rio.org [International Institute for Sustainability, Estrada Dona Castorina 124, 22460-320 Rio de Janeiro (Brazil); Department of Geography and the Environment, Pontificia Universidade Catolica, 22453-900 Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)

2014-09-15

There has been an increased interest in using sustainability indicators for evaluating the impacts of development and conservation projects. Past and recent experiences have shown that sustainability indicators can be powerful tools for measuring the outcomes of various interventions, when used appropriately and adequately. Currently, there is a range of methods for applying sustainability indicators for project impact evaluation at the environment–development interface. At the same time, a number of challenges persist which have implication for impact evaluation processes especially in developing countries. We highlight some key and recurrent challenges, using three cases from Kenya, Indonesia and Brazil. In this study, we have conducted a comparative analysis across multiple projects from the three countries, which aimed to conserve biodiversity and improve livelihoods. The assessments of these projects were designed to evaluate their positive, negative, short-term, long term, direct and indirect impacts. We have identified a set of commonly used sustainability indicators to evaluate the projects and have discussed opportunities and challenges associated with their application. Our analysis shows that impact evaluation processes present good opportunities for applying sustainability indicators. On the other hand, we find that project proponents (e.g. managers, evaluators, donors/funders) face challenges with establishing full impacts of interventions and that these are rooted in monitoring and evaluation processes, lack of evidence-based impacts, difficulties of measuring certain outcomes and concerns over scale of a range of impacts. We outline key lessons learnt from the multiple cases and propose ways to overcome common problems. Results from our analysis demonstrate practical experiences of applying sustainability indicators in developing countries context where there are different prevailing socio-economic, cultural and environmental conditions. The

Evaluating impacts of development and conservation projects using sustainability indicators: Opportunities and challenges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Agol, Dorice; Latawiec, Agnieszka E.; Strassburg, Bernardo B.N.

2014-01-01

There has been an increased interest in using sustainability indicators for evaluating the impacts of development and conservation projects. Past and recent experiences have shown that sustainability indicators can be powerful tools for measuring the outcomes of various interventions, when used appropriately and adequately. Currently, there is a range of methods for applying sustainability indicators for project impact evaluation at the environment–development interface. At the same time, a number of challenges persist which have implication for impact evaluation processes especially in developing countries. We highlight some key and recurrent challenges, using three cases from Kenya, Indonesia and Brazil. In this study, we have conducted a comparative analysis across multiple projects from the three countries, which aimed to conserve biodiversity and improve livelihoods. The assessments of these projects were designed to evaluate their positive, negative, short-term, long term, direct and indirect impacts. We have identified a set of commonly used sustainability indicators to evaluate the projects and have discussed opportunities and challenges associated with their application. Our analysis shows that impact evaluation processes present good opportunities for applying sustainability indicators. On the other hand, we find that project proponents (e.g. managers, evaluators, donors/funders) face challenges with establishing full impacts of interventions and that these are rooted in monitoring and evaluation processes, lack of evidence-based impacts, difficulties of measuring certain outcomes and concerns over scale of a range of impacts. We outline key lessons learnt from the multiple cases and propose ways to overcome common problems. Results from our analysis demonstrate practical experiences of applying sustainability indicators in developing countries context where there are different prevailing socio-economic, cultural and environmental conditions. The

Sustainability evaluation of high value-added products

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bos, H.L.; Meesters, K.P.H.

2008-01-01

In this report the authors present a brief overview of the methods that are presently in use for evaluating sustainability. They discuss more deeply the pros and cons of the various methods, with a strong focus on the LCA (Life Cycle Analysis) method. Given is an overview of the available literature

The humanity at the frontiers with new technologies for sustained energy production

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Florescu, Gheorghe; Agapi, Constantin; Mircea, Ioan; Gyongyosi, Tiberiu; Panaitescu, Valeriu; Florescu, Ioan-Bogdan

2009-01-01

The international scientific community is engaged in dealing with the actual nuclear research issues and in finding new ways for continuous and raising energy production. The big energy consumption and occurrence of new large consumers, especially in Asian countries, impose finding new solutions for clean, large scale and sustained energy production. The new technologies and scientific discoveries, also the international cooperation, offer opportunities to eliminate the actual barriers in order to cumulate and use advanced energy production processes, to find new energy sources and to build improved power plants. The paper presents the actual state of the art in the field of new technologies for nuclear power sources, the steps to be undertaken in order to penetrate the actual barriers for large scale energy production. In the paper are also presented: the actual energy production issues; the key arguments that could be used to sustain R and D for finding new energy sources; the actual limitations in industrial processes knowledge and use. (authors)

Using Sustainability Engineering to Gain Universal Sustainability Efficiency

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aleksandras Vytautas Rutkauskas

2012-05-01

Full Text Available The present article is an attempt to perceive the universal sustainability observable in an individual country or region, where the religious, political, social-demographic, economic, environmental, creative, technological and investment subsystems are revealed not only through the vitality of spiritual and material existence media, but rather through the signs of the development of these subsystems as self-assembled units through the erosion of their interaction. The problem of optimal allocation of investment resources among the separate sustainability’s subsystems was addressed by means of expert methods and techniques of portfolio methodology which will enable the achievement of the enshrined universal sustainability standards. A country-specific index composition of sustainability subsystems’ indices was chosen as the universal sustainability index for the specific country. The index in its dynamics is perceived as a random process. While projecting its state and evaluating its power, i.e., the impact of the subsystem efficiency in a particular moment, this power is measured by the level of the index and the reliability or guarantee of an appropriate level. To solve the problem of investment resources allocation, the idea of Markowitz Random Field was invoked in order to reach the maximum power of sustainability index while applying the technical solution—the so-called “GoldSim” system. Engineering is a methodology that aspires to reveal the core attributes of complex systems and instruments in order to manage the possibility to influence these properties for the systems. Experimental expert evaluation and case study is performed on Lithuanian data.

Sustainability innovation foundry - FY13: Merging research and operations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mizner, Jack Harry [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Passell, Howard David [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Keller, Elizabeth James Kistin [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Gordon, Margaret Ellen [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); McNeish, Jerry A. [Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore, CA (United States); Sullivan, Kristina [Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore, CA (United States)

2013-12-01

Sustainability is a critical national security issue for the U.S. and other nations. Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) is already a global leader in sustainability science and technology (SS&T) as documented in this report. This report documents the ongoing work conducted this year as part of the Sustainability Innovation Foundry (SIF). The efforts of the SIF support Sandia's national and international security missions related to sustainability and resilience revolving around energy use, water use, and materials, both on site at Sandia and externally. The SIF leverages existing Sandia research and development (R&D) in sustainability science and technology to support new solutions to complex problems. The SIF also builds on existing Sandia initiatives to support transformation of Sandia into a fully sustainable entity in terms of materials, energy, and water use. In the long term, the SIF will demonstrate the efficacy of sustainability technology developed at Sandia through prototyping and test bed approaches and will provide a common platform for support of solutions to the complex problems surrounding sustainability. Highlights from this year include the Sustainability Idea Challenge, improvements in facilities energy use, lectures and presentations from relevant experts in sustainability [Dr. Barry Hughes, University of Denver], and significant development of the Institutional Transformation (IX) modeling tools to support evaluation of proposed modifications to the SNL infrastructure to realize energy savings.

76 FR 30696 - Technology Evaluation Process

Science.gov (United States)

2011-05-26

...-NOA-0039] Technology Evaluation Process AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy... (DOE) seeks comments and information related to a commercial buildings technology evaluation process... evaluation efforts. The goal of creating this standard process is to evaluate energy-saving technologies in a...

Information technology companies with focus on sustainable economy: a case study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robson da Silva Teixeira

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This article discusses how knowledge is used in sustainable economic development. The survey was drawn from the mapping of four companies that work with information technology, in order to qualitatively analyze the relevance of these enterprises in the economic scenario of the country and how they deal with the "product knowledge." The results showed the investment by all firms studied in the qualification of its workforce and managing the quality of their products and services. Finally, it is concluded that there is much room for information technology grow in Brazil, just invest in innovation.

Development of Modern Technologies – Is the Basis of a Sustainable Economy?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andronaty N. R.

2015-08-01

Full Text Available The significance of the problem of providing technological assurance of processes is demonstrated based on examination of the development of computer technology in Moldova. Only human potential availability of well trained professionals, logistics and coordination of the whole process of the work cycle from research to production can provide a high level of quality, contribute to promoting and ensuring market competitiveness of manufactured products. It is demonstrated that there are many areas that require the use of computer systems, including analog and digital specialized electronic machines. Providing conditions for the evolution of new technologies and their development is the most important prerequisite for sustainable economic development.

Contribution of microreactor technology and flow chemistry to the development of green and sustainable synthesis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Flavio Fanelli

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Microreactor technology and flow chemistry could play an important role in the development of green and sustainable synthetic processes. In this review, some recent relevant examples in the field of flash chemistry, catalysis, hazardous chemistry and continuous flow processing are described. Selected examples highlight the role that flow chemistry could play in the near future for a sustainable development.

Economic analysis of technological innovations to improve sustainability of pangasius production in Vietnam

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ngoc, Pham Thi Anh

2016-01-01

In response to increasing concerns about sustainable production, a growing number of European customers expect seafood products to be certified, for example by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) certification. Water purification technologies such as Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS)

Evaluation and Countermeasures on sustainable development of nickel resources in China

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Zhifeng

2017-08-01

Nickel is an important strategic resource in China. With the gradual reduction of nickel re-sources and the increasing competition of the global mineral resources market, the safety of nickel resources in China has been seriously threatened. Therefore, it is very important to evaluate the sustainable develop-ment of nickel resources in China and put forward the corresponding countermeasures. In this paper, the concept and research situation of sustainable development are analyzed. Based on the specific development of nickel resources in China, this paper uses AHP to evaluate the safety of nickel resources in china. Finally, it puts forward the concrete measures to implement the sustainable development strategy of nickel resources in China.

Assessing Environmental Sustainability of Remediation Technologies in a Life Cycle Perspective is Not So Easy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Owsianiak, Mikolaj; Lemming, Gitte; Hauschild, Michael Zwicky

2013-01-01

Integrating sustainability into remediation projects has attracted attention from remediation practitioners, and life cycle assessment (LCA) is becoming a popular tool to address the environmental dimension. The total number of studies has reached 31 since the first framework for LCA of site reme...... about the environmental sustainability of remediation technologies.......Integrating sustainability into remediation projects has attracted attention from remediation practitioners, and life cycle assessment (LCA) is becoming a popular tool to address the environmental dimension. The total number of studies has reached 31 since the first framework for LCA of site...

Local Sustainability and Gender Ratio: Evaluating the Impacts of Mining and Tourism on Sustainable Development in Yunnan, China

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Ganlin; Ali, Saleem

2015-01-01

This study employed rapid evaluation methods to investigate how the leading industries of mining and tourism impact sustainability as manifest through social, economic and environmental dimensions in Yunnan, China. Within the social context, we also consider the differentiated impact on gender ratio—which is a salient feature of sustained development trajectories. Our results indicate that mining areas performed better than tourism areas in economic aspects but fell behind in social development, especially regarding the issue of gender balance. Conclusions on environmental status cannot be drawn due to a lack of data.  The results from the environmental indicators are mixed. Our study demonstrates that rapid evaluation using currently available data can provide a means of greater understanding regarding local sustainability and highlights areas that need attention from policy makers, agencies and academia. PMID:25607602

Local Sustainability and Gender Ratio: Evaluating the Impacts of Mining and Tourism on Sustainable Development in Yunnan, China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ganlin Huang

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This study employed rapid evaluation methods to investigate how the leading industries of mining and tourism impact sustainability as manifest through social, economic and environmental dimensions in Yunnan, China. Within the social context, we also consider the differentiated impact on gender ratio—which is a salient feature of sustained development trajectories. Our results indicate that mining areas performed better than tourism areas in economic aspects but fell behind in social development, especially regarding the issue of gender balance. Conclusions on environmental status cannot be drawn due to a lack of data.  The results from the environmental indicators are mixed. Our study demonstrates that rapid evaluation using currently available data can provide a means of greater understanding regarding local sustainability and highlights areas that need attention from policy makers, agencies and academia.

Local sustainability and gender ratio: evaluating the impacts of mining and tourism on sustainable development in Yunnan, China.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Ganlin; Ali, Saleem

2015-01-19

This study employed rapid evaluation methods to investigate how the leading industries of mining and tourism impact sustainability as manifest through social, economic and environmental dimensions in Yunnan, China. Within the social context, we also consider the differentiated impact on gender ratio-which is a salient feature of sustained development trajectories. Our results indicate that mining areas performed better than tourism areas in economic aspects but fell behind in social development, especially regarding the issue of gender balance. Conclusions on environmental status cannot be drawn due to a lack of data.  The results from the environmental indicators are mixed. Our study demonstrates that rapid evaluation using currently available data can provide a means of greater understanding regarding local sustainability and highlights areas that need attention from policy makers, agencies and academia.

Evaluating the Effect of Information Technology in Small Businesses

Science.gov (United States)

Newman, Peter

2010-01-01

Information technology (IT) has become a strategic vehicle for small businesses to achieve and sustain their competitive advantage. Prior research has suggested that information technology plays an important role in the decision-making process. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between organizational IT performance and…

Presentation of the 10. European Event on Technology: technologies for a sustainable development; Presentation des 10. Entretiens Europeens de la Technologie: technologies pour un developpement durable

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2001-11-01

The European Event on Technology (EET), is a major meeting on technologies, their evolution and their industrial and social implications. In less than a decade, sustainable development has become both an economic and a political priority. It was urgent and legitimate that those who are the mainsprings should take hold of the subject and give it technological content, estimate its costs and define clear timetables. The debates consist of: plenary sessions on environmental, social and economic stakes of sustainable development and the challenges for, and commitment of engineers, managers and politicians with respect to these goals; and workshops, which provide an overview on recently acquired or upcoming technologies developed by sector. These proceedings present several technologies of interest for the energy and environment sectors: Energy efficiency of buildings: towards energy autonomy; superconductors enable in new millennium for electric power industry; advanced gas micro-turbine-driven generator technology; environmental and technical challenges of an offshore wind farm; future nuclear energy system; transports and propulsion systems: modelling combustion in engines: progress and prospects for reducing emissions; on-board computers: reduction in consumption and emissions of engine-transmission units for vehicles; polymer-lithium batteries: perspectives for zero-emission traction; hybrid vehicles and energy/environmental optimization: paths and opportunities; fuel cells and zero-emission: perspectives and developments; urban goods transport: towards a drop in congestion and nuisance; new hybrid propulsion for buses: energy/environmental optimization; Tram-train: city-suburbs concept without transshipment; safety: computerization in controlling nuclear power plant processes (EPR architecture); refractory materials: a key factor for the increase in aero-turbo-engines output; the contribution of waste processing to the production of greenhouse gases; waste as a

Sustainable Supplier Performance Evaluation and Selection with Neofuzzy TOPSIS Method.

