Sustainability Triangle Research Articles

Sustainability Education in Pakistan: Qualitative Content Analysis of English Textbook Grade X

The purpose of this study is to explore how sustainability is represented in the Grade X English textbook. The textbook was selected using purposive sampling, and the data were analyzed through qualitative content analysis by using NVivo 12. Analysis of the Grade 10 English textbook reflects on the significant focus on social, cultural, and moral values of sustainable development with minor domination on environmental, economic, and institutional dimensions. Justice, equality, cultural diversity, and ethics have been well addressed throughout the textbook with fewer explanations and discussions on issues that deal with environment, climate change, responsible economic growth, and institutional frameworks. Such limited exposure is a huge deficiency in giving a holistic understanding of sustainability challenges and opportunities to learners. Future publications of the textbook need to include separate topics on the environment, economic sustainability principles, and governance and institutions so that learners can be further enlightened on these sustainability threads that strengthen the tertiary block of the sustainability triangle. The inclusion of key stakeholders from diverse sectors in the designing of the next versions of the textbook can give a participatory and all-inclusive curriculum that is in line with the learner’s expected knowledge and formulation of what makes a textbook relevant.

Revolutionising sustainability using a new triplet: A system dynamic model

The theory of sustainability has been analysed and implemented in various sectors to minimise the consumption of limited resources and to consume the fullest potential of existing resources. The triple-bottom concept of sustainability covers all possible interactions within an ecosystem. However, the dynamic nature and interconnectivity of sustainability systems, such as the environmental, economic, and social systems, are quite complex to curb sustainability challenges. The modification in one system may create disturbances in other systems. Based on the existing studies on sustainability, this study explored how these systems can be optimised by analysing the relationship between each side of sustainability triangle by 3As, i.e., Adaptability, Affordability and Availability, to determine their impacting macro and micro flows. The reinforcement can be achieved between social-environment by adaptability, social-economics by affordability and economics-environment by availability. These 3As synergise sustainability systems if inflows and outflows in sustainability systems are optimised. The system dynamic approach was adopted to model and examine all possible 3As’ inflows and outflows comprehensively in urban ecosystems. Micro flows are analysed for the associated macro flows for each factor of triplet. The results suggest that although sustainability systems are complex but not wicked in nature, it is required to focus on macro and micro flows of adaptability, affordability and availability in each system. This study may serve as a source of information for improving and maintaining sustainability in industries, businesses and the policy makers to optimise their existing resources on this comprehensive triplet model.

Visualization and Interpretation of Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment—Existing Tools and Future Development

The aim of this study is the evaluation of Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA) visualizations, which have been gaining increasing relevance in recent years. Despite this, the final interpretation and visualization of LCSA are not yet sufficiently established. Three of the existing LCSA visualization tools, Life Cycle Sustainability Triangle (LCST), Life Cycle Sustainability Dashboard (LCSD), and Sustainability Crowns, are compared and discussed along previously established target criteria. Subsequently, a “new” visualization tool (LCSA-Wheel) is developed based on analysis results and tested within a case study. It became clear that the LCST and Sustainability Crowns are mainly used to help weigh the sustainability dimensions. Nevertheless, the Sustainability Crowns meet most of the defined target criteria and thus serve as a model for the development of a visualization approach. The LCSD maps a wealth of information but is more difficult to understand without a deeper dive into the topic. The proposed LCSA-Wheel adopts a clear structure and provides information needed to understand the visualization. Although further developments are still necessary for general applicability, there is a justified assumption, shown with the help of a case study, that the LCSA-Wheel will gain acceptance in science and practice and thus drive the use of the LCSA.

