scholarly journals Including Social Housing Residents in the Energy Transition: A Mixed-Method Case Study on Residents' Beliefs, Attitudes, and Motivation Toward Sustainable Energy Use in a Zero-Energy Building Renovation in the Netherlands

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michèlle Bal ◽  
F. Marijn Stok ◽  
Carolien Van Hemel ◽  
John B. F. De Wit
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Social Housing ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Sustainable Energy ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Sustainable Value ◽  
Urban Energy

Reducing household energy use in social housing buildings can substantially contribute to mitigating global climate change. While municipalities and social housing corporations are willing to invest in sustainable renovations and innovations, social housing residents' inclusion in the sustainable energy transition lags behind. This pilot study explored social housing residents' attitudes toward sustainability and sustainable renovation of their apartment building, as well as (factors underlying) their motivation toward two specific sustainable behaviors. Semi-structured interviews, containing both open- and close- ended questions, were conducted with 20 residents of one social housing building that was due for renovations. Results showed that respondents were concerned about climate change, including environmental justice beliefs, typically already engaged in various sustainable behaviors, and were motivated to add sustainable behaviors to their repertoire after the renovation. Yet, perceived social norms were not always supportive of behaving sustainably and respondents sometimes failed to recognize the sustainable value of these behaviors. Furthermore, while respondents were more positive than negative about the sustainable renovation, they nevertheless listed many concerns and problems regarding the renovation process, including procedural justice concerns. This small-scale study provided important insights into barriers and facilitators of the sustainable energy transition among social housing residents, who are at risk of lagging behind in the sustainable urban energy transition. Findings underline the importance of including residents in the sustainable renovation process through engagement, communication, and co-creation.

scholarly journals Global typology of urban energy use and potentials for an urbanization mitigation wedge

2015 ◽  
Vol 112 (20) ◽  
pp. 6283-6288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felix Creutzig ◽  
Giovanni Baiocchi ◽  
Robert Bierkandt ◽  
Peter-Paul Pichler ◽  
Karen C. Seto
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Urban Form ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Urban Expansion ◽  
Urban Transport ◽  
Transport Costs ◽  
Urban Energy Use ◽  
Urban Energy ◽  
Transport Energy Use

The aggregate potential for urban mitigation of global climate change is insufficiently understood. Our analysis, using a dataset of 274 cities representing all city sizes and regions worldwide, demonstrates that economic activity, transport costs, geographic factors, and urban form explain 37% of urban direct energy use and 88% of urban transport energy use. If current trends in urban expansion continue, urban energy use will increase more than threefold, from 240 EJ in 2005 to 730 EJ in 2050. Our model shows that urban planning and transport policies can limit the future increase in urban energy use to 540 EJ in 2050 and contribute to mitigating climate change. However, effective policies for reducing urban greenhouse gas emissions differ with city type. The results show that, for affluent and mature cities, higher gasoline prices combined with compact urban form can result in savings in both residential and transport energy use. In contrast, for developing-country cities with emerging or nascent infrastructures, compact urban form, and transport planning can encourage higher population densities and subsequently avoid lock-in of high carbon emission patterns for travel. The results underscore a significant potential urbanization wedge for reducing energy use in rapidly urbanizing Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.

Local Policy for a Protected Environmental Area Management: The Case of Limiting Motorized Vehicles in Park of Canigou in Pyrenées Orientales

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Air Traffic ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Individual Action ◽  
Local Policy ◽  
Motorized Vehicles ◽  
Local Levels

“We regard the recent science –based consensual reports that climate change is, to a large extend, caused by human activities that emit green houses as tenable, Such activities range from air traffic, with a global reach over industrial belts and urban conglomerations to local small, scale energy use for heating homes and mowing lawns. This means that effective climate strategies inevitably also require action all the way from global to local levels. Since the majority of those activities originate at the local level and involve individual action, however, climate strategies must literally begin at home to hit home.”

Energy Management, Sustainability, and Ethics: An Islamic Perspective

2014 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 73-99
Author(s):  
Mohammad Khalil Elahee
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Energy Management ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Environmental Ethic ◽  
Radical Change ◽  
Management Tools ◽  
Islamic Perspective ◽  
Environmental Objectives

The challenge of global climate change requires a radical change in our understanding of environmental issues, for its causes are linked to our dominant development model and its impact is significant at the grassroots level. Addressing energy production and consumption remains at the heart of any feasible solution. In this article, I define energy management (EM) as a systemic and systematic endeavor to optimize energy use through engineering and management tools in order to achieve political, economic, and environmental objectives. I also discuss what underpins EM’s ethical dimension, focusing on sustainability, and critically analyze the Islamic perspective to elaborate a value-based, universally acceptable, realistically applicable, and objective environmental ethic. By using EM as a vehicle toward sustainability, hence addressing climate change, I evaluate the outcomes of such a radical change in our understanding of environmental issues. I conclude by investigating whether a difference in vision with regard to faith and the hereafter can hinder a common engagement. Evidence is also sought from relevant specialist studies by non-Muslims, in which such Islamic principles as ordering the good and prohibiting the evil, ijmā‘, istiḥsān, istiṣḥāb, or istiṣlāḥhave been implemented to a given extent in all but name.

scholarly journals Hydropower in the Context of Sustainable Energy Supply: A Review of Technologies and Challenges

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiyembekezo S. Kaunda ◽  
Cuthbert Z. Kimambo ◽  
Torbjorn K. Nielsen
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Expert Knowledge ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Sustainable Energy ◽  
Energy Resource ◽  
Adaptation Measures ◽  
World Energy ◽  
Hydropower Resource ◽  
Energy Challenge ◽  
Secondary Information

