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There are significant challenges as well as great opportunities for research at both policy and technology levels on the efficient use of energy. Most existing power generation and distribution systems are based on a century old mechanism where power grids are managed by vertically integrated utilities. Intelligent power grids known as smart grids are required as the demand for energy continues to grow and more and more emphasis is being placed on the supply of renewable energy. The main ingredient of smart grids is the integration of information and communication technology (ICT) into the grids to monitor and regulate power generation and demand. This article provides an overview of demand management with a particular focus on the necessary enabling wireless technologies. Various mechanisms and algorithms for the optimal demand management in smart grids using these wireless technologies are also reviewed.

This thesis reports the results from an in-depth longitudinal study of how a new strategy actually forms in practice. The focus is on a Swedish multinational firm called the “MECH Group” and its efforts to combine environmental and business concerns in the new strategy called “Positive Impact.” Detailed examinations of people and their activities and practices uncover the dynamic and firm-wide aspects of strategy formation in general, and the greening of business in particular. The study shows how the combination of the strategy-as-practice and strategy process traditions can yield new insights. It contributes to the theorizing about strategy formation in three ways. First, it provides detailed real-time activity-level descriptive accounts about this phenomenon. Four kinds of activities that have strategic outcomes are identified and analyzed: visionary, prescribed, evaluative, and unrecognized. Second, it broadens the focus from top management and their intended activities to include other people in the organization and their activities, which can emerge with little or no involvement from top management. Six types of internal strategy practitioners are shown to be influential in the strategy formation process, either consciously or unconsciously, directly or indirectly: top management, strategy task force, corporate staff management, temporary governance, operational middle management, and operational-level employees. Third, it connects activity- and firm-level findings. More specifically, it lets a rich understanding about an actual practice inform the theorizing about the convergence of deliberate and emergent strategies. Three different kinds of integrating functions are identified: i. downward implementation, ii. upward recognition, and iii. horizontal facilitation. The findings also contribute to the knowledge about the greening of business. By developing a detailed empirical account about the practice of integrating environmental issues into business strategy, the study provides a descriptive view as a complement to the many normative ideas that are found in the existing literature. It also connects the greening of business to general strategic management theorizing. Furthermore, this study provides a methodological contribution in terms of how the richness of strategy formation can be researched, especially concerning the capturing of relevant empirical material in real time. It demonstrates the importance of having significant access to, and knowledge about, the organization under scrutiny. Moreover, it shows how a focus on the practitioners and their doing in the intermediate micro-context can enable the study of multiple people involved in various activities that have strategic outcomes. Finally, the improved understanding of both how a new strategy actually forms in general, and of how environmental issues are integrated into business strategy in particular, provides more realistic grounds upon which implications for practicing managers can be derived.

Technological innovation in the new energy vehicle industry is conducive to the achievement of China’s major strategic goal of ‘carbon peak and carbon neutrality’. This research involved an empirical study on the relevant data of 14 listed new energy vehicle companies from 2012 to 2019. It used the entropy weight method to obtain the technological innovation index through the four indicators of research and development (R&D) investment, fixed asset investment, intangible assets, and patent application volume. Taking fiscal subsidies and tax burdens as independent variables, a fixed effect model was used to analyze the impact of fiscal and taxation policies on technological innovation in the new energy vehicle industry. The research results show that financial subsidies will encourage new energy vehicle companies to carry out technological innovation, the tax burden has no significant impact on the technological innovation of new energy vehicle enterprises, the scale and age of enterprises, as well as the proportion of R&D personnel to the total number of employees, will all encourage new energy vehicle companies to carry out technological innovation. Based on this, we put forward specific suggestions on further improving the fiscal subsidy and tax incentive policies.

One of the goals of developing a transport corridor is to promote socio-economic development by improving connectivity and sustainable transport operations, which largely depends on the operational strategy. Trade-off policies can be important tools for gaining the competitive advantage of road transport corridors, and thus, help facilitate sustainable growth and welfare. This article uses a case-based approach to observe the trade-offs in the first phase of transport infrastructure development, and then, in the second stage, further explores the trade-off variables in the transport operations strategy under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). The results from the three cases of the parallel route system of the CPEC indicate that trade-off is an easily understandable and applicable method, which can foresee the operational gains or compromises for significant welfare of the regions. The implications of the trade-off are two fold, first is the “importance” of the trade-off, which is related to its impact on operational competitiveness. The other is the “sensitivity” of the trade-off, in terms of the change that will be caused to one variable when changing the other. The trade-off concept can be used for several landlocked transport corridors to achieve a competitive edge in transit trade.

