This monograph adresses the challenge of the environmental assessment of leightweight electric vehicles. It poses the question whether the use of lightweight materials in electric vehicles can reduce the vehicles' environmental impact and compares the environmental performance of a lightweight electric vehicle (LEV) to other types of vehicles. The topical approach focuses on methods from life cycle assessment (LCA), and the book concludes with a comprehensive concept on the environmental assessment of LEVs. The target audience primarily comprises LCA practitioners from research institutes and industry, but it may also be beneficial for graduate students specializing in the field of environmental assessment.

The book contributes to a better understanding of the role of knowledge societies in achieving sustainability. It is based on the conference with the same title held in Riga, which brought together experts from Europe and the rest of the world. The book highlights sustainable development in relation to the knowledge society and smart future manufacturing technologies, and it helps provide a better understanding of the interplay between sustainable development and knowledge society issues, and how these could lead to a better future.

Sustainability holds the promise of an exciting new approach to business - one in which business goals are aligned with social and environmental goals. Multinational corporations are recognizing that we live in an increasingly resource-constrained world, and that more accountability for corporate social and environmental impacts will accrue to them. More importantly, forward-thinking executives understand that sustainability can present new opportunities for competitive advantage - whether that is by reducing costs, minimizing risk, appealing to increasingly conscientious customers, or reaching new markets entirely. With the growth of this field comes a host of interesting new career opportunities for MBAs. As companies are grappling with challenges like how to develop social return on investment (SROI) metrics or understand the potential impact of corporate carbon footprints on stock prices, there are new opportunities for the next generation of managers - managers who are not only trained in traditional MBA fundamentals but also grounded in an understanding of the multifaceted social and environmental challenges facing 21st-century global business leaders. Entirely new career paths are opening to MBAs interested in sustainability: sustainable venture capital, green marketing, corporate social responsibility management, carbon credit trading, and sustainability consulting, to name a few. Perhaps even more than corporate executives, MBA students understand this trend. The next generation of managers can see that the future of business will require a new set of skills and responsibilities. Between 2003 and 2008, membership in Net Impact, the global organization for MBAs and business professionals interested in sustainability, increased more than fourfold. By March 2009, over 130 business schools had a Net Impact chapter. Around the world, MBA students realize that a different model will be required for businesses in the coming decades. The career paths that fall under the broad umbrella of "sustainability" are as diverse as the MBA students themselves. One student may be interested in social entrepreneurship in West Africa, and the next will be seeking advice about clean-tech venture capital careers in Silicon Valley; a third will be interested in greening global supply chains. Corporate social responsibility, sustainable product marketing, microfinance, green real estate development, renewable energy, and other interests all likewise fall under the sustainability umbrella at times. Because of this diversity, it is often hard for business schools' career management centers to address sustainability-related career options in a comprehensive way. Many sustainability-related companies and nonprofits are not accustomed to on-campus recruiting. Others have not historically hired MBAs at all. MBA students and alumni interested in sustainability careers are often left to navigate their own internship and job search paths. And, often, they struggle. Profession and Purpose has been written to address this urgent need. Whether you are focused on an off-campus search or participating in the on-campus recruiting process, there are a host of sustainability-specific career resources you should know about. You'll need to be well versed in sustainability news and trends, and network at the right events, conferences, and company presentations. You also need to know about industry- and discipline-specific websites that post sustainability jobs for positions with titles like Corporate Social Responsibility Manager, Socially Responsible Investing Analyst, and Renewable Energy Market Analyst. Through hundreds of conversations with MBA students, professionals, and recruiters, as well as her own personal experience, the author has compiled the key job search resources and tips for MBAs interested in sustainability careers. The book provides ideas for researching companies, making the most of your networking, identifying job and internship openings, and preparing for interviews. No matter what stage of your MBA career search process you're in, this book will help you better understand your career options in the many fields of sustainability, direct you to the best resources and help you to fine-tune your sustainability job search strategy. It's the sustainability career coach MBAs have been waiting for.