Hydropower is an important renewable energy resource worldwide. However, its development is accompanied with environmental and social drawbacks. Issues of degradation of the environment and climate change can negatively impact hydropower generation. A sustainable hydropower project is possible, but needs proper planning and careful system design to manage the challenges. Well-planned hydropower projects can contribute to supply sustainable energy. An up-to-date knowledge is necessary for energy planners, investors, and other stakeholders to make informed decisions concerning hydropower projects. This is basically a review paper. Apart from using expert knowledge, the authors have also consulted extensively from journals, conference papers, reports, and some documents to get secondary information on the subject. The paper has reviewed the world energy scenario and how hydropower fits in as the solution to the global sustainable energy challenge. Issues of hydropower resource availability, technology, environment and climate change have been also discussed. Hydropower is sensitive to the state of environment, and climate change. With global climate change, though globally the potential is stated to slightly increase, some countries will experience a decrease in potential with increased risks. Adaptation measures are required to sustainably generate hydropower. These are also discussed in the paper.

Towards sustainable energy transition in the wake of climate change

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 (4) ◽  
pp. 17
Author(s):  
Olaf Sleijpen ◽  
Nasser S. Al-Mohannadi ◽  
Mike Bowman
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sustainable Energy ◽  
Energy Transition

scholarly journals Energy transition in Russia

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 73-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatiana Mitrova ◽  
Yuriy Melnikov
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Emissions ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Primary Energy ◽  
Energy Sector ◽  
Energy Prices ◽  
New Strategy ◽  
Business As Usual

Abstract This article provides an overview of Russian energy policy in the context of the global energy transition. Russia, ranking fourth in the world in primary energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions, adheres to the strategy of “business as usual” and relies on fossil fuels. Decarbonization of the energy sector is not yet on the horizon: a skeptical attitude towards the problem of global climate change prevails among stakeholders. GDP energy intensity remains high, supported by relatively low energy prices and high cost of capital. The share of solar and wind energy in the energy balance is insignificant and is not expected to exceed 1% by 2040. The challenge for Russia in the coming years is to develop a new strategy for the development of its energy sector, which enters a zone of high turbulence—even in the absence of the influence of the climate change agenda—due to increasing global competition, growing technological isolation, and financial constraints.

scholarly journals Impacts of global climate change mitigation scenarios on forests and harvesting in Sweden

2016 ◽  
Vol 46 (12) ◽  
pp. 1427-1438 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva-Maria Nordström ◽  
Nicklas Forsell ◽  
Anders Lundström ◽  
Anu Korosuo ◽  
Johan Bergh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Mitigation ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
National Level ◽  
Intergovernmental Panel ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Biomass Resources ◽  
Supply Potential ◽  
Change Mitigation

Under climate change, the importance of biomass resources is likely to increase and new approaches are needed to analyze future material and energy use of biomass globally and locally. Using Sweden as an example, we present an approach that combines global and national land-use and forest models to analyze impacts of climate change mitigation ambitions on forest management and harvesting in a specific country. National forest impact analyses in Sweden have traditionally focused on supply potential with little reference to international market developments. In this study, we use the global greenhouse gas concentration scenarios from the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change to estimate global biomass demand and assess potential implications on harvesting and biodiversity in Sweden. The results show that the short-term demand for wood is close to the full harvesting potential in Sweden in all scenarios. Under high bioenergy demand, harvest levels are projected to stay high over a longer time and particularly impact the harvest levels of pulpwood. The area of old forest in the managed landscape may decrease. This study highlights the importance of global scenarios when discussing national-level analysis and pinpoints trade-offs that policy making in Sweden may need to tackle in the near future.

scholarly journals Peatlands and the carbon cycle: from local processes to global implications – a synthesis

2008 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
pp. 1475-1491 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Limpens ◽  
F. Berendse ◽  
C. Blodau ◽  
J. G. Canadell ◽  
C. Freeman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Global Climate Models ◽  
Trace Gas ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Ecosystem Structure ◽  
Positive Feedbacks

Abstract. Peatlands cover only 3% of the Earth's land surface but boreal and subarctic peatlands store about 15–30% of the world's soil carbon (C) as peat. Despite their potential for large positive feedbacks to the climate system through sequestration and emission of greenhouse gases, peatlands are not explicitly included in global climate models and therefore in predictions of future climate change. In April 2007 a symposium was held in Wageningen, the Netherlands, to advance our understanding of peatland C cycling. This paper synthesizes the main findings of the symposium, focusing on (i) small-scale processes, (ii) C fluxes at the landscape scale, and (iii) peatlands in the context of climate change. The main drivers controlling C fluxes are largely scale dependent and most are related to some aspects of hydrology. Despite high spatial and annual variability in Net Ecosystem Exchange (NEE), the differences in cumulative annual NEE are more a function of broad scale geographic location and physical setting than internal factors, suggesting the existence of strong feedbacks. In contrast, trace gas emissions seem mainly controlled by local factors. Key uncertainties remain concerning the existence of perturbation thresholds, the relative strengths of the CO2 and CH4 feedback, the links among peatland surface climate, hydrology, ecosystem structure and function, and trace gas biogeochemistry as well as the similarity of process rates across peatland types and climatic zones. Progress on these research areas can only be realized by stronger co-operation between disciplines that address different spatial and temporal scales.

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