Sustained Characteristics Research Articles

Features of Sustainability in the Egyptian architecture (Dept.A)

There is an increasing global attention of the environment, and there are modern concepts trying to link the architecture with the environment. The Egyptian architecture influenced by the environment since the ancient times, where the Pharaohs built their civilization and adapt it to the surrounding environment through the use of environmental motives and respect the surrounding climate, Also the Islamic architecture in Egypt was characterized by the Environmental design used to provide a comfortable interior with the use of local available materials. By the beginning of the twentieth century appeared the vernacular and local environmental architecture pioneered by architect Hassan Fathy, who maintained the features of Egyptian architecture and used it according to the environment and the needs of users. And by the time this trends start to diminish and became individual attempts to activate the thoughts of sustainability in architecture, where we can find some projects with sustainable and environmental approaches, and finally we found some trials to get international accreditation, where a branch of (HSBC) bank in Egypt has achieved a Golden LEED certificate, and that may represent local Egyptian sustainable architecture.

METHODOLOGICAL FEATURES OF THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC SYSTEMS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT CONCEPT

The problem of the identification of the socio-economic systems sustainable development management methodological features under the modern global challenges has been actualized. The evolution of scientific views on the factors and driving forces of economic systems development has been analyzed and it has been highlighted among them those that are methodologically relevant for solving the problem. It has been argued that these are the competition theory, the constraints theory, institutional theory and the concept of stakeholders. Taking into account the methodological approaches of these theories, the author’s definition of the "socio-economic system" has been formed. In the light of the sustainable development priorities, the structural properties of the socio-economic system as an object of management has been reflected. It has been noted that such structuring can form a methodological basis for managing the structural balance of socio-economic systems sustainable development. The author’s definition of the essence and purposes of such management has been given.

Green Finance Performance and Role of Sustainability Engineers in the Greater Bay Area

To encourage the implementation of sustainable green features, large scale infrastructure and transportation projects, the Central Government and HKSAR government is keen to promote green finance, determined to develop Hong Kong as the leading hub in the Greater Bay Area region [1]. Since 2016, a series of green finance developments accelerated, including the setting up of Hong Kong Green Finance Association (HKGFA) and the launching of Green Finance Certification Scheme. The green finance development in the Greater Bay Area, in particular Hong Kong, is outlined using a case study of the New World Development Company Limited (“the Group”) approach to green financing and their recently completed project – K11 ATELIER King’s Road. The paper discusses the role of sustainability engineer in green finance project throughout the four components of green finance project by providing technical support to quantify and assess the environmental impacts and benefits. In particular, sustainability engineers can contribute in green finance by developing a standardized benchmarking system on green building environmental impacts and benefits. The need of benchmarking system is discussed using the first green loan project in Hong Kong, K11 ATERLIER King’s Road, as case study. The harmonious collaboration between financial experts and engineering professionals is encouraged in order to push the boundary of sustainability technology. The authors discuss an effective collaboration approach delivered by sustainability engineering professionals to support and create a greater impact of the green finance development in the Greater Bay Area.

Examination of sustainable features of stadiums as an integral part of sustainable urban development: the case of Turkey

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the stadiums in Turkey within the scope of sustainability and evaluate their impact on sustainable urban development.Design/methodology/approachIn the study, at first, the “Sustainable Stadium Assessment Tool”, where the final score ranges from 0 to 100 and the evaluation is made as bronze, silver, gold and platinum according to the score ranges, is developed. With this assessment tool, a total of 20 stadiums built or renovated/restored between 2008 and 2018 in Turkey is examined in social, environmental, economic dimensions within the scope of sustainability, and the current situation is revealed within the frame of sustainable urban development.FindingsAs a result of the study, it was determined that among the stadiums evaluated, only two stadiums have sustainability properties at platinum level, three stadiums at gold level while the remaining stadiums mainly at silver level.Originality/valueTo date, no assessment tool has been created in the field of sports management that can assess the sustainable properties of stadiums. Therefore, the “Sustainable Stadium Assessment Tool” created within the scope of the study is the foremost in the field of sports sciences and sports management with its different qualities in national and international terms. In addition, the examination of the stadiums in the social, environmental, economic dimensions within the scope of sustainability and revealed the current situation is also the first, and it contains information that will make very significant scientific contributions to the relevant field.

