Global Transitions最新文献

{"title":"Decentralised energy, decentralised accountability? Lessons on how to govern decentralised electricity transitions from multi-level natural resource governance","authors":"Marie Claire Brisbois","doi":"10.1016/j.glt.2020.01.001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.glt.2020.01.001","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Emerging decentralised electricity systems require new approaches to energy governance. As energy sources shift and technology evolves, electricity governance is shifting from largely centralized models to include multiple decentralised and multi-level sites not bounded in their operations by established democratic processes. New forms of accountability are required to ensure that multi-level electricity systems meet societal needs and expectations. While multi-level governance dynamics are new for many electricity systems, they are common across other resources (e.g. water). This article uses an OECD framework that synthesizes decades of research on multi-level natural resource governance to describe 12 principles for “good” resource governance. These principles are developed and applied to decentralising electricity governance contexts in order to develop mechanisms, and identify potential governance gaps, that are relevant for ensuring accountability in decentralised electricity governance systems. The nature of decentralised electricity systems particularly highlights the need to rescale many governance functions, while paying attention to issues of inclusion, capacity building, coherence, adaptiveness, and transparency.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":33615,"journal":{"name":"Global Transitions","volume":"2 ","pages":"Pages 16-25"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/j.glt.2020.01.001","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"112246058","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"What can we learn from previous pandemics to reduce the frequency of emerging infectious diseases like COVID-19?","authors":"S. Lakshmi Priyadarsini ,&nbsp;M. Suresh ,&nbsp;Donald Huisingh","doi":"10.1016/j.glt.2020.09.003","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.glt.2020.09.003","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The global risks report of 2020 stated, climate-related issues dominate all of the top-five long-term critical global risks burning the planet and according to the report, “as existing health risks resurge and new ones emerge, humanity’s past successes in overcoming health challenges are no guarantee of future results.” Over the last few decades, the world has experienced several pandemic outbreaks of various pathogens and the frequency of the emergence of novel strains of infectious organisms has increased in recent decades. As per expert opinion, rapidly mutating viruses, emergence and re-emergence of epidemics with increasing frequencies, climate-sensitive vector-borne diseases are likely to be increasing over the years and the trends will continue and intensify. Susceptible disease hosts, anthropogenic activities and environmental changes contribute and trigger the ‘adaptive evolution’ of infectious agents to thrive and spread into different ecological niches and to adapt to new hosts. The overarching objective of this paper is to provide insight into the human actions which should be strictly regulated to help to sustain life on earth. To identify and categorize the triggering factors that contribute to disease ecology, especially repeated emergence of disease pandemics, a theory building approach, ‘Total Interpretive Structural Modeling’ (TISM) was used; also the tool, ‘Impact Matrix Cross-Reference Multiplication Applied to a Classification’ analysis (MICMAC) was applied to rank the risk factors based on their impacts on other factors and on the interdependence among them. This mathematical modeling tool clearly explains the strength, position and interconnectedness of each anthropogenic factor that contributes to the evolution of pathogens and to the frequent emergence of pandemics which needs to be addressed with immediate priority. As we are least prepared for another pandemic outbreak, significant policy attention must be focused on the causative factors to limit emerging outbreaks like COVID 19 in the future.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":33615,"journal":{"name":"Global Transitions","volume":"2 ","pages":"Pages 202-220"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/j.glt.2020.09.003","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"38427719","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Impacts of social innovation on local energy transitions: Diffusion of solar PV and alternative fuel vehicles in Sweden","authors":"Sujeetha Selvakkumaran ,&nbsp;Erik O. Ahlgren","doi":"10.1016/j.glt.2020.06.004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.glt.2020.06.004","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Local energy transitions are gaining widespread attention through their contribution to sustainability, notably to climate change mitigation. Social innovation (SI) in local energy transitions have been scrutinized in multiple works, but the impact of SI on the local energy transitions is an under-studied field. The objective of this study is to put forward a method to model SI in local energy transitions. This is done using System Dynamics modelling (SDM) of the local energy transitions processes. The SDM method is to study a broad spectrum of socio-techno-natural phenomena, generally. In this study, SDM is used to capture the endogenous factors which underpin the transition processes. This study is based on two cases: solar photovoltaics (PV) diffusion in Skåne, and transition to alternative fuel vehicles (AFV) in Dalsland, Sweden. The transitions are modelled with the municipality actors providing input. Two simulation runs of the local transitions are executed, namely the Base run and No SI run. The Base run has the municipality actors’ co-creation actions. Results show that the co-creation actions induce a significant increase in the diffusion of electric vehicles in Dalsland and higher diffusion of solar PV in Skåne. The main outcome of this study is a model to assess the possible impacts of SI on local energy transitions. Ultimately, we hope to contribute to methods of quantitatively assessing the impact of SI in local energy transitions.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":33615,"journal":{"name":"Global Transitions","volume":"2 ","pages":"Pages 98-115"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/j.glt.2020.06.004","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91747304","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The subsidiarity principle in innovation policy for societal challenges","authors":"Iris Wanzenböck,&nbsp;Koen Frenken","doi":"10.1016/j.glt.2020.02.002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.glt.2020.02.002","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>While national governments are the main actors in innovation policy, we witness a proliferation of challenge-oriented innovation policies both at the subnational and the supranational level. This begs the question about subsidiarity: what innovation policies for societal challenges should be organized at subnational, national and supranational levels? We provide arguments that innovation policies aimed to solve societal challenges, such as climate change or aging, are best pursued at subnational levels given the contested nature of problem identification and the contextual nature of problem-solving. Regional innovation policy, then, should formulate concrete societal goals tailored to the local context, while the transnational context promotes inter-regional learning and provides the complementary policies in the realms of basic research, regulation and taxation. In addition, the supranational level can set overall goals that are made more concrete and operational at the subnational level.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":33615,"journal":{"name":"Global Transitions","volume":"2 ","pages":"Pages 51-59"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/j.glt.2020.02.002","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91665805","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Development of an IoT based real-time traffic monitoring system for city governance","authors":"Mohammed Sarrab ,&nbsp;Supriya Pulparambil ,&nbsp;Medhat Awadalla","doi":"10.1016/j.glt.2020.09.004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.glt.2020.09.004","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>A significant amount of research work carried out on traffic management systems, but intelligent traffic monitoring is still an active research topic due to the emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI). The integration of these technologies will facilitate the techniques for better decision making and achieve urban growth. However, the existing traffic prediction methods mostly dedicated to highway and urban traffic management, and limited studies focused on collector roads and closed campuses. Besides, reaching out to the public, and establishing active connections to assist them in decision-making is challenging when the users are not equipped with any smart devices. This research proposes an IoT based system model to collect, process, and store real-time traffic data for such a scenario. The objective is to provide real-time traffic updates on traffic congestion and unusual traffic incidents through roadside message units and thereby improve mobility. These early-warning messages will help citizens to save their time, especially during peak hours. Also, the system broadcasts the traffic updates from the administrative authorities. A prototype is implemented to evaluate the feasibility of the model, and the results of the experiments show good accuracy in vehicle detection and a low relative error in road occupancy estimation. The study is part of the Omani-funded research project, investigating Real-Time Feedback for Adaptive Traffic Signals.