Science.gov (United States)

Chaharsooghi, S K; Ashrafi, Mehdi

2014-01-01

Supplier selection plays an important role in the supply chain management and traditional criteria such as price, quality, and flexibility are considered for supplier performance evaluation in researches. In recent years sustainability has received more attention in the supply chain management literature with triple bottom line (TBL) describing the sustainability in supply chain management with social, environmental, and economic initiatives. This paper explores sustainability in supply chain management and examines the problem of identifying a new model for supplier selection based on extended model of TBL approach in supply chain by presenting fuzzy multicriteria method. Linguistic values of experts' subjective preferences are expressed with fuzzy numbers and Neofuzzy TOPSIS is proposed for finding the best solution of supplier selection problem. Numerical results show that the proposed model is efficient for integrating sustainability in supplier selection problem. The importance of using complimentary aspects of sustainability and Neofuzzy TOPSIS concept in sustainable supplier selection process is shown with sensitivity analysis.

Nuclear technology for a sustainable future

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2012-06-01

The IAEA helps its Member States to use nuclear technology for a broad range of applications, from generating electricity to increasing food production, from fighting cancer to managing fresh water resources and protecting the world's seas and oceans. Despite the Fukushima Daiichi accident in March 2011, nuclear power will remain an important option for many countries. Use of nuclear power will continue to grow in the next few decades, although growth will be slower than was anticipated before the accident. The factors contributing to the continuing interest in nuclear power include increasing global demand for energy, as well as concerns about climate change, volatile fossil fuel prices and security of energy supply. It will be difficult for the world to achieve the twin goals of ensuring sustainable energy supplies and curbing greenhouse gases without nuclear power. It is up to each country to choose its optimal energy mix. The IAEA helps countries which opt for nuclear power to use it safely and securely. Every day, millions of people throughout the world benefit from the use of nuclear technology. The IAEA helps to make these benefits available to developing countries through its extensive Technical Cooperation programme. For instance, we provide assistance in areas such as human health (through our Programme of Action for Cancer Therapy), animal health (we were active partners in the successful global campaign to eradicate the deadly cattle disease rinderpest), food, water and the environment. The IAEA contributes to the development of global policies to address the energy, food, water and environmental challenges the world faces. We look forward to helping to make Rio+20 a success. This brochure provides an overview of the many ways in which nuclear technology is contributing to building the future we want.

Implications of Frugal Innovations on Sustainable Development: Evaluating Water and Energy Innovations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jarkko Levänen

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Frugal innovations are often associated with sustainable development. These connections, however, are based on anecdotal assumptions rather than empirical evidence. This article evaluates the sustainability of four frugal innovations from water and energy sectors. For the purposes of the evaluation, a set of indicators was developed. Indicators are drawn from sustainable development goals by the United Nations and they encompass central dimensions of sustainability: ecological, social and economic. In this article, frugal innovations are compared to solutions that are currently used in similar low-income contexts. Studied frugal innovations were found more sustainable in terms of energy production and water purification capacity than the existing solutions. In terms of social sustainability, larger differences between innovations were found. For example, business models of frugal energy solutions focus on capacity building and the inclusion of marginalized low-income people, whereas business models of water purification solutions focus on more traditional corporate social responsibility activities, such as marketing awareness campaigns and cooperation with non-governmental organizations. Three major sustainability challenges for frugal innovators were identified: (1 the proper integration of material efficiency into product or service systems; (2 the patient promotion of inclusive employment; and (3 the promotion of inclusive and sustainable local industrialization. The article concludes that despite indisputable similarities between frugality and sustainability, it is problematic to equate the two conceptually.

Sustainability assessment of energy technologies via social indicators: Results of a survey among European energy experts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gallego Carrera, Diana; Mack, Alexander

2010-01-01

Sustainability assessment of energy technologies oftentimes fails to account for social repercussions and long-term negative effects and benefits of energy systems. As part of the NEEDS project, an expert-based set of social indicators was developed and verified by the European stakeholders with the objective of contributing in the development of social indicators for the assessment of societal effects of energy systems. For this purpose, scientific experts from four sample countries France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland were interviewed to assess 16 different energy systems on a specific stakeholder reviewed indicator set. The indicator set covers the four main criteria: 'security and reliability of energy provision; 'political stability and legitimacy'; 'social and individual risks' and 'quality of life'. This article will review the process of indicator development and assessment and highlight results for today's most prominent and future energy technologies and some likely to make an impact in the future. Expert judgments varied considerably between countries and energy systems, with the exception of renewable technologies, which were overall positively assessed on almost all evaluation criteria.

76 FR 37344 - Technology Evaluation Process

Science.gov (United States)

2011-06-27

...-NOA-0039] Technology Evaluation Process AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy... seeks comments and information related to a commercial buildings technology evaluation process. DOE is seeking to create a process for evaluating emerging and underutilized energy efficient technologies for...

Sustainable use of forest and hunting resources

OpenAIRE

Danilović Milorad; Gačić Dragan

2014-01-01

This paper presents the issue of the use of forest and hunting resources in Serbia, with special emphasis on their sustainability. The use of modern technological solutions in terms of sustainable use of forest and hunting resources should be seen through an analysis and evaluation of environmental impacts. The existing machinery used in Serbian forestry cannot respond to the current demands of forestry production. However, the current unfavourable conditio...

Considerations in promoting markets for sustainable energy technologies in developing countries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Radka, Mark; Kamel, Sami

2003-01-01

The growth in demand for energy in both developed and developing countries is expected to continue an upward trend for many years, with a large portion of the increase projected to occur in developing countries. As these countries undertake various economic development initiatives and programmes it is important from a global environmental perspective that they increase the proportion of efficient, low carbon emitting energy in the energy mix. This paper identifies a number of ways of improving markets that foster increased adoption of clean energy technologies in developing countries. The paper concludes that a holistic approach is needed if new technology promotion efforts are to succeed. Ensuring the appropriateness of the technology, and hence its sustainability, requires proper attention to social, economic and political criteria as well as the fundamental technical characteristics. (au)

Considerations in promoting markets for sustainable energy technologies in developing countries

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Radka, Mark [United Nations Environment Programme, Div. of Technology, Industry and Economics (France); Kamel, Sami [Risoe National Lab., UNEP Risoe Centre for Energy, Climate Change and Sustainable Development, Roskilde (Denmark)

2003-09-01

The growth in demand for energy in both developed and developing countries is expected to continue an upward trend for many years, with a large portion of the increase projected to occur in developing countries. As these countries undertake various economic development initiatives and programmes it is important from a global environmental perspective that they increase the proportion of efficient, low carbon emitting energy in the energy mix. This paper identifies a number of ways of improving markets that foster increased adoption of clean energy technologies in developing countries. The paper concludes that a holistic approach is needed if new technology promotion efforts are to succeed. Ensuring the appropriateness of the technology, and hence its sustainability, requires proper attention to social, economic and political criteria as well as the fundamental technical characteristics. (au)

Balancing Performance and Sustainability in Next-Generation PMR Technologies for OMC Structures

Science.gov (United States)

2016-05-26

John J. La Scala , Benjamin G. Harvey, Giuseppe R. Palmese, William S. Eck, Joshua M. Sadler, Santosh K. Yadav 5d. PROJECT NUMBER 5e. TASK NUMBER...PERFORMANCE AND SUSTAINABILITY IN NEXT-GENERATION PMR TECHNOLOGIES FOR OMC STRUCTURES Gregory R. Yandek,1 Jason T. Lamb,2 John J. La Scala ,3 Benjamin G

Communicating Sustainability: An Operational Model for Evaluating Corporate Websites

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alfonso Siano

2016-09-01

Full Text Available The interest in corporate sustainability has increased rapidly in recent years and has encouraged organizations to adopt appropriate digital communication strategies, in which the corporate website plays a key role. Despite this growing attention in both the academic and business communities, models for the analysis and evaluation of online sustainability communication have not been developed to date. This paper aims to develop an operational model to identify and assess the requirements of sustainability communication in corporate websites. It has been developed from a literature review on corporate sustainability and digital communication and the analysis of the websites of the organizations included in the “Global CSR RepTrak 2015” by the Reputation Institute. The model identifies the core dimensions of online sustainability communication (orientation, structure, ergonomics, content—OSEC, sub-dimensions, such as stakeholder engagement and governance tools, communication principles, and measurable items (e.g., presence of the materiality matrix, interactive graphs. A pilot study on the websites of the energy and utilities companies included in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index 2015 confirms the applicability of the OSEC framework. Thus, the model can provide managers and digital communication consultants with an operational tool that is useful for developing an industry ranking and assessing the best practices. The model can also help practitioners to identify corrective actions in the critical areas of digital sustainability communication and avoid greenwashing.

A sustainability framework for mobile technology integration in schools: The case of resourceconstrained environments in South Africa

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Mabila, J

2017-10-01

Full Text Available The application of mobile technology integration in schools has been widely researched. However, only a few studies have extensively examined the sustainability of mobile technology integration in resource-constrained environments. Diverse contexts...

From Julius Caesar to Sustainable Composite Materials: A Passage through Port Caisson Technology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eduardo Cejuela

2018-04-01

Full Text Available The breakwater construction technique using floating concrete caissons is well-known nowadays as a widespread system. Yet do we really know its origin? Since Julius Caesar used this technology in Brindisi (Italy up to the Normandy landings in June 1944, not only has this technology been developed, but it has been a key item in several moments in history. Its development has almost always been driven by military requirements. The greatest changes have not been conceptual but point occurring, backed by the materials used. Parallelisms can be clearly seen in each new stage: timber, opus caementitium (Roman concrete, iron and concrete… However, nowadays, achieving a more sustainable world constitutes a major challenge, to which the construction of caissons breakwaters must contribute as a field of application of new eco-friendly materials. This research work provides a general overview from the origins of caissons until our time. It will make better known the changes that took place in the system and their adaptation to new materials, and will help in clarifying the future in developing technology towards composite sustainable materials and special concrete. If we understand the past, it will be easier to define the future.

From riches to rags : biofuels, media discourses and resistance to sustainable energy technologies

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sengers, F.H.; Raven, R.P.J.M.; Venrooij, A.

2010-01-01

This study aims to open the black box of resistance to sustainable energy technologies by analyzing (shifts in) media discourse. To this end, media coverage on biofuels in the Netherlands between 2000 and 2008 is analyzed by means of combining novel quantitative approaches with practitioner

From riches to rags : biofuels, media discourse and resistance to sustainable energy technologies

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sengers, F.H.; Raven, R.P.J.M.; Venrooij, A.

2010-01-01

This study aims to open the black box of resistance to sustainable energy technologies by analyzing (shifts in) media discourse. To this end, media coverage on biofuels in the Netherlands between 2000 and 2008 is analyzed by means of combining novel quantitative approaches with practitioner

From riches to rags: Biofuels, media discourses, and resistance to sustainable energy technologies

NARCIS (Netherlands)

R.M.A. Sengers (Rozemarijn); R.P.J.M. Raven (Rob); A.T. van Venrooij (Alex)

2010-01-01

textabstractThis study aims to open the black box of resistance to sustainable energy technologies by analyzing (shifts in) media discourse. To this end, media coverage on biofuels in the Netherlands between 2000 and 2008 is analyzed by means of combining novel quantitative approaches with

From riches to rags: biofuels, media discourses and resistance to sustainable energy technologies

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sengers, F.; Raven, R.P.J.M.; van Venrooij, A.

2010-01-01

This study aims to open the black box of resistance to sustainable energy technologies by analyzing (shifts in) media discourse. To this end, media coverage on biofuels in the Netherlands between 2000 and 2008 is analyzed by means of combining novel quantitative approaches with practitioner

Catalysis and sustainable (green) chemistry

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Centi, Gabriele; Perathoner, Siglinda [Dipartimento di Chimica Industriale ed Ingegneria dei Materiali, University of Messina, Salita Sperone 31, 98166 Messina (Italy)

2003-01-15

Catalysis is a key technology to achieve the objectives of sustainable (green) chemistry. After introducing the concepts of sustainable (green) chemistry and a brief assessment of new sustainable chemical technologies, the relationship between catalysis and sustainable (green) chemistry is discussed and illustrated via an analysis of some selected and relevant examples. Emphasis is also given to the concept of catalytic technologies for scaling-down chemical processes, in order to develop sustainable production processes which reduce the impact on the environment to an acceptable level that allows self-depuration processes of the living environment.

INTELLIGENT NETWORKS, SMART GRIDS CONCEPT, CRUCIAL TECHNOLOGIES FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Constantin RADU

2011-05-01

Full Text Available In this article is presented the concept of smart grids, a very important technology for sustainable development. In the context of globalization of the world lives in an increasingly complex security environment, with rapid changes, some obvious, others less obvious implications in the short, medium or long term, international, national, local and up to every citizen. All countries in the globalized world economy is facing energy problems in terms of climate change have intensified in the twentieth century.

Sustainable Development of Sewage Sludge-to-Energy in China

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ren, Jingzheng; Liang, Hanwei; Dong, Liang

2017-01-01

) to identify the critical barriers that hinder the sustainable development of sludge-to-energy industry in China and to investigate the cause-effect relationships among these barriers. Accordingly, some policy implications for promoting the sustainable development of sludge-to-energy industry in China were......In order to promote the sustainable development of sludge-to-energy industry and help the decision-makers/stakeholders to select the most sustainable technology for achieving the sludge-to-energy target, this study aims at using grey Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL...

Sustainable technology transfer

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Punter, H.T.; Krikhaar, R.L.; Bril, R.J.

2006-01-01

In this position paper we address the issue of transferring a technology from research into an industrial organization by presenting a refined process for technology transfer. Based on over two decades of industrial experience, we identified the need for a dedicated technology engineering phase for

SustainPro - A tool for systematic process analysis, generation and evaluation of sustainable design alternatives

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Carvalho, Ana; Matos, Henrique A.; Gani, Rafiqul

2013-01-01

the user through the necessary steps according to work-flow of the implemented methodology. At the end the design alternatives, are evaluated using environmental impact assessment tools and safety indices. The extended features of the methodology incorporate Life Cycle Assessment analysis and economic....... The software tool is based on the implementation of an extended systematic methodology for sustainable process design (Carvalho et al. 2008 and Carvalho et al. 2009). Using process information/data such as the process flowsheet, the associated mass / energy balance data and the cost data, SustainPro guides...... analysis. The application and the main features of SustainPro are illustrated through a case study of ß-Galactosidase production....

TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION AND BUSINESS DIVERSIFICATION: SUSTAINABILITY LIVELIHOODS IMPROVEMENT SCENARIO OF RICE FARMER HOUSEHOLD IN SUB-OPTIMAL LAND

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adriani D.

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The increased role of the sub-optimal land to support food security continue to be encouraged in Indonesia, given the more limited expansion for potential land. But until recently, development of sub-optimal land becomes not an easy thing. Ecological and technical barriers became the main issue. A series of these issues resulted in a high number of underemproleymeny and poverty in agriculture region. Technological inovation of agriculture and the business diversification can be seen be the solution to those issues. This research aims to analyze the impact of the technological innovation and business diversification on underemployment, working time, household income and also sustainable livelihoods of farmers on the sub-optimal land. The research was carried out in Pemulutan District, Ogan Ilir Regency, South Sumatra Province, Indonesia. The objects of research are farmers which adopter and non adopter technological innovation, and also work outside of paddy farming (business diversification. The research method is the survey. Method of sampling is stratified random sampling. Data obtained in the field analyses using descriptive statistics and inferesia. The results showed there are positive impact of technological innovation on the allocation of working time farmer households, the numbers underemployment, household income and livelihood sustainability. Determinant factors for farmers in applying technology and business diversification are paddy farming income, off-farm income, and age. The use of technology and business diversification proves to be one of the positive scenarios for sustainable livelihood of farmers in sub-optimal land.