Time to certify: Explaining varying efficiency of private regulatory audits

AbstractPrivate regulatory programs, such as certification schemes, seek to control market access by providing greater certainty about products' credence attributes, including sustainability features of production processes. This article contributes to the literature that assesses the verification processes that determine whether private rules are being followed sufficiently by applicant rule‐targets (usually companies), and the regulatory intermediaries (auditors, assessors) that perform verification functions. By examining variation in the duration of verification processes of applicant rule‐targets, we question the assumption that within the context of a given program's design the efficiency of the verification process is invariant across time and space. We argue that the verification process can impose hurdles that are independent of rule‐targets' sustainability and their adherence to a private program's rules. Our analysis of 312 fisheries seeking Marine Stewardship Council certification shows that variation among intermediaries and objections to their certification decisions explain differences in the time it takes fisheries to receive market access.

Highly porous electroactive polyimide-based nanofibrous composite anode for all-organic aqueous ammonium dual-ion batteries

Aqueous ammonium dual-ion batteries (ADIBs), especially those integrating organic electroactive materials and functioning in a mild electrolyte of ammonium sulfate solution, have attracted increasing attentions in the stationary electrochemical storage area due to their inherent safety, sustainability, and environmental friendliness features. Herein, a flexible electroactive polyimide/nitrogen-doped carbon/carbon nanotubes (PI/NDC/CNT) composite nanofiber membrane with highly interconnected conductive porous structure is prepared through electrospinning and in-situ pyrolysis/imidization treatments for ADIB applications. The electroactive PI achieves uniform distribution, high utilization and ultrafast reaction kinetics within PI/NDC/CNT electrode. As a result, the PI/NDC/CNT electrode exhibits high reversible capacity of 161 mA h g−1 at 0.5 A g−1, good rate capability, and satisfying capacity retention over 87.9% after 5000 cycles. Besides, an all-organic aqueous ADIB using PI/NDC/CNT and polyaniline/carbon nanofiber composites as anode and cathode respectively, achieves ultralong cycle stability and high energy density of 114.3 W h kg−1.

Coupling without Coupling Reactions: En Route to Developing Phenols as Sustainable Coupling Partners via Dearomatization-Rearomatization Processes.

Transition-metal-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions represent one of the most straightforward and efficient protocols to assemble two different molecular motifs for the construction of carbon-carbon or carbon-heteroatom bonds. Because of their importance and wide applications in pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, materials, etc., cross-coupling reactions have been well recognized in the 2010 Nobel Prize in chemistry. However, in the classical transition-metal-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions (e.g., the Suzuki-Miyaura, the Buchwald-Hartwig, and the Ullmann cross-coupling reactions), organohalides, which mainly stem from the nonrenewable fossil resources, are often utilized as coupling partners with halide wastes being generated after the reactions. To make cross-coupling reactions more sustainable, we initiated a general research program by employing phenols and cyclohexa(e)nones (the reduced forms of phenols) as pivotal feedstocks (coupling partners), instead of the commonly used fossil-derived organohalides, for cross-coupling reactions to build C-O, C-N, and C-C bonds. Phenols (cyclohexa(e)nones) are widely available and can be obtained from lignin biomass, highlighting their renewable and sustainable features. Moreover, water is expected to be the only stoichiometric byproduct, thus avoiding halide wastes.Notably, the cross-coupling reactions utilizing phenols/cyclohexa(e)nones are not based on the traditional transition-metal-catalyzed "oxidative-addition and reductive-elimination" mechanism, but via a novel "phenol-cyclohexanone" redox couple. This new working mechanism opens up new horizons of designing cross-coupling reactions via simple nucleophilic addition of cyclohexanones along with aromatization processes, thereby simplifying the design and avoiding laborious optimization of transition-metal precursors (e.g., Pd, Ni, Cu, etc.), as well as ligands in classical transition-metal-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions. Specifically, in this Account, we will summarize and discuss our related research work in the following three categories: "formal oxidative couplings of cyclohexa(e)nones", "formal reductive couplings of phenols", and "formal redox-neutral couplings of phenols". The successes of these research projects clearly demonstrated our initial inspirations and rational designs to develop cross-coupling reactions without the "conventional cross-coupling conditions" by pushing the reaction frontiers from initial cyclohexanones, ultimately, to the sustainable phenol targets.

