SustainabilityPub Date : 2024-07-23DOI: 10.3390/su16156288
Di Jiang, Xueyan Li, Zhiyong Tian
{"title":"Techno-Economic Analysis of a High-Rise Residential Building Adapted to Nearly Zero-Energy Building Standards","authors":"Di Jiang, Xueyan Li, Zhiyong Tian","doi":"10.3390/su16156288","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/su16156288","url":null,"abstract":"Zero-energy buildings have attracted great attention in China. Limited research about typical high-rise, zero-energy residential buildings in China was found. To figure out the potential of zero-energy buildings in northern China, a techno-economic analysis of a typical residential building adapted to the nearly zero energy building (NZEB) standards in the cold region of China was carried out in detail in this paper. Firstly, the feasibility of different building energy efficiency technologies was figured out in the passive design level. Secondly, the annual energy balance of the nearly zero-energy building model was investigated. Finally, detailed economic and environmental analyses were performed. The results show that the energy consumption of space heating and cooling of a typical high-rise, nearly zero-energy building could decrease to 11.1 kWh/(m2·a) in Beijing. The conclusions could provide a reference and design basis for the development of zero-energy residential buildings in northern China in the near future.","PeriodicalId":509360,"journal":{"name":"Sustainability","volume":"36 30","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141814251","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}
SustainabilityPub Date : 2024-07-23DOI: 10.3390/su16156285
Jilong Li, S. Shirowzhan, G. Pignatta, S. Sepasgozar
{"title":"Data-Driven Net-Zero Carbon Monitoring: Applications of Geographic Information Systems, Building Information Modelling, Remote Sensing, and Artificial Intelligence for Sustainable and Resilient Cities","authors":"Jilong Li, S. Shirowzhan, G. Pignatta, S. Sepasgozar","doi":"10.3390/su16156285","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/su16156285","url":null,"abstract":"NZCCs aim to minimise urban carbon emissions for healthier cities in line with national and international low-carbon targets and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Many countries have recently adopted Net-Zero Carbon City (NZCC) policies and strategies. While there are many studies available on NZCC cities’ definitions and policymaking, currently, research is rare on understanding the role of urban data-driven technologies such as Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), as well as AI, for achieving the goals of NZCCs in relation to sustainable development goals (SDGs), e.g., SDGs 3, 7,11, 13, and 17. This paper aims to fill this gap by establishing a systematic review and ascertaining the opportunities and barriers of data-driven approaches, analytics, digital technologies, and AI for supporting decision-making and monitoring progress toward achieving NZCC development and policy/strategy development. Two scholarly databases, i.e., Web of Science and Scopus databases, were used to find papers based on our selected relevant keywords. We also conducted a desktop review to explore policies, strategies, and visualisation technologies that are already being used. Our inclusion/exclusion criteria refined our selection to 55 papers, focusing on conceptual and theoretical research. While digital technologies and data analytics are improving and can help in the move from net-zero carbon concepts and theories to practical analysis and the evaluation of cities’ emission levels and in monitoring progress toward reducing carbon, our research shows that these capabilities of digital technologies are not used thoroughly yet to bridge theory and practice. These studies ignore advanced tools like city digital twins and GIS-based spatial analyses. No data, technologies, or platforms are available to track progress towards a NZCC. Artificial Intelligence, big data collection, and analytics are required to predict and monitor the time it takes for each city to achieve net-zero carbon emissions. GIS and BIM can be used to estimate embodied carbon and predict urban development emissions. We found that smart city initiatives and data-driven decision-making approaches are crucial for achieving NZCCs.","PeriodicalId":509360,"journal":{"name":"Sustainability","volume":"123 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141811838","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}
SustainabilityPub Date : 2024-07-23DOI: 10.3390/su16156286
Xinjie Zheng, Xiaoting Chi