A Sustainable Technology Contribuiting to the Food Security

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dra. Rosa Catalina Bermúdez-Savòn

2015-11-01

Full Text Available A sustainable way for food and energetic security in rural and the city regions, is presented with the application of the solid state fermentation for the biotransformation of lignocellulosic by-products and agro-industrial wastes with white-rot fungi. Inamush as advantages of this technology, is showed the cultivation of mushroom Pleurotus spp.on coffee pulp, cedar chip , coconut and cocoa shells, and the influence of it´s mixture (1:1, trough examination of their growth rates and conversion efficacy to fruiting bodies, which cause contamination of soil and water, because of large volumes and difficult management. The use of residues for these cultive was consolidate such as alternative viable for food production, capable to satisfy the protein and nutritive necessity of population in the non-developing countries, besides low cost production, high protein content and obtention in large quantity in short time. In addition to produce complements for animal feet, such as the spent oyster mushroom substrate postcosecha is detoxified, has proteic content and better digestibility than original substrates,and can be used as animal feed or fertilizer, at the same time, was eradicated the problem of environmental contamination of these residues provoking and further contribution at sustainable development of the communities.

Dissolving and biodegradable microneedle technologies for transdermal sustained delivery of drug and vaccine

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hong X

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Xiaoyun Hong,1,2,* Liangming Wei,3,* Fei Wu,2,* Zaozhan Wu,2 Lizhu Chen,2 Zhenguo Liu,1 Weien Yuan2 1Department of Neurology, Xinhua Hospital, Shanghai, People's Republic of China; 2School of Pharmacy, Shanghai JiaoTong University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China; 3Research Institute of Micro/Nano Science and Technology, Shanghai JiaoTong University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China *These authors contributed equally to this work Abstract: Microneedles were first conceptualized for drug delivery many decades ago, overcoming the shortages and preserving the advantages of hypodermic needle and conventional transdermal drug-delivery systems to some extent. Dissolving and biodegradable microneedle technologies have been used for transdermal sustained deliveries of different drugs and vaccines. This review describes microneedle geometry and the representative dissolving and biodegradable microneedle delivery methods via the skin, followed by the fabricating methods. Finally, this review puts forward some perspectives that require further investigation. Keywords: microneedle, dissolving, biodegradable, sustained release

Improving sustainability by technology assessment and systems analysis: the case of IWRM Indonesia

Science.gov (United States)

Nayono, S.; Lehmann, A.; Kopfmüller, J.; Lehn, H.

2016-09-01

To support the implementation of the IWRM-Indonesia process in a water scarce and sanitation poor region of Central Java (Indonesia), sustainability assessments of several technology options of water supply and sanitation were carried out based on the conceptual framework of the integrative sustainability concept of the German Helmholtz association. In the case of water supply, the assessment was based on the life-cycle analysis and life-cycle-costing approach. In the sanitation sector, the focus was set on developing an analytical tool to improve planning procedures in the area of investigation, which can be applied in general to developing and newly emerging countries. Because sanitation systems in particular can be regarded as socio-technical systems, their permanent operability is closely related to cultural or religious preferences which influence acceptability. Therefore, the design of the tool and the assessment of sanitation technologies took into account the views of relevant stakeholders. The key results of the analyses are presented in this article.

Nanoparticles in Porous Microparticles Prepared by Supercritical Infusion and Pressure Quench Technology for Sustained Delivery of Bevacizumab

Science.gov (United States)

K.Yandrapu, Sarath; Upadhyay, Arun K.; Petrash, J. Mark; Kompella, Uday B.

2014-01-01

Nanoparticles in porous microparticles (NPinPMP), a novel delivery system for sustained delivery of protein drugs, was developed using supercritical infusion and pressure quench technology, which does not expose proteins to organic solvents or sonication. The delivery system design is based on the ability of supercritical carbon dioxide (SC CO2) to expand poly(lactic-co-glycolic) acid (PLGA) matrix but not polylactic acid (PLA) matrix. The technology was applied to bevacizumab, a protein drug administered once a month intravitreally to treat wet age related macular degeneration. Bevacizumab coated PLA nanoparticles were encapsulated into porosifying PLGA microparticles by exposing the mixture to SC CO2. After SC CO2 exposure, the size of PLGA microparticles increased by 6.9 fold. Confocal and scanning electron microscopy studies demonstrated the expansion and porosification of PLGA microparticles and infusion of PLA nanoparticles inside PLGA microparticles. In vitro release of bevacizumab from NPinPMP was sustained for 4 months. Size exclusion chromatography, fluorescence spectroscopy, circular dichroism spectroscopy, SDS-PAGE, and ELISA studies indicated that the released bevacizumab maintained its monomeric form, conformation, and activity. Further, in vivo delivery of bevacizumab from NPinPMP was evaluated using noninvasive fluorophotometry after intravitreal administration of Alexa Flour 488 conjugated bevacizumab in either solution or NPinPMP in a rat model. Unlike the vitreal signal from Alexa-bevacizumab solution, which reached baseline at 2 weeks, release of Alexa-bevacizumab from NPinPMP could be detected for 2 months. Thus, NPinPMP is a novel sustained release system for protein drugs to reduce frequency of protein injections in the therapy of back of the eye diseases. PMID:24131101

Nanoparticles in porous microparticles prepared by supercritical infusion and pressure quench technology for sustained delivery of bevacizumab.

Science.gov (United States)

Yandrapu, Sarath K; Upadhyay, Arun K; Petrash, J Mark; Kompella, Uday B

2013-12-02

Nanoparticles in porous microparticles (NPinPMP), a novel delivery system for sustained delivery of protein drugs, was developed using supercritical infusion and pressure quench technology, which does not expose proteins to organic solvents or sonication. The delivery system design is based on the ability of supercritical carbon dioxide (SC CO2) to expand poly(lactic-co-glycolic) acid (PLGA) matrix but not polylactic acid (PLA) matrix. The technology was applied to bevacizumab, a protein drug administered once a month intravitreally to treat wet age related macular degeneration. Bevacizumab coated PLA nanoparticles were encapsulated into porosifying PLGA microparticles by exposing the mixture to SC CO2. After SC CO2 exposure, the size of PLGA microparticles increased by 6.9-fold. Confocal and scanning electron microscopy studies demonstrated the expansion and porosification of PLGA microparticles and infusion of PLA nanoparticles inside PLGA microparticles. In vitro release of bevacizumab from NPinPMP was sustained for 4 months. Size exclusion chromatography, fluorescence spectroscopy, circular dichroism spectroscopy, SDS-PAGE, and ELISA studies indicated that the released bevacizumab maintained its monomeric form, conformation, and activity. Further, in vivo delivery of bevacizumab from NPinPMP was evaluated using noninvasive fluorophotometry after intravitreal administration of Alexa Fluor 488 conjugated bevacizumab in either solution or NPinPMP in a rat model. Unlike the vitreal signal from Alexa-bevacizumab solution, which reached baseline at 2 weeks, release of Alexa-bevacizumab from NPinPMP could be detected for 2 months. Thus, NPinPMP is a novel sustained release system for protein drugs to reduce frequency of protein injections in the therapy of back of the eye diseases.

Evaluating sustainability of truck weight regulations: A system dynamics view

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pei Liu

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Purpose: Targeting the problem of overload trucking in Highway Transportation of iron ore from Caofeidian to Tangshan (HTCT, this paper aims to assess long-term effects of alternative Truck Weight Regulation (TWR policies on sustainability of HTCT. Design/methodology/approach: A system dynamics model was established for policy evaluation. The model, composed of six interrelating modules, is able to simulate policies effects on trucking issues such as freight flow, truck traffic flow, pavement performance, highway transport capacity and trucking time, and further on the Cumulative Economic Cost (CEC including transport cost and time cost of freight owners and the Cumulative Social Cost (CSC including pavement maintenance cost, green house gas emission cost, air pollutants emission cost and traffic accidents cost, so the effects of TWR policies on sustainability of HTCT could be evaluated. Findings: According to different values of overload ratio which a TWR policy allows, alternative TWR policies are classified into three types, which are The Rigid Policy (TRP, The Moderate Policy (TMP and The Tolerant Policy (TTP. Results show that the best policy for sustainability of HTCT depends on the importance of CSC which is expected by the local government. To be specific, (1 if CSC is considered much less important than CEC, the local government should continue implementing the current TTP with the maximum overload ratio; (2 if CSC is considered much more important than CEC, then TRP is recommended; and (3 if CSC is considered slightly more important than CES, TMP with overload ratio of 80% is the best. Practical implications: Conclusions of this paper may help the local government design appropriate TWR policies to achieve sustainability of HTCT. Originality/value: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first effort to evaluate TWR policies on sustainability of regional freight transportation based on system dynamics modeling.

Sustainability Index Evaluation of the Rainwater Harvesting System in Six US Urban Cities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daeryong Park

2018-01-01

Full Text Available This study investigated the sustainability of the rainwater harvesting system (RWHS by analyzing six urban city sites with different rainfall statistics in the United States. We developed a new RWHS performance model by modifying a spreadsheet-based storage, treatment, and overflow runoff model (SS STORM and verified its performance by comparing with another analytical RWHS model. The sustainability index (SI evaluation method was used for a reservoir system and applied to the RWHS, employing modified resilience and vulnerability evaluation methods due to the different characteristics of a reservoir and the RWHS. The performance of modified SS STORM is very similar to that of the analytical method, except in Los Angeles, which is characterized by long inter-event times and low rainfall event depths due to low annual rainfall. The sustainability indices were successfully evaluated depending on both RWHS size and water demand and vary over a wide range as annual rainfall increases. This study proposes a new RWHS performance model and sustainability index evaluation method. Further study should confirm the proposed approach in regions with widely different rainfall characteristics.

Introduction to the Special Collection of Papers on the San Luis Basin Sustainability Metrics Project: A Methodology for Evaluating Regional Sustainability

Science.gov (United States)

This paper introduces a collection of four articles describing the San Luis Basin Sustainability Metrics Project. The Project developed a methodology for evaluating regional sustainability. This introduction provides the necessary background information for the project, descripti...

Towards sustainability in offshore oil and gas operations

Science.gov (United States)

Khan, M. Ibrahim

Human activities are causing irreversible damage to the natural world and threaten our ability to sustain future generations. According to Millennium Ecosystem Assessment of 2005, sixty percent of world pristine habitats are destroyed or disturbed and species extinction rate is 100-1000 times higher than the normal background rate. One of the main reasons of these problems is the use of unsustainable technology. In this dissertation, the essential features of the modern technology development are discussed and a new single-parameter screening criterion is proposed. This criterion will allow the development of truly sustainable technologies. Previously developed technologies, particularly the ones developed after the industrial revolution, are evaluated based on the new criterion. The root cause for unsustainability of these technologies especially in the energy sector is discussed. The proposed criterion is applied to the petroleum sector. Petroleum hydrocarbons are considered to be the lifeblood of the modern society. Petroleum industry that took off from the golden era of 1930's never ceased to dominate all aspects of our society. Until now, there is no suitable alternative to fossil fuel and all trends indicate continued dominance of the petroleum industry in the foreseeable future. Even though petroleum operations have been based on solid scientific excellence and engineering marvels; only recently it has been discovered that many of the practices are not environmentally sustainable. Practically all activities of hydrocarbon operations are accompanied by undesirable discharges of liquid, solid, and gaseous wastes, which have enormous impacts on the environment. Consequently, reducing environmental impact is the most pressing issue today and many environmentalist groups are calling for curtailing petroleum operations altogether. There is clearly a need to develop a new management approach in hydrocarbon operations. This approach will have to be environmentally

Microalgal hydrogen production: prospects of an essential technology for a clean and sustainable energy economy.

Science.gov (United States)

Bayro-Kaiser, Vinzenz; Nelson, Nathan

2017-09-01

Modern energy production is required to undergo a dramatic transformation. It will have to replace fossil fuel use by a sustainable and clean energy economy while meeting the growing world energy needs. This review analyzes the current energy sector, available energy sources, and energy conversion technologies. Solar energy is the only energy source with the potential to fully replace fossil fuels, and hydrogen is a crucial energy carrier for ensuring energy availability across the globe. The importance of photosynthetic hydrogen production for a solar-powered hydrogen economy is highlighted and the development and potential of this technology are discussed. Much successful research for improved photosynthetic hydrogen production under laboratory conditions has been reported, and attempts are underway to develop upscale systems. We suggest that a process of integrating these achievements into one system to strive for efficient sustainable energy conversion is already justified. Pursuing this goal may lead to a mature technology for industrial deployment.

Combining Project-based Instruction, Earth Science Content, and GIS Technology in Teacher Professional Development: Is this Holistic Approach Sustainable?

Science.gov (United States)

Rubino-Hare, L.; Bloom, N.; Claesgens, J.; Fredrickson, K.; Henderson-Dahms, C.; Sample, J. C.

2012-12-01

From 2009-2011, with support from the National Science Foundation (ITEST, DRL-0929846) and Science Foundation Arizona (MSAG-0412-09), educators, geologists and geographers at Northern Arizona University (NAU) partnered to offer professional development for interdisciplinary teams of secondary and middle school teachers with a focus on project-based instruction (PBI) using geospatial technologies (GST). While participating in professional development teachers received support and were held accountable to NAU staff. They implemented activities and pedagogical strategies presented, increased knowledge, skills, and confidence teaching with project-based instruction integrating GST, and their students demonstrated learning gains. Changes in student understanding are only observed when teachers continue to implement change, so the question remained: did these changes in practice sustain after official project support ended? In order to determine what, if anything, teachers sustained from the professional development and the factors that promoted or hindered sustained use of teaching with GST and PBI, data were collected one to two years following the professional development. Research questions included a) what pedagogical practices did teachers sustain following the professional learning experiences? and b) what contexts were present in schools that supported or limited the use of geospatial technologies as a teaching and learning tool? Findings from this study indicate that teachers fall into three categories of sustaining implementation - reformed implementers, mechanical implementers and non-implementers. School context was less of a factor in level of implementation than teachers' beliefs and philosophy of teaching and teachers' understanding of technology integration (teaching with technology vs. teaching technology). Case studies of teacher experiences will be presented along with implications for future professional development.