Towards sustainable commercial buildings: an analysis of operation and maintenance (O&M) costs in Sri Lanka

PurposeRising energy costs and increasing environmental concerns are catalysts for introducing sustainable design features in buildings. Incorporating sustainable design features in commercial buildings cannot be overstated because it could confer benefits to the investor (owners) and occupants. This study aims to develop a model that could aid in the prediction of operation and maintenance (O&M) costs from the knowledge of building-design variables. There is little evidence that design variables influence the O&M costs of buildings. Therefore, this study investigates the relationship between design variables and O&M costs in commercial buildings with the intent of developing a cost model for estimating O&M costs at the early design phase.Design/methodology/approachThe study was approached quantitatively using a survey strategy. Data for the study were obtained from 30 randomly selected commercial buildings in the CBD in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Pareto's 80/20 rule, correlation and regression analysis were performed on the data to prove the statistical relationships between the buildings' O&M costs and their design variables.FindingsThe study found that 12 significant O&M costs elements contribute to about 82% of total O&M costs. Repairs and decoration had a strong correlation with building shape. Furthermore, the regression analysis found that O&M costs values were primarily dependent on the building size (the gross floor area and height of the buildings). The gross floor area and height handled over 73% of the variance in the O&M costs of commercial buildings in Sri Lanka.Originality/valueThese findings are a useful insight into the principles for design economies that could contribute to more sustainable commercial buildings.

Consumer Preferences for Sustainable Product Attributes and Farm Program Features

Previous literature primarily focused on consumers’ preference for specific sustainable attributes, such as a product being organic, eco-friendly, locally grown, and fair trade. Little is known about consumers’ preference for sustainable program features. We conduct two online choice experiments with U.S. consumers and find that consumers consistently care about farmers’ engagements in sustainable programs, and they are willing to pay a price premium for products from such programs. Consumers also value promoting science in sustainability, establishing concrete measurements of sustainability, and communicating sustainable practices with consumers and downstream industries. We apply the latent class logit model to investigate the potential segmentation of consumers. Three consumer segments are identified based on participants’ heterogeneity in preferences. Our research provides useful information for designing new sustainability programs.

Cleaner production of Pakistan’s chemical industry: Perspectives of energy conservation and emissions reduction

The chemical industry is one of the highest energy-consuming and CO2 (carbon dioxide) emitting sectors in Pakistan. It is important to understand and identify ways to improve the sustainability features of the input factors. This research has attempted to examine the potential of input factors (capital, labor and energy consumption), output elasticities, and substitution elasticities in Pakistan’s chemical sector by using a translog production function. The ridge regression technique was applied to investigate the parameters of the function during 1980–2018. The results show that the output elasticities between capital, labor and energy consumption are positive; the elasticities of substitution between capital-energy, capital-labor and labor-energy consumption are close to 1, stable, and positive, which shows that these indicators are substitutes for one another. Moreover, based on the analyzed methodology, we estimate the level of energy conservation and CO2 emission reduction in 2018. Policy suggestions related to the given outcomes are presented below.

Environmental life cycle assessment of different biorefinery platforms valorizing olive wastes to biofuel, phosphate salts, natural antioxidant, and an oxygenated fuel additive (triacetin)