Optimization of food-fuel-fibre in biorefinery based on environmental and economic assessment: The case of sugarcane utilization in Thailand

Biomaterials utilization in biorefineries for food, fuel, and fibre is advantageous in terms of income and employment but may also have certain negative repercussions. This study focused on the optimum utilization of sugarcane-based products considering several sustainability indices, viz., greenhouse gas emissions, production costs, and profitability. The cane and sugar utilization in Thailand was optimized with the help of linear programming considering multiple scenarios, decision variables, and system constraints. Furthermore, the considered scenarios were ranked by following the Analytic Hierarchy Process. The scenario where the additional sugarcane was used for sugar production and the extra molasses was used for ethanol production received the highest ranking, followed by supplying extra bagasse to power plants. Nevertheless, the results showed that polylactic acid production, which has been highly promoted by the government, is still not attractive enough to persuade the industrial sector because of its high production cost. It is also interesting to note that direct ethanol production from excess sugarcane does not yield preferable results in terms of sustainability. The results showed that excess bagasse to power plant dominated the production cost and greenhouse gas emission while the extra sugar to PLA production and bagasse based-electricity could induce high profitability in the system. Based on the different weighting schemes, a sustainability triangle was developed to present the influence areas of the considered scenarios. The concept of a sustainability triangle would be beneficial for the decision-makers to choose the appropriate pathway by explicitly revealing the tradeoffs between the various sustainability aspects.

Energy, Environment, and Sustainability: A Multi-criteria Evaluation of Countries

Energy, the environment, and sustainability are all strongly intertwined concerns. While humanity aims to spread the comfort and welfare it has achieved on a global scale, as well as to achieve more development and comfort through technological advances, it is caught in a stalemate caused by the world’s use of resources as if they are limitless, as well as irrevocable environmental damage. The major topic of this dilemma is energy. Using ARAT, CRITIC, SOWIA, CRADIS, and CODAS-Sort, this study aims to evaluate countries on the basis of energy, environment, and sustainability triangle. The results reveal that developed countries are in a better situation than developing and underdeveloped countries in terms of sustainable energy and environmental concerns. The Nordic countries notably lead the rankings and classification results. The primary reason for this is that Nordic countries have strong climate and energy policies. Given the limitations of fossil fuels, the fact that they’ll be exhausted in a few decades, and the environmental damage they cause, the development and effective use of renewable energy sources is considered a critical solution option. Because it appears that humanity will struggle to give up its existing level of comfort or lower its energy use. The importance of energy efficiency, diversification of renewable energy sources, raising societal awareness, unity in global sustainable environmental policies, aiding societies that are falling behind in achieving welfare and fighting poverty and focusing on energy savings emerge at this point. A strong will and community support will be necessary to adopt and implement these policies.

Values, Competences and Sustainability in Public Security and IT Higher Education

Values find their full completion only in the competent behaviour of university members. The values of a university are directly linked with the competences of university teachers and, together with the principles of sustainability, are the crucial pillars of a ‘sustainability triangle’ of higher education institutions that is introduced and modelled in this paper, which examines these phenomena and the potential ties existing between them. We experimentally define the 10 principles of sustainability in higher education based on the personal academic experience of the authors as well the most frequently cited opinions in the literature. The paper subsequently presents the results of a sociological survey performed in two European countries and compares the results of Czech university students in the public security sector (n = 396) with those of Slovak university students in the IT sector (n = 246). An almost perfect correlation between student opinions from both sectors was confirmed with the use of Pearson’s product moments and an unpaired two-sample Student’s t-test. The results help to affirm all the postulated principles of sustainability and to approve the accuracy of the model presented, i.e., a Triangle of/for Sustainable Higher Education Institutions. The results obtained as well as our arguments simultaneously call on the governing bodies of ministries and universities to focus efforts on the harmonisation of personal and institutional values, opinions, principles, aspirations, and various motivations of all members of the university, i.e., students, teachers, and advisers.

Approach to Sustainability-Based Assessment of Solution Alternatives in Early Stages of Product Engineering

AbstractSustainable product engineering is becoming increasingly important. This includes the development of environmentally friendly products and the design for recycling. In this paper a holistic method for the assessment of solution alternatives is presented, in which the stakeholder perspectives along the generic product lifecycle are taken into account. Finally, a new visualization is presented. By visualizing the results in the integrated sustainability triangle, decision-makers in product development can holistically assess the sustainability of the solution alternatives.