A combined ANP-delphi approach to evaluate sustainable tourism

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Garcia-Melon, Monica, E-mail: mgarciam@dpi.upv.es [INGENIO (CSIC-UPV), Universitat Politecnica de Valencia, Camino de Vera s/n, 46022 Valencia (Spain); Gomez-Navarro, Tomas, E-mail: tgomez@dpi.upv.es [Depto. Proyectos Ingenieria, Universitat Politecnica de Valencia, Camino de Vera s/n 46022 Valencia (Spain); Acuna-Dutra, Silvia, E-mail: sacuna@unime.edu.ve [Universidad Metropolitana de Caracas, Caracas (Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of)

2012-04-15

The evaluation of sustainable tourism strategies promoted by National Parks (NP) related stakeholders is a key concern for NP managers. To help them in their strategic evaluation procedures, in this paper we propose a methodology based on the Analytic Network Process and a Delphi-type judgment-ensuring procedure. The approach aims at involving stakeholders in a participatory and consensus-building process. The methodology was applied to Los Roques NP in Venezuela. The problem included three sustainable tourism strategies defined by the stakeholders: eco-efficient resorts, eco-friendly leisure activities and ecological transportation systems. Representatives of eight stakeholders participated in the methodology. 13 sustainability criteria were selected. Results provide some important insights into the overall philosophy and underlying participants' conception of what sustainable development of Los Roques NP means. This conception is broadly shared by stakeholders as they coincided in the weights of most of the criteria, which were assigned individually through the questionnaire. It is particularly noteworthy that tourists and environmentalists almost fully match in their assessments of criteria but not of the alternatives. Moreover, there is a great agreement in the final assessment. This suggests that the regular contact among the different stakeholders, i.e. tourists with inhabitants, authorities with environmentalists, tour operators with representatives of the ministry, etc. has led to a common understanding of the opportunities and threats for the NP. They all agreed that the procedure enhances participation and transparency and it is a necessary source of information and support for their decisions.

A combined ANP-delphi approach to evaluate sustainable tourism

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

García-Melón, Mónica; Gómez-Navarro, Tomás; Acuña-Dutra, Silvia

2012-01-01

The evaluation of sustainable tourism strategies promoted by National Parks (NP) related stakeholders is a key concern for NP managers. To help them in their strategic evaluation procedures, in this paper we propose a methodology based on the Analytic Network Process and a Delphi-type judgment-ensuring procedure. The approach aims at involving stakeholders in a participatory and consensus-building process. The methodology was applied to Los Roques NP in Venezuela. The problem included three sustainable tourism strategies defined by the stakeholders: eco-efficient resorts, eco-friendly leisure activities and ecological transportation systems. Representatives of eight stakeholders participated in the methodology. 13 sustainability criteria were selected. Results provide some important insights into the overall philosophy and underlying participants' conception of what sustainable development of Los Roques NP means. This conception is broadly shared by stakeholders as they coincided in the weights of most of the criteria, which were assigned individually through the questionnaire. It is particularly noteworthy that tourists and environmentalists almost fully match in their assessments of criteria but not of the alternatives. Moreover, there is a great agreement in the final assessment. This suggests that the regular contact among the different stakeholders, i.e. tourists with inhabitants, authorities with environmentalists, tour operators with representatives of the ministry, etc. has led to a common understanding of the opportunities and threats for the NP. They all agreed that the procedure enhances participation and transparency and it is a necessary source of information and support for their decisions.

Sustainability Evaluation of Mass Customization

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brunø, Thomas Ditlev; Nielsen, Kjeld; Taps, Stig B.

2013-01-01

This paper addresses the issue whether the concepts mass customization and sustainability are fundamentally compatible by asking the question: can a mass customized product be sustainable? Some factors indicate that mass customized products are less sustainable than standardized products; however...... other factors suggest the opposite. This paper explores these factors during three life cycle phases for a product: Production, Use and End of Life. It is concluded that there is not an unambiguous causal relationship between mass customization and sustainability; however several factors unique to mass...... customized products are essential to consider during product development....

Integrating Social Sustainability in Engineering Education at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology

Science.gov (United States)

Björnberg, Karin Edvardsson; Skogh, Inga-Britt; Strömberg, Emma

2015-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate what are perceived to be the main challenges associated with the integration of social sustainability into engineering education at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm. Design/methodology/approach: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with programme leaders and teachers from…

Sustainable Technologies and Social Costs for Eliminating Contamination of an Aquifer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mario Schirmer

2010-07-01

Full Text Available This case study deals with long-term contamination of the Leuna aquifer, which is intended to be restored using sustainable technologies financed by the state. The contamination can only be solved using active rather than passive intervention, because the aquifer has an extraordinarily low natural attenuation capacity for the specific pollutants. Due to the longevity of the contamination source, the groundwater treatment technology that was chosen for the site must operate for a minimum of 20 years but probably much longer. Since the polluter-pay principle cannot be applied, the estimated dynamic primary remediation costs must be accepted as a political or social cost, which must be paid by current and future generations.

Sustainability Assessment Model in Product Development

Science.gov (United States)

Turan, Faiz Mohd; Johan, Kartina; Nor, Nik Hisyamudin Muhd; Omar, Badrul

2017-08-01

Faster and more efficient development of innovative and sustainable products has become the focus for manufacturing companies in order to remain competitive in today’s technologically driven world. Design concept evaluation which is the end of conceptual design is one of the most critical decision points. It relates to the final success of product development, because poor criteria assessment in design concept evaluation can rarely compensated at the later stages. Furthermore, consumers, investors, shareholders and even competitors are basing their decisions on what to buy or invest in, from whom, and also on what company report, and sustainability is one of a critical component. In this research, a new methodology of sustainability assessment in product development for Malaysian industry has been developed using integration of green project management, new scale of “Weighting criteria” and Rough-Grey Analysis. This method will help design engineers to improve the effectiveness and objectivity of the sustainable design concept evaluation, enable them to make better-informed decisions before finalising their choice and consequently create value to the company or industry. The new framework is expected to provide an alternative to existing methods.

Sustainability lessons from practice : How flow intensification can trigger sustainability and modular plant technology in EU projects

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sundaram, S.; Wang, Q.; Karlisch, D.; Hessel, V.

2015-01-01

Life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle cost analysis are two prime tools that have been used to evaluate the sustainability of novel EU projects, which investigated new strategies to improve product yields and reduce costs, while ensuring a good ecological footprint and cost efficiency. These

Design and optimization of sustainable process technologies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mussatto, Solange I.; Qin, Fen; Yamakawa, Celina Kiyomi

has been then considered a keypoint to achieve such purposes, being also able to result in potential environmental, economic, and social benefits. In this sense, the Biomass Conversion and Bioprocess TechnologyGroup (BCBT) has been working on the development of newstrategies for the use of biomass......, minimizing the costs and maximizing the efficiencyand productivity.Once the optimal conditions are identified, the process scale-up can be then evaluated. This could be translated in a faster time to market for newprocess technologies....

A Training Technology Evaluation Tool

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Livingston, Stephen C; Dyer, Jean L; Swinson, Diadra

2005-01-01

A Training Technology Evaluation Tool was developed to help procurers and developers of training technologies to make informed decisions and to improve the overall effectiveness of training technologies...

Sustainable LED Fluorescent Light Replacement Technology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None, None

2011-09-30

Ilumisys and the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS) partnered on a three-year project awarded by the United States (U.S.) Department of Energy (DOE), to quantify the impacts of LED lamps, incandescent lamps and fluorescent benchmark lamps over a product lifecycle – i.e. to develop a sustainable design and manufacturing strategy that addresses product manufacturing, use, recycling and disposal scenarios for LED-based lighting. Based on the knowledge gained from extensive product tear-down studies of fluorescent and screw-in lighting products, lifecycle assessment tools, and accelerated lifecycle testing protocols, an interactive Sustainable LED Design Guide has been developed to aid architectural and lighting designers and engineers in making design decisions that consider three important environmental impacts (greenhouse gas emissions, energy use and mercury emission) across all phases of the life of an LED lighting product. Critical information developed for the lifecycle analysis and product feature comparisons is the useful life of the lighting product as well as its performance. The Design Guide is available at www.ncms.org, and was developed based on operational and durability testing of a variety of lighting products including power consumption, light output, and useful life of a lamp in order to allow a more realistic comparison of lamp designs. This report describes the main project tasks, results and innovative features of the lifecycle assessment (LCA)-based design tools, and the key considerations driving the sustainable design of LED lighting systems. The Design Guide incorporates the following three novel features for efficiently evaluating LED lighting features in value-chains: Bill-of-Materials (BOM) Builder – Designers may import process data for each component and supply functional data for the product, including power, consumption, lumen output and expected useful life: Environmental Impact Review – Designs are comparable

Evaluating the effectiveness of palm oil certification in delivering multiple sustainability objectives

Science.gov (United States)

Morgans, Courtney L.; Meijaard, Erik; Santika, Truly; Law, Elizabeth; Budiharta, Sugeng; Ancrenaz, Marc; Wilson, Kerrie A.

2018-06-01

Industrial oil palm plantations in South East Asia have caused significant biodiversity losses and perverse social outcomes. To address concerns over plantation practices and in an attempt to improve sustainability through market mechanisms, civil society organisations and industry representatives developed the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) in 2004. The effectiveness of RSPO in improving the sustainability of the palm oil industry is frequently debated and to date, few quantitative analyses have been undertaken to assess how successful RSPO has been in delivering the social, economic and environmental sustainability outcomes it aims to address. With the palm oil industry continuing to expand in South East Asia and significant estates being planted in Africa and South America, this paper evaluates the effectiveness of RSPO plantations compared to non-certified plantations by assessing the relative performance of several key sustainability metrics compared to business as usual practices. Using Indonesian Borneo (Kalimantan) as a case study, a novel dataset of RSPO concessions was developed and causal analysis methodologies employed to evaluate the environmental, social and economic sustainability of the industry. No significant difference was found between certified and non-certified plantations for any of the sustainability metrics investigated, however positive economic trends including greater fresh fruit bunch yields were revealed. To achieve intended outcomes, RSPO principles and criteria are in need of substantial improvement and rigorous enforcement.

How information technology can help sustainability and aid in combating global warming[ACI SP-234-44

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kondratova, I.L.; Goldfarb, I. [National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, ON (Canada). Inst. for Information Technology

2006-07-01

This presentation addressed the need to reduce the environmental impact of concrete production. Unit based carbon dioxide emissions in cement production vary from 0.73 to 0.99 kg carbon dioxide per kg of cement. As such, annual cement manufacturing contributes significantly to global warming. The challenge facing the concrete industry regarding sustainable growth was discussed. It was suggested that sustainable development in the cement industry can be accomplished not only by making an industry wide shift to conservation of energy and materials, but by making greater use of the Internet for information technology on sustainable construction materials such as lightweight aggregates and lightweight concrete. The paper outlined the evolution of various methods of disseminating research results on the durability of concrete at the United States Army Corps of Engineers Treat Island marine exposure site. The results indicated that structural lightweight and semi-lightweight concrete provides long-term durability in a marine environment. It was noted that knowledge utilization includes technology transfer, information dissemination and utilization, research utilization, innovation, and organizational change. The paper emphasized the use of web portals as a tool for improving access to practical information on a full range of sustainable industry practices, products and resources. These tools allow side-by side comparison of testing results for different concrete mixtures and support decision-making on the choice of environmentally sound and durable concrete. The authors demonstrated by advantages of using modern information technology tools by suggesting that with the development of a full scale Portal, the Expanded Shale, Clay, and Slate Institute (ESCSI) could become a global source of credible information and expertise in the area of lightweight concrete. As such ESCSI could be in a position to influence innovation and technology transfer to the industry. The paper

Getting the chemicals right: addressing inorganics in sustainability assessments of technologies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Müller, Nienke; Fantke, Peter

sustainability assessments, the toxicity potential of several thousand organic chemicals is included in characterization models within life cycle impact assessment (LCIA). However, many economic production processes involve the use of inorganic chemicals to a large extent, while the related pressure on human...... and environmental health of environmental emissions of these substances is not yet fully understood and not included in any existing LCIA method. In th is presentation, we provide an overview of the relevance of inorganic chemicals and outline possible ways towards incorporating inorganic chemicals in LCIA toxicity......A main goal of sustainability research is to enable a technological development in industry and elsewhere that ensures that what is produced and how it is produced today does not harm the quality of human or environmental health for present and future generations. As part of current environmental...

Teaching Methods Influencing the Sustainability of the Teaching Process in Technology Education in General Education Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Soobik, Mart

2014-01-01

The sustainability of technology education is related to a traditional understanding of craft and the methods used to teach it; however, the methods used in the teaching process have been influenced by the innovative changes accompanying the development of technology. In respect to social and economic development, it is important to prepare young…

Evaluating Water Management Practice for Sustainable Mining

OpenAIRE

Xiangfeng Zhang; Lei Gao; Damian Barrett; Yun Chen

2014-01-01

To move towards sustainable development, the mining industry needs to identify better mine water management practices for reducing raw water use, increasing water use efficiency, and eliminating environmental impacts in a precondition of securing mining production. However, the selection of optimal mine water management practices is technically challenging due to the lack of scientific tools to comprehensively evaluate management options against a set of conflicting criteria. This work has pr...

Can photovoltaic technologies help attain sustainable rural development in Bangladesh?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Biswas, W.K.; Diesendorf, Mark; Bryce, Paul

2004-01-01

The paper explores a model of sustainable rural development and poverty alleviation in Bangladesh, based on the creation of village businesses that sell solar electricity generated from the photovoltaic (PV) technologies. The model shows that the solar electricity business model is in principle economically viable up to the maximum investment available from a micro-credit organisation. Furthermore, the transfer of the existing subsidy from the centralised power system to these businesses would create significant additional income for one-third of the total landless and marginal farmers (LMFs) to meet their income deficits for basic needs. It would also electrify all rural wealthier households. From this additional income, the LMF households employed by the scheme would be able to conserve their environmental resources of animals, land and trees that otherwise are being lost. Appropriate government policies are proposed to disseminate PV technologies

Social Influence on Information Technology Adoption and Sustained Use in Healthcare: A Hierarchical Bayesian Learning Method Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Hao, Haijing

2013-01-01

Information technology adoption and diffusion is currently a significant challenge in the healthcare delivery setting. This thesis includes three papers that explore social influence on information technology adoption and sustained use in the healthcare delivery environment using conventional regression models and novel hierarchical Bayesian…

Devolution: A mechanism for scaling adoption of sustainable land ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Sustainable Land Management (SLM) technologies are known to improve food ... mechanisms for mitigation of this land degradation have been developed, but ... of SLM innovations is a crucial aspect for evaluating the devolution process.

evaluation of willingness to pay for reliable and sustainable ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Osondu

evaluate the WTP for reliable and sustainable service delivery. The findings of the study .... In doing this, the revenue base and cost recovery will as well be enhanced in ..... delays at traffic warden controlled urban intersections: case study of ...

Using GREENSCOPE Indicators for Sustainable Computer-Aided Process Evaluation and Design

Science.gov (United States)

Manufacturing sustainability can be increased by educating those who design, construct, and operate facilities, and by using appropriate tools for process evaluation and design. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's GREENSCOPE methodology and tool, for evaluation and design ...