Olive agro-industry is a chemical- and energy-intensive agricultural activity and given its large scale globally is faced with serious challenges from the sustainability perspective. On the other hand, different by-products and residues generated are not generally used and end up as wastes. Therefore, it is of crucial importance to design and implement innovative platforms based on circular bioeconomy and zero-discharge principles to enhance the sustainability features of the olive supply chain system. In light of that, the present study was aimed at designing and experimentally scrutinizing two olive agro-biorefinery scenarios against the conventional olive oil production system (i.e., olive/olive oil production, including olive cultivation and oil extraction). The first agro-biorefinery system included olive cultivation and oil extraction from fruit and pomace for edible use. Moreover, the remaining pomace post-oil extraction was used as an animal feed. The second agro-biorefinery system included olive cultivation, olive oil extraction, olive pomace oil extraction, and its conversion into biodiesel. In addition, crude biodiesel glycerol was also valorized into two different phosphate salts and an oxygenated fuel additive (namely triacetin), while olive oil leaves were converted into a natural antioxidant for biodiesel. The performance of the natural antioxidant against the most promising synthetic antioxidant used by the biodiesel industry (i.e., propyl gallate) was also investigated. The developed scenarios were environmentally compared using the IMPACT 2002+ method. Overall, both developed agro-biorefineries outperformed the conventional system in terms of all four endpoint damage categories. Compared to the conventional olive oil production system, the production of 1 ton of olive oil in the first and second agro-biorefinery systems was associated with 10.62% and 4.08% saving in climate change damage category, 6.73% and 11.21% saving in primary energy consumption, and 12.01% and 1.55% saving in damage to human health. In addition, the implementation of the circular bioeconomy approach in olive oil production led to 31.28% and 26.38% saving in ecosystem quality damage category for Sc-2 and Sc-3, respectively. Overall, the weighted endpoint damage categories of olive oil production could be saved by 12.27% and 4.49% if respectively, the first and second agro-biorefinery scenarios were used. These findings revealed that through the transition from linear economy-oriented olive agri-food system to a bioeconomy-oriented olive agro-biorefinery, not only a wide spectrum of value-added bioproducts could be achieved, but also the environmental impacts per each ton of olive oil produced could be mitigated.

Vernaküler ve Çağdaş Mimarlık Örneklerinin Sürdürülebilirlik Bağlamında Karşılaştırmalı Analizi: Antalya Kaleiçi ve Deniz Mahallesi Örneği

Vernaküler mimarlık, iklimsel verileri ve arazi yapısını dikkate alan, insan konforuna önem veren, yöreye özgü malzemelerin ve yapım yöntemlerinin kullanıldığı, çevreye uyumlu, sürdürülebilir bir tasarım bütünü olarak bugün önemini korumaya devam etmektedir. Süreç içinde sanayileşme, hızlı nüfus artışı gibi nedenler ile birlikte artan konut alanları ise bugün çevre verilerden bağımsız şekilde gelişim göstermektedir. Yapılacak olan çalışmada, vernaküler mimari özelliklerinin görüldüğü Antalya Kaleiçi yerleşimi ile bu yerleşime yakın konumdaki, 1950 yılı sonrası imar planlı konutların yer aldığı Deniz Mahallesi, sürdürülebilir özelliklerin tespit edilmesi amacıyla karşılaştırılmıştır. Yapılan karşılaştırma literatürdeki yaklaşımlar üzerinden yerleşim ve yapı ölçeğinde gerçekleştirilmiştir. Elde edilen bulgularda Kaleiçi yerleşiminin çevre faktörlerinin göz önüne alınarak düzenlendiği, Deniz mahallesinde ise günümüz yapım tekniklerinin kullanıldığı ancak pek çok çevresel faktörünün dikkate alınmadan konut dokularının oluşturulduğu gözlenmiştir. Çalışmanın sonucunda; geleneksel mimarinin çağdaş konutlara göre daha konforlu ve daha sürdürülebilir özelliklere sahip olduğu ve gelecek planlamalarda bu durumun dikkate alınarak tasarım yapılması gerekliliği ortaya konulmuştur.

An investigation into the sustainability practices in PPP infrastructure projects: a case of Nigeria