Sustainability and Climate Change Will Become Game Changers – Shortly


 
 
 Purpose: Status regarding climate change and needed activities - The 2015 Paris Agreement was the first global climate conference to set binding targets that must be implemented. Climate change must be combated globally, based on the UN guidelines on the sustainability triangle and the 17 goals. The necessary changes in technologies will affect everyone, regardless of whether they are business (in- cluding SMEs there), society / politics and climate protection / sustainability. In the energy sector (production, distribution and application) in particular, massive changes will have to be made as part of the imperative to decarbonize.
 Design / methodology / approach: The goal was to write a short report on the status quo in the area of sustainability and anthropogenic climate change and also to add a vision of how it could look like to- day and possibly at the end of the 21st century based on the current state of knowledge.
 Findings: Climate protection and sustainability will increasingly have to be implemented and lived, which is particularly challenging for young people. The energy sector will therefore have to go through the greatest transformation in a necessarily short time that has ever happened. The energy strategies of the future, based on decarbonization, will have to realign themselves with new energy sources such as hydrogen H2 and their new generation countries with sun and wind.
 Affected countries: Numerous countries, which are offered these geographical opportunities, become winners in the new competition for income from energy generation, largely paid for by industrialized countries that lack enough free space for wind and solar energy. Emerging and developing countries that are still poor today are opening up unimagined opportunities for high income from hard curren- cies.
 Research / Future / Practical Implications: Visions based on the coming energy transition can be derived from this. It will be by far the largest investment in an industry in a short period of time that can probably only be paid for and controlled by the World Bank and the central banks. It will be a gi- gantic and expensive challenge for everyone involved (state, economy, population). Not to do so would become even more expensive in the long term, not to mention the catastrophic effects, specifi- cally also on humanity. So if we don't have a choice - let's go for it!
 Originality / value: There is currently very little scientific and even less empirical literature on this entire area. Nevertheless, or precisely because of the massive time pressure imposed by politics and for humanity worldwide, it has to be written and reported on scientifically.
 
 

Towards Understanding the Food Consumer Behavior–Food Safety–Sustainability Triangle: A Bibliometric Approach

Academic research on food consumer behavior related to food safety has developed extremely rapidly in the last decades, and a sizable amount of knowledge has been accumulated in this interdisciplinary field. This information set, as big data, lends itself to bibliometric analysis. Based on the Web of Science database and on a statistical analysis of more than 26.6 thousand articles containing more than 3.4 million bibliometric pieces of information, the current article offers a systematic analysis of these statistical data. The dynamics of relevant publications show an exponential character. The field is dominated by researchers from welfare states; however, food safety is a more important problem in developing states. There are dynamic changes in the portfolio of journals, but Bradford’s law cannot be proven. The explanatory power of Lotka’s law has been decreasing, proving the de-concentration of relevant authors. Besides traditional disciplines like consumer science, food chemistry, microbiology, and technology, new disciplines, e.g., sociology, cultural anthropology, postmodern techniques, and the real-life study of consumer behavior, going beyond the application of traditional techniques, are gaining importance. There are three key challenges for further research: (1) contribution to a deeper understanding of inherent laws governing the food-consumer-environment system; (2) quantification of results for decision-makers to enhance the efficiency of policy preparation; (3) widening the scope of research in geographical terms, better involving the developing world, and in sociological terms, focusing on the specific needs of vulnerable groups.

Social-Ecologic Oriented Curricula in Engineering Education: “Leonardo’s Oath” as an Answer to Janus-Headedness in Engineering Work

Any engineering activity is characterized by contradictions: social – between engineering problems and technical solutions and technological – between laws of nature and artificial engineering objects. This leads to the ethical dilemma of engineering work: when creating something new, social and environmental problems usually arise. This explains the “Janus-headedness” of the engineering profession: although the original intention is to do good, however, there are negative consequences that must be mitigated through new technical solutions that have the effect of creating improvements. “Leonardo’s oath” not only highlights this need, but also serves as a reference point for developing the engineering training programs which should be prepared specifically for this task. As a starting approach, the article suggests using the “sustainability triangle” – a model of social transformational effects in relation to the definition of the variables “social”, “economy” and “ecology” and their corresponding interdependence. It is shown that digitalization changes the “economy” setting in the sustainability triangle, which inevitably leads to consequences for the currently dependent variables “social “ and “ecology”. Digitalization requires, first, an economic approach, not environmental. It does not solve the fundamental problem: participation in the formation of a society to achieve socio-ecological balance is faced with the duality between the ethical necessity of forming and lack of real balance.

