scholarly journals ICT for Sustainability Beyond Efficiency: Pushing Cleantech and the Circular Economy

10.29007/s8s3 ◽  
2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack Townsend
Keyword(s):  
Circular Economy ◽  
Industrial Process ◽  
Sharing Economy ◽  
Solar Panel ◽  
Market Demand ◽  
Car Sharing ◽  
Ride Sharing ◽  
Energy Inputs ◽  
Production And Consumption ◽  
Reducing Energy

Sustainability necessitates reform of resource production and consumption to reduce environmental harms. The main way that ICT can address these resource impacts is through digital optimization. Spreng found that optimization of an industrial process either increases resource efficiency by reducing energy inputs (“save impacts”) or reduces production and consumption times to increase resource outputs (“push impacts”). It was assumed that a difficult choice then exists between save impacts that progress sustainability and push impacts that meet market demand. Based on a new typology of enabling impacts, this paper argues that there are two important cases in which push impacts can be just as valuable for sustainability as save impacts: 1) when the process drives the production and adoption of an environmentally beneficial product i.e. “cleantech” e.g. a solar panel or 2) when the process is specific to the Circular Economy, such as recycling, maintenance/refurbishment, and sharing/reuse e.g. car- sharing, ride-sharing and tool-sharing in the Sharing Economy. The opportunities for ICT4S optimization are thus threefold: "saving" resources with efficiency, “pushing” the adoption of cleantech, and “pushing” the circulation of resources.

scholarly journals Digital Acceleration of Sustainability Transition: The Paradox of Push Impacts

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 2816 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack H. Townsend ◽  
Vlad C. Coroama
Keyword(s):  
Information And Communication Technology ◽  
Communication Technology ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Industrial Process ◽  
Sharing Economy ◽  
Market Demand ◽  
Ride Sharing ◽  
Sustainability Transition ◽  
Production And Consumption ◽  
Information And Communication

Sustainability requires ongoing reform of resource production and consumption to reduce environmental harms. The main way that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) can address these resource impacts is through digital optimization. Spreng found that optimization of an industrial process either increases energy use or accelerates production or consumption. It was assumed that reducing energy use progresses sustainability, whilst accelerating production or consumption to meet market demand is consumerist and generally detrimental to sustainability. In this paper, we argue that there are two important cases in which accelerating economic processes actually has an essential role in enabling sustainability by ICT: (1) when the process drives the production and adoption of an environmentally beneficial product such as a solar panel, often referred to as “cleantech”, or (2) when the process being increased is specific to the Circular Economy, such as recycling, maintenance/refurbishment, and sharing/reuse e.g., car-sharing, ride-sharing and tool-sharing in the Sharing Economy. The opportunities for ICT4S optimization are thus threefold: not just saving resources with efficiency, but also pushing the adoption of cleantech, and pushing the circulation of resources.

scholarly journals Transition from Linear to Circular Economy

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 62-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sugam Upadhayay ◽  
Omaima Alqassimi
Keyword(s):  
Reverse Logistics ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Paradigm Shift ◽  
Sharing Economy ◽  
Resource Extraction ◽  
Competitive Edge ◽  
Single Entity ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Production And Consumption

The contemporary model of economical production and consumption is not sustainable; if the pattern continues, humankind will need to scramble for resources. Currently, resource extraction from the earth is 1.7 times higher than her actual capacity (Watts, 2018). This paper stresses the importance of the shift from the current linear (take, make and dispose) modality to a circular (take, make and reutilize) model to maximize the value from a product by keeping it in the loop of circularity. In pursuit of this change in model, reverse logistics, performance economy, and sharing economy all need to be integrated in order to facilitate regenerative and restorative techniques which enable reusing, recycling, remanufacturing and refurbishing of resources. Businesses need to redesign and restructure their current processes so that they can reduce the consumption of resources, thus developing a competitive edge. Incineration and dumping of resources should be the last option. The assets that are able to sense, record and communicate information are referred to as “intelligent assets” which innovates “smart solutions” to enable a circular economy (MacArthur, 2016). But this paradigm shift is not possible alone through the effort of a single entity. Involvement and commitments from individual, regional, governmental and intra-governmental levels are mandatory as it helps to create a synergist effect.

scholarly journals Uncovering the Providers’ Continuance Intention of Participation in the Sharing Economy: A Moderated Mediation Model

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 5095
Author(s):  
Jiang Jiang ◽  
Rui Feng ◽  
Eldon Y. Li
Keyword(s):  
Sharing Economy ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Peer To Peer ◽  
Partial Least Square ◽  
Least Square ◽  
Mediating Effect ◽  
Utilization Efficiency ◽  
Continuance Intention ◽  
Hedonic Value ◽  
Ride Sharing

