Marie Pelagie Elimbi Moudio, Richard S Bolin, A. Carpenter, S. Reese, Arman Shehabi, P. Rao
{"title":"Characterizing manufacturing sector disruptions with targeted mitigation strategies","authors":"Marie Pelagie Elimbi Moudio, Richard S Bolin, A. Carpenter, S. Reese, Arman Shehabi, P. Rao","doi":"10.1088/2634-4505/ac9c8c","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1088/2634-4505/ac9c8c","url":null,"abstract":"It has become clear in recent decades that manufacturing supply chains are increasingly vulnerable to disruptions of varying geographical scales and intensities. These disruptions—whether intentional, accidental, or resulting from natural disasters—cause failures and capacity reductions to manufacturing infrastructure, with lasting effects that can cascade throughout the manufacturing network. An overall lack of understanding of solutions to mitigate disturbances has rendered the challenge of reducing manufacturing supply chain vulnerability even more difficult. Additionally, the variability of disruptions and their impacts complicates policy maker and stakeholder efforts to plan for specific disruptive scenarios. It is necessary to comprehend different kinds of disturbances and group them based on stakeholder-provided metrics to support planning processes and modeling efforts that promote adaptable, resilient manufacturing supply chains. This paper reviews existing methods for risk management in manufacturing supply chains and the economic and environmental impacts of disruptions. In addition, we develop a framework using agglomerative hierarchical clustering to classify disruptions using U.S. manufacturing network data between 2000 and 2021 and characteristic metrics defined in the literature. Our review identifies five groups of disruptions and discusses both general mitigation methods and strategies targeting each identified group. Further, we highlight gaps in the literature related to estimating and including environmental costs in disaster preparedness and mitigation planning. We also discuss the lack of easily available metrics to quantify environmental impacts of disruptions and how such metrics could be included into our methodology.","PeriodicalId":309041,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability","volume":"94 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128390798","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
C. Grasham, S. Hoque, Marina Korzenevica, David Fuente, K. Goyol, L. Verstraete, Kibrom Mueze, M. Tsadik, G. Zeleke, Katrina J. Charles
{"title":"Equitable urban water security: beyond connections on premises","authors":"C. Grasham, S. Hoque, Marina Korzenevica, David Fuente, K. Goyol, L. Verstraete, Kibrom Mueze, M. Tsadik, G. Zeleke, Katrina J. Charles","doi":"10.1088/2634-4505/ac9c8d","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1088/2634-4505/ac9c8d","url":null,"abstract":"Despite worldwide advances in urban water security, equitable access to safely managed drinking water remains a challenge in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Piped water on premises is widely considered the gold standard for drinking water provision and is expanding rapidly in small and medium urban centres in LMICs. However, intermittency in urban water supply can lead to unreliability and water quality issues, posing a key barrier to equitable water security. Leveraging mixed methods and multiple data sets, this study investigates to what extent urban water security is equitable in a small town in Northern Ethiopia with almost uniform access to piped water services. We have developed a household water security index that considers issues of quality, quantity, and reliability. We demonstrate that there is high spatial variability in water security between households connected to the piped water system. Moreover, reliability of piped water supply did not equate to high water security in every case, as accessibility of appropriate alternative supplies and storage mediated water security. Urban water planning in LMICs must go beyond the physical expansion of household water connections to consider the implications of spatiality, intermittency of supply, and gendered socio-economic vulnerability to deliver equitable urban water security.","PeriodicalId":309041,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability","volume":"96 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"117127621","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The evolving just transition: definitions, context, and practical insights for Africa","authors":"Monkgogi B Otlhogile, Rebekah Shirley","doi":"10.1088/2634-4505/ac9a69","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1088/2634-4505/ac9a69","url":null,"abstract":"Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable regions, with impacts on food security already being felt while the continent also battles unprecedented levels of unemployment and economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. The inherent connectivity between the twin challenges of climate and economic vulnerability is becoming more and more apparent, and the concept of the Just Transition is gaining traction across development spheres to address these multidimensional problems, albeit with many different interpretations. These varied interpretations of the Just Transition movement can lead to vastly different priorities, policy routes and outcomes—a concerning risk especially where the governing definitions and principles are not produced, advanced, or owned by African stakeholders. This commentary aims to bring more clarity and specificity to the discourse on Just Transitions in Africa. We