This book provides a framework for integrating information management in supply chains. Current trends in business practice have made it necessary to explore the potential held by information integration with regard to environmental aspects. Information flow integration provides an opportunity to focus on the creation of a more "green" supply chain. However, it is currently difficult to identify the impact of information integration on greening a supply chain in a wide range of practical applications. Accordingly, this book focuses on the potential value of information integration solutions in terms of greening supply chain management. It covers the following major topics: Application of information flow standards in the supply chain Information systems and technological solutions for integrating information flows in supply chains The Internet of Things and the industry 4.0 concept, with regard to the integration of supply chains Modeling and simulation of logistics processes Decision-making tools enabling the greening of supply chains

This book highlights the electronic governance in a smart city through case studies of cities located in many countries. "E-Government" refers to the use by government agencies of information technologies (such as Wide Area Networks, the Internet, and mobile computing) that have the ability to transform relations with citizens, businesses, and other arms of government. These technologies can serve a variety of different ends: better delivery of government services to citizens, improved interactions with business and industry, citizen empowerment through access to information, or more efficient government management. The resulting benefits are less corruption, increased transparency, greater convenience, revenue growth, and/or cost reductions. The book is divided into three parts. * E-Governance State of the Art Studies of many cities * E-Governance Domains Studies * E-Governance Tools and Issues

This book is committed to provide a holistic view of corruption in the public construction sector, a sector that has been perceived as the most corrupt in the world. Relying on the new findings achieved from a series of qualitative and quantitative studies, this book unveils the specific forms of corruption, the principal causes of corruption, and the prevailing anti-corruption strategies that are used by the current practice. Furthermore, this book provides two metrics that can assess the potential of corruption and the risk of collusion in given public construction projects, respectively. This book will enhance industry and research communities' understandings of corruption in the public construction sector. It is also informative to policy-makers and can help them come up with some more effective strategies to eliminate corruption in the public construction sector.

This book examines the energy footprints of various industrial sectors, including the bio- and hydrogen energy systems, and explores the scope for improvement, particularly in India. It focuses on the consumption and conservation of energy, which are the key elements of any industry's sustainability strategy.

This volume discusses the challenges of Latin America in global environmental geopolitics. Written by leading experts, this book brings together Latin American research on global environmental change. They cover a range of topics such as climate change, water, forest and biodiversity conservation connected with science policies, public opinion, priorities of international funds, and international politics of Latin American countries. The book describes the discrepancy between the international priorities and the regional needs or country interests. It includes several case studies and analyses the cooperation in multilateral negotiations on climate change. It also offers a synthesis of debates around global environmental changes and Latin American politics, which the authors have previously promoted in different academic events in South America, including in Santiago de Chile in Chile, and Buenos Aires and Ushuaia in Argentina. This book assesses the environmental problems from different perspectives, highlights the scientific development in the environmental changes affecting Latin America and offers a new view on geopolitics to help face those issues. Specialist readers in international relations, political sciences, environmental sciences, geography and geopolitics will appreciate this up-to-date examination of Latin America and the global environmental change.

As the demand for global energy increases, fact-based evaluations of alternative energy sources are needed in order to address the growing interest in how energy is produced, provided, and transported in sustainable ways. "Future Energy, Second Edition "provides scientists and decision makers with the knowledge they need to understand the relative importance and magnitude of various energy production methods in order to make the energy decisions needed for sustaining development and dealing with climate change. The second edition of "Future Energy" looks at the present energy situation and extrapolates to future scenarios related to global warming and the increase of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. This thoroughly revised and updated edition contains over 30 chapters on all aspects of future energy, each chapter updated and expanded by expert scientists and engineers in their respective fields providing an unbiased and balanced view of the future of energy.
Provides readers with an up-to-date overview of available energy options, both traditional and renewable, as well as the necessary tools to make informed decisions regarding selection, use, and environmental impacts.Covers a wide spectrum of future energy resources presented in a single book with chapters written by experts of the particular fieldEleven new chapters including chapters on: solar heating, energy resources in developing nations and frontiers in oil and gas, Arctic drilling and unconventional oil and gas sources, thorium in nuclear fission, ethanol and other options for future transport fuel, fracking, smart grids, new batteries, environmental issues and the energy options for China

This volume of the Lecture Notes in Mobility series contains papers written by speakers at the 22nd International Forum on Advanced Microsystems for Automotive Applications (AMAA 2018) "Smart Systems for Clean, Safe and Shared Road Vehicles" that was held in Berlin, Germany in September 2018. The authors report about recent breakthroughs in electric and electronic components and systems, driver assistance, vehicle automation and electrification as well as data, clouds and machine learning. Furthermore, innovation aspects and impacts of connected and automated driving are covered. The target audience primarily comprises research experts and practitioners in industry and academia, but the book may also be beneficial for graduate students alike.

