Green Hub Research Articles

Assessing the Connectivity of Urban Green Spaces for Enhanced Environmental Justice and Ecosystem Service Flow: A Study of Tehran Using Graph Theory and Least-Cost Analysis

This research aims to analyze the relationship between environmental justice and urban green space connectivity in Tehran, Iran. The evaluation of green space connectivity in this study is conducted through two distinct cost layers: one aimed at enhancing existing connections and another focused on establishing new green spaces. Key factors influencing connectivity, extracted from the relevant literature, were identified to facilitate this analysis. Employing graph theory and least-cost analysis, the results determined critical resistance factors, current connectivity and cost status, the varying degrees to which different districts benefit from green space ecosystem services, and the most effective routes for establishing green corridors. Research findings highlight significant disparities in access to these services, particularly in the underserved central districts of Tehran. Moreover, spatial analysis reveals a higher potential for enhancing east–west ecosystem service corridors due to the higher density of green hubs and lower costs in this orientation, while north–south connectivity faces more challenges. By exploring land use/land cover, and physical and socio-economic factors affecting urban green space connectivity, this study provides urban and environmental planners with a novel methodology and comprehensive insights for effective decision making, resource allocation, and land use planning.

Investigating the Optimality of Existing Hubs in Terms of Coverage Capacity and Locating New Hubs for the Green Supply Chain of Medical and Pharmaceutical Equipment

The problem of locating the hub is one of the most important and widely used problems in network design. The deployed hubs can fail over time for various reasons, including disruptions in the processes, in which case excessive costs are imposed on the operating companies. Therefore, proper planning is needed to reduce the harmful effects of environmental disorders. In this regard, we seek to examine the optimization of existing hubs in terms of the capacity of the new hubs and location of the hubs, with the aim of reducing the cost of coverage to reduce the cost and maximizing the level of green hubs. To this end, the economic benefits of the measures were carried out: the establishment of a new hub, the removal of the previous or current hub, the increase and decrease of the capacity of the hubs. Eventually a new structure of hubs was introduced where the location and capacity of some hubs have changed, but in contrast, the amount of demand coverage has increased.

Web-Based Experiential Nutrition Education Intervention “The Green Hub” to Promote Sustainable and Healthy Diets among Young Adults in Australia

Background: Sustainable and healthy dietary patterns can help achieve both optimal health and reduce environmental impacts. They involve the increased intake of plant-based foods which are local and seasonal, and reduced intake of animal-derived foods and food wastage. There is emerging evidence regarding the use and effectiveness of web-based health promotion programs to improve diet related behaviours especially in young adults. This study investigated the effectiveness of the “Green Hub” pilot study, a four-week web-based experiential nutrition education intervention to promote sustainable and healthy diets among young adults in Australia. Methods: This study used a pre-/post-study design with process evaluation. The four-week intervention integrated modules on different aspects of a sustainable and healthy diets and was delivered through a private Facebook group. Eligible participants were young adults between the age of 18–25 years old residing in Australia. Results: Out of 19 participants who consented, 17 participants completed the program. Two thirds of participants (67%) stated that they were familiar with the sustainable and healthy diet concept but only 33% were able to define this concept comprehensively. The post-intervention survey resulted in improved knowledge, attitudes, and motivation to adopt more sustainable eating patterns. Conclusion: The “Green Hub” experiential nutrition education program showed positive impact on participants’ willingness to adopt sustainable and healthy diets. The findings of this pilot study will inform future larger scale studies and policy development on improving sustainable and healthy diets among young adults.

