scholarly journals Environmental Energy Sustainability at Universities

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (21) ◽  
pp. 9219
Author(s):  
Francisco G. Montoya ◽  
Alberto-Jesus Perea-Moreno

The use of renewable energies and energy saving and efficiency are needs of global society and universities. Universities have a large responsibility and social impact, as they are an example and engine of social change. Universities, in the European context, must be at the forefront of sustainability progress, seeking to be at the same level, and preferably higher than the rest of society, seeking the goal of 20% in renewable energy for 2020 and, in the longer term, greater energy efficiency based on a diverse use of renewable energy and studying the feasibility of other energy processes (cogeneration, trigeneration, etc.). The application of renewable energies and efficiency allow universities to make significant savings in their costs and contribute to sustainable development and the fight against climate change. Actions on these aspects in addition to the objective of saving should seek to promote research and form an example for the university community. This Special Issue aims to advance the contribution of energy saving and the use of renewable energies in order to achieve more sustainable universities.

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 3758 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberto-Jesus Perea-Moreno ◽  
Francisco Manzano-Agugliaro

The use of renewable energies, energy saving, and efficiency are needs of global society. According to the latest estimates, global energy demand could triple by 2050 and, by then, 70% of the world’s population will live in cities. Cities are currently responsible for 80% of greenhouse gas emissions, so they have a key role to play in shifting towards a sustainable energy future. Cities are threatened not only by overcrowding, but also by rising energy demand, obsolete infrastructure, volatile energy markets, and the effects of climate change. This Special Issue aims to advance the contribution of energy saving and the use of renewable energies in order to achieve more sustainable cities.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 3170
Author(s):  
Avri Eitan

Evidence shows that global climate change is increasing over time, and requires the adoption of a variety of coping methods. As an alternative for conventional electricity systems, renewable energies are considered to be an important policy tool for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and therefore, they play an important role in climate change mitigation strategies. Renewable energies, however, may also play a crucial role in climate change adaptation strategies because they can reduce the vulnerability of energy systems to extreme events. The paper examines whether policy-makers in Israel tend to focus on mitigation strategies or on adaptation strategies in renewable energy policy discourse. The results indicate that despite Israel’s minor impact on global greenhouse gas emissions, policy-makers focus more on promoting renewable energies as a climate change mitigation strategy rather than an adaptation strategy. These findings shed light on the important role of international influence—which tends to emphasize mitigation over adaptation—in motivating the domestic policy discourse on renewable energy as a coping method with climate change.


2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 555-559
Author(s):  
Elettra Agliardi ◽  
Marco Casari ◽  
Anastasios Xepapadeas

AbstractClimate change is one of the most significant and complex challenges facing the world's economies. The necessity to enlarge the knowledge base regarding climate change and its impacts and to design efficient policies is widely accepted by the scientific community, the decision makers and the general public. This special issue, which will be published in two parts in the current and subsequent issue of Environment and Development Economics, is a selection of papers related to the topic of the international workshop on ‘The Economics of Climate Change and Sustainability’ organized by the Economics Department of the University of Bologna in April 2018. The papers in this special issue cover a wide range of climate-change-related topics, which include endogenous growth and overlapping generation models; climate-related financing and green bonds; demographics; location decisions; technology diffusion; quantitative relationships and experimental approaches. We hope that this special issue will provide some new insights into the economics of climate change and help to identify new directions for future research.


2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 1255-1274
Author(s):  
Shin Kinoshita

Purpose Saving energy is an essential issue in the world to attenuate climate change. To achieve the goal, energy-saving appliances such as refrigerators should be promoted. This study aims to analyze the conditions enabling Japanese households to purchase such appliances, focusing on the relation with preferences for renewable energy as one of the non-monetary incentives. Design/methodology/approach A conjoint analysis is used. A random parameter logit model and nested logit model are used for estimation. Data were collected through an online questionnaire of the Rakuten Insight service. Findings Households will purchase energy-saving appliances when renewable energy is used for electricity generation. This implies that households will purchase energy-saving appliances with electric power generators by renewable energy such as solar panels and home micro-wind generators. Research limitations/implications The response rate and attributes of respondents and non-respondents are not shown to researchers in the web-questionnaire service. Social implications Promoting energy-saving appliances and renewable energy is essential in Japan (as in other countries) to save energy and to attenuate climate change. Based on the results, both energy-saving appliances and renewable energy will be widely used. Originality/value Although many studies have analyzed households’ preferences for energy-saving appliances and the effects of non-monetary incentives, studies that mentioned the relation with preferences for renewable energy are few. This study analyzes the relation and proposes policy recommendations to promote both energy-saving appliances and renewable energy.