PurposeIn the global construction industry, the concept of sustainability is not new, particularly within building projects. Against this backdrop, several studies have been conducted, mostly in developed countries, on sustainability in construction projects. However, efforts at investigating sustainability practices in public–private partnership (PPP) infrastructure projects in developing countries have received limited attention. Hence, the purpose of this study is to investigate the incorporation of sustainability practices within the context of Nigeria’s PPP infrastructure projects.Design/methodology/approachA questionnaire survey, which targeted four different types of stakeholders, was conducted in this study. These stakeholders included public sector authorities, concessionaires, consultants and banks undertaking PPP infrastructure projects in the Lagos State, Nigeria. The data collected were analyzed using frequency, percentage, mean score, standard deviation (SD) analyses and the Kruskal–Wallis test.FindingsThe findings of this study revealed that all the respondents are very much aware of sustainability principles and the vast majority of the respondents from the public sector authorities and the consultant organizations confirmed that they have incorporated sustainability requirements into their bidding documents for PPP infrastructure projects. The study revealed sustainability features in the three aspects of sustainability, namely, economic, environmental and social factors. Furthermore, the study revealed the top three–ranked economic factors of sustainability (considered to be the most important factors) were low maintenance costs, whole life costing and supporting the local economy, respectively. Similarly, the study revealed the top three–ranked environmental factors of sustainability were biodiversity, energy use during the operation stage and energy use during the construction stage, respectively. Furthermore, the study further revealed that the top three–ranked social factors of sustainability were the educational aspect, equity between stakeholders and health and safety, respectively.Practical implicationsThe study will be of great value to PPP stakeholders involved in sustainability decision-making processes when delivering sustainable PPP projects, particularly in Nigeria. Also, the study’s findings are important as not many empirical studies have been conducted on the sustainability practices of current PPP projects in Nigeria.Originality/valueThe study’s findings would further inform the need for both the public and private sectors to take a more strategic approach to enhance sustainability in PPP projects.

East Village at Knutsford: A Case Study in Sustainable Urbanism

With increasing pressure to ensure that sustainability features in homes are commercially viable, demonstration projects are vital to highlight the real-world challenges and opportunities for innovation. This paper documents the incorporation of sustainability objectives into the “East Village at Knutsford” residential “living laboratory” development, within the Knutsford urban regeneration precinct, approximately 1.5 km east of the Fremantle central business district in Western Australia. The sustainability objectives for the project include being a “Net Zero Energy Development” using 100% renewable energy and maximizing the self-supply of energy, reducing mains water consumption as much as is practical, and using the landscape design to complement these objectives without compromising a best-practice urban greening outcome. The paper documents the design initiatives and strategies that have been included to achieve these objectives in a commercially viable project and the results of modelling where it has been used to test the design against the objectives to ensure their validity. The key features that have been incorporated into the townhouses component of the development are outlined, illustrating integrated design and systems thinking that builds on previous demonstration projects, incorporating solar energy storage and electric vehicle charging plus significant mains water savings by adopting water-sensitive features in the homes and the within the private and public gardens. The expected grid energy and mains water consumption levels in the homes through modelling compared to the metropolitan average is 80% lower. The project is presented as an important step in the application of available technologies and design features to meet stated sustainability objectives, highlighting the benefits of an embedded living laboratory research approach.

Methodology Toward Cost-Optimal and Energy-Efficient Retrofitting of Historic Buildings

Abstract Historic buildings have originally embodied sustainable features. These features responded to the microclimate and site where the building is located. However, with climate change and urba...

Biomass and Carbon Stored Estimated in the forest ecosystem of the Nova Canaã Farm (Porciúncula/RJ)

Global warming has become international concern, culminating with the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol which includes definitions and objectives of the sustainable development mechanisms and features that make it easier for the industrialized countries to jointly compensate for their polluting greenhouse gas emissions. Porciúncula is a city known for its agricultural development and the lack of characterization of ecosystems associated with the Atlantic Forest biome. Facing this chaotic scenario is Nova Canaã farm located in the Ribeirão da Perdição Environmental Preservation Area its forest ecosystem provides a series of environmental services such as carbon storage and CO2 sequestration. The team of researchers from OM Consultoria Ambiental performed the quantification of the biomass (Bwood) of the bole which resulted in estimates of 398.4753 t.ha-1 corresponding to 199.2377 tC.ha-1. The estimates obtained for the forest ecosystem of the farm can be used as a reference for the establishment of forest restoration projects under the under the sustainable development mechanism established the Kyoto Protocol.

An integrated framework for active discovery and optimal allocation of smart manufacturing services

Smart manufacturing is gradually recognized and widely adopted due to the promising features of sustainability, flexibility, and collaboration. Service discovery and allocation in smart manufacturing aim to provide on-demand manufacturing capabilities for meeting customized production requirements. They are tightly coupled in practice, whereas they are usually considered as two independent processes and investigated separately in most research. Meanwhile, the collaboration relationship and decision autonomy of service providers are rarely taken into account to perform sustainable and flexible production. To deal with these challenges, this paper proposes an integrated framework to holistically describe the active discovery and optimal allocation of smart manufacturing services. A mechanism is designed to consider the collaborative relationship of manufacturing resources and promote collaborative production. The distributed optimization model based on analytical target cascading method is introduced to maintain the decision autonomy of service providers and achieve the optimal allocation of smart manufacturing services. A case study is further provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed framework.