Upcycling for sustainability: Q&A with Yolande Klaassen, founder and CEO, Revive Clothing Lab

Upcycling is now a well-established business model in the sustainable fashion sector. French company Revive (https://www.reviveclothinglab.com/) is an excellent example of this trend. Founded in 2020 by entrepreneur Yolande Klaassen, the Lille-based company gives retailers’ unsold inventory a second life. Although it was launched at a difficult time economically, Revive has already operated pop-up stores in several branches of the French luxury department store Le Printemps, as part of that retailer’s circular fashion initiative. The company is now an important part of Fashion Green Hub, the sustainable fashion association based in Roubaix, the birthplace of France’s fashion industry. In this interview, Klaassen explains the circumstances that led her to found her company. More specifically, she shares her insights into the challenges of going to market in the middle of a pandemic, as well as the opportunities provided by recent French anti-waste legislation.

703 Is the Grass Always Greener on the Other Side? – How Do Breast Cancer Patients Feel About Moving to a ‘Green Hub’?

Abstract Aim Between January and September 2020 our base hospital recorded zero COVID-19 incidence in breast surgery patients, in 30 days post-op, with stringent admission protocols including 14 days self-isolation, PCR testing, ‘green’ wards and designated ‘green’ theatres. However, as the UK entered its third lockdown in January 6th2021 the decision was made to move breast cancer surgery off-site to a ‘green hub’ 43 miles away. The aim of this study was to assess the impact this had on patients. Method Patients who had surgery moved off-site were requested to anonymously complete a questionnaire which was either posted or handed to them at follow-up. The questionnaire contained 11 Multiple Choice questions and a comments section. Results 16 of 19 patients (84.21%) responded to the questionnaire. 16 of 16 (100%) understood the reason for the move. 2 (12.5%) stated that it increased anxiety/stress levels while 3 (18.75%) reported the opposite, and the remainder were neutral. 14 (87.5%) said the move made them feel safer, 1 (6.25%) did not feel safer, with the remaining 1 (6.25%) unsure. 15 (93.75%) felt they received enough information at base and 16 (100%) received sufficient discharge information at the ‘green hub’. All 16 (100%) were satisfied with the move off-site but only 15 (93.75%) supported the decision. Conclusions The responses indicate that the decision to move breast surgery off-site was supported and well understood. And while for a minority of patients this increased pre-operative anxiety/stress levels, it did make the majority feel safer.

Green Infrastructure Network Identification at a Regional Scale: The Case of Nanjing Metropolitan Area, China

Clustered urban development has caused increasing fragmentation and islanding of regional ecological spaces. Creating a green infrastructure network (GIN) is a practical method of ensuring regional ecological security. This study proposed a method of GIN identification at the regional scale based on the Nanjing Metropolitan Area as an example. In this method, green hubs were identified using morphological spatial pattern analysis and connectivity indexes, green corridors were simulated based on the least-cost path model, and key optimization nodes were identified using circuit theory. The results indicated that green hubs covered an area of 5042.07 km2, of which, 15.40% were cross-border, and the potential corridors were distributed in a network, with the key ecological nodes primarily narrowly situated. By comparing the hubs with the statutory green space protection area and the urban ecological control line, the identification results were more than 70% accurate, showing that the results were valid and reliable. This method not only made the identification of regional GIN more practical and replicable but also further identified key areas that need priority protection. This study provides a method for constructing regional GIN and serves as a strong guide for ecological and development planning of other urban clustered areas.

Is the grass always greener on the other side? - How do breast cancer patients feel about moving to a 'green hub'?

Introduction: Between January and September 2020 our base hospital recorded zero COVID-19 incidence in breast surgery patients, in 30 days post-op, with stringent admission protocols including 14 days self-isolation, PCR testing, 'green' wards and designated 'green' theatres. However, as the UK entered its third lockdown on January 6th 2021, the decision was made to move breast cancer surgery off-site to a 'green hub' 43 miles away. The aim of this study was to assess the impact this had on patients.