The sharing economy has evolved into a promising business concept that enables individuals to share their idle resources, improving resource utilization efficiency commercially. Recently, it has gained enormous academic attention. However, little concern has been given to the behavior of individual providers on the supply side. This paper aims to uncover the motivational and trust-based providers’ continuance intention of participation in the context of peer-to-peer ride-sharing services. Based on the survey data from 202 providers and the partial least-square analysis, we confirm the mediating effect of attitude in the relationships between participation continuance intention; trust; and three motivational dimensions: economic benefits, social–hedonic value, and sustainability. We further confirm the moderating effects of innovativeness using PROCESS. The results show that economic benefits, social–hedonic value, and sustainability significantly affect providers’ participation continuance intention. Moreover, attitudes toward the sharing economy play a complementary partial-mediating role in the relationships from economic benefits and social–hedonic value to participation continuance intention, which is negatively moderated by innovativeness. Trust does not significantly affect providers’ attitude toward the sharing economy and participation continuance intention in the peer-to-peer ride-sharing context.

Drivers, Riders, and Service Providers: The Impact of the Sharing Economy on Mobility

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saif Benjaafar ◽  
Harald Bernhard ◽  
Costas Courcoubetis ◽  
Michail Kanakakis ◽  
Spyridon Papafragkos
Keyword(s):  
Operations Management ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Sharing Economy ◽  
Car Ownership ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Ride Sharing ◽  
Finite Set ◽  
Nonatomic Game ◽  
Payoff Functions ◽  
The Impact

It is widely believed that ride sharing, the practice of sharing a car such that more than one person travels in the car during a journey, has the potential to significantly reduce traffic by filling up cars more efficiently. We introduce a model in which individuals may share rides for a certain fee, paid by the rider(s) to the driver through a ride-sharing platform. Collective decision making is modeled as an anonymous nonatomic game with a finite set of strategies and payoff functions among individuals who are heterogeneous in their income. We examine how ride sharing is organized and how traffic and ownership are affected if a platform, which chooses the seat rental price to maximize either revenue or welfare, is introduced to a population. We find that the ratio of ownership to usage costs determines how ride sharing is organized. If this ratio is low, ride sharing is offered as a peer-to-peer (P2P) service, and if this ratio is high, ride sharing is offered as a business-to-customer (B2C) service. In the P2P case, rides are initiated by drivers only when the drivers need to fulfill their own transportation requirements. In the B2C case, cars are driven all the time by full-time drivers taking rides even if these are not motivated by their private needs. We show that, although the introduction of ride sharing may reduce car ownership, it can lead to an increase in traffic. We also show that traffic and ownership may increase as the ownership cost increases and that a revenue-maximizing platform might prefer a situation in which cars are driven with only a few seats occupied, causing high traffic. We contrast these results with those obtained for a social welfare-maximizing platform. This paper was accepted by Charles Corbett, operations management.

The Effects of Gratification, Trust, and Platform Quality on the Continuance Use of Ride-Sharing Services in a Developing Country

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 21-41
Author(s):  
Muftawu Dzang Alhassan ◽  
Ibrahim Osman Adam
Keyword(s):  
Structural Equation ◽  
Sharing Economy ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Moderating Effects ◽  
Uses And Gratification ◽  
Ride Sharing ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Future Research Directions ◽  
Developed World

The advent of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has enabled the rise of ride-sharing services allowing individuals to access and request rides at a reasonably lower fee and their convenience thereby disrupting the delivery of traditional taxi services. Despite the promise of this sector, Information Systems (IS) research indicates a dearth of research examining the post-adoption behaviour of individuals in this sector. Furthermore, the concentration of studies in the developed world where the ride-sharing economy is more advanced has created an aperture of studies in the developing world. Relying on data from 133 respondents of ride-sharing services in Ghana and the Uses and Gratification (U&G) theory, we develop and analyze a model using Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to understand the effects of gratification, trust, and platform quality on the continuance use of ride-sharing services. Our findings revealed that enjoyment, integrative benefits, trust, and platform quality significantly influence satisfaction. Furthermore, satisfaction was found to positively influence the continuance use intention of ride-sharing services. The moderating effects of education and user experience showed support for some relationships. Our findings, provide valuable insights into the post-adoption behaviour of users in the ride-sharing economy and offer some implications and future research directions.

scholarly journals Conceptualizing the Digital Sharing Economy in the Context of Sustainability

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 4453 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria J. Pouri ◽  
Lorenz M. Hilty
Keyword(s):  
Sharing Economy ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Human Society ◽  
Use Case ◽  
Production And Consumption ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Current Production ◽  
The Common ◽  
Structural Impacts ◽  
Practical Implications