first provide a short history of the Just Transition movement and its evolution, and then demonstrate how the term has become an umbrella for more specific interest groups and communities, as seen through the expansion of the Just Urban, Rural, Circular Economy, and Energy Transition movements. Through a literature review, drawing from pivotal international examples, and based on the authors’ perspectives, we offer insights into the meaningfulness of these distinctions and posit clearer working definitions. We then explore the direct relevance of these movements to the African context through case studies of successful local and regional initiatives and programs. This commentary aims to provide readers with a simple, succinct, and structured explanation of the Just Transitions movements, and practical insights for their further advancement in Africa. Our exploration does not aim to be definitive or exhaustive, but rather demonstrates that truly just transitions on the continent will require attention first and foremost to consensus-building at the local and national level. This will require shareable research and data about programs and initiatives for each other to learn from, and significantly more climate financing dedicated to African-led initiatives.","PeriodicalId":309041,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability","volume":"14 13","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"113934473","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Transportation emissions during pandemic: duality of impacts","authors":"Wissam Kontar, Soyoung Ahn, A. Hicks","doi":"10.1088/2634-4505/ac9a68","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1088/2634-4505/ac9a68","url":null,"abstract":"Through the lens of an electric bicycle (E-bike) sharing program, this paper shows how the impact of the pandemic on transportation emissions can be multifaceted by impacting both (i) modal usage and (ii) trip generation. The pandemic led to a decrease in the number of trips by travelers, but it also induced a modal shift away from shared mobility into personalized modes. As a result, estimates of transportation emissions can present conflicting figures. In this work, we collect data on the travel behavior of users of an E-bike sharing program in Madison, Wisconsin, before and during the pandemic. Observations on trip choices and modal shifts of users provide means to estimate their relative and overall impact on transportation emissions. Results suggest that the influence of the pandemic on transportation behavior and environmental emissions is convoluted. Post-pandemic environmental implications would depend on the extent of recovery between modal shares and trip generations.","PeriodicalId":309041,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability","volume":"17 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122413249","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Energy forecasting to benchmark for federal net-zero objectives under climate uncertainty","authors":"Scott C Weiss, J. Delorit, C. Chini","doi":"10.1088/2634-4505/ac9712","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1088/2634-4505/ac9712","url":null,"abstract":"Climate variability creates energy demand uncertainty and complicates long-term asset management and budget planning. Without understanding future energy demand trends related to intensification of climate, changes to energy consumption could result in budget escalation. Energy demand trends can inform campus infrastructure repair and modernization plans, effective energy use reduction policies, or renewable energy resource implementation decisions, all of which are targeted at mitigating energy cost escalation and variability. To make these long-term management decisions, energy managers require unbiased and accurate energy use forecasts. This research uses a statistical, model-based forecast framework, calibrated retrospectively with open-source climate data, and run in a forecast mode with CMIP5 projections of temperature for RCPs 4.5 and 8.5 to predict total daily energy consumption and costs for a campus-sized community (population: 30 000) through the end of the century. The case study of Wright Patterson Air Force Base is contextualized within the existing executive orders directing net-zero emissions and carbon-free electricity benchmarks for the federal government. The model suggests that median annual campus electric consumption, based on temperature rise alone, could increase by 4.8% with RCP4.5 and 19.3% with RCP8.5 by the end of the century, with a current carbon footprint of 547 million kg CO2e. Monthly forecasts indicate that summer month energy consumption could significantly increase within the first decade (2020–2030), and nearly all months will experience significant increases by the end of the century. Therefore, careful planning is needed to meet net-zero emissions targets with significant increases in electricity demands under current conditions. Policies and projects to reduce the carbon footprint of federal agencies need to incorporate forecasting models to understand changes in demand to appropriately size electric infrastructure.","PeriodicalId":309041,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability","volume":"11 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125168686","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Near-term potential of organic waste management infrastructure for soil carbon sequestration in rangelands","authors":"Anaya Lynn Hall, Matthew D Potts, W. Silver","doi":"10.1088/2634-4505/ac970f","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1088/2634-4505/ac970f","url":null,"abstract":"Contemporary