An environmental management system in seaports: evidence from Malaysia

ABSTRACT Seaports face significant environmental challenges in their role as hubs for logistics activities, particularly since ships are significant contributors to energy consumption, global warming and air and marine pollution. The environmental pressures facing ports has led to the emergence of the green port concept. Port Klang is the largest port in Malaysia, characterised not only by significant container throughput, but also by significant congestion issues, emissions and pollution. These characteristics led to the selection of Port Klang, the nation’s major seaport, as a case study for this analysis of the variables most relevant in the effective implementation of the green port concept and subsequent research into how this green seaport concept influences a seaport’s future competitiveness. To achieve these aims, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) has been employed. The findings of the analysis suggest that environmental quality, the use of energy and resources, waste handling and habitat quality and greenery are the critical influential factors required for establishing green port hub status and that then port competitiveness is most significantly affected by green operations, sustainable equipment, resources management and cost efficiency at seaports.

Ineos to build green hydrogen hub in Norway

Ineos to build green hydrogen hub in Norway

A Multi-Objective Green Hub Location Problem with Multi Item-Multi Temperature Joint Distribution for Perishable Products in Cold Supply Chain

This paper investigates a bi-objective green hub location problem, in which multiple perishable products with various storage temperatures can be distributed simultaneously in a cold supply chain (CSC). The objectives of this problem include minimizing the system's total cost (including transportation, hub establishment, adjustment of the storage compartments' temperatures, and carbon emission costs) and maximizing the quality of the delivered product to the customer via the proposed model. Mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) in the GAMS software was employed to formulate this problem. Then, the ε-Constraint method was adopted to solve the presented bi-objective model to obtain the Pareto frontier and consequently, a numerical example based on the CAB (Civil Aeronautics Board) database is presented to validate the applicability of the model. The solutions of the model provide information regarding the hub location (HL), allocating customers to the hubs, allocating customers to the vehicles, and the sequence of vehicles' services for the Multi Item-Multi Temperature Joint Distribution of perishable products in CSCs. Moreover, the final results revealed the existence of a contradictory exchange between the two objectives of this paper, implying that the higher is the quality of the delivered perishable product to the customer, the greater is the system's total cost. The novelty of the proposed model compared to other hub location problems (HLPs) lies in the integration of the tactical/operational decisions with strategic decisions to provide logistic solutions in CSCs by considering the carbon emissions as an environmental factor in the transportation systems for the simultaneous distribution of dissimilar storage temperatures perishable products within a CSC. The proposed model in this research can help the distributers of perishable products by maintaining the quality of the delivered items and reducing the system's total costs and considering the carbon emissions of transportation systems. This study has practical implications for the logistics and CSCs managers to not only establish a distribution network for multiple perishable products on the basis of the findings, but also respond to the environmental sustainability.

Acclimation in plants - the Green Hub consortium.

Acclimation is the capacity to adapt to environmental changes within the lifetime of an individual. This ability allows plants to cope with the continuous variation in ambient conditions to which they are exposed as sessile organisms. Because environmental changes and extremes are becoming even more pronounced due to the current period of climate change, enhancing the efficacy of plant acclimation is a promising strategy for mitigating the consequences of global warming on crop yields. At the cellular level, the chloroplast plays a central role in many acclimation responses, acting both as a sensor of environmental change and as a target of cellular acclimation responses. In this Perspective article, we outline the activities of the Green Hub consortium funded by the German Science Foundation. The main aim of this research collaboration is to understand and strategically modify the cellular networks that mediate plant acclimation to adverse environments, employing Arabidopsis, tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) and Chlamydomonas as model organisms. These efforts will contribute to 'smart breeding' methods designed to create crop plants with improved acclimation properties. To this end, the model oilseed crop Camelina sativa is being used to test modulators of acclimation for their potential to enhance crop yield under adverse environmental conditions. Here we highlight the current state of research on the role of gene expression, metabolism and signalling in acclimation, with a focus on chloroplast-related processes. In addition, further approaches to uncovering acclimation mechanisms derived from systems and computational biology, as well as adaptive laboratory evolution with photosynthetic microbes, are highlighted.

