Energy Sustainability of Countries

2015 ◽  
pp. 96-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evangelos Grigoroudis ◽  
Vassilis S. Kouikoglou ◽  
Yannis A. Phillis
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Energy Development ◽  
The Other ◽  
Energy Sustainability ◽  
Energy Services ◽  
Environmentally Sustainable ◽  
Environmental Requirements ◽  
The One ◽  
Energy Challenge

The provision of adequate, reliable, and affordable energy, in conformity with social and environmental requirements is a vital part of sustainable development. Currently, countries are facing a two-fold energy challenge: on the one hand they should assure the provision of environmentally sustainable energy, while, on the other, energy services should be reliable, affordable, and socially acceptable. To evaluate such aspects of energy services one needs energy sustainability barometers, which provide the means to monitor the impacts of energy policies and assist policymakers in relevant decision making. Although sustainability is an ambiguous, complex, and polymorphous concept, all energy sustainability barometers incorporate the three major sustainability dimensions: social, economic, and environmental. In this chapter, we review three models for assessing the sustainability of energy development of countries: ESI, SAFE, and EAPI. We also present a brief discussion of the results, the applied methodologies, and the underlying assumptions of these sustainability barometers.

Energy Sustainability of Countries

2017 ◽  
pp. 1461-1483
Author(s):  
Evangelos Grigoroudis ◽  
Vassilis S. Kouikoglou ◽  
Yannis A. Phillis
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Energy Development ◽  
The Other ◽  
Energy Sustainability ◽  
Energy Services ◽  
Environmentally Sustainable ◽  
Environmental Requirements ◽  
The One ◽  
Energy Challenge

The provision of adequate, reliable, and affordable energy, in conformity with social and environmental requirements is a vital part of sustainable development. Currently, countries are facing a two-fold energy challenge: on the one hand they should assure the provision of environmentally sustainable energy, while, on the other, energy services should be reliable, affordable, and socially acceptable. To evaluate such aspects of energy services one needs energy sustainability barometers, which provide the means to monitor the impacts of energy policies and assist policymakers in relevant decision making. Although sustainability is an ambiguous, complex, and polymorphous concept, all energy sustainability barometers incorporate the three major sustainability dimensions: social, economic, and environmental. In this chapter, we review three models for assessing the sustainability of energy development of countries: ESI, SAFE, and EAPI. We also present a brief discussion of the results, the applied methodologies, and the underlying assumptions of these sustainability barometers.

scholarly journals Major projects in urban sites: Challenge of the Builders

2018 ◽  
Vol 149 ◽  
pp. 02003
Author(s):  
Ammar Dhouib
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Common Sense ◽  
Construction Projects ◽  
The Other ◽  
Observational Method ◽  
Urban Construction ◽  
Environmental Requirements ◽  
The One ◽  
Urban Sites ◽  
Displacement Measurements

Faced with the complexity of urban construction projects and difficulties in the field, engineers must, on the one hand, dimension with rigor and common sense the foundations with all the requirements of today of quality, conformity and respect of deadlines and budget and take into account, on the other hand, safety and environmental requirements and societal and sustainable development criteria, the purpose of this communication is to present concrete projects of foundations and excavation deep in geologically heterogeneous and highly urbanized sites, with monitoring and displacement measurements in order to compare predictions with reality and to promote the "observational method".

scholarly journals Megatrends and Disruptors and Their Postulated Impact on Organizations

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (20) ◽  
pp. 8740
Author(s):  
Julie Linthorst ◽  
André de Waal
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
The Other ◽  
Decent Work ◽  
Academic Literature ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
The One

The coming decades are expected to be extremely challenging for organizations. On the one hand, there are the United Nations Sustainable Development goals to end poverty, protect the planet and improve the lives and prospects of everyone. On the other hand, organizations are expected to have to deal with an increasing number of megatrends and disruptors, many of which are already having an impact. To help organizations in their priority setting and decision-making so they can contribute to the development goals (specifically Goal 8: decent work and economic growth), a descriptive literature review was undertaken to identify which megatrends and disruptors will impact the future of organizations and in what ways they are expected do this. From the literature, thirteen megatrends and one disruptor emerged, and for each of these their postulated impact and consequences for organizations as described in the literature were gathered. The study reveals that there is ample attention given to megatrends in the academic literature but that not much can be found about dealing with disruptors. As a consequence, academic literature currently falls short in suggesting ways in which organizations can deal with disruptors. Managerial literature offers more suggestions in this respect.

scholarly journals Theology at Thresholds: Learning from a Practice ‘In Transition’