food and agricultural systems degrade soils, pollute natural resources, and contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. The waste output from these systems, however, can be repurposed as an agricultural input, reducing emissions associated with organics disposal while actively sequestering atmospheric carbon in soils—thus transitioning the sector from a carbon source to a carbon sink. This research estimates the near-term technical and economic potential of utilizing composted organic feedstocks as a soil amendment to mitigate climate change and improve long-term soil quality, in line with California’s organics diversion policies, by connecting food scraps and organics residuals in California’s municipal solid waste to existing infrastructure and working lands in the state. The multi-objective spatial optimization results indicate considerable carbon sequestration benefits in the range of −1.9 ± 0.5 MMT CO2eq annually, by applying compost to 6 million hectares of California rangelands at a price of approximately $200 per ton, presenting a cost-effective climate change mitigation strategy within proposed federal sequestration credits. Expanding composting capacity is predicted to increase the total amount of carbon sequestered while reducing the cost per ton and per hectare treated. This model aids decision makers in considering the technical, economic, and institutional potential of actively managing the State’s organic materials in municipal waste streams for climate change mitigation.","PeriodicalId":309041,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability","volume":"228 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122357966","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Rural electrification subsidy estimation: a spatial model development and case study","authors":"Lefu Maqelepo, N. Williams, Jay Taneja","doi":"10.1088/2634-4505/ac9711","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1088/2634-4505/ac9711","url":null,"abstract":"A global push to achieve universal electricity access, paired with drastic reductions in the cost of decentralized electricity technologies, has led to significant research on how best to roll out access to rural communities in sub-Saharan Africa. Various geospatial electrification models have been developed to aid the decision-making process considering decentralized grid alternatives such as mini-grids and solar home systems. Despite these tools suggesting that in many cases, decentralized systems are a more cost-effective electricity access pathway, grid extension still predominates in practice. This is due, at least in part, to institutional structures in most countries that provide significant direct and indirect subsidies to grid extension projects, commonly through publicly-owned utilities. These sources of finance are generally not available to primarily privately operated off-grid energy service providers. However, the subsidy provided for grid extension projects is not well understood. In this paper, we employ utility grid extension costs and revenue data, and geospatial grid infrastructure data to estimate the size and distribution of subsidy implicitly provided to rural grid extension projects for 129 communities in Mombasa County, Kenya. We also estimate subsidies for hypothetical off-grid electricity systems in the same communities that would deliver equivalent services to the grid. We allocate the cost of shared medium voltage (MV) distribution infrastructure using a marginal and an average cost method for grid extension and compare these with subsidies for off-grid systems. We find that the average of average subsidy per customer across communities for grid extension is US$5,118 and US$5,330 for the two MV cost allocation methods respectively, while for the off-grid systems the corresponding average of average subsidies are US$3,380, using a real discount rate of 1.3% evaluated from a nominal discount rate of 8% and inflation rate of 6.7%. Our results show that in the communities in our case study, 40% and 37% of the communities would command less subsidy while served by minigrids over the grid, and the switch would save 50% and 54% of the total cost for average and marginal cost allocation methods respectively. We also show that by using a multi-model approach to electrification and by reallocation of implicit subsidies that have been exclusive to grid extension to other technology options utilities can cast the net wider, without an increase in budgets.","PeriodicalId":309041,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128509160","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Methods for comparing digital applications in buildings and districts","authors":"Felix Rehmann, F. Cudok, Rita Streblow","doi":"10.1088/2634-4505/ac9710","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1088/2634-4505/ac9710","url":null,"abstract":"The so-called Energiewende is a complex task with a variety of stakeholders, regulations, technical infrastructure, and proposed solutions. Buildings are an important sector for increasing resource and energy efficiency, as in Germany around 35% of end energy usage can be attributed to them. Digital applications can help reduce these emissions through more efficient planning, operating, renovation, or demolition. Depending on the task and the parties involved, the complexity of descriptions and data models can vary from simple energy efficiency labels used in the labeling process of buildings to complex individual data models used for simulation. However, these specific information systems are often non-transferable, are hard