Klimats un ilgtspējīga attīstība

Unintended Effects of Energy Efficiency Policy: Lessons Learned in the Residential Sector

The European Union has set an ambitious goal to tackle climate change, and energy efficiency in the residential sector is among the measures required to close the gap between targeted and actual greenhouse gas emissions. While different policy tools have been applied, the diffusion rate of these measures remains low. A system dynamics simulation model of the residential sector was developed to assess the advantages and drawbacks of energy efficiency policy in the multi-family building sector based on experience accumulated over the last twelve years in Latvia. The model was validated in expert group model building sessions and with historical trends. Simulating the model, a hypothesis was t…

Photovoltaic effect in bulk heterojunction system with glass forming indandione derivative DMABI-6Ph

The aim of the work is to evaluate possible use of 2-[[4-(bis(2-trityloxyethyl)amino)phenyl]methylene]indane-1,3-dione (DMABI-6Ph) as light absorbing material for solar cells. DMABI-6Ph is a perspective material due to its good photoelectrical, thermal and chemical properties. The main advantage of DMABI-6Ph is its ability to form amorphous films by wet-casting methods thus allowing using the compound in organic solar cells made from solution. For now most popular materials for solution processable solar cells are polymer P3HT and fullerene derivative PCBM, but lot of investigations are in the field of new low molecular weight materials to replace the polymer. Photoelectrical measurements w…

Climate Change Education in the Curricula of Technical and Classical Universities

Climate change education is becoming an integral part of the education in study programs at universities in Latvia offering environmental education study programs. In this article, a comparison of approaches of climate change education in classical (University of Latvia) and technical (Riga Technical University) are discussed. Requirements of the labour market are the key factors influencing study content and study methods. Therefore, consultations with major stakeholders and with academics involved in environmental education (e.g. the Council of Environmental Education and Science), may be some of the main tools to implement new concepts.

The dynamics of technological substitution: the case of eco-innovation diffusion of surface cleaning products

Some eco-innovations have already reached a mature state, but they diffuse slowly. There is little known about the importance of various factors on the diffusion process of eco-innovations. The aim of this research is to propose a conceptual model for eco-innovation diffusion, where particular case study of eco-innovation – micro-fibre cloth (MFC) for surface cleaning purposes – is given. The work will study the relative importance of various motivations on diffusion processes as well as the influence of information campaigns. This novel methodology has been developed under the system dynamics framework and is coupled with the logistic regression model. Structural validation tests were done…

Photoelectrical properties of indandione fragment containing azobenzene compounds

Organic materials are becoming more popular due to their potential application in electronics. Low molecular weight materials possible produce from solution are in special consideration. It gives the possibility to avoid both thermal evaporation in vacuum, and use of polymers in thin film preparation process. Indandione fragment containing azobenzene compounds are one of such materials. These compounds are good candidates for use in design of novel molecular electronic devices due to their possibility to form amorphous structure from solution thus allowing developing flexible, small size systems with low production costs. In this work three indandione fragment containing azobenzene compound…