Setting up the three sides of the sustainability triangle: The American blue-green-brown alliances revisited

The onset of economic globalization by the end of the 20th century foisted progressively new modes of collaboration on most of the American social movements. New Social Movements (NSMs) such as the environmental movement, the environmental justice movement, and the labour unions, were propelled into rapprochement that soon gave rise to new forms of coalition dubbed the blue-green/the blue-green-brown alliances. Revisiting this cross-movement reconciliation from a sustainability studies’ perspective, this paper contends that these alliances, oscillating between failure and success, helped theoretically set up the three sides of the ‘Sustainability Triangle,’ – an integrative framework premised on the ‘three Es,’ i.e., Environment/Ecology, Economy/Employment, and Equality/Equity. Utilizing a critical comparative analysis of these three movements, this paper also vets the extent to which this framework fosterages a shared ‘sustainability identity’ amongst these groups and bridges the ‘job-versus-the-environment’ divide that beleaguered their alliances and almost brought them to a grinding halt.

Sustainability triangle in the perspective of new technologies and architecture

Sustainability triangle in the perspective of new technologies and architecture

Sustainability triangle in the perspective of new technologies and architecture

Sustainability triangle in the perspective of new technologies and architecture

Environmental Efficiency of Industrial Symbiosis – LCA Case Study for Gypsum Exchange

Abstract A review of the available literature concerning environmental impact assessment for industrial symbiosis has been carried out. The authors have recommended the use of life cycle assessment method for this purpose. It was stated that so far few studies presenting LCA results of industrial symbiosis have been published. Among the factors which contribute to the success of symbiotic exchange, the close location of collaborating companies has been often mentioned. This paper presents LCA results concerning the environmental impact of symbiotic gypsum transmission. Concepts of relative distance and critical distance for the case of industrial symbiosis were proposed and defined. Significant difference between critical distance obtained for particular endpoints were observed (3.5- 564 km). Application of Life Cycle Sustainability Triangle enabled the estimation of critical distance taking into account various impact categories. A sensitivity analysis indicated the relationship between critical distance and the means of transport which reflected the effect of scale. The critical distance determined for heavy trucks was 3.2 - 3.9 times longer than in case of lighter vehicles.

Proposal for a small two-story living room house based on air-quality monitoring

The evolution and innovation in construction is based on extensive testing and validation, best performed on existing buildings, in order to assess their behavior in time. Occupants health and comfort issues are fundamental concerns of the society, which together with economy and environment make up the “sustainability triangle”. This becomes even more significant in the case of dwellings with reduced floor areas and built in high-density urban areas. The paper focuses on monitoring air quality parameters in an existing two-story living room house and proposes an architectural solution for improving comfort conditions. The 48 square meters house is a sustainable design, with low-embodied energy, high thermal performance and open-floor flexibility. In order to highlight the benefits of this open-space house, the study was focused on the comparison of two types of dwellings - a two - bedroom apartment with conventional subdivision and a one - bedroom house with double-height living room. In both cases the same indoor comfort parameters were measured: CO2 levels, humidity and temperature. The study is structured in two stages: the monitoring of the interior air quality of a two-story living room and the proposal of a similar house typology with improved comfort parameters. By analysing the complex monitoring data, the new architectural proposal keeps the environmental qualities of the existing house, with improved comfort benefits.

A Scenario Study of Investment: Portfolio Modeling Through Simulation on Virtual Management Funding Corporation

Studi skenario tentang investasi ini dibuat dengan bantuan perusahaan virtual yang bergerak di bidang manajemen investasi, yang disebut UoM Fund Management Corportation. Adanya simulasi dengan pembentukan perusahaan virtual ini akan memudahkan penerapan dan pemahaman berbagai macam teori portofolio dan permodelannya. Direkomendasikan kepada para investor untuk membagi kegiatan investasi mereka dalam tiga kategori, Penentu Strategi (Tim S), Pencari Alpha atau Keuntungan (A), dan Penilai Riset Kuantitatif (Q). Pembagian aktivitas ini ditengarai akan memaksimalkan keuntungan para investor.