The proceeding of tropical agriculture is a proceeding of papers presented at the International Conference on Tropical Agriculture. Sustainability of agriculture production system is an important issue in the world, which includes all aspects of sustainable criteria, such as technical, socio-economic, and ecological aspects. This book covers sustainable tropical agriculture, sustainable tropical fisheries, sustainable tropical animal production, sustainable tropical forestry, tropical animal health, and Innovative and Emerging Food Technology and Management. The most common, challenging issues in plant, animal and fisheries production in the tropics are climate change, inefficiency production system, low technological innovation, decreasing environment quality, and the outbreak risk of pest and diseases. These issues are closely linked to the socio-economic condition of farmers as small-scale farms are dominant in this area. In addition, post-harvest technology is crucial to maintaining the high quality of products after on farm production. This volume provides the recent research and development on tropical agriculture production systems for plant, terrestrial animal and aquatic animal to establish sustainable agriculture production in the tropics.

Sustainable development and the protection of the environment are concepts that have become inescapably connected. At the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in September 2002, the challenges facing the global environment were discussed at length. Air, water and marine pollution continue to rob millions of a decent life, loss of biodiversity continues, fish stocks are being depleted, desertification claims more fertile land, climate changes are having devastating effects, natural disasters are more frequent and developing countries are even more vulnerable. (Principle 13). This volume examines these important issues and adapts a practical approach. It outlines the programme of sustainable development in concrete fields of economic and environmental cooperation. The concept for this volume originated from the Conference on Exploitation and Management of Natural Resources in the Twenty-First Century: The Challenge of Sustainable Development. The Conference was organised by the British Institute of International and Comparative Law and the Department of Law at Queen Mary, University of London.

The aim of this book is to present qualitative and qualitative aspects of logistics operations and supply chain management which help to implement the sustainable policy principles in the companies and public sector s institutions. Authors in individual chapters address the issues related to reverse network configuration, forward and reverse supply chain integration, CO2 reduction in transportation, improvement of the production operations and management of the recovery activities. Some best practices from different countries and industries are presented. This book will be valuable to both academics and practitioners wishing to deepen their knowledge in the field of logistics operations and management with regard to sustainability issues."

The book reveals how green buildings are currently being adapted and applied in developing countries. It includes the major developing countries such as China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Pakistan, Cambodia, Ghana, Nigeria and countries from the Middle East and gathers the insights of respected green building researchers from these areas to map out the developing world's green building revolution. The book highlights these countries' contribution to tackling climate change, emphasising the green building benefits and the research behind them. The contributing authors explore how the green building revolution has spread to developing countries and how national governments have initiated their own green building policies and agendas. They also explore how the market has echoed the green building policy, and how a business case for green buildings has been established. In turn, they show how an international set of green building standards, in the form of various techniques and tools, has been incorporated into local building and construction practices. In closing, they demonstrate how the developing world is emerging as a key player for addressing the energy and environmental problems currently facing the world. The book helps developers, designers and policy-makers in governments and green building stakeholders to make better decisions on the basis of global and local conditions. It is also of interest to engineers, designers, facility managers and researchers, as it provides a holistic picture of how the industry is responding to the worldwide call for greener and more sustainable buildings.

This book provides advanced analytics and decision management techniques and tools for developing sustainable competitive advantages in the studied target context. In order to achieve sustainable economy, the capacity to endure, it is essential to understand and study the mechanisms for interactions and impact from and among these perspectives.

This thesis documents almost twenty years of the author's work on the development and implementation of a new approach to holistic community development in remote and disadvantaged villages in Nepal. It describes the theoretical basis of the work, the main research activities, and the practical outcomes of the implemented programs. One of the fundamental cornerstones of holistic community development is the provision of appropriate and sustainable solutions for the long-term development of local communities. This requires that people's own identified needs be recognized and addressed in partnership with them in holistic ways. The author explains the many synergies that result from this holistic approach to community development. Another cornerstone of his approach is to utilise the communities' locally available renewable resources for long-term sustainable development. One of the key findings of the thesis is that improved access to energy services, such as cooking with a smokeless metal stove in a clean indoor environment, basic indoor lighting, and increased food production and safe food storage (through a greenhouse and a solar drier respectively), need to be at the very heart of any long-term holistic community development project. The thesis demonstrates that tapping into locally available renewable energy resources and converting them, through contextualized and locally manufactured renewable energy technologies, has a central role in long-term holistic community development programs. Such programs are successful because they provide both appropriate technologies and life-changing experiences for the local users involved.

