Search results for "Sustainability."
showing 10 items of 3338 documents
Preliminary Evaluation of Plasmix Compound from Plastics Packaging Waste for Reuse in Bituminous Pavements
2021
Finding an appropriate technical solution for reusing waste plastics is crucial for creating a circular plastic economy. Although mechanical recycling is the best option for recycling post-consumer plastics, some heterogeneous mixed plastics cannot be recycled to produce secondary material due to their very low properties. In this case, alternative routes should be considered in order to limit their disposal as much as possible. Therefore, in order to solve the environmental problems in the landfills of plastic waste recycling, and to improve the mechanical performance of bitumen for road pavement, the reuse of these post-consumer plastic wastes are preliminarily evaluated for the modificat…
MUV: A Game to Encourage Sustainable Mobility Habits
2019
This working paper investigates the question of changing people mobility towards more sustainable habits involving them in an engaging gameplay. The work is performed within MUV H2020 research and innovation action. The game design, definition and features have been co-created through the involvement of different citizens and stakeholders in six European neighbourhoods. The paper discusses the game design as resulting from co-creation and co-design experiences with each neighbourhood communities involved in initial phases. The paper argues that the local co-design activities have influenced the game definition, together with the community engagement approach. The MUV gameplay approach resul…
Solving Conflicts among Conservation, Economic, and Social Objectives in Boreal Production Forest Landscapes: Fennoscandian Perspectives
2018
This chapter discusses challenges and possibilities involved in preserving biological diversity and the diversity of ecosystem services in the boreal zone and yet at the same time maintaining intensive timber extraction in boreal forests. Our focus is on Fennoscandian forests at the landscapes level, and we consider economic, social and ecological in the sustainability of forest management. We provide an outlook to boreal forest ecosystems and their history, and an overview of the forestry practices and policies that aim to ensure multi-functionality of Fennoscandian forests, i.e. diversity of efforts on sustaining biodiversity, timber production and other ecosystem services from forest lan…
T9+HUD: Physical Keypad and HUD can Improve Driving Performance while Typing and Driving
2016
We introduce T9+HUD, a text entry method designed to decrease visual distraction while driving and typing. T9+HUD combines a physical 3x4 keypad on the steering wheel with a head-up-display (HUD) for projecting output on the windshield. Previous work suggests this may be a visually less demanding way to type while driving than the popular case which requires shifts of visual attention away from the road. We present a prototype design and report first results from a controlled evaluation in a driving simulator. While driving, the T9+HUD text entry rate was equal compared to a dashboard-mounted touchscreen device, but it reduced lane deviations by 70%. Furthermore, there was no significant di…
Dynamic Sustainability. Sustainability Window Analysis of Chinese Poverty-Environment Nexus Development
2015
Sustainability Window is a new analysis tool for assessing the sustainability of development simultaneously in all of its three dimensions (environmental, economic, and social). The analysis method provides information of the maximum and minimum economic development that is required to maintain the direction of social and environmental development towards more sustainable targets. With the Sustainability Window method it is possible to easily analyze the sustainability using different indicators and different time periods making comparative analyses easy. The new method makes it also possible to analyze the dynamics of the sustainability and the changes over time in the width of the window.…
Global, National, or Market? Emerging REDD+ Governance Practices in Mozambique and Tanzania
2016
This article examines emerging governance practices in the REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) initiative. We examine three different general governance practices (neoliberal, post-national, and government-led practices) that have been applied in the interaction between international organizations and two REDD target countries: Mozambique and Tanzania. In these countries, we find that emerging REDD+ governance practices are a mixture of international organizations’ procedural practices and the target country’s established governance practices, whereas neoliberal practices are weakly expressed. These findings call into question the simplified assumption of re…
Is there a Nordic model of final disposal of spent nuclear fuel? Governance insights from Finland and Sweden
2017
This paper explores citizen participation in Swedish and Finnish regulatory processes for final disposal of spent nuclear fuel (SNF). Finland and Sweden are considered the most advanced worldwide in term of SNF disposal plans. Our aim is to analyze the institutional waste management frameworks, focusing on the role of civil society organizations (CSOs); how lay-people and civil society organizations have been able to participate and contribute to radioactive waste licensing processes; and the nature of radioactive waste risk debates. We review official documents of the waste companies and nuclear safety authorities, plus information from civil society organizations and laypeople. Our theore…
Realizing the social acceptance of community renewable energy: A process-outcome analysis of stakeholder influence
2014
This study shows how stakeholders influence the development of community renewable energy (CRE) schemes and how they are influenced by their outcome. It relies on information collected during 41 structured interviews with local people involved in CRE initiatives in seven regions of Europe. The interviews were thematically analyzed to identify different types of stakeholder influence. The findings show that stakeholder influence on CRE schemes take place at three distinct levels: macro, intercommunity and intracommunity. In addition, key stakeholders can support or hinder the development of a project according to whether or not they perceive that the output of the project may benefit or harm…
Exploring the scientific discourse on cultural sustainability
2014
Abstract There has been growing interest in policy and among scholars to consider culture as an aspect of sustainable development and even as a fourth pillar. However, until recently, the understanding of culture within the framework of sustainable development has remained vague. In this study, we investigate the scientific discourse on cultural sustainability by analyzing the diverse meanings that are applied to the concept in scientific publications. The analysis shows that the scientific discourse on cultural sustainability is organized around seven storylines: heritage, vitality, economic viability, diversity, locality, eco-cultural resilience, and eco-cultural civilization. These story…
Does corn market uncertainty impact the US ethanol prices?
2018
The growing interest in biofuel as a green energy source has intensified the linkages between corn and ethanol markets, especially in the United States that represents the largest producing and exporting country for ethanol in the world. In this study, we examine the effect of corn market uncertainty on the price changes of US ethanol applying a set of GARCH-jump models. We find that the US ethanol price changes react positively to the corn market volatility shocks after controlling for the effect of oil price uncertainty. In addition, we document that the impact of corn price volatility on the US ethanol prices appears to be asymmetric. Specifically, only the positive corn market volatilit…