to compare in their restrictions and requirements, and hence increase the overall costs of digital solutions. A good understanding is needed to preserve economic and ecological benefits while maintaining privacy and security aspects. To compare digital applications, a variety of solutions are identified. This paper first provides an overview of the identified solutions, namely frameworks, taxonomies, and ontologies. While the identified frameworks focus more on technological aspects and are complex to use, they provide an in-depth understanding. Taxonomies can be used for a scientific (e.g., classification of methods) comparison and provide simple relationships. Ontologies provide relationships and definitions while being task-dependent. We conclude that comparing the underlying data models of digital applications is a complex task and dependent on the application and its infrastructure. However, a variety of tasks refers to the same tools and data. After discussing these approaches, we then give an overview of digital applications developed by German researchers. Last, we give an insight on how to combine these aspects in our ongoing research. To summarize, in this paper we give an overview of the complexity involved in transferring digital solutions in the building sector, provide a method used for comparing applications and describe a solution to compare infrastructure and digital tools built for it.","PeriodicalId":309041,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability","volume":"79 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123843056","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Can distribution grid infrastructure accommodate residential electrification and electric vehicle adoption in Northern California?","authors":"S. Elmallah, Anna M. Brockway, Duncan S. Callaway","doi":"10.1088/2634-4505/ac949c","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1088/2634-4505/ac949c","url":null,"abstract":"In this paper we ask: in what ways will utilities need to upgrade the electric distribution grid to accommodate electrified loads, and what will those upgrades cost? Our study focuses on the PG&E service area in Northern California, which serves 4.8 million electricity customers and is subject to aggressive targets for both EV adoption and electrification of residential space and water heating. We create spatio-temporally detailed electricity demand forecasts, and compare that demand to distribution infrastructure limits across a range of technology adoption scenarios. We find that electrification of residential space and water heating will lead to fewer impacts on distribution feeder capacity than EV charging, but that both transitions will require an acceleration of the current pace of upgrades. We also find that timing and location have a strong influence on total capacity additions in important ways: for example, scenarios that favor daytime EV charging have similar impacts to those with managed nighttime residential charging, but uncontrolled nighttime residential charging could have significantly larger impacts. We project that these upgrades will add at least $1 billion and potentially over $10 billion to PG&E’s rate base. We conclude that measures that enable the completion of a high number of upcoming upgrade projects—including addressing workforce and supply chain constraints, and pursuing non-wires alternatives like energy storage and demand response—are critical to successful electrification.","PeriodicalId":309041,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability","volume":"34 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122359990","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Adam Yeeles, Kim Sosalla-Bahr, Jennifer Ninete, Michael J. Wittmann, Francesqca E. Jimenez, Jeri Brittin
{"title":"Social equity in sustainability certification systems for the built environment: understanding concepts, value, and practice implications","authors":"Adam Yeeles, Kim Sosalla-Bahr, Jennifer Ninete, Michael J. Wittmann, Francesqca E. Jimenez, Jeri Brittin","doi":"10.1088/2634-4505/ac949d","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1088/2634-4505/ac949d","url":null,"abstract":"Sustainability certification systems play both an agenda-setting and practical role for a variety of architecture, planning, and engineering project types. The evolution of existing systems and the creation of new certification systems to address a broader set of social sustainability topics provide a unique opportunity to explore the different ways the industry is thinking about and applying social equity ideas to varied projects. We explore this diversity by conducting a content analysis of the guidance documents from eight sustainability certification systems to better understand how social equity is defined, the context in which the concept is applied, and how systems value the idea. The manner and degree to which systems engage with recognitional, procedural, and distributional aspects of social equity varies. Consequently, there is no guarantee that certification leads to real-world equitable outcomes. Moreover, sustainability professionals seeking to use certification systems to address unequal social impacts or benefits still need to bring a clear set of goals regarding equity of what and for whom, as well as ideas of how to measure and evaluate the distribution of social costs/benefits in order to put social equity into practice.","PeriodicalId":309041,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability","volume":"128 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114497514","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}