Barriers, emotions, and motivational levers for lifestyle transformation in Norwegian household decarbonization pathways

Meeting the Paris Agreement targets requires strong near-term climate change mitigation in all sectors of the economy. Increasing demand-side emission abatement efforts is one important area to pursue, yet there are significant barriers that must be overcome in order to realize its potential. We ask: What barriers may be hindering deep emissions reduction at the household level? What kinds of levers are available to achieve emission reductions? Based on an original and extensive qualitative dataset, our in-depth study of households in Bergen, Norway, shows that individuals perceive they are confronted with considerable individual, economic, and infrastructural barriers that prevent them from taking deep mitigation actions. Our results however also suggest that some barriers can be overcome with motivational levers such as the availability of more sustainable alternatives, support networks and by the positive emotions felt when having a positive impact on the environment. Other barriers are more difficult to overcome, pointing to the overarching lesson from our study that households will need to be forced or incentivized beyond voluntary efforts to achieve rapid and comprehensive decarbonization. The current policy approach, aimed mostly at nudging for voluntary mitigation actions, is wholly inadequate to achieve significant emission reductions. Our study indicates that households are open for increasingly including more “sticks” into climate policymaking. While there are significant challenges to individuals taking stronger mitigation action, these can be overcome by strengthening government policies targeting the patterns and, importantly, volumes of household consumption.

Evanescent wave interaction with nanoparticles on optical fiber modulate side emission of germicidal ultraviolet light

Silica nanoparticle coating on quartz optical fiber facilitates side-emission of germicidal ultraviolet light (UV-C), which shows promise for disinfection of contaminated air, water, and surfaces. However, the emitted light along...

Metals in the day-side of ultra-hot Jupiter atmospheres: a key test for planetary formation

<p>Ultra-hot Jupiters (T<sub>eq</sub> ≥ 2,500 K) are the hottest gaseous giants known. They emerged as ideal laboratories to test theories of atmospheric structure and its link to planet formation. Indeed, because of their high temperatures, (1) they likely host atmospheres in chemical equilibrium and (2) clouds do not form in their day-side. Thousands of lines of refractory elements such as iron, normally inaccessible in planets, can be studied through high spectral resolution emission spectroscopy, providing a first look into the chemistry of refractory elements in exoplanets. In this talk we report the detection of neutral iron in the day-side emission spectrum of KELT-9b (T<sub>day</sub> ~ 4,000<span>  </span>K), the first detection of an atomic species in the emission spectrum of an exoplanet, obtained with HARPS-N optical data gathered in the framework of the GAPS collaboration. Our detection unambiguously indicates the presence of a thermal inversion in the atmosphere of the planet. We also present a new technique to extract planetary parameters from the cross-correlation function in a statistically sound framework, which makes possible the combination with information from the planetary continuum that can be obtained with complementary space facilities.<span> </span>This is a crucial step towards the measurement of metal abundances in exoplanets, a quantity that can be compared to predictions of planet formation theories. In the near future, our technique will be extended to cooler exoplanets. In the era of EELTs and JWST, this kind of measurements could ultimately open a new window on exoplanet formation and evolution.</p>

Packaging Issues and Solutions for Ultra-Low Power, High Efficiency GaN micro-LEDs for a Battery Free, Sub-mm2, Tetherless, Smart IoT System

This paper discusses some design and implementation issues related to GaN micro-LED (μLED) incorporated into the heterogeneous packaging of IBM’s smart and secure sensor platform. For cost effective μLEDs, the sapphire substrate needs to be singulated reliably and with minimum kerf perimeter, be ultra-clean and smooth to allow back side emission without scattering, and high yielding front side flip chip bonding with 20μm C4s on 40μm pitch. The GaN μLEDs are design for low voltage/low power operation with an emission area of 20μm × 20μm with critical current density of ~10nA/μm2. Power and downlink data is delivered to the system via optical energy harvesting by on-silicon carrier photovoltaics and communication photodiode, respectively. Optical amplitude modulated uplink communication by heterogeneous packaging of the GaN μLED with a 14nm CMOS smart chip will be detailed and demonstrated in presentation.

Wearable Fiber Optic Technology Based on Smart Textile: A Review

Emerging smart textiles have enriched a variety of wearable technologies, including fiber optic technology. Optic fibers are widely applied in communication, sensing, and healthcare, and smart textiles enable fiber optic technology to be worn close to soft and curved human body parts for personalized functions. This review briefly introduces wearable fiber optic applications with various functions, including fashion and esthetics, vital signal monitoring, and disease treatment. The main working principles of side emission, wavelength modulation, and intensity modulation are summarized. In addition, textile fabrication techniques, including weaving and knitting, are discussed and illustrated as combination methods of embedding fiber optic technology into textile fabric. In conclusion, the combination of optical fibers and textiles has drawn considerable interest and developed rapidly. This work provides an overview of textile-based wearable fiber optic technology and discusses potential textile fabrication techniques for further improvement of wearable fiber optic applications.