This book offers an in-depth analysis of the Brazilian sugarcane complex with a special focus on technological advances that promote sustainable development. It first examines the question why sugarcane-based ethanol from Brazil is considered a superior alternative to fossil fuel compared to other biofuels produced on an industrial scale and subsequently analyzes the most dynamic areas within the sugarcane sector with regard to relevant actors, technologies and markets in order to determine if the sector can be considered an innovation system. The empirical research presented here is based on multiple research methods and derives its data from interviews with Brazilian experts of the sugarcane sector and by a thorough literature review. The book will be of special interest to researchers and practitioners interested in understanding the key mechanisms in successful innovation systems that promote a transition towards sustainable development and mobility.

This volume offers a comprehensive survey and a close analysis of efforts to develop actionable climate information in support of vital decisions for climate adaptation, risk management and policy. Arising from submissions and discussion at the 2011 Open Science Conference (OSC) of the World Climate Research Program (WCRP), the book addresses research and intellectual challenges which span the full range of Program activities.

The latest scientific knowledge on climate change indicates that higher greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere through unchecked emissions will provoke severe climate change and ocean acidification. Both impacts can fundamentally alter environmental structures on which humanity relies and have serious consequences for the food chain among others. Climate change therefore poses major socio-economic, technical and environmental challenges which will have serious impacts on countries' pathways towards sustainable development. As a result, climate change and sustainable development have increasingly become interlinked. A changing climate makes achieving Millennium Development Goals more difficult and expensive, so there is every reason to achieve development goals with low greenhouse gas emissions. This leads to the following five challenges discussed by Challenges and Solutions for Climate Change: 1. To place climate negotiations in the wider context of sustainability, equity and social change so that development benefits can be maximised at the same time as decreasing greenhouse gas emissions. 2. To select technologies or measures for climate change mitigation and adaptation based on countries' sustainable development and climate goals. 3. To create low greenhouse gas emission and climate resilient strategies and action plans in order to accelerate innovation needed for achieving sustainable development and climate goals on the scale and timescale required within countries. 4. To rationalize the current directions in international climate policy making in order to provide coherent and efficient support to developing countries in devising and implementing strategies and action plans for low emission technology transfers to deliver climate and sustainable development goals. 5. To facilitate development of an international framework for financial resources in order to support technology development and transfer, improve enabling environments for innovation, address equity issues such as poor people's energy access, and make implementation of activities possible at the desired scale within the country. The solutions presented in Challenges and Solutions for Climate Change show how ambitious measures can be undertaken which are fully in line with domestic interests, both in developing and in developed countries, and how these measures can be supported through the international mechanisms.

This book presents a cross-disciplinary approach to smart grids, offering an invaluable basis for understanding their complexity and potential, and for discussing their technical, legal, economic, societal, psychological and security aspects. Smart grids are a complex phenomenon involving new, active roles for consumers and prosumers, novel social, political and cultural practices, advanced ICT, new markets, security of supply issues, the informational turn in energy, valuation of assets and investments, technological innovation and (de)regulation. Furthermore, smart grids offer new interfaces, in turn creating hybrid fields: with the increasing use of electric vehicles and electric transportation, smart grids represent the crossroads of energy and mobility. While the aim is to achieve more sustainable production, transportation and use of energy, the importance of smart grids actually has less to do with electricity, heat or gas, and far more with transforming the infrastructure needed to deliver energy, as well as the roles of its owners, operators and users. The immediate goal is to contribute positively to a sustainable world society. The chapters are revised and expanded texts based upon lectures delivered at the Groningen Energy Summer School 2014. Questions for further discussion at the end of each chapter highlight the key themes that emerge. The book offers an indispensable resource for researchers, professionals and companies in the power supply industry, and for students seeking to broaden and deepen their understanding of smart grids.

This book provides insights on a broad spectrum of renewable and sustainable energy technologies from the world's leading experts. It highlights the latest achievements in policy, research and applications, keeping readers up-to-date on progress in this rapidly advancing field. Detailed studies of technological breakthroughs and optimizations are contextualized with in-depth examinations of experimental and industrial installations, connecting lab innovations to success in the field. The volume contains selected papers presented at technical and plenary sessions at the World Renewable Energy Congress, the world's premier conference on renewable energy and sustainable development. Held every two years, the Congress provides an international forum that attracts hundreds of delegates from more than 60 countries.

This book addresses energy footprints in the food and textile sectors. Each footprint case study presents essential background information and discusses the scientific consensus, methodological framework, assessment checklist, calculation tools and techniques, applications, challenges and limitations. More importantly, the book explores the application of each indicator/framework in various industrial sectors and the associated challenges, as well as outlooks for the future - essential considerations, given that energy consumption and conservation are the primary elements in any industry's sustainability strategy.