Representations of sustainability and environmental welfare in Country Calendar

ABSTRACT This article examines representations of sustainability and environmental welfare in episodes of the iconic Aotearoa New Zealand television programme, Country Calendar. It initially locates the programme within the rural idyll myth and then outlines different understandings of sustainability while highlighting the normative basis of sustainability. The analysis identifies different portrayals of sustainability across episodes from the 2019 series, ranging from sustainable development, where sustainability practices are incorporated within existing economic and industry regimes, to more substantive expressions of sustainability that evoke different ways of living on the land and which more directly challenge dominant values of consumer capitalism. The analysis then reveals the ‘content’ of sustainability, ranging from enhancing soil quality to reduced plastic usage. Finally, the analysis also identifies the significance of social and cultural features of sustainability, ranging from community mobilisation to educational strategies that are put into practice on the farms.

THE IMPORTANCE OF MICROBIAL GENETIC RESOURCES FOR FOOD AND AGRICULTURE IN THE BIOECONOMY

The main purpose of the Biotechnology field in the food and agriculture sector is to create Knowledge Based Bioeconomy. Bioeconomy is an economic process that deals with the commercial distribution and consumption of products such as goods, energy and services produced from biomaterials (plants, animals, microorganisms) and covers all kinds of industries and economic sectors that produce, manage and spread biological resources. It is among the sustainability features of the Biotechnology science and modern bioeconomy. Biotechnology is the driving force of the bioeconomy. Biology Science, Life Sciences and Biotechnology work in harmony with other technologies. Common goals; To provide the knowledge-based for sustainable management, production and use of biological resources, to provide new, safe, lower cost and eco-efficient products, to promote competitiveness and sustainability in the industry (Ünal, 2020). Microorganisms are biological power and rich gene potentials, the most basic for the bioeconomy and the most practical biological systems in transferring to the economy. The developing technology changes the environment and conditions that microorganisms encounter with people. With microorganisms, which were previously considered only as an infectious agent (microbe), today many fields are studied, from education to health, from industry to production, from agriculture to food, environment, industry to biological weapon. The monitoring of microbial biodiversity and genetic resources of microorganisms has been performed by culture and taxonomic evaluation of microorganisms in samples taken from ecosystems. It has been determined that the number of prokaryotic microorganisms on earth, which can be cultured until today, is over 5.000. It has been calculated that the total number of prokaryotes will be around 2.000.000 microorganisms in the nature.

Determinant attributes and the compensatory judgement rules applied by young consumers to purchase environmentally sustainable food products

Young consumers are known to value environmentally sustainable features in products. In this regard, understanding the determinant green attributes and whether these attributes are able to compensate for the lack or low level of regular attributes can contribute to deepening the understanding of how young consumers decide. Hence, this paper aims to identify the determinant attributes for the behaviour of young consumer environmentally sustainable food purchases and to investigate the compensatory rules applied during pre-purchase evaluation processes. To that end, we employed a quantitative study of both descriptive and causal objectives through a questionnaire. To identify the determinant attributes, descriptive statistics techniques were used, with attributes divided into instrumental and expressive. Whereas for the compensatory rules, a factorial experiment was conducted to test purchase scenarios. We analysed the effect of environmentally sustainable product attributes on purchase intention using the analysis of variance. And, given the additive characteristic of compensatory models, a linear regression model was used to test the hypothesis of the application of compensatory rules for environmentally sustainable food purchase. Results showed that product quality, cleaner production and price are the determinant instrumental attributes valued by young consumers. Health concern, a healthy lifestyle and environmental concern are the determinant expressive attributes. Our inferential results support the hypothesis that young consumers judge environmentally sustainable food attributes under compensatory rules. Thus, high levels of attributes compensate for the low level or absence of others. The implications of such findings in light of consumer behaviour theory are then discussed.