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Within design of information and communication technology (ICT) we need to first shape and then follow a vision to take responsibility for the futures that design materializes. Although research and literature on both sustainable technology and sustainable interaction design grow significantly, both fields with their (im)material character, are less often thought together and seen as mutually shaping. Hence, this paper examines the state-of-the-art in modularity as one sustainable design principle for the mobile phone and related ICT, utilizing a review of design (concept) cases in form of their multimedia representations. Matching the findings from the concrete exemplars with generic scientific research results within modular designing informs a discussion on value preservation (promotion of reuse over recycling and the like), portraying nowadays insufficiencies on the one hand and desirable, meaningful futures on the other. It describes both the employment of and the confidence in modularity for accomplishing sustainability, digital materiality or the soft matter, and the demandingness of modularly upgradable architectures. Supposedly by help of the critical design practice in an academic context - which translates to fundamental creativity-based research driven by envisioning new possibilities - further research shall build on the insights gained here. Our vision may thus be called sustainable technology and interaction design, which as an acronym gives STaID.

The concept of energy transition can be interpreted in different ways depending on the nature of the agent involved. However, practitioners and existing literature agree that a country’s energy transition is the variation of fossil fuel share in the total primary energy supply (TPES). Public policies mostly focus on changing the energy mix directly or indirectly. However, the production of fossil fuels depends mostly on market-related determinants, including prices and investment in the means of production. But what is the contribution of global energy transition? The objective of this paper is to estimate to which extent public policies related to energy transition affect fossil fuel production in producing countries. For this purpose, we consider as a proxy of energy transition the evolution over 40 years of the TPES of a large panel of fossil fuel–exporting countries, which we compare to its total primary energy production (TPEP). Moreover, we analyze these effects to determine if they differ according to country characteristics, such as its level of development or its membership in OPEC. Finally, we describe the long-run and short-run effects by studying separately the effects of production investments and those of R&D investments in RES technologies. The European Journal of Comparative Economics, Vol 17. no. 1, p. 5-30

Cyber-physical attacks are the most significant threat facing the utilisation and development of the various smart grid technologies. Among these attacks, false data injection attacks (FDIAs) represent a major category, with a wide variety of types and effects. There has been extensive reporting on FDIAs recently. Several detection algorithms have been developed over the past few years to address this threat. In Chapter 2, this thesis starts by providing a deep analysis of the literature on these algorithms. The concluding remarks of this chapter present the main criteria that should be considered in developing future detection algorithms for FDIAs in different systems of smart grids. Following that, this dissertation proposes FDIA detection algorithms in the major systems in smart grids that are the most susceptible and vulnerable towards FDIAs. In wide-area monitoring systems, being able to promptly differentiate FDIA from normal grid contingencies is crucial for a grid operator to decide the correct response and reduce FDIA false alarms. In Chapter 3, two FDIA characterisation algorithms are developed to address this issue. The automatic generation control (AGC) is paramount in maintaining the stability and operation of power grids. FDIAs are particularly difficult to detect and represent a major threat to AGC systems. Chapter 4 proposes a novel spatio-temporal learning algorithm that can learn the normal dynamics of the power grid with AGC systems. It then utilises this unsupervised learned model in detecting FDIA affecting the AGC system. The utilisation of distributed generation units in power distribution systems has increased the complexity of system monitoring and operation. Numerous information and communication technologies have been adopted recently to overcome the associated challenges, but they have created wide opportunities for energy theft and other types of cyber-physical attacks. Chapter 5 utilises the developed spatio-temporal learning algorithm in Chapter 4 in detecting the various possibilities of FDIA affecting the distribution systems by evaluating the reconstruction error of each measurement sample. The proposed algorithm is data-driven, which makes it resilient against distribution systems’ uncertainties and nonlinearities. The collected results indicate a superior detection performance of the proposed detection algorithms compared to those in the literature.