Relevance of SEA to a Global Financial Centre Under One Country Two Systems: Engaging Stakeholders for Sustainability and Climate Change

ABSTRACT As the world calls for actions in response to the adverse impacts on the natural environment associated with climate change, the international capital market increasingly recognises the pertinent investment risks imposed on assets around the globe demanding more pertinent disclosures. Hong Kong, a special administrative region and the global financial centre of the most populous nation and second largest economy of the world, has strategised to synchronise with the international financial community. Under one country two systems, it reinforces financial regulatory measures on ESG disclosures by listed companies with the ambition to become a hub of green finance. However, a recent survey reveals sluggishness of these companies in complying with the disclosure guidelines pertinent to social and environmental sustainability. Furthermore, engagement with their stakeholders appears to remain insufficient despite its significance to facilitating a social and environmental accounting (SEA) process. Meanwhile, the city’s recent social movement and turmoil generates grave concerns over its underlying social sustainability and even public health. This commentary suggests that a gap exists between: (a) the policy desire to position Hong Kong systemically as an international green finance hub that hinges upon harmonisation among local, international and governing stakeholders and (b) Hong Kong’s apparent un-sustainability status. This dilemma is yet to be harmonised owing to inability to reach consensus among intergenerational stakeholders recurrently diverged over ideologies. Such relevance and implications for the international SEAJ community are articulated.

Green hub location problem

This paper introduces the green hub location problem that finds the best locations for hubs, assignments of demand nodes to these hubs and speed of trucks/flights so as to route the demand between any origin-destination pairs. The aim of the service provider is to minimize the total amount of emissions that depends on vehicle speed and payload while routing the deliveries within a predetermined service time limit. In this study, we first propose a nonlinear model for this problem, which is then reformulated as a second order cone programming formulation. We strengthen the new model by using perspective reformulation approach. An extensive computational study on the CAB and TR datasets demonstrates the benefits of incorporating green transportation service activities to the classic hub location problems. We also provide insights for the carrier companies by analyzing the solutions with different discount factors, service time limits and number of hubs.

Urban green infrastructure and local flooding: The impact of landscape patterns on peak runoff in four Texas MSAs

Even though there is a general acknowledgement that green infrastructure can have a positive role in reducing stormwater runoff, few studies have explored how specific spatial configurations of landscape—one of the critical components of green infrastructure—could influence runoff generation. This study attempts to address this gap by examining the landscape patterns in terms of size, shape, isolation, and connectivity across the four largest metropolitan areas in Texas, using landscape ecology metrics. The outcomes indicate that larger, less fragmented, and more connected landscape patterns are likely to mediate the mean annual peak runoff. In contrast, larger developments of complex shapes with more edges, clustered, and connected are likely to augment the peak runoff. The findings of this paper provide empirical evidences for policy makers to further the importance of interconnection and clusters of green infrastructure and plan strategic green hubs and corridors to more effectively manage stormwater runoff.

Fair profit contract for a carrier collaboration framework in a green hub network under soft time-windows: Dual lexicographic max–min approach

This paper models a novel and practical bi-objective hub-location problem under a centralized carrier collaboration framework between one holding company and multiple carriers. The holding company first establishes a hub-and-spoke network in order to locate p hubs and to assign the center nodes to the located hubs. Then, it allocates the transportation routes of the hub network to the carriers. In contrast, the carriers should select an appropriate vehicle type to serve the transportation requests in a green hub network. The carriers are also able to meet the transportation requests within a certain time-window based on a soft time-window mechanism. Moreover, aiming to emphasize green transportation, a vehicle emission model is used to take into account CO2 emissions of the vehicles where the fuel consumption is a function of speed level. Aiming to identify a win–win deal between the holding company and the carriers, a dual lexicographic max–min (LMM) approach is used in order to optimize their profits in a fair way. Finally, some numerical experiments are presented to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed methodology. The computational results show that not only the holding company and the carriers can better generate a fair profit contract among themselves using the LMM approach, but also both can obtain more profit in the worst case for their businesses rather than using the max–min approach. In addition, sensitivity analyses show that increasing the size of the soft time-window leads to a reduction in the delivery schedule violations, while results in raising the total profit. Moreover, the tax cost of fuel consumption as well as the number of potential vehicles has a substantial impact on both the fuel consumption and carrier’s profit.

