scholarly journals Product Lifecycle: Social and Political Reflections from the Digital and Sustainable Perspectives

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabio De Felice ◽  
Antonella Petrillo

Digitalization and sustainability are the drivers of the global development of the future that have slowly conquered the agendas of governments and organizations on every continent. In this context, the pandemic has proved to be a powerful technological accelerator, helping to give a greater boost to these drivers, “guiding” leading the productive and economic sector throughout the world. Today the sustainability and digitalization represent the indispensable prerequisites to add economic, environmental, and social sovereignty. In fact, the scenario that the Coronavirus is leaving us foreshadows the need not to be satisfied with reaching targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but to imagine “global” governance for the development of business models based on the new digital frontiers. Thus, what are the challenges for achieving the paradigms of sustainability and digitization in this new era? And what are the tools for a “digicircular” transformation? The aim of this chapter is to investigate these issues. To this end, it should be noted that, in this chapter, our aim is not to present an analysis of literature in the classical sense but rather political and social reflections.

Author(s):  
Manuel-Angel Gonzalez-Chapa ◽  
Jose-Ramon Vega-Galaz

Combined Heat and Power systems have been used all around the world due to their effective and viable way of transforming energy from fossil fuel. Indeed, the advantage of lower greenhouse gas emissions compared to those obtained in conventional power or conventional heat generation systems have been an important factor giving CHP systems an advantage over these conventional ones. Certainly CHP has been, and continues to be, a good practice while renewable technologies become more economically. While these technologies emerge it is important to continue minimizing these greenhouse gas emissions from conventional and CHP units as much as possible. This paper deals with the fuel optimization of power, heat and CHP systems including emissions and ambient conditions constraints. Ambient conditions variations are evaluated before solving the optimization and then introduced to the problem to consider their effects.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Schott

<p><b>Abstract </b></p> <p>While the pedagogical benefits of fieldtrips have long been recognised our ever increasing understanding of the impacts of flying on climate change is presenting educators with a poignant dilemma; the many benefits long associated with international fieldtrips are at odds with the world community’s needs in limiting/halting climatic change. In response, the paper presents the concept of a VR-based virtual fieldtrip as an innovative and carbon-sensitive type of (educational) travel. The paper not only makes the case for virtual fieldtrips as a meaningful learning tool but also explores both the virtual fieldtrip’s impact on Greenhouse Gas emissions and climate change-related learning. On both accounts the initial findings in this paper are very encouraging. More in-depth research is now required to not only develop a deeper understanding of the full breadth of benefits, but also of the diverse weaknesses presented by virtual fieldtrips and how to negotiate them.</p>


Author(s):  
Fumiko Satoh

Companies around the world are increasingly expected to report their greenhouse gas emissions. Currently there are various formulas to calculate emissions, and there are different reporting formats. Most of the reporting formats are paper-based or non-readable-by-machine formats. The emissions of companies will influence their accounting results due to ‘cap & trade’ systems or environmental taxes. Analyses of financial impacts are important for management decisions and corporate evaluations by interested third parties. A standardized reporting format for GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions is critical for reliable analysis of the impact of emissions on finances. This paper proposes an XBRL (eXtensible Business Markup Language) format as the foundation for standardizing the emissions reporting formats, and provides a preliminary XBRL taxonomy for emissions reporting. XBRL makes it possible to combine the financial reports and the emissions reports. Evaluations of the emissions impact are easier for both managers of the company and external parties, even if a large number of emissions reports must be analyzed.


Author(s):  
Hewitt Crane ◽  
Edwin Kinderman ◽  
Ripudaman Malhotra

Of the various alternatives to fossil energy, nuclear power is the most advanced and the best positioned to become a major source of energy. It is also essentially free of CO2 emissions, and if reducing greenhouse gas emissions is truly the highest concern, then we will have to develop nuclear power. Yet developing nuclear power would also pose challenges in terms of waste disposal, and proliferation of nuclear weapons including the risk of a terrorist organization acquiring such weapons. To some environmentalists nuclear power presents a serious, dilemma. Support or opposition to nuclear power is strongly affected by value judgments as well as lack of disseminated information on questions: What happens if there is leakage of nuclear waste someday? To what extent would people and the world be affected? Would we be trading international security for energy security—does nuclear power increase our vulnerability to terrorist attacks? The mixture of clear benefits with outstanding questions currently allows some nations to embrace nuclear power, some to accept it grudgingly, and still others choose to ignore it. Given its availability and environmental benefits, nuclear is an option that cannot be ignored if we are to tackle the energy problem in a serious way. To assume that we can store and safeguard the waste for thousands of years may be hubris, but we come out in favor of developing nuclear technology in part because we already have to store the legacy nuclear waste that has been generated over the last 50 years. Another 60 or so years of waste will represent a marginal addition to that enormous task, but it would buy us badly needed time to carefully develop other energy sources that do not entail net greenhouse gas emissions. Also, we find that many of the concerns raised against the development of nuclear power are vastly exaggerated. For example, as we describe in this chapter, safe storage of the waste does not require 10,000 years: if we use reprocessing technologies, the remaining waste could be rendered benign in a couple of centuries.