The growth of demand and production in palm oil has increased rapidly from time to time, as this scenario has a positive impact on the development of economy. However, in the long run,the scenariomay give a negative impact if it is not closely controlled; like the issue of haze. Therefore, thisstudy is aimed to create a sustainable mechanism framework of palm oil farming among smallholders using Islamic micro financing.This is because; the position of smallholders is an issue in the sustainability debate in the palm oil industry at the global level. Using library research, this study discovered the constraints and the challenges faced by independent smallholders to create sustainable palm oil farming. Hence, the study was developed around the specific objectives that looked into the Islamic microfinance form and appropriate mechanisms for the implementation. In doing so, this study employed the qualitative method. From the results, it was concluded that Islamic microfinance is indeed a source of funding for a number of independent smallholders of oil palm. Later on, Islamic microfinance may contribute to sustainable palm oil production. Furthermore, by introducing a workable mechanism, more Islamic financial institutions should be involved in providing Islamic microfinancing to smallholders.

Satisfying energy demand has become a global problem that is on the rise due to population growth, infrastructure deterioration, a decline in fossil fuel sources, and high costs for investment, among others. Smart grids, in addition to those challenges that they have at the level of energy generation, have other management challenges derived from the great diversity of components that make them up, such as energy storage systems (batteries, capacitors, etc.), the different types of consumers (controllable, non-controllable loads) and prosumers (electric vehicles, self-sustaining buildings, micro-grid, etc.), among others. Consequently, a distributed control problem is presented, mainly oriented to the coordination of its components. A possible solution is to achieve the participation of each component when conditions are more favorable, such as prioritizing production with renewable energy sources, or taking advantage of prosumers so that they can meet local demand, among other things. Therefore, new strategies with a distributed approach such as bio-inspired emergent controls are necessary. The objective of this work is the specification of an emergent control approach to coordinate a smart grid. This approach allows the coordination of the energy supply in various operating scenarios. The results obtained demonstrate a perfect synchronization between the different smart grid components (agents), prioritizing renewable energy sources, regardless of the operational context (for example, in cases of failures, unsuitable environmental conditions, etc.). TRUE pub

Significant changes in society were emphasized as being required to achieve Sustainable Development Goals, a need which was further intensified with the emergence of the pandemic. The prospective society should be directed towards sustainable development, a process in which technology plays a crucial role. The proposed study discusses the technological potential for attaining the Sustainable Development Goals via disruptive technologies. This study further analyzes the outcome of disruptive technologies from the aspects of product development, health care transformation, a pandemic case study, nature-inclusive business models, smart cities and villages. These outcomes are mapped as a direct influence on Sustainable Development Goals 3, 8, 9 and 11. Various disruptive technologies and the ways in which the Sustainable Development Goals are influenced are elaborated. The investigation into the potential of disruptive technologies highlighted that Industry 5.0 and Society 5.0 are the most supportive development to underpin the efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. The study proposes the scenario where both Industry 5.0 and Society 5.0 are integrated to form smart cities and villages where the prospects of achieving Sustainable Development Goals are more favorable due to the integrated framework and Sustainable Development Goals’ interactions. Furthermore, the study proposes an integrated framework for including new age technologies to establish the concepts of Industry 5.0 and Society 5.0 integrated into smart cities and villages. The corresponding influence on the Sustainable Development Goals are also mapped. A SWOT analysis is performed to assess the proposed integrated approach to achieve Sustainable Development Goals. Ultimately, this study can assist the industrialist, policy makers and researchers in envisioning Sustainable Development Goals from technological perspectives.

Industry is frequently framed as hard-to-decarbonize given its diversity of requirements, technologies, and supply chains, many of which are unique to particular sectors. Net zero commitments since 2019 have begun to challenge the carbon intensity of these various industries, but progress has been slow globally. Against this backdrop, the United Kingdom has emerged as a leader in industrial decarbonization efforts. Their approach is based on industrial clusters, which cut across engineering, spatial, and socio-political dimensions. Two of the largest of these clusters in England in terms of industrial emissions are the Humber and Merseyside. In this paper, drawn from a rich mixed methods original dataset involving expert interviews (N = 46 respondents), site visits (N = 20), a review of project documents and the academic literature, we explore ongoing efforts to decarbonize both the Humber and Merseyside through the lens of spatially expansive and technically complex megaprojects. Both have aggressive implementation plans in place for the deployment of net-zero infrastructure, with Zero Carbon Humber seeking billions in investment to build the country's first large-scale bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) plant alongside a carbon transport network and hydrogen production infrastructure, and HyNet seeking billions in investment to build green and blue hydrogen facilities along with a carbon storage network near Manchester and Liverpool. We draw from the social construction of technology (SCOT) literature to examine the relevant social groups, interpretive flexibility, and patterns of closure associated with Zero Carbon Humber and HyNet. We connect our findings to eight interpretive frames surrounding the collective projects, and make connections to problems, contestation, and closure.