Development of sustainable water treatment technology using scientifically based calculated indexes of source water quality indicators

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

А. С. Трякина

2017-10-01

Full Text Available The article describes selection process of sustainable technological process flow chart for water treatment procedure developed on scientifically based calculated indexes of quality indicators for water supplied to water treatment facilities. In accordance with the previously calculated values of the indicators of the source water quality, the main purification facilities are selected. A more sustainable flow chart for the modern water quality of the Seversky Donets-Donbass channel is a two-stage filtering with contact prefilters and high-rate filters. The article proposes a set of measures to reduce such an indicator of water quality as permanganate oxidation. The most suitable for these purposes is sorption purification using granular activated carbon for water filtering. The increased water hardness is also quite topical. The method of ion exchange on sodium cation filters was chosen to reduce the water hardness. We also evaluated the reagents for decontamination of water. As a result, sodium hypochlorite is selected for treatment of water, which has several advantages over chlorine and retains the necessary aftereffect, unlike ozone. A technological flow chart with two-stage purification on contact prefilters and two-layer high-rate filters (granular activated carbon - quartz sand with disinfection of sodium hypochlorite and softening of a part of water on sodium-cation exchangers filters is proposed. This technological flow chart of purification with any fluctuations in the quality of the source water is able to provide purified water that meets the requirements of the current sanitary-hygienic standards. In accordance with the developed flow chart, guidelines and activities for the reconstruction of the existing Makeevka Filtering Station were identified. The recommended flow chart uses more compact and less costly facilities, as well as additional measures to reduce those water quality indicators, the values of which previously were in

Sustainability in Teaching: An Evaluation of University Teachers and Students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rosa María Brito

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Since the 1970s, interest in caring for the environment has gained traction and the environmental education movement has gained momentum. The Talloires Declaration was the first document to incorporate sustainable development into higher education. After that, higher education institutions assumed the social responsibility of training human resources with a sustainable vision. This study aimed to contribute to the design of indicators that could be used to evaluate the efficacy of the sustainability taught at the Universidad Autónoma de Guerrero (Autonomous University of Guerrero in Mexico. We administered a survey to 63 teachers and 511 students from four academic units in high schools, and undergraduate and postgraduate programs. The answers were analyzed using the F-test and the variable descriptions. For the environmental, social and economic indicators, the satisfaction levels of teachers and students were more positive in graduate and undergraduate programs than in the high school. To determine the efficacy of the teaching function in terms of sustainable education, as well as to fulfill the commitments acquired to achieve sustainability, institutional processes need to be strengthened.

A Modified Method for Evaluating Sustainable Transport Solutions Based on AHP and Dempster–Shafer Evidence Theory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luyuan Chen

2018-04-01

Full Text Available With the challenge of transportation environment, a large amount of attention is paid to sustainable mobility worldwide, thus bringing the problem of the evaluation of sustainable transport solutions. In this paper, a modified method based on analytical hierarchy process (AHP and Dempster–Shafer evidence theory (D-S theory is proposed for evaluating the impact of transport measures on city sustainability. AHP is adapted to determine the weight of sustainability criteria while D-S theory is used for data fusion of the sustainability assessment. A Transport Sustainability Index (TSI is presented as a primary measure to determine whether transport solutions have a positive impact on city sustainability. A case study of car-sharing is illustrated to show the efficiency of our proposed method. Our modified method has two desirable properties. One is that the BPA is generated with a new modification framework of evaluation levels, which can flexibly manage uncertain information. The other is that the modified method has excellent performance in sensitivity analysis.

A Hybrid Method of Analyzing Patents for Sustainable Technology Management in Humanoid Robot Industry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jongchan Kim

2016-05-01

Full Text Available A humanoid, which refers to a robot that resembles a human body, imitates a human’s intelligence, behavior, sense, and interaction in order to provide various types of services to human beings. Humanoids have been studied and developed constantly in order to improve their performance. Humanoids were previously developed for simple repetitive or hard work that required significant human power. However, intelligent service robots have been developed actively these days to provide necessary information and enjoyment; these include robots manufactured for home, entertainment, and personal use. It has become generally known that artificial intelligence humanoid technology will significantly benefit civilization. On the other hand, Successful Research and Development (R & D on humanoids is possible only if they are developed in a proper direction in accordance with changes in markets and society. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze changes in technology markets and society for developing sustainable Management of Technology (MOT strategies. In this study, patent data related to humanoids are analyzed by various data mining techniques, including topic modeling, cross-impact analysis, association rule mining, and social network analysis, to suggest sustainable strategies and methodologies for MOT.

25 October 2017 - Meeting on a South-East European International Institute for Sustainable Technologies

CERN Multimedia

Ordan, Julien Marius

2017-01-01

Meeting on a South-East European International Institute for Sustainable Technologies at CERN, organised by the Ministry of Science of Montenegro, followed by a lunch hosted by CERN Director-General F. Gianotti and a site visit to CMS counting room and S'Cool LAB.

Sustainability Logistics Basing - Science and Technology Objective - Demonstration; Industry Assessment and Demonstration Final Report

Science.gov (United States)

2017-08-14

TECHNICAL REPORT AD ________________ NATICK/TR-17/019 SUSTAINABILITY ...LOGISTICS BASING – SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY OBJECTIVE – DEMONSTRATION; INDUSTRY ASSESSMENT AND DEMONSTRATION FINAL REPORT by Elizabeth D. Swisher and...Benjamin J. Campbell August 2017 Final Report December 2014 – February 2016 Approved for public release; distribution is

Scenarios for the hierarchical evaluation of the global sustainability of electric generator plants; Escenarios para la evaluacion jerarquica de la sustentabilidad global de plantas generadoras de electricidad

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Roldan A, M.C.; Martinez F, M. [Centro de Investigacion en Energia, UNAM, A.P. 34, 62580 Temixco, Morelos (Mexico)]. e-mail: mcra@cie.unam.mx

2007-07-01

The AHP multi criteria method was applied (Analytic Hierarchy Process-Analytic process of Hierarchization) to evaluate the sustainability in the whole life cycle of the electricity generation technologies (hydroelectric, carboelectric, thermoelectric natural fuel oil, natural gas thermoelectric, geothermal, nucleo electric, wind electric, photo thermic and photovoltaic) with the purpose of offering an useful method in the taking of decisions to impel the sustainable development. Eight scenarios are analyzed. The results in most of the scenarios reflect the benefit of the renewable energy: the hydroelectric energy, photo thermic and wind driven its are those more sustainable. To reach the sustainable development in Mexico, the energy politicians should be more near to the use of the renewable energy. (Author)

New Technologies and Sustainable Development of Industry; Neue Technologien und nachhaltige Entwicklung der Industrie

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Muggli, Christoph; Baumgartner, Walter; Werner, Frank [Basics AG, Beckenhofstrasse 16, CH-8035 Zurich (Switzerland)

1996-08-01

The present technology assessment study examines the effects of three technology scenarios on future energy consumption and the energy-related emissions by industrial manufacturing in Switzerland. The three paths of development (Trend, High-Tech, Alternative) can be represented as follows: After a reduction until 2015, the Trend development entails a slight increase in consumption of energy. Until then consumption is some 10 percent lower in both the High-Tech and the Alternative Scenarios. Consumption of electricity increases in all scenarios, the proportion is highest in 20 year's time under the High-Tech scenario. SO{sub 2} and CO{sub 2} emissions decrease in all scenarios until 2000 and then level out at a low level. The emissions are lowest in the High-Tech scenario. In contrast the NO{sub x} and the VOC emissions diminish until 2000 and then rise again continuously. At this juncture important bases are still not yet available for a definitive evaluation with respect to the sustainable development. Sustainability objectives are currently being compiled for Switzerland in the wake of the Berlin Climate Conference and the Rio Conference. In the political lobbies the Green factions are making demands, such as those currently under discussion internationally (e.g. CO{sub 2} reductions on a scale of some 80 percent by 2050), whereas conservative and industrial circle representatives support the objective of sustainable development but reject a quantification of objectives. The official objectives of the Swiss Energy 2000 programme can be achieved with all scenarios. With the High-Tech and Alternative scenarios, concepts of a reduction in CO{sub 2} by 20 percent by 2015 (as currently under discussion in Switzerland), are realistic. However, further energy-relevant efficiency potentials in industrial production can be activated by energy-policy motivated measures. More extensive objectives, such as e.g. a CO{sub 2} reduction of 50 percent, are hardly attainable, even

New Technologies and Sustainable Development of Industry; Neue Technologien und nachhaltige Entwicklung der Industrie

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Muggli, Christoph; Baumgartner, Walter; Werner, Frank [Basics AG, Beckenhofstrasse 16, CH-8035 Zurich (Switzerland)

1996-08-01

The present technology assessment study examines the effects of three technology scenarios on future energy consumption and the energy-related emissions by industrial manufacturing in Switzerland. The three paths of development (Trend, High-Tech, Alternative) can be represented as follows: After a reduction until 2015, the Trend development entails a slight increase in consumption of energy. Until then consumption is some 10 percent lower in both the High-Tech and the Alternative Scenarios. Consumption of electricity increases in all scenarios, the proportion is highest in 20 year's time under the High-Tech scenario. SO{sub 2} and CO{sub 2} emissions decrease in all scenarios until 2000 and then level out at a low level. The emissions are lowest in the High-Tech scenario. In contrast the NO{sub x} and the VOC emissions diminish until 2000 and then rise again continuously. At this juncture important bases are still not yet available for a definitive evaluation with respect to the sustainable development. Sustainability objectives are currently being compiled for Switzerland in the wake of the Berlin Climate Conference and the Rio Conference. In the political lobbies the Green factions are making demands, such as those currently under discussion internationally (e.g. CO{sub 2} reductions on a scale of some 80 percent by 2050), whereas conservative and industrial circle representatives support the objective of sustainable development but reject a quantification of objectives. The official objectives of the Swiss Energy 2000 programme can be achieved with all scenarios. With the High-Tech and Alternative scenarios, concepts of a reduction in CO{sub 2} by 20 percent by 2015 (as currently under discussion in Switzerland), are realistic. However, further energy-relevant efficiency potentials in industrial production can be activated by energy-policy motivated measures. More extensive objectives, such as e.g. a CO{sub 2} reduction of 50 percent, are hardly attainable

The Sustainable Island Development Evaluation Model and Its Application Based on the Nonstructural Decision Fuzzy Set

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Quanming Wang

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Due to the complexity and diversity of the issue of sustainable island development, no widely accepted and applicable evaluation system model regarding the issue currently exists. In this paper, we discuss and establish the sustainable development indicator system and the model approach from the perspective of resources, the island environment, the island development status, the island social development, and the island intelligence development. We reference the sustainable development theory and the sustainable development indicator system method concerning land region, combine the character of the sustainable island development, analyze and evaluate the extent of the sustainable island development, orient development, and identify the key and limited factors of sustainable island development capability. This research adopts the entropy method and the nonstructural decision fuzzy set theory model to determine the weight of the evaluating indicators. Changhai County was selected as the subject of the research, which consisted of a quantitative study of its sustainable development status from 2001 to 2008 to identify the key factors influencing its sustainability development, existing problems, and limited factors and to provide basic technical support for ocean development planning and economic development planning.

Innovative use of the integrative review to evaluate evidence of technology transformation in healthcare.

Science.gov (United States)

Phillips, Andrew B; Merrill, Jacqueline A

2015-12-01

Healthcare is in a period significant transformational activity through the accelerated adoption of healthcare technologies, new reimbursement systems that emphasize shared savings and care coordination, and the common place use of mobile technologies by patients, providers, and others. The complexity of healthcare creates barriers to transformational activity and has the potential to inhibit the desired paths toward change envisioned by policymakers. Methods for understanding how change is occurring within this complex environment are important to the evaluation of delivery system reform and the role of technology in healthcare transformation. This study examines the use on an integrative review methodology to evaluate the healthcare literature for evidence of technology transformation in healthcare. The methodology integrates the evaluation of a broad set of literature with an established evaluative framework to develop a more complete understanding of a particular topic. We applied this methodology and the framework of punctuated equilibrium (PEq) to the analysis of the healthcare literature from 2004 to 2012 for evidence of technology transformation, a time during which technology was at the forefront of healthcare policy. The analysis demonstrated that the established PEq framework applied to the literature showed considerable potential for evaluating the progress of policies that encourage healthcare transformation. Significant inhibitors to change were identified through the integrative review and categorized into ten themes that describe the resistant structure of healthcare delivery: variations in the environment; market complexity; regulations; flawed risks and rewards; change theories; barriers; ethical considerations; competition and sustainability; environmental elements, and internal elements. We hypothesize that the resistant nature of the healthcare system described by this study creates barriers to the direct consumer involvement and engagement

TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT TO ELABORATE COMMON WHITE WINE IN MISIONES, WITH ECONOMIC EVALUATION AT INDUSTRIAL SCALE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Miño Valdés, Juan Esteban

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The objective of this paper was to develop a sustainable technology on an industrial scale to produce common white wine with non viniferous grapes cultivated in Misiones. This technological project was initiated at a laboratory scale, continued in the pilot plant and industrial-scale project. It was considered as a productive unit to 12 rural families with 27 hectares of vines each. The 8 stages followed with inductive and deductive methodology were: The development of dry white wine at laboratory scale. The evaluation of process variables in the vivification. The mathematical modeling of the alcoholic fermentation in oenological conditions. The valuation of the aptitude of wines for human consumption. The establishment of a technological procedure for wine in the pilot plant. The evaluation of the pilot plant in technological procedure established. The calculation and selection of industrial equipment. The estimate of the costs and profitability of industrial technological process. It reached a technology for a production capacity of 5,834 L day-1, with dynamic economic indicators whose values were: net present value of 6,602,666 U$D, an internal rate of return of 60 % for a period of recovery of investment to net present value of 3 years.

Sustainable development : a conceptual framework for the technology management field of knowledge and a departure for further research

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Brent, AC

2007-05-01

Full Text Available The complexity of integrating the concept of sustainable development and the reality of technology or innovation management practices has been argued. The purpose of the research was to establish a conceptual framework of the technology management...

National Security Technology Incubator Evaluation Process

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None, None

2007-12-31

This report describes the process by which the National Security Technology Incubator (NSTI) will be evaluated. The technology incubator is being developed as part of the National Security Preparedness Project (NSPP), funded by a Department of Energy (DOE)/National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) grant. This report includes a brief description of the components, steps, and measures of the proposed evaluation process. The purpose of the NSPP is to promote national security technologies through business incubation, technology demonstration and validation, and workforce development. The NSTI will focus on serving businesses with national security technology applications by nurturing them through critical stages of early development. An effective evaluation process of the NSTI is an important step as it can provide qualitative and quantitative information on incubator performance over a given period. The vision of the NSTI is to be a successful incubator of technologies and private enterprise that assist the NNSA in meeting new challenges in national safety and security. The mission of the NSTI is to identify, incubate, and accelerate technologies with national security applications at various stages of development by providing hands-on mentoring and business assistance to small businesses and emerging or growing companies. To achieve success for both incubator businesses and the NSTI program, an evaluation process is essential to effectively measure results and implement corrective processes in the incubation design if needed. The evaluation process design will collect and analyze qualitative and quantitative data through performance evaluation system.

Motors of sustainable innovation : Towards a theory on the dynamics of technological innovation systems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Suurs, R.A.A.

2009-01-01

Modern societies are encountering environmental and political problems in the sphere of energy supply. One way to deal with this is to support the development of sustainable energy technologies. Since the development and diffusion of renewable energy has proved to be a very slow process, strategic

Developing and commercializing sustainable new wood products : a process for identifying viable products.