Adaptive reuse: a review and analysis of its relationship to the 3 Es of sustainability

PurposeThere is a resurgence in the adaptive reuse of buildings. However, there is a lack of literature that pulls all the strands of adaptive reuse together. Furthermore, despite claims that it is motivated by the 3 Es of the sustainability triangle, the authors could find no research that critiques adaptive reuse from this perspective. The purpose of this study is to review the literature to collect pertinent information in a single place and to critically examine whether adaptive reuse incorporates the 3 Es of sustainability.Design/methodology/approachThe methodological approach of this study is a literature review and a critical analysis of the practice of adaptive review.FindingsAdaptive reuse is concentrated at the environment and economic development corners of the sustainability triangle. There are positive interactions along this edge. The authors attribute this to the fact that the same actors – the private and public sectors – are located at both corners of the triangle, and they have shared interests. This is different from the wider sustainability literature, where major actors at each corner are different and tensions along each edge are resolved through mediation. In adaptive reuse, there are no actors at the equity corner of the triangle, and there are minimal attempts to address concerns along the equity–environment and equity–economic development edges of the triangle.Research limitations/implicationsThis study focuses on the USA.Practical implicationsThis study suggests policy interventions that address the equity issue in adaptive reuse.Originality/valueThis is the first study to provide a succinct review of contemporary adaptive reuse and that places the practice within the framework of the 3 Es of sustainability.

Understanding Full Life-cycle Sustainability Impacts of Energy Alternatives

Abstract Pragmatic and reliable methods for assessing sustainability remain difficult for many organizations. Further, understanding the three elements of sustainability over the full life cycle of products and processes is essential. In some cases, understanding environmental issues is the easiest area. However, economic and social issues are less well understood. Life Cycle Sustainability Analysis is a framework for reviewing all three areas and enabling not only full coverage but understanding balancing and interactions between the elements. This paper reviews the three elements of sustainability, life cycle assessment, and analysis and evaluation of the three elements over a life cycle. These frameworks will be described so as to facilitate development of ways to help decision makers present proposals and illustrate results. Means are presented to enable illustration of findings to both expert and non-expert audiences. Specifically, uses of the life cycle sustainability triangle and the life cycle sustainability dashboard will presented. Examples will be presented for a comparison of solar PV panels. Other examples include alternative energy sources in Mexico to 2050, contrasting alternative vehicles, and electricity scenarios in the UK to 2070. The paper is intended to help practitioners better understand linkages between the three elements of sustainability and ways to analyze them.

Approach to Sustainability Assessment of Renewable Energy Technologies combining Fuzzy Logic with the Integrative Sustainability Triangle

Approach to Sustainability Assessment of Renewable Energy Technologies combining Fuzzy Logic with the Integrative Sustainability Triangle

Application of the TOPSIS and intuitionistic fuzzy set approaches for ranking the life cycle sustainability performance of alternative vehicle technologies

This research involves two novel elements to advance the body of knowledge in existing sustainability assessment frameworks for alternative vehicle technologies. First, we developed an input–output based hybrid life cycle sustainability assessment model using several macro-level social, economic, and environmental indicators, taking into consideration the manufacturing of vehicles and batteries, operation, and end-of-life phases. Second, the results of a hybrid life cycle sustainability assessment for different conventional and alternative vehicles technologies (internal combustion electric vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles, plug-in-hybrid electric vehicles, and battery electric vehicles) are incorporated into the Technique for Order-Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution and Intuitionistic Fuzzy Sets. Two policy scenarios are considered in this analysis, with Scenario 1 being based on existing electric power infrastructure in the U.S. with no additional infrastructure requirements, while Scenario 2 is an extreme scenario in which the electricity to power electric vehicles is generated exclusively via solar charging stations. The Intuitionistic Fuzzy Multi-Criteria Decision Making and Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution methods are then utilized to rank the life cycle sustainability performance of alternative passenger vehicles. Furthermore, since expert judgments play an important role in determining the relative performance of alternative vehicle technologies, a sustainability triangle analysis is also presented to show how the weighting applied to each dimension affects the selection of different alternatives. The results indicate that hybrid and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles are the best alternatives for both Scenarios 1 and 2 when all of the indicators are considered. On the other hand, the ranking of vehicles changes significantly when each of the environmental, economic, and social indicators are evaluated individually. This proposed method can be a useful decision making platform for decision-makers to develop more effective policies and guide the offering of incentives to the right domains for sustainable transportation.