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Muers ◽  
Rhiannon Grant
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
The Other ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Theological Ethics ◽  
Reciprocal Influence ◽  
Core Practices ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Collective Process ◽  
The One ◽  
Over Time

Recent developments in contemporary theology and theological ethics have directed academic attention to the interrelationships of theological claims, on the one hand, and core community-forming practices, on the other. This article considers the value for theology of attending to practice at the boundaries, the margins, or, as we prefer to express it, the threshold of a community’s institutional or liturgical life. We argue that marginal or threshold practices can offer insights into processes of theological change – and into the mediation between, and reciprocal influence of, ‘church’ and ‘world’. Our discussion focuses on an example from contemporary British Quakerism. ‘Threshing meetings’ are occasions at which an issue can be ‘threshed out’ as part of a collective process of decision-making. Drawing on a 2015 small-scale study (using a survey and focus group) of British Quaker attitudes to and experiences of threshing meetings, set in the wider context of Quaker tradition, we interpret these meetings as a space for working through – in context and over time – tensions within Quaker theology, practice and self-understandings, particularly those that emerge within, and in relation to, core practices of Quaker decision-making.

Lessing's Treatment of the Story of the Ring, and its Teaching

PMLA ◽  
1901 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-116
Author(s):  
W. H. Carruth
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
The Other ◽  
Outward Appearance ◽  
Final Version ◽  
Good Works ◽  
Relative Value ◽  
Healing Power ◽  
Divine Origin ◽  
The One ◽  
Point Of Departure

In Westermann's Monatshefte for January, 1891, and later in his ‘Life of Lessing,‘ Professor Erich Schmidt has outlined the chief features of the history and transformations of the story of the three rings in Europe. On examination it will be found that all the versions of the story belong to one or the other of two types, which are represented by the two earliest forms of the story preserved to us. The oldest version, that of the Spanish Jew Salomo ben Verga, tells of two rings or jewels only, which were in outward appearance exactly alike, and there is no question of one being genuine and the other false, but only of the relative value of the two. In the absence of the father it is found impossible to decide the question, and thus the decision between Christianity and Judaism is simply avoided. In Li Dis dou vrai aniel, a French poem of the end of the twelfth century, three rings appear, and to the original or genuine ring is attributed a marvelous healing power by which it may be recognized, and following which a decision is arrived at among the three religions, in this case in favor of Christianity, although ther were not wanting later narrators so bold as to hint that the true ring was possessed by Judaism. The version of Etienne de Bourbon, the versions of the Cento Novelle, the three versions of the Gesta Romanorum, all belong to one or the other of two types. We may refer to these two types as the Spanish type and the French type. Those of the first type, to which belongs also the version of Boccaccio, the one from which Lessing took his point of departure, avoid a decision, implying that all religions are equally authoritative, but without inherent or inner evidence of their quality. Those of the second type, to which in many of its features Lessing's final version of the story is allied, lead to a decision, making religion of divine origin indeed, but supplying a test, that of good works, whereby the true religion may be recognized.

scholarly journals An Overview of Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Methods in Dealing with Sustainable Energy Development Issues

Energies ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 2754 ◽  
Author(s):  
Indre Siksnelyte ◽  
Edmundas Zavadskas ◽  
Dalia Streimikiene ◽  
Deepak Sharma
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Swot Analysis ◽  
Sustainable Energy ◽  
Energy Development ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Multi Criteria Decision Making ◽  
Energy Sustainability ◽  
Widespread Application ◽  
Sustainability Problems ◽  
Scientific Achievements

The measurement of sustainability is actively used today as one of the main preventative instruments in order to reduce the decline of the environment. Sustainable decision-making in solving energy issues can be supported and contradictory effects can be evaluated by scientific achievements of multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) techniques. The main goal of this paper is to overview the application of decision-making methods in dealing with sustainable energy development issues. In this study, 105 published papers from the Web of Science Core Collection (WSCC) database are selected and reviewed, from 2004 to 2017, related to energy sustainability issues and MCDM methods. All the selected papers were categorized into 9 fields by the application area and into 10 fields by the used method. After the categorization of the scientific articles and detailed analysis, SWOT analysis of MCDM approaches in dealing with sustainable energy development issues is provided. The widespread application and use of MCDM methods confirm that MCDM methods can help decision-makers in solving energy sustainability problems and are highly popular and used in practice.

scholarly journals History teaching as a designed meaning-making process: Teacher facilitation of student–subject relationships