Science.gov (United States)

Gordon A. Enk; Stuart L. Hart

2003-01-01

A process was designed to evaluate the sustainability and potential marketability of USDA Forest Service patented technologies. The process was designed and tested jointly by the University of North Carolina, the University of Michigan, Partners for Strategic Change, and the USDA Forest Service. Two technologies were evaluated: a fiber-based product and a wood fiber/...

Intelligent Buildings: Key to Achieving Total Sustainability in the Built Environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tulika Gadakari

2014-01-01

Full Text Available ‘Are intelligent buildings a pragmatic approach towards achieving a sustainable built environment?’ is the research question that this review article aims to answer. It has been argued that there is a serious need for intelligent buildings to be evaluated against the parameters of total sustainability (environmental, economic and social so as to help the agenda of living in a technologically advanced, healthy and comfortable world. This paper reviews existing theoretical concepts of intelligence and sustainability in the built environment, through an exploration of various scientific literature and U.S Green Building Council’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design databases. A systematic qualitative review approach has been employed to select an appropriate definition of sustainable development and use it as a theoretical framework to assess the technological impact of intelligent buildings on the environmental, economic and social front. Subsequently five case study buildings from around the world, which exemplify the use of intelligent technologies to achieve sustainable gains were chosen and analyzed to further validate the literature findings. Outputs from the study highlight the various benefits of intelligent buildings, which include decrease in energy and water consumption, operational costs, as well as increase in productivity and investments. Additionally the analysis of the case studies revealed that the use of intelligent building technologies has contributed significantly towards a higher sustainability rating on the LEED rating scale. Moreover, the comparison of the attributes of intelligent buildings and sustainable practices in buildings, illustrates the fact that there is a considerable overlap between the two and intelligence can aid sustainability in the built environment. Thus the research suggests that green technologies and intelligence in combination may be a pragmatic approach towards the sustainability

Evaluation of the energy efficiency of alternative processes and technology chains (BEAT). Research for the production of tomorrow. Focus: Simulation and evaluation. Final report for the research project; Bewertung der Energieeffizienz alternativer Prozesse und Technologieketten (BEAT). Forschung fuer die Produktion von morgen. Schwerpunkt: Simulation und Bewertung. Abschlussbericht fuer das Verbundprojekt

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2012-07-01

Satisfying the needs of people in a globalized world requires a sustainable development. The production of goods is a key role in the development of this sustainable development. The sustainable development of manufacturing companies requires the implementation of new lifecycle assessment methods for manufacturing processes and manufacturing technology chains. This final report under consideration describes the development of a methodology for the evaluation and assessment of technology chains using the production of a gear wheel and an injector.

QuEST: Qualifying Environmentally Sustainable Technologies. Volume 6

Science.gov (United States)

Lewis, Pattie

2011-01-01

QuEST is a publication of the NASA Technology Evaluation for Environmental Risk Mitigation Principal Center (TEERM). This issue contains brief articles on: Risk Identification and Mitigation, Material Management and Substitution Efforts--Hexavalent Chrome-free Coatings and Low volatile organic compounds (VOCs) Coatings, Lead-Free Electronics, Corn-Based Depainting Media; Alternative Energy Efforts Hydrogen Sensors and Solar Air Conditioning. Other TEERM Efforts include: Energy and Water Management and Remediation Technology Collaboration.

Sustainability on-the-go

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kampf, Constance Elizabeth

on sustainability-- The Good Guide, Carrotmob and Colalife. Each organization demonstrates a web presence through social media that are available on mobile devices. This paper examines the mobile space as a space for examining the potential impacts of a technology mediated interaction focused on sustainability...... as an extension of consumer identity and conscience. Using Gee’s focus on the connection between language use, technology and context as part of identities in interaction, this paper also explores the potential and implications of mobile technologies for the communication of sustainable values. Technology...... is approached through the tension between McLuhan’s notion of physical extension and as E.T Hall’s description of technology as an extension of cultural practice. (Rogers 2000). Conclusions include understanding the shift to mobile technology as offering a space in which consumer identity plays an active role...

Handbook of sustainable engineering

CERN Document Server

Lee, Kun-Mo

2013-01-01

"The efficient utilization of energy, sustainable use of natural resources, and large-scale adoption of sustainable technologies is the key to a sustainable future. The Handbook of Sustainable Engineering provides tools that will help us achieve these goals". Nobel Prize Winner Dr. R.K. Pauchauri, Chairman, UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change As global society confronts the challenges of diminishing resources, ecological degradation, and climate change, engineers play a crucial role designing and building technologies and products that fulfil our needs for utility and sustainability. The Handbook of Sustainable Engineering equips readers with the context and the best practices derived from both academic research and practical examples of successful implementations of sustainable technical solutions. The handbook’s content revolves around the two themes, new ways of thinking and new business models, including sustainable production, products, service systems and consumption while addressing key asse...

Sustainable Hydraulic Barrier Design Technologies for Effective Infrastructure Engineering

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chitral Wijeyesekera Devapriya

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Migration of liquids lead to embarrassing post construction scenarios such as that of leaks from roofs, potable water leaking from water tanks/ reservoirs, rising damp in walls with groundwater seeping into basement structures, leakage of water from ornamental lakes and ponds or leachate leakage into the environment from MSW landfill sites. Such failures demand immediate and expensive maintenance. A stringent control on structural and waterproof stability is deemed necessary for long term service life of structures and in particular underground and near surface structures. On a micro scale and over a longer time scale, the phenomenon of rising dampness occurs in older buildings with the groundwater rising up through walls, floors and masonry via capillary action. Even slower rates of contaminant fluid migration occur through landfill base liners. In this paper a variety of hydraulic barrier technologies is critically discussed against a backdrop of relevant case studies. The choice of an appropriate hydraulic barrier technology for a given scenario will depend also on the sustainability, financial affordability and subjective aesthetics.

Designer's requirements for evaluation of sustainability

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bey, Niki; Lenau, Torben Anker

1998-01-01

Today, sustainability of products is often evaluated on the basis of assessments of their environmental performance. Established means for this purpose are formal Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methods. Designers have an essential influence on product design and are therefore one target group for life...... cycle-based evaluation methods. However, the application of LCA in the design process, when for example different materials and manufacturing processes have to be selected, is difficult. This is, among other things, because only a few designers have a deeper background in this area and even simplified...... LCAs involve calculations with a relatively high accuracy. Most LCA methods do therefore not qualify as hands-on tool for utilisation by typical designers.In this context, the authors raise the question, whether a largely simplified LCA-method which is exclusively based on energy considerations can...

Technical assistance for an evaluation of international schemes to promote biomass sustainability. Final report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Londo, M.

2009-12-01

In this technical assistance report to the title subject report is given of Task 1: Review of GREEN-X assumptions on biomass availability and costs; Task 2: Impacts of sustainability criteria on biomass availability and costs; Task 3: Applicability of existing certification schemes; Task 4: Identification of feasible verification options; and Task 5: summary, integration. The key objective of Task 1 is to validate the present and future availability (up to 2020) and costs of biomass energy in the EU 27. The GREEN-X model forecasts the deployment of renewable energy systems under various scenarios in terms of supporting policy instruments, the availability of resources and generation technologies and energy, technology and resource price developments. Objective of task 2 is to assess to what extent the sustainability criteria as specified in the Renewable Energy Directive (RED (EP/EC 2009)) affect availability and costs of biofuels. The objective of task 3 is to assess to what extent national and international certification schemes (existing and under development) would be applicable for safeguarding the sustainability criteria as mentioned in the Renewable Energy Sources (RES) directive. The objective of Task 4 is to identify and analyse feasible options to verify compliance with biomass sustainability criteria, in the case of forest biomass.

A review of wireless power transfer for electric vehicles: Prospects to enhance sustainable mobility

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bi, Zicheng; Kan, Tianze; Mi, Chunting Chris; Zhang, Yiming; Zhao, Zhengming; Keoleian, Gregory A.

2016-01-01

Highlights: • Reviewed technology advances and sustainability performance of WPT for EVs. • Identified the technical bottlenecks for improving system performance. • Highlighted system performance of case studies and real-world demonstrations. • Evaluated energy, environmental, economic, and societal impacts of WPT deployment. • Defined WPT challenges and opportunities for enhancing future sustainable mobility. - Abstract: Wireless power transfer (WPT), which transmits power by an electromagnetic field across an intervening space, provides the prospect of new opportunities for electric vehicles (EVs) to enhance sustainable mobility. This review article evaluates WPT technology for EV applications from both technical and sustainability perspectives. The objectives of this review include: (1) to present the state-of-the-art technical progress and research bottlenecks in WPT development and applications in the transportation sector; (2) to characterize the demonstrations of the real-world deployment of WPT EV systems; and (3) to evaluate the sustainable performance and identify challenges and opportunities for improvement. From the technical perspective, progress on coil design, compensation topologies, and power electronics converters and control methods are reviewed with a focus on system performance. From the sustainability perspective, performance is defined in terms of energy, environmental, and economic metrics, and policy drivers and issues of health and safety are also examined.

The Clean Development Mechanism as a Vehicle for Technology Transfer and Sustainable Development - Myth or Reality?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gary Cox

2010-09-01

Full Text Available This paper critically examines the clean development mechanism (CDM established under Article 12 of the Kyoto Protocol in terms of its effectiveness as a vehicle for technology transfer to developing countries, a specific commitment under the UNFCCC. Fundamentally, the paper poses the question of whether technology transfer as part of the CDM is a myth or a reality in the broader context of sustainable development. Technology transfer between countries of the North and South is explored in a historical context and the emergence of technology transfer obligations is traced in multilateral environmental agreements. The architecture of the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol are examined in relation to technology transfer obligations. Empirical studies are reviewed to gain an understanding of how CDM operates in practice, with a closer examination of a small number of recent CDM projects. There is an update on the Technology Mechanism being established under the Copenhagen Accord. The paper concludes with a summary of the benefits of CDM to date and its current limitations in achieving the scaling-up of affordable environmentally sound technology transfer envisaged in the Bali Action Plan. The conclusion is that technology transfer must be a much more explicit objective of CDM with better targeting of projects in order to achieve locally sustainable equitable outcomes. Furthermore, the link between CDM and technology transfer needs to be much more explicitly made in order that, in the long run, such interventions will lead to viable low emission development pathways in developing countries.

Sustainability of dams-an evaluation approach

Science.gov (United States)

Petersson, E.

2003-04-01

Situated in the stream bed of a river, dams and reservoirs interrupt the natural hydrological cycle. They are very sensitive to all kinds of changes in the catchment, among others global impacts on land use, climate, settlement structures or living standards. Vice versa dams strongly affect the spatially distributed, complex system of ecology, economy and society in the catchment both up- and downstream of the reservoir. The occurrence of negative impacts due to large dams led to serious conflicts about future dams. Nevertheless, water shortages due to climatic conditions and their changes, that are faced by enormous water and energy demands due to rising living standards of a growing world population, seem to require further dam construction, even if both supply and demand management are optimised. Although environmental impact assessments are compulsory for dams financed by any of the international funding agencies, it has to be assumed that the projects lack sustainability. Starting from an inventory of today's environmental impact assessments as an integral part of a feasibility study the presentation will identify their inadequacies with regard to the sustainability of dams. To improve the sustainability of future dams and avoid the mistakes of the past, the planning procedures for dams have to be adapted. The highly complex and dynamical system of interrelated physical and non-physical processes, that involves many different groups of stakeholders, constitutes the need for a model-oriented decision support system. In line with the report of the World Commission of Dams an integrated analysis and structure of the complex interrelations between dams, ecology, economy and society will be presented. Thus the system, that a respective tool will be based on, is analysed. Furthermore an outlook will be given on the needs of the potential users of a DSS and how it has to be embedded in the overall planning process. The limits of computer-based decision-support in the

Oil-points - Designers means to evaluate sustainability of concepts

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bey, Niki; Lenau, Torben Anker

1998-01-01

Designers have an essential influence on product design and are therefore one target group for environmental evaluation methods. This implies, that such evaluation methods have to meet designers requirements. Evaluation of sustainability of products is often done using formal Life Cycle Assessment....... This is investigated by means of three case studies where environmental impact is estimated using the EDIP method, the Eco-indicator 95 method, and the Oil Point method proposed by the authors. It is found that the results obtained using Oil Points are in acceptable conformity with the results obtained with more...

Sustainability cost accounting, Part 1: A Monetary procedure to evaluate the sustainability of technologies in the South African process industry

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Brent, AC

2006-11-01

Full Text Available impacts at macro-level, for which a company is (typically) not held financially liable – into management practices. This paper introduces the Sustainability Cost Accounting (SCA) procedure, whereby externalities (burdens and benefits) are translated...

The Kyoto mechanisms and technological innovation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lund, Henrik

2006-01-01

Climate change response, including the implementation of the Kyoto targets as the first step, calls for technological innovation of future sustainable energy systems. Based on the Danish case, this paper evaluates the type of technological change necessary. During a period of 30 years, Denmark...... countries. Consequently, the innovative technological development has changed. This paper evaluates the character of such change and makes preliminary recommendations for policies to encourage the use of the Kyoto Mechanisms as an acceleration of the necessary technological innovation....

External Benefit Evaluation of Renewable Energy Power in China for Sustainability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Huiru Zhao

2015-04-01

Full Text Available China’s renewable energy power has developed rapidly in recent years. Evaluating the external benefits of renewable energy power can provide a reference for the Chinese government to set diverse development goals and to implement differentiated supporting policies for different renewable energy power types, which can promote their sustainable development. In this paper, a hybrid MCDM method was applied to evaluate the external benefits of China’s renewable energy power. Firstly, the impacts of renewable energy power accessing the power grid for multiple stakeholders in the electric power system were analyzed. Secondly, the external benefit evaluation index system for renewable energy power was built from the economic, social and environmental factors, based on the concept of sustainability. Then, the basic theory of the hybrid MCDM method employed in this paper was introduced in two parts: the superiority linguistic ratings and entropy weighting method for index weight determination and the fuzzy grey relation analysis for ranking alternatives. Finally, the external benefits of wind power, solar PV power and biomass power were evaluated. Taking a regional electric power system as an example, the results show that PV power has the greatest external benefit, followed by wind power and biomass power. Therefore, more policies supporting PV power should be put in place to promote the harmonious and sustainable development of the whole renewable energy power industry.

Nuclear energy for sustainable Hydrogen production

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gyoshev, G.

