Does Entrepreneur Moral Reflectiveness Matter? Pursing Low-Carbon Emission Behavior among SMEs through the Relationship between Environmental Factors, Entrepreneur Personal Concept, and Outcome Expectations

The intensity and severe impact of carbon emissions on the environment has been witnessed globally. This study aims to unravel how environmental factors, personal factors, and entrepreneur outcome expectations affect entrepreneur low-carbon emission behavior (LCB) through the lens of social cognitive theory (SCT). To achieve the aims of this study, we gathered data from 1015 entrepreneurs and small, medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Jiangsu province of China to analyze the predictors of entrepreneur low-carbon behavior. The proposed relationships were tested using the partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) technique. The findings from the study indicate that environmental factors (i.e., climate change (CC), public media (PM), and corporate social responsibility (CSR) have a significant and positive relationship with entrepreneur LCB. Moreover, entrepreneur green production self-efficacy (GPS) is positively associated with entrepreneur LCB. The findings further revealed that entrepreneur personal concepts such as entrepreneur self-monitoring (SM), entrepreneur self-esteem (SE), and entrepreneur self-Preference (SP) significantly and completely affect entrepreneur GPS. Likewise, entrepreneur moral reflectiveness (EMR) substantially moderates the relationship between entrepreneur green production outcome expectation and LCB. This study concludes with recommendations for researchers interested in enhancing knowledge in this field. In summation, this study shows that a behavioral science viewpoint is critical for improving knowledge of low-carbon environment, CC drivers, mitigation strategies, and sustainable transition to our complex environment.

Study on the Effect of Recycled Coarse Aggregate on the Shrinkage Performance of Green Recycled Concrete

Shrinkage property is a significant indicator of the durability of concrete, and the shrinkage of green recycled concrete is particularly problematic. In this paper, construction waste was crushed and screened to generate simple-crushed recycled coarse aggregate (SCRCA). The SCRCA was then subjected to particle shaping to create primary particle-shaped recycled coarse aggregate (PPRCA). On this basis, the PPRCA was particle-shaped again to obtain the secondary particle-shaped recycled coarse aggregate (SPRCA). Under conditions where the dosage of cementitious material is 300 kg/m3 and the sand rate is 38%, a new high-belite sulphoaluminate cement (HBSAC) with low carbon emission and superior efficiency was used as the basic cementitious material. Taking the quality of recycled coarse aggregate (SCRCA, PPRCA, and SPRCA) and the replacement ratio (25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%) as the influencing factors to prepare the green recycled concrete, the workability and shrinkage property of the prepared concrete were analyzed. The results show that the water consumption of green recycled concrete decreases as the quality of the recycled coarse aggregate (RCA) increases and the replacement ratio decreases, provided that the green recycled concrete achieves the same workability. With the improvement of RCA quality and the decrease of replacement ratio, the shrinkage of recycled concrete decreases. The shrinkage performance of green recycled concrete configured with the SPRCA completely replacing the natural coarse aggregate (NCA) is basically the same as that of the natural aggregate concrete (NAC).

Experimental study of low carbon emission alternative concrete

Urbanization and mass construction of housing will increase the consumption of cement and available natural resources such as sand and water. The production of cement generated from various industries leads to the emission of carbon dioxide gas in huge quantities into the atmosphere and creates serious problems in handling and disposal. So, the replacement of conventional materials with alternative materials for the preparation of concrete is needed. If the alternative cementitious and industrial waste materials are found suitable in replacing the ingredients of concrete then it can reduce the cost of construction. The present paper represents an experimental study of low carbon emission alternative concrete by replacing conventional concrete materials with alternative materials like geopolymer as binding material, copper and ferrous slag as fine aggregates, steel slag as coarse aggregates, and alkaline solution as an activator. Study made to examine the properties of low carbon emission alternative concrete proposed. The fresh and hardened state characteristics of low carbon emission alternative concrete are evaluated for both oven and ambient curing conditions. It is noticed that the time taken to achieve the strength by oven curing is less than ambient curing but had no major difference in load-carrying capacity and the results obtained are in good concurrence with conventional concrete.

Transition to Zero Energy and Low Carbon Emission in Residential Buildings Located in Tropical and Temperate Climates

Different methods to achieve zero-energy and low carbon on the scale of a building are shown by most of the research works. Despite this, the recommendations generally offered by researchers do not always correspond to the realities found during the construction of new buildings in a determined region. Therefore, a standard may not be valid in all climate regions of the world. Being aware of this fact, a study was carried out to analyse the design of new buildings respecting the “zero-energy and low carbon emission” concept in tropical climatic regions when they are compared with a base case of temperate regions. To reach this objective, the comparison between real and simulated data from the different buildings studied was developed. The results showed that the renovation of existing residential buildings allows for reducing up to 35% of energy demand and a great quantity of CO2 emissions in both climate types. Despite this, the investment rate linked to the construction of zero-energy buildings in tropical zones is 12 times lower than in temperate zones and the payback was double. In particular, this effect can be related to the efficiency of photovoltaic panels, which is estimated to be, at least, 34% higher in tropical zones than temperate zones. Finally, this study highlights the interest and methodology to implement zero-energy buildings in tropical regions.