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This study evaluates and compares the trends in CO2 emissions for the manufacturing industries of three countries: two developed countries (Germany and Sweden) that have applied several measures to promote a shift towards a low-carbon economy and one developing country (Colombia) that has shown substantial improvements in the reduction of CO2 emissions. This analysis is conducted using panel data cointegration techniques to infer causality between CO2 emissions, production factors and energy sources. The results indicate a trend of producing more output with less pollution. The trends for these countries’ CO2 emissions depend on investment levels, energy sources and economic factors. Furthermore, the trends in CO2 emissions indicate that there are emission level differences between the two developed countries and the developing country. Moreover, the study confirms that it is possible to achieve economic growth and sustainable development while reducing greenhouse gas emissions, as Germany and Sweden demonstrate. In the case of Colombia, it is important to encourage a reduction in CO2 emissions through policies that combine technical and economic instruments and incentivise the application of new technologies that promote clean and environmentally friendly processes.

AbstractWe analyze whether lower rents for energy-inefficient apartments reflect tenants’ willingness to pay due to a higher green awareness, purchasing power, or energy consumption costs. Based on a German rental apartment dataset from Q1 2007 to Q1 2019, we use interaction terms for socioeconomic characteristics in a hedonic regression model. We find that rents are lower for apartments with higher energy consumption, even in neighborhoods with lower levels of green awareness. This relationship is stronger in neighborhoods with higher purchasing power, such that communities with low levels of green awareness and high purchasing power show the steepest negative slope for increasing energy consumption (−8.6% from the highest to lowest rating). Thus, the rent-decreasing effect of purchasing power is higher than that of green awareness. Splitting the entire period into smaller windows, we find that the interaction effect of green awareness has emerged in the most recent years (2017–2019). This may be driven by changes in regulation, which have made it easier for tenants to assess the energy consumption before they rent, or by a general increase in green awareness over this period.

Land, energy and water are the foundational resources of a country, and have a number of complex interactions with a changing climate. Their exploitation can have significant impacts on climate change, which in turn can affect the future availability of these resources. Thus it is important to properly manage these resources, to ensure that they can continue to provide long into the future. This thesis aims to assess the climate, land-use, energy and water systems (CLEWs) nexus in Bolivia, to determine critical points of interactions, and to produce recommendations for policy actions. This includes both mitigation and adaptation actions. The results show that Bolivia’s projected demand increases are certainly manageable, and with the investments as outlined, they can easily be satisfied, while reducing emissions and increasing climate resilience. An important result is that municipal and thermal water demand don’t appear to be limiting constraints, and so water management efforts should focus on agricultural and hydropower use. Recommended future work is to increase the scope and detail of the water and land model, so that all of the planned hydropower projects are included, and so that agriculture and irrigation demands and impacts can be more accurately predicted.

Seeking a scientific and reasonable population structure is the key to realizing low-carbon and green development of urban agglomerations. Based on the coupled coordination degree model and exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA), this paper studied the spatiotemporal differences of population spatial equilibrium in Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan urban agglomeration, and constructed a nonlinear dynamic panel econometric model and quantile regression model to empirically test the carbon emission reduction effect and its heterogeneity of the population spatial equilibrium. The research conclusions are as follows: First, the population spatial equilibrium index of Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan urban agglomeration shows an upward trend in time, but the overall level is not high and the internal gap is obvious. In space, it presents a situation of concentration in the central urban area of Changsha. Second, the carbon emissions of Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan urban agglomeration have obvious dynamic inertia and path-dependent characteristics. That is, the carbon emissions of the previous period will significantly promote the carbon emissions of the current period. Third, the carbon emission reduction effect of population spatial equilibrium has the characteristics of an inverted “U” shape, and the population spatial equilibrium index in most areas is too low to achieve carbon emission reduction. Fourth, the legal environment helps to promote the spatial balance of population, thereby reducing the regional total carbon emissions, per capita carbon emissions and carbon emissions per unit area. Last, Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan urban agglomeration needs to improve the level of economic development and government expenditure to realize the carbon emission reduction effect. In general, Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan urban agglomeration should take into account the development of economy and environment in the process of improving the level of population space balance, so as to achieve a win-win situation for economy and environment.

Energy plays a crucial role in economic development. The article presents a framework for the analysis of alternative energy technology mixes in agricultural production and applies it in the context of sisal production in the Tanga region, Tanzania. Through scenario analysis, the paper presents both case-specific and generalizable insights. Case-specific insights show the key role that modern uses of energy and modern agricultural technologies could play in increasing productivity and revenues, in minimizing environmental degradation, and in promoting local development. Generalizable insights demonstrate the value of using sector-specific micro-structural frameworks and scenario analysis for assessing different technologies mixes in the energy and agriculture planning process.