2004-01-01

There is general agreement that hydrogen as an universal energy carrier could play increasingly important role in energy future as part of a set of solutions to a variety of energy and environmental problems. Given its abundant nature, hydrogen has been an important raw material in the organic chemical industry. At recent years strong competition has emerged between nations as diverse as the U.S., Japan, Germany, China and Iceland in the race to commercialize hydrogen energy vehicles in the beginning of 21st Century. Any form of energy - fossil, renewable or nuclear - can be used to generate hydrogen. The hydrogen production by nuclear electricity is considered as a sustainable method. By our presentation we are trying to evaluate possibilities for sustainable hydrogen production by nuclear energy at near, medium and long term on EC strategic documents basis. The main EC documents enter water electrolysis by nuclear electricity as only sustainable technology for hydrogen production in early stage of hydrogen economy. In long term as sustainable method is considered the splitting of water by thermochemical technology using heat from high temperature reactors too. We consider that at medium stage of hydrogen economy it is possible to optimize the sustainable hydrogen production by high temperature and high pressure water electrolysis by using a nuclear-solar energy system. (author)

INTERNAL COMMUNICATION, THE PROGRESS OF TECHNOLOGY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

CRISTINA ANDREI

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Sustainable development involves the broad public participation including the national, regional and local authorities, business and industry, civil society, all major groups – women, children and youth, all workers, trade unions and families. Not only organizations but also employees have a role to play in applying sustainable development in their jobs because their decisions taken every day have an environmental impact. Communication within organization is used as a means to coordinate information exchange and to establish effective coordination of activities between the members of organization. Internet, e-mail, mobile phones, satellite and wireless have had an effect on the way in which information is exchanged and on how people communicate not only in their day-to-day life but also within in the organizations they belong to. New communication technologies have increased the possibilities for a better access to information for employees and made possible to have their voices heard from their colleagues to superior levels, offering the possibility of a two-way communication and creating the potential for greater understanding and dialogue between them. Besides increasing profits, saving time and costs, the use of e-communication within organizations, offer the convenience of combating environmental damage through cutting back on paper and ink usage

Integrating sustainable generation technologies in the Canadian energy portfolio

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saulnier, B.

2001-01-01

The structure of the energy industry and the planning of electrical networks are experiencing rapid changes under the combined action of social, technico-economical, environmental and trade pressures. Given the widening diversity of competing (demand and supply) options being offered to consumers, energy policy makers must establish a fair and consistent technico-economic methodology to compare the sustainability and natural synergies of energy options. Such an approach towards energy issues should allow renewable energies, energy efficiency and storage technologies to build strong alliances with information technology and take a major place in the long-term energy portfolio of societies. With examples of recent projects involving significant penetration of wind energy in electrical grids in Canada and abroad, the author presents the rationale for technico-economic comparison indicators that canadian policy makers need to take into account so as to bring the full advantage and value of promising renewable energy technologies to the canadian energy market. The merits of expanding the pace of the current Canadian GHG reduction program by granting all provinces, irrespective of their electricity market structure or generation mix, an equal opportunity to invest in RE projects contributing to the national goal are presented. In this regard, the limitations of the prevailing accounting rules found in the Canadian GHG reduction program are analysed and corrections are proposed. (author)

Evaluation of the cleaner technology programme

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Mikael Skou; Jørgensen, Ulrik

The report presents an independent evaluation of the Danish development programme for cleaner technology 1986-1989 and of the Action Plan for Cleaner Technology 1990-1992. The evaluation focuses on the results of technology development and implementation projects, on an examination...... of the dissemination of cleaner technology solutions achieved in six industrial branches, and on the overall programme and its effects, in particular environmental impacts, but also results in the form of employment, environmental export, strenghtening of Danish know-how etc....

Self-sustained cabinet based on fuel cell technology and solar energy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Correa, Rafael Augusto de Oliveira; Valentim, Rafael Bertier; Glir, Joao Raphael Zanlorensi; Stall, Alexandre; Sommer, Elise Meister; Sanches, Luciana Schimidilin; Dias, Fernando Gallego; Korndorfer, Heitor Medeiros de Albuquerque; Vargas, Jose Viriato Coelho [Universidade Federal do Parana (DEMEC/UFPR), Curitiba, PR (Brazil). Dept. de Engenharia Mecanica], Email: rafaelcorrea123@hotmail.com; Ordonez, Juan Carlos [Florida State University, Tallahasse, Florida (United States). Dept. of Mechanical Engineering. Center for Advanced Power Systems

2010-07-01

Along the past few years, there has been intensive research on clean and renewable energy production. Two main reasons have been pointed out: pollution caused by oil based fuels consumption and their availability diminution, which increases their production costs. Fuel Cells have shown to be a clean and renewable energy source, which reveals them as a promising solution, although their technology needs further development. Fuel Cells produce electricity, water and heat consuming hydrogen and oxygen, this provided pure or from a natural air source. Present research has combined different equipment to compose a self-sustaining fuel cells technology based cabinet for energy production, which is a Regenerative Fuel Cell System (RFC). This system contains: fuel cells stack, electrolyzer, photovoltaic panel, batteries, current inverter and a charge controller. Photovoltaic panel charges the batteries, while charge controller controls the batteries loading. Batteries are connected to an inverter which converts direct current into alternating current. Inverter is connected to an electrolyzer (Hogen GC 600) which splits the water molecule into hydrogen and oxygen molecules. Produced hydrogen supplies the fuel cell stack and the oxygen is released directly to the atmosphere. Fuel cell stacks power production is transformed into mechanical energy by a fan. Electrical power generated by Ballard stack is 5.124 W, with a voltage of 36.6 V and current of 0.14 A. The system proved to have a great efficiency and to be capable to assemble two renewable energy sources (solar and fuel cell technology) in a self-sustainable cabinet. It has also been shown that equipment such as Electrolyzer, Fuel Cell Stack and Photovoltaic panel can be fit together in the order to produce energy. Therefore, research on Fuel Cells Regenerative System reveals great importance for developing a new, clean, renewable and regenerative energy production system. (author)

Sustainable ground transportation – review of technologies, challenges and opportunities

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Agarwal, Ramesh K. [Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130 (United States)

2013-07-01

Currently there are nearly 750 million ground vehicles in service worldwide. They are responsible for 50% of petroleum (oil) consumption and 60% of all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions worldwide. The number of vehicles is forecasted to double by 2050. Therefore the environmental issues such as noise, emissions and fuel burn have become important for energy and environmental sustainability. This paper provides an overview of specific energy and environmental issues related to ground transportation. The technologies related to reduction in energy requirements such as reducing the vehicle mass by using the high strength low weight materials and reducing the viscous drag by active flow control and smoothing the operational profile, and reducing the contact friction by special tire materials are discussed along with the portable energy sources for reducing the GHG emissions such as low carbon fuels (biofuels), Lithium-ion batteries with high energy density and stability, and fuel cells. The technological challenges and opportunities for innovations are discussed.

Evaluation of the environmental sustainability of a micro CHP system fueled by low-temperature geothermal and solar energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ruzzenenti, Franco; Bravi, Mirko; Tempesti, Duccio; Salvatici, Enrica; Manfrida, Giampaolo; Basosi, Riccardo

2014-01-01

Highlights: • Binary, ORC technology avoids CO 2 , but raises questions about environmental impact. • We proposed a micro-size system that combines geothermal energy with solar energy. • The small scale and the solar energy input edges the energy profitability. • The system’s performance is appreciable if applied to existing wells. • The feasibility of exploiting abandoned wells is preliminarily evaluated. - Abstract: In this paper we evaluate the environmental sustainability of a small combined heat and power (CHP) plant operating through an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC). The heat sources of the system are from geothermal energy at low temperature (90–95 °C) and solar energy. The designed system uses a solar field composed only of evacuated, non-concentrating solar collectors, and work is produced by a single turbine of 50 kW. The project addresses an area of Tuscany, but it could be reproduced in areas where geothermal energy is extensively developed. Therefore, the aim is to exploit existing wells that are either unfit for high-enthalpy technology, abandoned or never fully developed. Furthermore, this project aims to aid in downsizing the geothermal technology in order to reduce the environmental impact and better tailor the production system to the local demand of combined electric and thermal energy. The environmental impact assessment was performed through a Life Cycle Analysis and an Exergy Life Cycle Analysis. According to our findings the reservoir is suitable for a long-term exploitation of the designed system, however, the sustainability and the energy return of this latter is edged by the surface of the heat exchanger and the limited running hours due to the solar plant. Therefore, in order to be comparable to other renewable resources or geothermal systems, the system needs to develop existing wells, previously abandoned

Sustainability of hydrogen supply chain. Part I: Identification of critical criteria and cause–effect analysis for enhancing the sustainability using DEMATEL

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ren, Jingzheng; Manzardo, Alessandro; Toniolo, Sara

2013-01-01

The enhancement of sustainability of hydrogen supply chain is of vital importance for the stakeholders/decision-makers to design a sustainable hydrogen supply chain. The objective of this paper is to develop a method for prioritizing the influential factors, identifying the key driving factors...... that influence the sustainability of hydrogen supply chain and mapping the cause–effect relationships to improve the sustainability of hydrogen supply chain. In this paper, thirty seven criteria in four aspects including economic, technological, environmental and societal aspects are considered for enhancing...... the sustainability of hydrogen supply chain, and decision making trial and evaluation laboratory has been used to analyze the relationships among these criteria. The status of hydrogen supply chain in China has been studied by the proposed method, and the results are consistent with the actual conditions. It could...

APPROACHES FOR SUSTAINABLE MANUFACTURING

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

G(U)NTHER Seliger; SEBASTIAN Kernbaum; MARCO Zettl

2007-01-01

Sustainable development is a holistic approach harmonizing ecological, economical and socio-political needs with respect to the superior objective of enhancing human living standards. Thereby the availability of natural resources and the conservation of the ecosystems have to be considered that future generations have the possibility to meet their own needs. A long-term economical development demands the transition from a source-sink economy to a cycle economy as a result of limited resources, limited environmental capacities to absorb waste and emissions as well as increasing needs of a growing population. A reference model for sustainability in manufacturing is presented and used to illustrate sustainable approaches with respect to management, technology, process and product. Adaptation of products and components is a vital element for supporting efficient reuse of products and components. Consequently adaptation contributes to the ambitious goals of sustainability. Technological enablers for adaptation as modularity, information and communication technology are exemplarily introduced. Moreover, approaches for disseminating knowledge in sustainability are given.

Assessment of nuclear energy sustainability index using fuzzy logic

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abouelnaga, Ayah E.; Metwally, Abdelmohsen; Aly, Naguib; Nagy, Mohammad; Agamy, Saeed

2010-01-01

Nuclear energy is increasingly perceived as an attractive mature energy generation technology that can deliver an answer to the worldwide increasing energy demand while respecting environmental concerns as well as contributing to a reduced dependence on fossil fuel. Advancing nuclear energy deployment demands an assessment of nuclear energy with respect to all sustainability dimensions. In this paper, the nuclear energy, whose sustainability will be assessed, is governed by the dynamics of three subsystems: environmental, economic, and sociopolitical. The overall sustainability is then a non-linear function of the individual sustainabilities. Each subsystem is evaluated by means of many components (pressure, status, and response). The combination of each group of indicators by means of fuzzy logic provides a measurement of sustainability for each subsystem.

[Sustainability analysis of an evaluation policy: the case of primary health care in Brazil].

Science.gov (United States)

Felisberto, Eronildo; Freese, Eduardo; Bezerra, Luciana Caroline Albuquerque; Alves, Cinthia Kalyne de Almeida; Samico, Isabella

2010-06-01

This study analyzes the sustainability of Brazil's National Policy for the Evaluation of Primary Health Care, based on the identification and categorization of representative critical events in the institutionalization process. This was an evaluative study of two analytical units: Federal Management of Primary Health Care and State Health Secretariats, using multiple case studies with data collected through interviews and institutional documents, using the critical incidents technique. Events that were temporally classified as specific to implementation, sustainability, and mixed were categorized analytically as pertaining to memory, adaptation, values, and rules. Federal management and one of the State Health Secretariats showed medium-level sustainability, while the other State Secretariat showed strong sustainability. The results indicate that the events were concurrent and suggest a weighting process, since the adaptation of activities, adequacy, and stabilization of resources displayed a strong influence on the others. Innovations and the development of technical capability are considered the most important results for sustainability.

Alternative aviation jet fuel sustainability evaluation report - task 3 : sustainability criteria and rating systems for the use in aircraft alternative fuel supply chain

Science.gov (United States)

2013-03-31

This report identifies criteria that can be used to evaluate the sustainability of biofuels introduced into the aviation fuel supply chain. It describes the inputs, criteria and outputs that can be used in a sustainability rating system. It identifie...

Speed Bumps on the Road to Sustainability - Energy Technology and Geopolitics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mandil, C.; Taylor, P.; Van Der Linde, C.; Buchner, B.; Ramsay, W.C.; Lipponen, J.; Meier, A.; Berkeley, L.; Di Paola-Galloni, J.L.; Jaureguy-Naudin, M.; Charpin, J.M.; Segar, Ch.; Zaleski, P.; Lesourne, J.; Pires Santos, A.; Menard, D.; Neuhoff, K.; Oettinger, G.

2011-01-01

This document gathers the slides of the available presentations given at the 2011 issue of the annual Conference of the Ifri (French Institute of International Relations) Energy Program: 1 - An Energy revolution under way (Peter Taylor, Head of the Energy Technology Division, International Energy Agency); 2 - A look back at Cancun: 'top down' versus 'bottom up' (Barbara Buchner, Director of the CPI - Climate Policy Initiative - Venice office; 3 - CCS: Still in the Starting Blocks? (Juho Lipponen, Head of CCS Unit, International Energy Agency); 4 - Energy Efficiency: Does Anyone Care? (Alan Meier, Senior Scientist and Principal Investigator, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory); 5 - The Transport Sector: Anything Goes? (Jean-Luc di Paola-Galloni, Corporate Vice-President, Sustainable Development and External Affairs, Valeo Group); 6 - The Mediterranean Ring: Power or Politics? (Jean-Michel Charpin, Inspecteur General des Finances); 7 - Iran gas and Iraq oil (Chris Segar, Regional Analyst/Middle East and North Africa, International Energy Agency); 8 - Nuclear Power: New Players, New Game, New Rules (Pierre Zaleski, General delegate for the Center of Geopolitics of Energy and Raw Materials, Universite Paris-Dauphine); 9 - The Grid: a Generic Speed Bump (Antonio Pires Santos, Energy and Utilities Industry Leader, Southwest Europe, IBM); 10 - Intellectual Property Rights/Technology transfer (Dominique Menard, Partner, Hogan Lovells (Paris) LLP); 11 - Energy Markets: Conducive to Sustainability (Karsten Neuhoff, Director of the CPI - Climate Policy Initiative - Berlin office, German Institute for Economic Research, DIW Berlin)

Poverty Alleviation and Environmental Sustainability through Improved Regimes of Technology Transfer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Klaus Bosselmann

2006-06-01

Full Text Available To achieve the Millennium Development Goals, international technology transfer can play a major role for poverty alleviation and environmental sustainability. At present, there are economic, social and legal (rather than technical barriers preventing the transfer of environmentally sound technology (EST from a wider use in international regimes. Removing these barriers requires greater political and regulatory efforts both domestically and internationally. To enable EST transfer, developed States need to improve domestic market conditions such as removal of negative subsidies and barriers to foreign investment, targeted fiscal incentives and law reforms favouring sustainable production and use of energy. There is no realistic perspective for international EST transfer as long as it is disadvantaged domestically. A coherent EST transfer regime is only possible through greater governmental intervention at the national and international level, including environmental regulations, national systems of innovation, and creating an enabling environment for EST. Such intervention should include effective public-private partnerships, both within and between States. Partnerships, if guided by law, could ensure EST innovation more efficiently than purely State-driven or market-driven EST transfers. In search for a model, the EST transfer regime under the Vienna Ozone Layer Convention and the Montreal Protocol deserves recognition. For example, the clean development mechanism under the Kyoto Protocol allows for considerable scope for EST transfer. The potential of EST transfer for climate change and for meeting the Millennium Development Goals has yet to be realized.