2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-4
Author(s):  
Elettra Agliardi ◽  
Marco Casari ◽  
Anastasios Xepapadeas

AbstractClimate change is considered to be one of the most significant and complex challenges facing the world in the twenty-first century. As such, it is essential to increase the knowledge base regarding climate change and how best to address its impacts through efficient policies. This special issue, which is divided into two parts – published in the previous and current issues of Environment and Development Economics – is a selection of papers related to ‘The Economics of Climate Change and Sustainability’, the topic of an international workshop organized by the Economics Department of the University of Bologna in April 2018. The papers in this special issue cover a wide range of climate-change-related topics, including endogenous growth and overlapping generation models; climate-related financing and green bonds; demography; location decisions and technology diffusion; quantitative relationships and experimental approaches. They aim at providing new insights into the economics of climate change and help to identify new directions for future research.


2018 ◽  
Vol 48 ◽  
pp. 05006
Author(s):  
Nguyen Thi Mai Khanh

Tra Vinh University (TVU), the only university in the province for developing labour force in Tra Vinh. This article is to share the strategies that Tra Vinh University used to make the university become green. Being aware that environtment and climate change are issues should be concern as its impact to human life, Tra Vinh University identidied green campus is one of the mission that have to be done along with the development of the university. Different strategies have been applied and bring Tra Vinh University significant affect in terms of energy saving and green activities through the university curriculum, green projects and environment tracking in different aspesct. One of the environment issues that has been carried out frequently is waste water from daily activities and laboratories. The waste water is check physically and via database from the labs in different time of the year. The positive result from the test gives good signals to TVU’s green target.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 2333
Author(s):  
Adán Acosta-Banda ◽  
Verónica Aguilar-Esteva ◽  
Miguel Patiño Ortiz ◽  
Julián Patiño Ortiz

The construction and content validity of an instrument to evaluate the perception and social consciousness on renewable resources and energy sustainability was done. First, a review and analysis of the existing instruments in the literature was carried out. The instrument was constructed, then reviewed by three experts, and submitted to the judgment of nine experts. Finally, it was applied to a group of twenty people to evaluate instruction and question accuracy. The instrument is integrated with four dimensions: knowledge on renewable energy; the perception of benefits obtained from it; willingness to acquire renewable energy equipment and evaluation of the use of wind and solar energies importance; the degree of personal and social awareness on environmental care as well as information on specific habits on how important it is to promote and practice energy-saving and environmental sustainability. The experts’ revision process resulted in the approval of the instrument. Content validity (Aiken’s V > 0.75; VI > 0.50) was confirmed. The results of the pilot sample showed a favorable opinion, the understanding of the instructions and items, and the attainment of an optimal value in reliability (Cronbach’s alpha: 0.8553). It was concluded that the instrument is valid to evaluate the perception and degree of consciousness on renewable energies and energy sustainability constructs.


2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaime Alberto Romero-Infante

<p>Las energías renovables son indispensables para que un proceso productivo incremente su eficiencia, mejore su desempeño ambiental y fortalezca su ventaja competitiva en la medida en que su uso sirve para disminuir las emisiones atmosféricas y por lo tanto aporta a la mitigacion del cambio climático. Existe una aproximación de los empresarios al uso de las energías renovables motivada por razones inminentemente prácticas, algunas veces porque sus clientes lo exigen desde certificaciones verdes o de responsabilidad ambiental, otras porque las autoridades ambientales lo requieren y muchas veces porque los sistemas de provision de energia que tienen son muy costosos. Cuando los empresarios o algún funcionario busca implementar las energias renovables se encuentran con una cantidad de obstáculos e incertidumbres mientras que desde diferentes áreas del conocimiento se tienen una serie de herramientas probadas que sirven, al integrarlas, para incrementar la eficacia en el propósito de implementar esas energías.Se presenta en este documento en primer lugar la metodologia del ciclo de vida enmarcada en el enfoque sistemico de las organizaciones, en segundo lugar varias herramientas que permiten manegar el talento humano para que acepten autónomamente ese mejoramiento tecnológico que son las energías renovables y en tercer lugar, se muestran las ventajas que tiene ese manejo sistémico de la organización en la mitigación del cambio climático con el uso de las energias renovables.</p><p class="Pa4"><strong>Abstract </strong></p><p>Renewable energies are essential for a cleaner productive process. These energies improve efficiency, environmental performance and strengthen the competitive advantage of companies. Furthermore, this type of energies reduce air emissions and therefore contributes to the mitigation of climate change. Entrepreneurs implement renewable energy mainly influenced and pressed by external practical reasons. For example, sometimes customers demand from them green certifications or environmental responsibility in operations; in others cases, environmental authorities require reduction of emissions and often, manangers realizes that conventional energy supply systems are very expensive or not safe. Emplo­yees and officers have at their disposition different proven tools that are provided by many areas of knowledge. The integrated application of these tools permits to overcome obstacles and uncertainties encountered in the implementation of renewable energies systems in the company. This document provides three tools that are useful to managers to apply renewable energy systems as follows: 1) The methodology life cycle framed in the systemic approach of organizations, 2) several tools to manage human talent to accept autonomously that technological improvements which are renewable energy and 3) the advan­tages of the systemic management of the organization. With the integrated implementation of these tools the paper shows that renewable energys are key to mitigate climate change.</p>


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