China's low-carbon governance at community level: A case study in Min’an community, Beijing

Currently, self-consumption and distributed energy facilities are considered as viable and sustainable solutions in the energy transition scenario within the European Union. In a low carbon society, the exploitation of renewables for self-consumption is closely tied to the energy market at the territorial level, in search of a compromise between competitiveness and the sustainable exploitation of resources. Investments in these facilities are highly sensitive to the existence of favourable conditions at the territorial level, and the energy policies adopted in the European Union have contributed positively to the distributed renewables development and the reduction of their costs in the last decade. However, the number of the installed facilities is uneven in the European Countries and those factors that are more determinant for the investments in self-consumption are still under investigation. In this scenario, this paper presents the main results obtained through the analysis of the determinants in self-consumption investments from a case study in Spain, where the penetration of this type of facilities is being less relevant than in other countries. As a novelty of this study, the main influential drivers and barriers in self-consumption are classified and analysed from the installers' perspective. On the basis of the information obtained from the installers involved in the installation of these facilities, incentives and barriers are analysed within the existing legal framework and the potential specific lines of the promotion for the effective deployment of self-consumption in an energy transition scenario.

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Challenges and Barriers for Net‐Zero/Positive Energy Buildings and Districts—Empirical Evidence from the Smart City Project SPARCS

Buildings ◽

10.3390/buildings11020078 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 78

Author(s):

Daria Uspenskaia ◽

Karl Specht ◽

Hendrik Kondziella ◽

Thomas Bruckner

Keyword(s):

Smart City ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Smart Cities ◽

Scale Up ◽

Practical Experience ◽

Positive Energy ◽

Low Carbon ◽

Net Zero ◽

Multidimensional Representation

Without decarbonizing cities energy and climate objectives cannot be achieved as cities account for approximately two thirds of energy consumption and emissions. This goal of decarbonizing cities has to be facilitated by promoting net-zero/positive energy buildings and districts and replicating them, driving cities towards sustainability goals. Many projects in smart cities demonstrate novel and groundbreaking low-carbon solutions in demonstration and lighthouse projects. However, as the historical, geographic, political, social and economic context of urban areas vary greatly, it is not always easy to repeat the solution in another city or even district. It is therefore important to look for the opportunities to scale up or repeat successful pilots. The purpose of this paper is to explore common trends in technologies and replication strategies for positive energy buildings or districts in smart city projects, based on the practical experience from a case study in Leipzig—one of the lighthouse cities in the project SPARCS. One of the key findings the paper has proven is the necessity of a profound replication modelling to deepen the understanding of upscaling processes. Three models analyzed in this article are able to provide a multidimensional representation of the solution to be replicated.

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Who could be One Health Activist at the community level?: A case for India

Human Resources for Health ◽

10.1186/s12960-021-00558-3 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 19 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Sandul Yasobant ◽

Walter Bruchhausen ◽

Deepak Saxena ◽

Farjana Zakir Memon ◽

Timo Falkenberg

Keyword(s):

Health System ◽

Work Experience ◽

Financial Incentives ◽

One Health ◽

Health Workers ◽

Structured Interview ◽

Communicable Diseases ◽

Community Level ◽

System Level

Abstract Background Community health workers (CHWs) are the mainstay of the public health system, serving for decades in low-resource countries. Their multi-dimensional work in various health care services, including the prevention of communicable diseases and health promotion of non-communicable diseases, makes CHWs, the frontline workers in their respective communities in India. As India is heading towards the development of One Health (OH), this study attempted to provide an insight into potential OH activists (OHA) at the community level. Thus, this case study in one of India’s western cities, Ahmedabad, targeted identifying OHA by exploring the feasibility and the motivation of CHWs in a local setting. Methods This case study explores two major CHWs, i.e., female (Accredited Social Health Activists/ASHA) health workers (FHWs) and male (multipurpose) health workers (MHWs), on their experience and motivation for becoming an OHA. The data were collected between September 2018 and August 2019 through a mixed design, i.e., quantitative data (cross-sectional structured questionnaire) followed by qualitative data (focus group discussion with a semi-structured interview guide). Results The motivation of the CHWs for liaisoning as OHA was found to be low; however, the FHWs have a higher mean motivation score [40 (36–43)] as compared to MHWs [37 (35–40)] out of a maximum score of 92. Although most CHWs have received zoonoses training or contributed to zoonoses prevention campaigns, their awareness level was found to be different among male and female health workers. Comparing the female and male health workers to act as OHA, higher motivational score, multidisciplinary collaborative work experience, and way for incentive generation documented among the female health workers. Conclusion ASHAs were willing to accept the additional new liaison role of OHAs if measures like financial incentives and improved recognition are provided. Although this study documented various systemic factors at the individual, community, and health system level, which might, directly and indirectly, impact the acceptance level to act as OHA, they need to be accounted for in the policy regime.

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An Optimal Model for Low-Carbon Urban Agglomeration Based on Energy Structure Reduction under Uncertainty

Advanced Materials Research ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.599.211 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 599 ◽

pp. 211-215

Author(s):

Lun Wang ◽

Zhao Sun ◽

Jing Ya Wen ◽

Zhuang Li ◽

Wen Jin Zhao ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Regional Planning ◽

Energy Intensity ◽

Greenhouse Gas Emission ◽

Urban Agglomeration ◽

Carbon Intensity ◽

Energy Structure ◽

Low Carbon ◽

Optimal Model ◽

The Sustainable Development

This paper developed an optimal model of low-carbon urban agglomeration on the base of energy structure under uncertainty. The case study shows that the carbon intensity was decreased by [32.19, 41.20] (%) and energy intensity was reduced by [34.08, 43.19] (%) compared with those in 2010; meanwhile, the carbon intensity and energy intensity in the core area was reduced by [50.88, 54.11] (%) and [51.24, 54.57] (%) respectively, compared with those in 2010. The optimized scheme could not only meet the requirements of 12th Five-Year Planning Outline of Controlling Greenhouse Gas Emission, but also complied with the requirements of regional planning targets. The established model also provided more decision-making space for the sustainable development of low-carbon urban agglomeration.

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