Speed Bumps on the Road to Sustainability - Energy Technology and Geopolitics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mandil, C.; Taylor, P.; Van Der Linde, C.; Buchner, B.; Ramsay, W.C.; Lipponen, J.; Meier, A.; Berkeley, L.; Di Paola-Galloni, J.L.; Jaureguy-Naudin, M.; Charpin, J.M.; Segar, Ch.; Zaleski, P.; Lesourne, J.; Pires Santos, A.; Menard, D.; Neuhoff, K.; Oettinger, G.

2011-07-01

This document gathers the slides of the available presentations given at the 2011 issue of the annual Conference of the Ifri (French Institute of International Relations) Energy Program: 1 - An Energy revolution under way (Peter Taylor, Head of the Energy Technology Division, International Energy Agency); 2 - A look back at Cancun: 'top down' versus 'bottom up' (Barbara Buchner, Director of the CPI - Climate Policy Initiative - Venice office; 3 - CCS: Still in the Starting Blocks? (Juho Lipponen, Head of CCS Unit, International Energy Agency); 4 - Energy Efficiency: Does Anyone Care? (Alan Meier, Senior Scientist and Principal Investigator, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory); 5 - The Transport Sector: Anything Goes? (Jean-Luc di Paola-Galloni, Corporate Vice-President, Sustainable Development and External Affairs, Valeo Group); 6 - The Mediterranean Ring: Power or Politics? (Jean-Michel Charpin, Inspecteur General des Finances); 7 - Iran gas and Iraq oil (Chris Segar, Regional Analyst/Middle East and North Africa, International Energy Agency); 8 - Nuclear Power: New Players, New Game, New Rules (Pierre Zaleski, General delegate for the Center of Geopolitics of Energy and Raw Materials, Universite Paris-Dauphine); 9 - The Grid: a Generic Speed Bump (Antonio Pires Santos, Energy and Utilities Industry Leader, Southwest Europe, IBM); 10 - Intellectual Property Rights/Technology transfer (Dominique Menard, Partner, Hogan Lovells (Paris) LLP); 11 - Energy Markets: Conducive to Sustainability (Karsten Neuhoff, Director of the CPI - Climate Policy Initiative - Berlin office, German Institute for Economic Research, DIW Berlin)

Evaluating governance for sustainable development - Insights from experiences in the Dutch fen landscape.

Science.gov (United States)

den Uyl, Roos M; Driessen, Peter P J

2015-11-01

Prominent strands of discussion in the literature on governance for sustainable development debate how change can be induced to enhance sustainability, and how to evaluate the interventions aimed at prompting such change. Strikingly, there are few contributions about how prominent ideas of inducing change deal with multiple governance criteria for pursuing sustainable development. Moreover, the way ideas about inducing change relate to criteria of governance for sustainable development is not yet studied in an empirical context. This paper therefore comparatively analyses how three prominent modes of sustainable development governance - adaptive management, transition management and payments for environmental services - relate to a set of five prominent criteria reported in the literature, namely: equity, democracy, legitimacy, the handling of scale issues and the handling of uncertainty issues. It finds that the academic debates on these three modes address these criteria with varying attention and rather fragmented, while in the empirical setting of the Dutch fen landscape several aspects relating to the studied criteria were present and substantially influenced the functioning of the three modes of sustainable development. Together, the analysis of the literature debate and the empirical data are able to show that a narrow evaluation perspective may fail to diagnose and capture relevant struggles and complexities coming along with governance for sustainable development relevant issues. The study shows that in order to advance our understanding of governance for sustainable development, it is indeed important to include multiple criteria in studying these modes. Moreover, the study shows the importance of including empirical experiences which manifest when different modes for sustainable development are applied in real-world settings. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Development and In Vitro Toxicity Evaluation of Alternative Sustainable Nanomaterials

Science.gov (United States)

Novel nanomaterial types are rapidly being developed for the value they may add to consumer products without sufficient evaluation of implications for human health, toxicity, environmental impact and long-term sustainability. Nanomaterials made of metals, semiconductors and vario...

Evaluating the engagement of universities in capacity building for sustainable development in local communities.

Science.gov (United States)

Shiel, Chris; Leal Filho, Walter; do Paço, Arminda; Brandli, Luciana

2016-02-01

Universities have the potential to play a leading role in enabling communities to develop more sustainable ways of living and working however, sustainable communities may only emerge with facilitation, community learning and continual efforts to build their capacities. Elements of programme planning and evaluation on the one hand, and capacity building on the other, are needed. The latter entails approaches and processes that may contribute to community empowerment; universities may either lead such approaches, or be key partners in an endeavour to empower communities to address the challenges posed by the need for sustainable development. Although capacity building and the promotion of sustainable development locally, are on the agenda for universities who take seriously regional engagement, very little is published that illustrates or describes the various forms of activities that take place. Further, there is a paucity of studies that have evaluated the work performed by universities in building capacity for sustainable development at the local level. This paper is an attempt to address this need, and entails an empirical study based on a sample of universities in the United Kingdom, Germany, Portugal and Brazil. The paper examines the extent to which capacity building for sustainable development is being undertaken, suggests the forms that this might take and evaluates some of the benefits for local communities. The paper concludes by reinforcing that universities have a critical role to play in community development; that role has to prioritise the sustainability agenda. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

GENERAL ENVIRONMENTAL CORPORATION; CURE ELECTROCOAGULATION TECHNOLOGY: INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY EVALUATION REPORT

Science.gov (United States)

The CURE electrocoagulation technology was demonstrated under the Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluation (SITE) program at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site (RFETS), where water from the solar evaporation ponds (SEPs) was contaminat...

A Strategy For Teaching Sustainability Assessment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Olsen, Stig Irving

2010-01-01

of their decisions. Our strategy for the teaching address three target groups and follows two routes.  One route provides in-depth education for students aiming to specialise in quantitative sustainability assessment. A variety of courses ranging from production level through company level to society level...... will be offered.  The second route aims to present concepts of sustainability and potential impacts of the specific technology field as well as methods and tools for specific domains, i.e. nano technology. It is targeted two groups of students at the different technological domains at DTU; those specifically...... for that technology domain and introduces quantitative tools to assess sustainability. The proposed strategy embeds sustainability throughout the engineering curriculum....

Utilization of waste materials, non-refined materials, and renewable energy in in situ remediation and their sustainability benefits.

Science.gov (United States)

Favara, Paul; Gamlin, Jeff

2017-12-15

In the ramp-up to integrating sustainability into remediation, a key industry focus area has been to reduce the environmental footprint of treatment processes. The typical approach to integrating sustainability into remediation projects has been a top-down approach, which involves developing technology options and then applying sustainability thinking to the technology, after it has been conceptualized. A bottom-up approach allows for systems thinking to be included in remedy selection and could potentially result in new or different technologies being considered. When using a bottom-up approach, there is room to consider the utilization of waste materials, non-refined materials, and renewable energy in remediation technology-all of which generally have a smaller footprint than processed materials and traditional forms of energy. By integrating more systems thinking into remediation projects, practitioners can think beyond the traditional technologies typically used and how technologies are deployed. To compare top-down and bottom-up thinking, a traditional technology that is considered very sustainable-enhanced in situ bioremediation-is compared to a successful, but infrequently deployed technology-subgrade biogeochemical reactors. Life Cycle Assessment is used for the evaluation and shows the footprint of the subgrade biogeochemical reactor to be lower in all seven impact categories evaluated, sometimes to a significant degree. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sustainable Transition

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Ole Erik; Søndergård, Bent

2014-01-01

of agendas/vision, technologies, actors and institutions in the emergent design of an urban mobility system based on an electric car sharing system. Why. Designing for sustainability is a fundamental challenge for future design practices; designers have to obtain an ability to contribute to sustainable...

Hospitality employers’ perceptions of technology for sustainable development: The implications for graduate employability

OpenAIRE

Ali, Alisha; Murphy, Hilary; Nadkarni, Sanjay

2016-01-01

This paper investigates hospitality employers’ perspectives of two key inter-disciplinary subjects, i.e. sustainable development (SD) and information technology in the context of hospitality education, particularly graduate employability. A qualitative approach is deployed at this stage of the research with semi-structured interviews conducted with employers of hospitality graduates that represent diverse stakeholders in the industry. Respondents had varying interpretations of the meaning of ...

Sustainable recycling of automotive products in China: Technology and regulation

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Ming

2006-08-01

The Chinese economy is growing rapidly, but accompanyingsuch growth are issues of environmental protection and social inequity which must be addressed. With the Automobile Industry Development Policy and the Motor Vehicle Product Recovery Technology Policy, an automobile products recoverability target has been established and will be incorporated into an automobile products authentication management system in China. By 2010, for all end-of-life automobile products, reuse and recovery shall be increased to a minimum of 85% by average weight per vehicle, and the use of lead, mercury, cadmium, and hexavalent chromium is prohibited. This paper will address the sustainable recycling of Chinese automobile products within the period of 2006 2010.

Evaluating the Improvement of Sustainability of Sports Industry Policy Based on MADM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kuang-Hua Hu

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The influence of globalization on sports has turned out to be a popular issue widely discussed by researchers. Improvement to the sustainability of sports industry policy is an important and challenging issue, and related are inherently multiple attribute decision making (MADM problems that can be strategically important to economic systems. The purpose of this study is to set up a new sustainability sports industry policy evaluation model that addresses the main causal factors and amends the priorities. A MADM model is combined with DEMATEL, DANP, and VIKOR for the evaluation and improvement of the sustainability of sports industry policy. The improvement priorities according to the domain expert interviews are in the following order: promotion and assistance of government policy (A, sports venues and facilities (D, enterprise sponsorship of sports quality (E, expert human resources (B, and finally sports competitions and events (C.

Assessing the Sustainability of Bioenergy Projects in Developing Countries: A Framework for Policy Evaluation

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Amezaga, JM

2010-01-01

Full Text Available is not automatically either sustainable or free of adverse impacts, however. The outcomes depend on the specifics of the biomass resource used, the technology applied to convert it to energy and the circumstances under which it is deployed. In the rush... 2007. Layout Design by Dharma Ratna Maharjan, Nepal. Printed in South Africa by LAW Printing (Pty) Limited. EUROPEAID CO-OPERATION OFFICE iv Foreword It is abundantly clear that the global energy system is not sustainable, both because...

Expected role of nuclear science and technology to support the sustainable supply of energy in Indonesia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Soentono, Soedyartomo; Aziz, Ferhat

2008-01-01

Energy resources are available in Indonesia but small per capita. The increase of oil price and its reserve depletion rate dictates to decrease the oil consumption. Therefore, it is imperative to increase the shares of other fossils as well as the new and renewable sources of energy in various energy sectors substituting the oil. The introduction of nuclear power plant becomes more indispensable, although the share is to be small but significantly important for electric generation in Java-Madura-Bali grid. Nuclear technology can have also important role enabling the increase of the shares of renewable, e.g. geothermal, hydro and bio-fuels as well as fossil energies to meet more sustainable energy mix sufficing the energy demand to attain intended economic and population growths while maintaining the environment. The first introduced nuclear power plant is to be the proven ones, but the innovative nuclear energy systems being developed by various countries will eventually also be partially employed to further improve the sustainability. The nuclear science and technology are to be symbiotic and synergistic to other sources of energy to enhance the sustainable supply of energy. (author)

Spatial Estimation and Visualization of CO2 Emissions for Campus Sustainability: The Case of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST, Saudi Arabia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yusuf A. Adenle

2017-11-01

Full Text Available A total of 21 metric tons of CO2 per person in terms of per capita emissions from consumption of energy was recorded in Saudi Arabia in 2011 and forecasts have shown that this emission of CO2 is increasing. This poses the threat of climate change and global warming and therefore the need for the sustainability of the country. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Vision for 2030 addresses environmental sustainability that includes a reduction in CO2 emissions as well as diversified economic growth. Universities have been regarded as institutions with significant responsibilities to resolve the issues of sustainability as well as serve as role model to society by implementing a sustainability plan. This study established a spatial evaluation, estimation, and visualization of the CO2 emissions of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST, Saudi Arabia. The data required for this study were collected from the overall coverage of the university campus buildings by transforming raster data from the satellite image to vector data in the form of polygons, and then multiplying the area by the number of floors of the individual building. ArcGIS 10.3® (ESRI, Redlands, CA, USA software was used for this campus CO2 emissions evaluation and visualization. The overall estimate of the CO2 emissions for the university campus was 127.7-tons CO2 equivalent. The lowest emission was 0.02-tons CO2 equivalent while the maximum value was 20.9-tons of CO2 equivalent. By this ArcGIS-based evaluation, it is evident that geographically integrated model for campus estimation and visualization of CO2 emissions provides the information for decision makers to develop viable strategies for achieving a higher standard in overall campus sustainability and addressing the issue of climate change.

Technology evaluation for time sensitive data transport

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wessing, Henrik; Breach, Tony; Colmenero, Alberto

. The NREN communities must provide underlying network infrastructures and transport technologies to facilitate ser-vices with such requirements to the network. In this paper we investigate and evaluate circuit and packet based transport technologies from classic best effort IP over MPLS flavours, Provider...... Backbone Bridging (PBB), “Transparent Interconnect of Lots of Links” (TRILL) to Optical Transport Network (OTN) and SDH. The transport technologies are evaluated theoreti-cally, using simulations and/or experimentally. Each transport technology is evaluated based on its performances and capabilities...... overhead and restoration time. Thirdly, complexity and automation possibilities for establishment of paths for high demanding applica-tions, and finally how the technologies are backed by research communities and major vendors like Ciena, Alcatel-Lucent, Nokia-Siemens and Huawei. The technologies...

Research Developments in Nondestructive Evaluation and Structural Health Monitoring for the Sustainment of Composite Aerospace Structures at NASA

Science.gov (United States)

Cramer, K. Elliott

2016-01-01

The use of composite materials continues to increase in the aerospace community due to the potential benefits of reduced weight, increased strength, and manufacturability. Ongoing work at NASA involves the use of the large-scale composite structures for spacecraft (payload shrouds, cryotanks, crew modules, etc). NASA is also working to enable both the use and sustainment of composites in commercial aircraft structures. One key to the sustainment of these large composite structures is the rapid, in-situ characterization of a wide range of potential defects that may occur during the vehicle's life. Additionally, in many applications it is necessary to monitor changes in these materials over their lifetime. Quantitative characterization through Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE) of defects such as reduced bond strength, microcracking, and delamination damage due to impact, are of particular interest. This paper will present an overview of NASA's applications of NDE technologies being developed for the characterization and sustainment of advanced aerospace composites. The approaches presented include investigation of conventional, guided wave, and phase sensitive ultrasonic methods and infrared thermography techniques for NDE. Finally, the use of simulation tools for optimizing and validating these techniques will also be discussed.

Contribution of matrix converter in microgeneration for a sustainable energy planning; Contribuicao do conversor matricial na microgeracao para um planejamento energetico sustentavel