As the building and construction industry contributes considerably to global warming there isa need to increase sustainable building, especially in developing countries where the conceptis often overlooked. Even though there is a need to implement more sustainable alternatives,research shows that it comes with many challenges. The aim for this study is therefore toanalyze the barriers and motivational drivers when implementing sustainable building inGhana. Chan et al. (2018) have previously conducted a categorization of the barriers forsustainable building through a quantitative study. This categorization was used as a guidingtool in this qualitative study, which was done through a Minor Field Study (MFS). Hence,eleven interviews with green champions were held on-site in Ghana. Further, to understand themotivation of the interviewees better, self-determination theory (SDT) was used to analyze thedata. The theory divides motivation into two different levels, extrinsic and intrinsic. The formeris a more controlled form of motivation, while the latter is more autonomous. The findingsshow that the most critical barriers were lack of professional knowledge and expertise, lack ofawareness of sustainable building and its benefits, together with higher costs. Despite thesebarriers, the green champions are still highly motivated. While intrinsic motivation is dominantamongst the green champions interviewed for this study, there is still a level of extrinsicmotivation at play. When comparing the barriers to the motivational factors one suggestion isfor the private and public sector to invest in demonstration projects. This would fulfill the greenchampions’ motivation to create their own identity for African architecture combined with anincreased awareness for sustainable building. This paper contributes with a unique andcomprehensive look at sustainable building in Ghana. Additionally, the study's theoreticalframework is not often used in the field of construction management, making this a valuablecontribution as the paper can be beneficial to leaders or managers in the construction industry. Bygg- och anläggningsindustrin bidrar avsevärt till den globala uppvärmningen vilket harskapat ett behov av att öka hållbart byggande, särskilt i låg- eller medelinkomstländer därkonceptet ofta förbises. Även om det finns ett behov av att implementera mer hållbara alternativvisar forskning att det kommer med många utmaningar. Syftet med denna studie är därför attanalysera barriärerna och drivkrafterna vid implementering av hållbart byggande i Ghana.Chan et al. (2018) har tidigare kategoriserat barriärerna för hållbart byggande genom enkvantitativ studie. Kategorisering har använts som ett vägledande ramverk i denna kvalitativastudie, som gjordes genom en fältstudie. Elva intervjuer genomfördes med aktörer definieradesom “green champions” på plats i Ghana. För att bättre förstå motivationen hos de intervjuade,applicerades självbestämmandeteorin (SBT) vid analysering av data. Teorin delar in motivationi två olika nivåer, extern och intern. Extern motivation är en mer kontrollerad form avmotivation, medan intern är mer autonom. Resultatet visar att de mest kritiska barriärerna ärbrist på professionell kunskap och expertis, bristande medvetenhet om hållbart byggande ochdess fördelar, samt högre kostnader. Trots dessa hinder är de intervjuade aktörerna motiverade.Även om intern motivation är dominerande bland de intervjuade, finns en nivå av externmotivation. Efter jämförelse mellan barriärerna och motivationsfaktorerna är ett förslag att denprivata och offentliga sektorn investerar i demonstrationsprojekt. Detta skulle uppfyllaaktörernas motivation att skapa sin egen identitet för afrikansk arkitektur kombinerat med enökad medvetenhet om hållbart byggande. Den här studien bidrar med ett unikt och heltäckandeperspektiv på hållbart byggande i Ghana. Dessutom är det unikt att använda studiens teoretiskaramverk inom området byggprojektledning, vilket gör detta till ett värdefullt bidrag eftersomuppsatsen kan vara till nytta för ledare eller chefer inom byggbranschen. 

This article examines the value and effect of social capital deriving from cross-ethnic business cooperation on social networks and society in the aftermath of war. The study contributes to a deeper understanding of the social function entrepreneurship conveys beyond its economic role. Based on Putnam’s bridging and bonding social capital theory and Granovetter’s theory on weak ties, the article studies ties between entrepreneurs originating from different ethnic groups in ethnically divided post-conflict societies. This study highlights the capacity of entrepreneurs to produce and generate social capital across ethnic lines. The field study includes surveys and interviews in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, and North Macedonia. The results show that the majority of entrepreneurs cooperate and employ across ethnic lines. Cross-ethnic business relationships formed between entrepreneurs create benefits not only for entrepreneurs but also for building social capital across ethnic lines, thus forming valuable, yet depleted, social capital in post-conflict societies. Voluntary relationships between managers and business owners set a valuable model of weak ties facilitating associative behaviour among divided ethnic groups. Business exchange and relationships create social values that transcend a simple financial transaction. Value is in the form of friendship and trust, a reliance that maintains entrepreneurs’ relationships and contributes to the social capital.

We present a price-based approach for congestion management in distribution power systems with renewable generations with the final goal of maximizing a social welfare function which includes net revenues of network users as well as the cost of real power losses. Particularly, we design a combined nodal and uniform pricing mechanism for maximization of the social welfare function while maintaining voltage magnitudes in a desired bound and respecting the grid's actual capacity. Storage systems are considered in order to increase/add elasticity to generations and loads. Simulation results are provided for a modified IEEE-37 bus. A scenario is numerically simulated where the excess of generation in the absence of storage and price signals leads to deviations of voltages from a desired bound. Thereafter, it is shown that the application of the price signals is effective to maintain the voltages within the desired bound while the designed social welfare function is maximized.