scholarly journals A SYSTEMS DYNAMICS APPROACH TO COMPETING TECHNOLOGIES: EXPLORING UNCERTAINTY OF INTERACTION AND MARKET PARAMETERS

2011 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Pretorius ◽  
S.J. Benade
Keyword(s):  
Systems Dynamics ◽  
Competing Technologies

scholarly journals How do we know where there is potential to intervene and leverage impact in a changing system? The practitioners perspective

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Birney
Keyword(s):  
International Development ◽  
Systems Change ◽  
System Change ◽  
Systems Dynamics ◽  
Leverage Points ◽  
Actionable Knowledge ◽  
The Future ◽  
Sustainability Challenges ◽  
The Right ◽  
Silver Bullet

AbstractMore and more people and organisations who are addressing complex sustainability challenges are turning to systems change practices. They are looking to get to grips with complexity and to better understand how to use their resources, position and influence to address the challenges. These people are working across civil society, philanthropy, business, international development, government and beyond. Many hope that adopting this emerging practice will give them the answers to the long held questions of – How do I know where to intervene? How do I know that what I am doing is the ‘right’ thing? Am I using my resources for their greatest effect? Once we have set ambitious goals around issues like inequality and climate change, how do I know I am creating impact?. In 1999 Donella Meadows wrote a paper entitled Leverage points: places to intervene in a system to help translate the work of systems dynamics into understanding where a small amount of energy might have a greater effect. Ever since, practitioners have been chasing these elusive leverage points trying to understand how this might be made useful and practical. There is, however, no silver bullet to changing a system. At Forum for the Future and through the School of System Change, we work on a number of different projects such as the Protein Challenge and Boundless Roots Community as well as collaborate on, coach and co-inquire with others such as the Marine CoLAB, Oneless, Lankelly Chase Foundation. In this paper we seek to build on systems change ideas and theories, using Forum for the Future experience of working with these ideas in practice, and offer actionable knowledge (Coghlan 2007) to other change makers who are grappling with these questions. This paper provides four qualities that help us understand the dynamics of a changing system, and how potential in these dynamics might be identified and be translated into strategy and interventions. I explore and illustrate these through cases and examples and raise the question about how change makers might value what we measure when understanding impact in the context of a changing system.

scholarly journals A systems dynamics approach to SME digitalization

2021 ◽  
Vol 180 ◽  
pp. 816-824
Author(s):  
Radhakrishnan Viswanathan ◽  
Arnesh Telukdarie
Keyword(s):  
Systems Dynamics

scholarly journals Model Based Biomass System Design of Feedstock Supply Systems for Bioenergy Production

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kara G. Cafferty ◽  
David J. Muth ◽  
Jacob J. Jacobson ◽  
Kenneth M. Bryden
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Corn Stover ◽  
Cellulosic Ethanol ◽  
Supply System ◽  
Cellulosic Biomass ◽  
Systems Dynamics ◽  
Climate Conditions ◽  
Unit Operations ◽  
Supply Systems

Engineering feedstock supply systems that deliver affordable, high-quality biomass remains a challenge for the emerging bioenergy industry. Cellulosic biomass is geographically distributed and has diverse physical and chemical properties. Because of this feedstock supply systems that deliver cellulosic biomass resources to biorefineries require integration of a broad set of engineered unit operations. These unit operations include harvest and collection, storage, preprocessing, and transportation processes. Design decisions for each feedstock supply system unit operation impact the engineering design and performance of the other system elements. These interdependencies are further complicated by spatial and temporal variances such as climate conditions and biomass characteristics. This paper develops an integrated model that couples a SQL-based data management engine and systems dynamics models to design and evaluate biomass feedstock supply systems. The integrated model, called the Biomass Logistics Model (BLM), includes a suite of databases that provide 1) engineering performance data for hundreds of equipment systems, 2) spatially explicit labor cost datasets, and 3) local tax and regulation data. The BLM analytic engine is built in the systems dynamics software package Powersim™. The BLM is designed to work with thermochemical and biochemical based biofuel conversion platforms and accommodates a range of cellulosic biomass types (i.e., herbaceous residues, short-rotation woody and herbaceous energy crops, woody residues, algae, etc.). The BLM simulates the flow of biomass through the entire supply chain, tracking changes in feedstock characteristics (i.e., moisture content, dry matter, ash content, and dry bulk density) as influenced by the various operations in the supply chain. By accounting for all of the equipment that comes into contact with biomass from the point of harvest to the throat of the conversion facility and the change in characteristics, the BLM evaluates economic performance of the engineered system, as well as determining energy consumption and green house gas performance of the design. This paper presents a BLM case study delivering corn stover to produce cellulosic ethanol. The case study utilizes the BLM to model the performance of several feedstock supply system designs. The case study also explores the impact of temporal variations in climate conditions to test the sensitivity of the engineering designs. Results from the case study show that under certain conditions corn stover can be delivered to the cellulosic ethanol biorefinery for $35/dry ton.

Fuel Cells vs. Competing Technologies

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Supramanian Srinivasan ◽  
Lakshmi Krishnan ◽  
Andrew B. Bocarsly ◽  
Kan-Lin Hsueh ◽  
Chiou-Chu Lai ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cells ◽  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Proton Exchange Membrane ◽  
Direct Methanol Fuel Cells ◽  
Cell Structure ◽  
Proton Exchange ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Direct Methanol ◽  
Energy Conversion Systems ◽  
Competing Technologies

Investments of over $1 B have been made for Fuel Cell R&D over the past five decades, for space and terrestrial applications; the latter includes military, residential power and heating, transportation and remote and portable power. The types of fuel cells investigated for these applications are PEMFCs (proton exchange membrane fuel cells), AFCs (alkaline fuel cells), DMFCs (direct methanol fuel cells), PAFCs (phosphoric acid fuel cells), MCFCs (molten carbon fuel cells), SOFCs (solid oxide fuel cells). Cell structure, operating principles, and characteristics of each type of fuel cell is briefly compared. The performances of fuel cells vs. competing technologies are analyzed. The key issues are which of these energy conversion systems are technologically advanced and economically favorable and can meet the lifetime, reliability and safety requirements. This paper reviews fuel cells vs. competing technologies in each application category from a scientific and engineering point of view.

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