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":33615,"journal":{"name":"Global Transitions","volume":"2 ","pages":"Pages 230-245"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/j.glt.2020.09.004","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91665807","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Towards gender equality in Mediterranean Engineering Schools through networking, collaborative learning, synergies and commitment to SDGs-The RMEI approach","authors":"Anastasia Zabaniotou","doi":"10.1016/j.glt.2019.12.001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.glt.2019.12.001","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Gender equality is a critical goal because its implementation can foster positive cascading effects on the achievement of all SDGs, and it is directly connected to the nexus of education-sustainability. This study discusses how the Mediterranean Engineering Schools Network achieved a learning potential, inspired informal and structural changes for gender equality to its members, through a tailored strategy by: a) unraveling the link between gender equality and sustainability, b) harvesting synergies of SDG5 from other SDGs and integrating gender equality in interventions for sustainable development of the region, c) mobilizing network’s human resources from professors and students to academic leaders, d) with the support of an EU project. A community of practice was created, the gender equality policy statement unanimously approved, grace due to the commitment of member-institutions leaders to SDGs. Finally, the study reflects on the network’s co-creation processes and interventions, challenges, barriers, and lessons learned, and suggests networking, collaborative learning, ethical commitment to SDGs and the synergetic effects arising from appropriately designed tailored policy mixes, as drivers for advancing gender equality in typical male-dominated engineering institutions, where females in leadership and senior positions are in low percentages. Cognitive, affective trust and joy shared among the members of the working group, and the feeling of belonging to the same family were the emotional drivers of paving the way for gender equality. The insights of the study may be useful to leaders, academic and administrative staff of other institutions in advancing gender equality and improving sustainability in their institution.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":33615,"journal":{"name":"Global Transitions","volume":"2 ","pages":"Pages 4-15"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/j.glt.2019.12.001","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91665858","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The COVID-19 lockdown in India: Impacts on the economy and the power sector","authors":"Tejal Kanitkar","doi":"10.1016/j.glt.2020.07.005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.glt.2020.07.005","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This paper demonstrates the use of a linear Input-Output (IO) model to estimate the economic losses in India due to COVID-19. The results show that depending on the duration of the lockdown, the Indian economy is likely to face a loss of about 10–31% of its GDP. This method can be applied to assess economic losses for other regions also. The paper also discusses the impacts of COVID-19 on the demand and supply of electricity and CO₂ emissions from the power sector. The results show that daily supply from coal-based power plants has reduced by 26% during the lockdown resulting in a possible emissions reduction of about 15–65 MtCO₂ depending on the lockdown duration. The cost of avoided carbon is approximately 186–264 $/tCO2, much higher than the $7–12/tCO2 currently being paid by consumers in India indicating the difficulty of achieving emissions reductions through restructuring economic activity as often advocated.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":33615,"journal":{"name":"Global Transitions","volume":"2 ","pages":"Pages 150-156"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/j.glt.2020.07.005","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91665958","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"An integrated fog and Artificial Intelligence smart health framework to predict and prevent COVID-19","authors":"Prabhdeep Singh ,&nbsp;Rajbir Kaur","doi":"10.1016/j.glt.2020.11.002","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.glt.2020.11.002","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Nowadays, COVID-19 is spreading at a rapid rate in almost all the continents of the world. It has already affected many people who are further spreading it day by day. Hence, it is the most essential to alert nearby people to be aware of it due to its communicable behavior. Till May 2020, no vaccine is available for the treatment of this COVID-19, but the existing technologies can be used to minimize its effect. Cloud/fog computing could be used to monitor and control this rapidly spreading infection in a cost-effective and time-saving manner. To strengthen COVID-19 patient prediction, Artificial Intelligence(AI) can be integrated with cloud/fog computing for practical solutions. In this paper, fog assisted the internet of things based quality of service framework is presented to prevent and protect from COVID-19. It provides real-time processing of users’ health data to predict the COVID-19 infection by observing their symptoms and immediately generates an emergency alert, medical reports, and significant precautions to the user, their guardian as well as doctors/experts. It collects sensitive information from the hospitals/quarantine shelters through the patient IoT devices for taking necessary actions/decisions. Further, it generates an alert message to the government health agencies for controlling the outbreak of chronic illness and for tanking quick and timely actions.