Economic and environmental analysis of a green energy hub with energy storage under fixed and variable pricing structures

With the increased use of intermittent renewable power generation, including wind and solar power, the need for energy storage is increasing. Repurposed hybrid electric vehicle lithium ion batteries have been shown to have energy storage potential at a modest capital cost. In this paper, the authors use a two stage MatLAB simulation to create and optimise, a net zero grid-connected facility. The yearly electricity price is calculated under various scenarios using two different pricing structures, fixed feed-in tariff and market pricing. The facility under consideration is a commercial distribution centre with refrigeration, onsite generation of hydrogen for fuel cell powered forklifts, solar and wind power generation, and re-purposed batteries for energy storage. Importantly, the feed-in tariff mechanism is shown to be a deterrent to implementing energy storage onsite, as well as to increasing the use of locally generated power. Although further savings are possible in the model, when energy storage is used, close to $50,000 in savings can be seen from electrolyser load shifting that requires no capital investment. The mechanism also negatively influences indirect electricity emissions, which is not consistent with environmental objectives.

An Empirical Study of Communication Infrastructures Towards the Smart Grid: Design, Implementation, and Evaluation

The smart grid features ubiquitous interconnections of power equipments to enable two-way flows of electricity and information for various intelligent power management applications, such as accurate relay protection and timely demand response. To fulfill such pervasive equipment interconnects, a full-fledged communication infrastructure is of great importance in the smart grid. There have been extensive works on disparate layouts of communication infrastructures in the smart grid by surveying feasible wired or wireless communication technologies, such as power line communications and cellular networks. Nevertheless, towards an operable, cost-efficient and backward-compatible communication solution, more comprehensive and practical understandings are still urgently needed regarding communication requirements, applicable protocols, and system performance. Through such comprehensive understandings, we are prone to answer a fundamental question, how to design, implement and integrate communication infrastructures with power systems. In this paper, we address this issue in a case study of a smart grid demonstration project, the Future Renewable Electric Energy Delivery and Management (FREEDM) systems. By investigating communication scenarios, we first clarify communication requirements implied in FREEDM use cases. Then, we adopt a predominant protocol framework, Distributed Network Protocol 3.0 over TCP/IP (DNP3 over TCP/IP), to practically establish connections between electric devices for data exchanges in a small-scale FREEDM system setting, Green Hub. Within the real-setting testbed, we measure the message delivery performance of the DNP3-based communication infrastructure. Our results reveal that diverse timing requirements of message deliveries are arguably primary concerns in a way that dominates viabilities of protocols or schemes in the communication infrastructure of the smart grid. Accordingly, although DNP3 over TCP/IP is widely considered as a smart grid communication solution, it cannot satisfy communication requirements in some time-critical scenarios, such as relay protections, which claim a further optimization on the protocol efficiency of DNP3.

Green hubs, social inclusion and community engagement

This paper proposes a possible framework to examine ideas about public space in relation to culture, knowledge, community engagement and inclusion. It does not seek to challenge current ideas about the sustainable development of public space but rather to offer some additional and interlinked perspectives arising from wider debates on the importance of culture and knowledge in resilience, engagement, community cohesion and sense of place. Green space can be an agent for social cohesion and the sustainable development and inter-connectedness of communities. The shift required to achieve this is to perceive green space not just as a benign and pleasant passive context but as a potentially proactive force for community sustainability, cohesion and engagement, and wider social inclusion – to move from conventional ideas about green ‘space’ to the more nuanced idea of green ‘hubs’ as one way to enhance communities' wellbeing through genuine stakeholder engagement and inclusion. How this shift might be achieved is a complex matter, comprising a combination of skilled professional input and the particular insights that only residents and citizens ‘on the ground’ can provide in any given instance.