The energy industry is going through challenging times of disruptive changes caused by decarbonization, decentralization, and digitalization. As the energy value chain is restructuring itself to accommodate the growing penetration of renewables, increasing number of independent power producers, and augmented self-consumption, new energy management approaches are required to accomplish energy transition. With the Fourth Industrial Revolution underway, it becomes evident that digitalization is the key to increase energy efficiency and ensure stable, reliable, and secure operations of the electric grid. Due to the energy industry's massive inertia, most energy utilities are missing the real momentum for unleashing large-scale digitalization enabled by Information and Communication Technology (ICT). This thesis proposes a set of ICT-based software applications, models, and tools aiming to bridge the gap between strategic roadmaps focused on the energy industry's digitalization and their actual implementation in real-world scenarios through digital energy services. The research is conducted within the designed ICT-based smart building and smart community frameworks, the modular structure and scalability of which can serve as a backbone for future digital energy management solutions. The introduction of a novel unsupervised load disaggregation approach helps raise awareness of one's energy-related behavior and understand what drives the energy usage in residential households without compromising privacy and security. Showcasing algorithm's performance on real-world datasets from Norway and Germany highlights compliance with state-of-the-art disaggregation accuracy and reduced computational costs. The development of machine learning-based supervised and unsupervised building occupancy forecasting algorithms with prediction accuracies beyond 97% helps identify best-suited windows for energy-saving opportunities and deliver insights into one's presence and absence patterns. Built on top of that occupancy-centric rule-based heating and air conditioning automation algorithm strives to unlock the buildings' massive potential for energy savings without compromising the occupants' thermal comfort. Simulations on real-world datasets collected in Portugal demonstrate more than 15% potential energy savings. Zooming out from smart buildings towards smart communities, we focus on the important role of intelligent green mobility in supporting further digitalization of the electric power sector. To overcome the inconveniences posed by the sparsity of charging infrastructure and facilitate the adoption of Electric Vehicles (EVs), we present a reinforcement learning (RL)-based EV-specific routing method that guarantees paths' energy feasibility in a graph-theoretical context. Consequently, we propose several deep RL algorithms to control EV charging with the aim to increase renewables' self-consumption and EV drivers' satisfaction. Benchmarking against rule-based and model predictive control demonstrates RL's superior computational performance and better fitness for future mobility systems. Finally, we introduce an innovative decentralized blockchain-supported framework that enables secure and reliable accounting of energy exchanges within the smart community. Implementing it in a demonstration site in Switzerland shows blockchain's potential to reduce EV charging costs, transform the market's business model, and facilitate the large-scale deployment of EVs.

This thesis consists of four papers which are related to critical natural resource issues from a developing and emerging country perspective. All four papers demonstrate the importance of financial incentives in driving behaviour and investments. Two of the papers apply cost-benefit analysis to complex decisions in the energy and land use sector and two papers model the behaviour of agricultural households. Determining an optimal strategy for energy investment in Kazakhstan We analyse energy policy options facing the Kazakhstan government which is seeking to diversify and deliver sustainable development. We use cost-benefit analysis informed by expert testimony to support critical decision-making over the necessary $67 billion in electricity investments to 2050 that can simultaneously contribute to a sustainable economy. The results indicate that for commercial, economic and sustainability reasons policymakers should switch from further investments in coal-based electricity generation to a focus on investments that harness gas and hydropower. Fuelwood scarcity, energy substitution, and rural livelihoods in Namibia We seek to improve understanding of the impact of rural energy demand on standing forests. Specifically, we analyse the energy profile of rural households in Namibia, with a focus on fuelwood demand from openaccess forests and energy alternatives such as cow dung and open-market fuelwood purchases. The results show that households are largely inelastic in their fuelwood demand, and respond to fuelwood scarcity by reducing energy consumption just slightly more than by increasing labour input to collection, with limited shift to available substitutes. Policy-makers in semi-arid countries should be alert to the potential for predicted population growth to increase fuelwood collection, even in the face of apparent scarcity and substitutes, which in turn risks degrading the integrity and extent of the forest. Economic Efficiency and Incentives for Change within Namibia’s Community Wildlife Use Initiatives We appraise the economic and financial viability of five community wildlife conservation and utilization initiatives, or conservancies, on communal land in Namibia. For each conservancy, we examine financial profitability, returns on investment and economic efficiency, as well as private returns to project investment made by all stakeholders – community, donor and government. The results illustrate that conservancies are economically efficient, profitable and able to contribute positively to national income and the development process. Crucially, conservancies provide decent financial returns for communities, including income from wildlife use. Conservancies also provide a channel for the capture of international donor grants (reflecting global wildlife non-use values) as income, further strengthening financial returns for communities. Formal microlending and adverse (or non-existent) selection: a case study of shrimp farmers in Bangladesh We study the commercial activities and incentives for shrimp farmers in Bangladesh. Shrimp farmers are rural, poor, work entirely in the informal economy, and practice a form of mono-culture. The limited credit access of these farmers is rightly seen as a weakness. The results show that all farmers over-utilise labour to reduce the need for working capital and that informal lenders – with their closer ties to the individual farmers – remain more successful than formal lenders in identifying those smallholder farmers most likely to use the borrowed funds successfully. Informal lenders have an information advantage that formal microlenders lack: the latter need to find routes to access this information for formal microcredit schemes to succeed.