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Heidi Eskelund Knudsen
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
The Other ◽  
Pedagogical Strategies ◽  
Pedagogical Tool ◽  
History Teaching ◽  
Teaching Situation ◽  
Communicative Process ◽  
The One ◽  
Student Subject

This article is an empirical analysis of history teaching as a communicative process. Dialogic history teaching develops as a designed meaning-making process that depends on thorough pedagogical strategies and decisions, and requires cohesion in teacher expectations, introductions and interventions. A micro-dialogic study is presented in this article to document a paradoxical teaching situation where history as subject-related content all but disappeared from a group of students' meaning-making processes because they were preoccupied with figuring out their teacher's intentions. History teaching thus turned into 'just teaching' without the teacher or the students being aware of it. A strong emphasis on history teaching as a communicative process and dialogue as a key pedagogical tool have potential with regard to pedagogical decision-making and strategies on the one hand, and for relationships between students and history as subject-related content on the other. The analysis presented in this article contributes to a growing field of studies on dialogic history teaching, of which the focus on students as an important part of classroom dialogues is central.

Studies of Central–Provincial Relations in the People's Republic of China: A Mid-Term Appraisal

1995 ◽  
Vol 142 ◽  
pp. 487-508 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jae Ho Chung
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Central Government ◽  
National Level ◽  
The Other ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
Government Relations ◽  
Scant Attention ◽  
The One ◽  
Central Level

Spatial aspects of power have been relatively neglected in the field of political science in general, with the notable exception of federalism. Many have argued that the study of political power has generally confined itself to the national level and paid scant attention to the interactions between the central government on the one hand and regional and local authorities on the other. Several tendencies have worked against the flourishing of political research on central-local government relations in the last three decades. First, in methodological terms, the “behavioural revolution” that swept the discipline caused a sudden premature end to the institutional analysis so crucial to central-local government relations. Secondly, in thematic terms, political scientists have been overly preoccupied with central-level processes of decision-making while neglecting the politics of central-local relations. Thirdly, in conceptual terms, the rise of “state” as an encompassing concept was facilitated largely at the expense of complex intra-governmental dynamics.

De samenvoeging van de gemeenten : Studie van het besluitvormingsproces

Res Publica ◽  
1970 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-244
Author(s):  
Rudolf Maes
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Local Government ◽  
The Other ◽  
Socialist Party ◽  
The Government ◽  
Linguistic Groups ◽  
The One ◽  
The Way ◽  
Opposition Parties

In the years 1975-1976 the Belgian government has given high priority to the restructuring of local government, resp. by the means of mergers of communes : the number of communes has decreased by that way from 2,359 to 596.In the decision-making emphasized were the initiatives taken by the Minister of the Interior as wel! on the domain of the elaboration of the proposals to delimitate the territory of the new communes as on the domain of the defining of the terms of execution with regard to the personnel, the finances, the transition of goods, etc.  About the proposals on the delimitation of the territory the local governmentscould only give advice ; they have been sanctioned by the legislative assemblees at the end of 1975 after rather difficult and heated debates.During this period an important resistance developed : on the one side from the communal milieu itself and on the other side from the opposition parties, esp. the Belgian Socialist Party not participating in the government that had made the drawing of the new map of communes according to a broad plan to its aim.Nevertheless, the decision-making also has to be seen from the fact that the opposition parties agreed with the principle of the mergers : they mainly contested the way in which the mergers were executed.The abolition of the federations of communes around the Brussels agglomeration, decided in the same context, has to be seen in the light of the typical Belgian problem of the coexistence of different linguistic groups.

Protected Natural Areas and Sustainable Development

2019 ◽  
pp. 9-21
Author(s):  
Zaharia Marian ◽  
Rodica-Manuela Gogonea ◽  
Daniela Ruxandra Andrei
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Tourism Development ◽  
Environmental Conservation ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Other ◽  
Environmental Resources ◽  
Natural Areas ◽  
Protected Natural Areas ◽  
Tourism Potential ◽  
The One

The process of tourism development has come to include, step by step, the expansion potential of areas where it could be practiced in less accessible natural spaces, which are more problematic from the point of view of tourist penetration and the organization of tourism activities. In this context, making tourism under the umbrella of this concept of expansion, has led, on the one hand, to the expansion of protected natural areas, to their advertising and implicitly to the increase of demand for this type of tourism, and, on the other hand, to the amplification of danger posed to the integrity of the ecosystems included in the tourism circuit. The paper, starting from the actual context of sustainable development, highlights the fact that the tourism potential of protected natural areas constitute an important factor for sustainable development only, if is doing in condition of responsibility and respect for environmental conservation and regeneration of environmental resources

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