2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrian Macey

The 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change set a remarkable precedent for speed of entry into force of a global treaty. With the threshold of 55 parties and 55% of greenhouse gas emissions being reached within a year of its adoption, the agreement entered into force before the following Conference of the Parties (COP22) in Marrakech (November 2016). By the end of COP22 there were over a hundred ratifications. This was both a vote of confidence in the agreement and a sign of the strong international commitment to tackle climate change. Less obvious is the fact that the agreement reflects a new model of international governance of climate change, in which the role of the central legal instrument has changed. It is yet to be tested, but these early signs of confidence augur well. 


2020 ◽  
pp. 42-50
Author(s):  
Olha Ilyash ◽  
Olena Trofymenko ◽  
Ruslan Kolishenko

The article is devoted to the analysis of leading practices of introduction of mechanisms of ecological progress of national economy. It is established that ecological progress is carried out by reducing the level of greenhouse gas emissions, the introduction of programs to preserve the environment and the viability of ecosystems, increase the consumption of renewable energy. As the main sources of greenhouse gas emissions in Ukraine are industry, energy and transport, it is important to implement mechanisms for ecological progress of the national economy, taking into account the successful world experience, which will allow to adapt effective mechanisms in Ukraine. The purpose of the article is to determine the effective mechanisms of ecological progress of the national economy and the formation of recommendations for its provision, taking into account the experience of leading countries. To achieve this goal, the following tasks were set: to identify indicators of environmental progress, to analyze indicators of indicators of environmental progress in Ukraine and leading countries, to explore effective measures to ensure environmental progress of leading national economies. The main methods used in the study - systematization, comparison, analysis, synthesis, generalization. To compare the ecological progress of national economies around the world, we chose the main indicators that provide an opportunity to assess the ecological progress of the national economy, namely: the index of environmental efficiency, total greenhouse gas emissions per $ 1,000. GDP, Environmental Index, Ecosystem Viability Index, Share of Renewable Energy Consumption, Existing Environmental Agreements. According to the results of the study of state policy of the leading countries of the world, the main measures of the state authorities of Ukraine and the leading countries of the world in the direction of ecological progress have been determined. According to the results of the study of measures on ecological breakthrough in the leading countries, a number of recommendations have been formed for Ukraine on the formation (formation) of components of ecological progress in the economy, taking into account the functions and responsibilities of public authorities. These recommendations should be used in the process of forming state policy to ensure sustainable development, stimulate and support the introduction of innovative environmental technologies in the economy.


AJIL Unbound ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 112 ◽  
pp. 269-273
Author(s):  
Ann Carlson

The Trump Administration is taking direct aim at California's global leadership on climate change. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to revoke the most effective tool California has to exercise climate leadership: its special authority under federal law to regulate tailpipe emissions more stringently than the federal government. California's use of this authority has led to the invention of automotive technology now standard around the world, including the catalytic converter. The state also used this power in 2002 to enact the globe's first greenhouse gas standards for automobiles. If the Trump Administration succeeds in revoking California's authority, California will find it very difficult to meet its ambitious 2030 greenhouse gas target. The attack on the state's authority will also undermine other states’ efforts to cut their greenhouse gas emissions as well as conventional air pollutants, since thirteen states follow California's standards in whole or in part. And the Trump Administration's revocation will undercut California's role as a green technology innovator by eliminating the strongest regulatory signal the state sends to automotive entrepreneurs. The last result is perhaps the most pernicious of all, because the state's role as a green technology leader has the capacity to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions around the world.


Author(s):  
Lucas Stanczyk

Given the accompanying sacrifices, how quickly should the present generation reduce its greenhouse gas emissions? The dominant framework for thinking about this question continues to be normative welfare economics. This chapter explains why the dominant approach should be rejected, and outlines the structure of what the author has come to think is the correct one. On this approach, requirements of intergenerational justice are understood, not as the means to, but as the most important constraints on maximizing intertemporal welfare. The chapter explains why the main content of these constraints can be given by the theories of social and international justice. Finally, it explains why the non-identity problem does not undermine the recommended way of thinking about intergenerational justice. Even if the business-as-usual baseline in greenhouse gas emissions will never harm any unborn future people, we can still say that humanity is forever subject to a suitably high environmental conservation standard.


Author(s):  
Hans von Storch

AbstractGood intentions by the middle class are not always well guided and do not always lead to measurable or significant results. For example, efforts to limit greenhouse gas emissions may hold broad appeal but can still have negligible impact. Therefore, it is suggested to embark on “Apollo projects”, which bundle the potential and willingness of the middle class. These projects should focus on the development of specific technologies, with economic advantages to support their spread throughout the world. Doing so will harness the middle class in support of greenhouse gas emission reductions in the gigaton-range. Such pan-national projects, for example, could address emission-free ship- or air-propulsion, the electrification of heating or of processes in the chemical industry.


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