Special theme discussed in BPPT-OEI 2016 is “Energy Development in Supporting Green Industry”. This theme is taken in regard to the Law No 3 Year 2014 on Industry, which mandates the government to develop green industry. Green industry prioritizes efficiency and effectiveness of resource usage in a sustainable manner in the production process as to harmonize industrial development with the environmental preservation that can provide benefits to the community. Discussion on the green industry is focused on the potential use of new and renewable energy in selected industries that have not maximally considered in the industrial sector and also its contribution to the energy mix, as well as mitigation of greenhouse gases.

Constellation Analysis is a methodological approach of innovation research that aims at understanding highly complex processes of invention and diffusion. It was developed as a tool for inter- and transdisciplinary research on technology, sustainability and innovation. Its set of tools facilitates access to a scientific object from different perspectives, using different approaches. The methodology is characterized in particular by two factors: Heterogeneous factors of influence and their effectiveness in innovation processes are principally considered equivalent, existing in relation to one another and thus fitting together into constellations. Furthermore, the methodology facilitates a bottom-up approach, similar to the Grounded Theory Approach. According to this principle, constellations are described based on their singular units and their relationships to each other. The methodology is thus appropriate to the individual course of innovation processes. It enables the search for new patterns through the comparison of different innovation biographies and allows experimentation with strategic approaches as a special form of validation. Historical Social Research Vol. 40, No. 3 (2015)

In recent years, in order to promote the independent development of the new energy vehicle industry, Chinese government has decided to reduce the consumption subsidies for new energy vehicles until the subsidies are completely withdrawn. The reduction of consumption subsidy has a great impact on the production and sales of new energy vehicles in the whole vehicle market. However, does the reduction of this subsidy also have an impact on other enterprises in the new energy vehicles industry chain? This paper tests this problem using data from 2016 to 2018, and finds, through empirical analysis, that during the period of subsidy decline, the profitability of component enterprises is significantly positively correlated with this subsidies, while the r&d investment of enterprises is significantly negatively correlated with this subsidies. The results show that in terms of profitability, the reduction of consumer subsidies not only has an impact on the whole vehicle industry of new energy vehicles, but also has an adverse impact on the core component companies in the industrial chain. However, in terms of r&d, the reduction of subsidies has more negatively strengthened the input and attention of R&D in component companies.

In the context of our project, we organised a webinar at which almost 200 participants assisted. It was aimed at everyone who cares about a greener and more sustainable future. The development of sustainable and resource-saving processes is a major focus of R&D&I work, also supported heavily by the European Commission as part of the Green Deal and the sustainability efforts. In this context, biotechnology is already acting as a facilitator to achieve a circular economy and a bioeconomy. We aim to achieve these goals with the identification, optimisation, production and application of innovative enzymes to support the transformation of various industrial sectors and their consumer products. In this webinar, we wanted to present the competences and topics we acquire or work on in FuturEnzyme to an interested international audience. With this CLIB Forum event, we want to emphasise and promote the need for collaboration between researchers, entrepreneurs, and manufacturers for a greener and more sustainable future. Furthermore, our webinar was also of interest for policy makers, funding bodies, investors and consumers. The FuturEnzyme project partners CSIC, Barcelona Supercomputing Center and the University of Hamburg presented their activities in the project and beyond to a wide range audience.

We live in a ‘throwaway and replace’ culture, our growing population and demand for new products has placed huge pressures on our planet’s resources. Our economy is locked into a system in which everything from production to economics and the way people behave favours a linear model of production and consumption, where resources pass through from sourcing to disposal in a ‘take-make-use-dispose’ construct. Climate instability, volatile commodity prices, ocean dead zones, vanishing forests, stalling economic growth, expanding food insecurity and resource conflicts are all part of the resource to waste linear economics (Grayson, 2008). Any of these are surely justifiable reasons to explore a new pattern. This research presents the findings from a feasibility study exploring Redistributed Manufacture (RDM) in Maker Spaces, using these hubs to experiment with new making practices and processes for reusing local textile waste. With the aim cultivating knowledge, skills and capabilities to grow Circular Economy (CE) practices in Scotland. The exploratory method of developing ‘Circular Fashion Archetypes’ is discussed and applied as a practical solution to connect different stakeholders and prototype a local model for a circular supply chain. The insights drawn from this research act as a starting point for future work, reflecting on the implications of the methods applied, concluding the circular economy is the same imperative whether people are focusing on ecology, economy or just their own business. Furthermore, it will suggest that design-led approaches play a role in embedding collaborative ways of working to integrate sustainability into the business modelling process.