Human society is increasingly influencing the planet and its environmental systems. The existing environmental problems indicate that current production and consumption patterns are not sustainable. Despite the remarkable opportunities brought about by Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to improve the resource efficiency of production and consumption processes, it seems that the overall trend is still not heading towards sustainability. By promoting the utilization of available and underused resources, the ICT-enabled sharing economy has transformed, and even in some cases disrupted, the prevailing patterns of production and consumption, raising questions about opportunities and risks of shared consumption modes for sustainability. The present article attempts to conceptualize the sustainability implications of today’s sharing economy. We begin with presenting a definition for the digital sharing economy that embraces the common features of its various forms. Based on our proposed definition, we discuss the theoretical and practical implications of the digital sharing economy as a use case of ICT. The analysis is deepened by applying the life-cycle/enabling/structural impacts model of ICT effects to this use case. As a result, we show the various positive and negative potentials of digital sharing for sustainability at different system levels. While it is too early to project well-founded scenarios to describe the sustainability status of digital sharing, the implications discussed in our work may help outlining future research and policies in this area.

scholarly journals CIRCULAR ECONOMY AND ‘CIRCULAR ECONOMY PROFESSIONAL’: CONCEPTS IN UKRAINIAN AND POLISH SCIENTIFIC FIELD

2020 ◽  
pp. 47-67
Author(s):  
Alexey S Sysoev
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Natural Resources ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Scientific Field ◽  
Production And Consumption ◽  
Training Professionals ◽  
Environmental Instability ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Circular Economics ◽  
Definition Of

The article analyses the approaches to the definition of ‘circular economy’ and ‘professional in circular economy’ in the Ukrainian and Polish scientific space. It is shown that in Ukraine today there is a linear economic model, according to which enterprises extract natural resources and sell what they produce to consumers who throw away products, if it no longer serves its purpose. As a result of this model, our natural resources are reduced and the amount of waste we generate increases, which leads to environmental instability and environmental degradation. The concept of ‘professional in circular economics’ in the Ukrainian educational and economic field is absent, in contrast to European countries, in particular the Republic of Poland, where the circular economy is considered as a strategy of economic development and much attention is paid to training professionals in circular economics and to improving qualification of those, who are already working. The purpose of the work is to highlight the approaches to understanding the circular economy and the content of the activities of professionals in a circular economy in the Ukrainian and Polish scientific field. Circular economy is characterized as a general name of economic activity aimed at energy saving, regenerative environmentally friendly production and consumption. The role of the circular economy as the most successful way of saving resources and materials, and thus the way to constant economic growth, in contrast to the traditional model of economic development. It is emphasized that the transition to a circular economy will create new jobs in many sectors of the economy. Ukrainian experts, in particular economists, emphasize the importance of the transition to a circular economy (instead of a linear one). Key words: linear economy; professionals’ training in circular economy; circular economy; professional in circular economy.

scholarly journals MEASURING THE PROGRESS TOWARDS CIRCULAR ECONOMY IN EUROPEAN UNION COUNTRIES

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-35
Author(s):  
Nicolae Pintilie ◽  
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Waste Management ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Production And Consumption ◽  
European Union Countries ◽  
Continuous Actions ◽  
Consumption Waste

This paper aims to create an image of progress towards circular economy registered by European Union countries through specific indicators. In this way, this paper is based on the study and analysis of the 13 indicators, grouped on 4 pillars: Production and consumption, Waste management, Secondary raw materials, Competitiveness and innovation. After the presentation of the methodology, the paper develops an analysis in time and space of the selected indicators, then an analysis of the countries with their grouping on clusters, creating a map of them and highlighting the current situation of circular economy in the European Union. Moreover, the paper also presents the evolution of the countries regarding circular economy, which has a big importance taking into account that in the European Union the preoccupations for this concept is higher from one period to another. Among the most interesting results are: (1) a massive concentration of countries with problems for Waste management pillar; (2) Europe is one of the regions with the largest contribution in terms of circular economy, but the concept is developing differently from one country to another; (3) The scoreboard evolution is particularly useful in revealing the continuous actions adopted by countries in order to facilitate the conversion to circular economy. Finally, the paper presents possible limits of the research, but also future directions of its development.

scholarly journals Growth of Sharing Economy in Hungary; Long Distance Car Sharing - A Case Study of Oszkár

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 9
Author(s):  
Kinga Szabó ◽  
Gauri Shankar Gupta
Keyword(s):  
Traffic Congestion ◽  
Paradigm Shift ◽  
Sharing Economy ◽  
Car Sharing ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Social Construct ◽  
Customer Reviews ◽  
Societal Values ◽  
Healthy Growth

Rapid growth of sharing economy in the last two decades is the outcome of a paradigm shift in global capitalism and societal values. Based on digital identity and the Trust and Reputation Index, IT platforms have brought together strangers who under new social construct, share under-utilized capacities and assets with those who need them. Radius of trust which was initially confined to family and friends; now encompasses strangers who speak no common language and who live oceans apart. Hungary is no exception to this global shift. Sharing economy in Hungary has registered healthy growth specially in the areas of transportation and accommodation. Oszkár, a long-distance car-sharing company presents a good example of this paradigm shift in societal values and sharing with strangers. This platform has recorded impressive growth of over 67% between 2015-2018 with very positive customer reviews. Moreover, this represents an environmentally-friendly sustainable practice which successfully reduces carbon foot-print and traffic congestion.

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