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":33615,"journal":{"name":"Global Transitions","volume":"2 ","pages":"Pages 283-292"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/j.glt.2020.11.002","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"38624110","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Indicative appraisal of clustered micro-generators for a low-carbon transition in the UK building sector","authors":"Stephen R Allen ,&nbsp;Benjamin Cohen ,&nbsp;Geoffrey P. Hammond","doi":"10.1016/j.glt.2020.06.001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.glt.2020.06.001","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Building ‘zero carbon’ homes will be essential for achieving the carbon reductions within industrialised countries required to meet their commitments under the 2015 <em>Paris Agreement</em> on climate change. Such high performance buildings may need a combination or ‘cluster’ of <em>micro-generators</em> to be installed, such as a heat pump to provide heating and a <em>solar photovoltaic</em> (PV) array to produce electricity. When sized and installed appropriately, these technologies have lower emissions than the conventional systems they displace (centralised grid electricity and gas-fired boilers). However, if the ‘embodied’ energy and carbon is not recouped from that saved during the lifetime of the micro-generator, then there is no net saving overall. This study therefore assesses a range of clustered micro-generators using an ‘integrated approach’ that combines energy analysis, environmental <em>life-cycle assessment</em>, and an indicative financial appraisal. Eight clusters of micro-generators were designated to meet the heat and electricity requirements of five different dwelling types, each one specified to two different UK performance standards (2006 building regulations and a zero-carbon specification). For these 80 scenarios, various combinations of heat pumps with <em>solar hot water</em> and/or PV systems yield the most attractive performance metrics with all of the clusters having energy and carbon paybacks (4.5–5.5 and 5.0–7.0 years respectively) within their operational lifetimes, and would hence create net savings overall. But the clusters were generally found to have unattractive financial payback periods (50–80 years), although this result will be sensitive to the discount rate and prevailing energy prices and support mechanisms. The focus is on the use of clustered micro-generators in the context of UK transition pathways to a low-carbon economy out to 2050, but the lessons learned are applicable to many industrialised countries.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":33615,"journal":{"name":"Global Transitions","volume":"2 ","pages":"Pages 83-97"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/j.glt.2020.06.001","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91665808","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Reduced air pollution during COVID-19: Learnings for sustainability from Indian Cities","authors":"Purnamita Dasgupta ,&nbsp;Kavitha Srikanth","doi":"10.1016/j.glt.2020.10.002","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.glt.2020.10.002","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Air pollution has been a widespread and visible concern, that has increased significantly over the last decade across many parts of India with severe consequences for human health and well-being. The Indian government, as in many other countries, responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by enforcing a variety of restrictions on normal activity, including complete lockdowns that led to severe disruptions in economic activities. A beneficial short-term effect on the natural environment across cities was a significant reduction in air pollution. The pandemic and its management, have brought home the interconnectedness between nature and human existence with renewed understanding of the complex linkages between the economy and the environment. This presents a unique opportunity to integrate air pollution management into plans for economic recovery. This paper empirically examines the impact of imposing a 27-day lockdown on air pollution in India by comparing pollutant concentration data from 8 representative cities over matching periods of time during the lockdown with those of the previous year, and the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). This provides an opportunity to understand the maximum extent to which air pollution could potentially be reduced in these cities. Thereafter, these findings are analysed in conjunction with city level socio-economic correlates and current air pollution management strategies, to gain policy insights on the scope for integrating improved air quality with economic recovery for a sustainable future. With city action plans having been recently prepared for improving air quality, this is indeed an appropriate time to conduct analyses to impact and bend the curve of air pollution substantially. Additionally, as winter approaches, there is a possibility of a double burden of mortality and morbidity from worsening of both COVID-19 and air quality. The current focus on public health provides an opportunity to concentrate on the management of air pollution as a critical component of public health management.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":33615,"journal":{"name":"Global Transitions","volume":"2 ","pages":"Pages 271-282"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/j.glt.2020.10.002","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"113386536","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}