{"title":"Investigation on Festival Consumption Promotion Mechanism in the Post-Pandemic Period: The Case of the Qingdao International Beer Festival","authors":"Xinjie Zheng, Xiaoting Chi","doi":"10.3390/su16156286","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/su16156286","url":null,"abstract":"As governments in various countries and regions issue tourism-friendly policies in the post-pandemic period, the voices for tourism consumption recovery and innovative transformation have attracted great attention. Many scholars, experts and industry professionals in the field of festivals are actively exploring efficient solutions for festival marketing and sustainability. It is worth rethinking tourists’ consumption psychology and perceived image regarding exiting festival products as well as the antecedents that affect festival loyalty. The Qingdao International Beer Festival, as one of the most influential festivals in China, was selected as the research case for this study. The main goal of this study was to investigate festival consumption promotion mechanisms by proposing a conceptual framework in which the associations between destination familiarity, product familiarity and loyal intentions (re-patronage and recommendation) were examined with mediators of overall festival image, perceived value and overall satisfaction. The moderating role of visitor involvement in the proposed framework was also adequately demonstrated. Moreover, the causal recipes for loyalty intentions have also been identified by employing a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) and a necessary condition analysis (NCA). The research findings are expected to provide a significant reference for the recovery and improvement in competitiveness of the entire festival industry.","PeriodicalId":509360,"journal":{"name":"Sustainability","volume":"135 40","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141810921","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}
SustainabilityPub Date : 2024-07-23DOI: 10.3390/su16156300
Antonio-Juan Briones-Peñalver, Ignacio del Olmo Fernandez, Francisco José Fernández Cañavate, José António C. Santos
{"title":"Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability through Institutional Legitimacy in Police Forces","authors":"Antonio-Juan Briones-Peñalver, Ignacio del Olmo Fernandez, Francisco José Fernández Cañavate, José António C. Santos","doi":"10.3390/su16156300","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/su16156300","url":null,"abstract":"This paper analyses the effect of institutional legitimacy on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and sustainability in police forces through their methods and procedures (procedural justice) that determine citizens’ trust in the police, which theoretically influences organised coexistence in human communities (social effectiveness). CSR can increase collective well-being through legitimacy, sustained by police action. An anonymous citizen survey was carried out to verify the theoretical proposal to inquire about their opinions on the legitimacy, methods, and community relations between Spanish police forces and the community. The hypotheses were analysed with a structural equation system. The practical implications aspire to know the citizens’ opinions about the methods and procedures used by the Spanish police and their relations with Spanish civilians. Finally, citizens consider that police actions and procedures are institutionally and legally regulated competencies, and, therefore, citizens cannot influence them.","PeriodicalId":509360,"journal":{"name":"Sustainability","volume":"68 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141813006","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}
SustainabilityPub Date : 2024-07-23DOI: 10.3390/su16156304
Jinghui Bao, Changbai Xiu, Yuchun Liu, Jie Li
{"title":"Assessment of Rural Industry Integration Development, Spatiotemporal Evolution Characteristics, and Regional Disparities in Ethnic Regions: A Case Study of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Counties","authors":"Jinghui Bao, Changbai Xiu, Yuchun Liu, Jie Li","doi":"10.3390/su16156304","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/su16156304","url":null,"abstract":"Ethnic regions in China primarily focus on the development of agricultural and animal husbandry economies, which are relatively underdeveloped. Rural industry integration development (RIID) is considered the foundation and guarantee for ethnic regions to achieve high-quality modernization of agriculture. The purpose of this article is to measure the level of rural industrial integration in ethnic minority areas, analyze the spatial evolution and regional differences, and explore the actual situation of RIID in these regions. The aim is to provide a decision-making basis for local governments to effectively promote the development of rural industrial integration. Based on the improvement of the evaluation index system for rural industrial integration development, this paper takes the counties of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region as the research area. Utilizing panel data from the statistical yearbooks of 68 banners and counties in Inner Mongolia from 2011 to 2020, the panel entropy weight TOPSIS method is employed to assess the average level of rural industrial integration in the research area. The ArcGIS natural breakpoint method is employed to classify the level of RIID in county areas. Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis (ESDA) and GeoDa are utilized to analyze the spatial distribution characteristics of RIID. Finally, the Theil index is employed to analyze the regional differences in the level of RIID. The results show the following: (1) The overall level of RIID in ethnic regions is relatively low, with the contributions of the four dimensions in the evaluation index system as follows: integration path > integration foundation > integration sustainability > integration effect. The level of RIID in the study area is as follows: western region > eastern region > central region. (2) Spatially, there are positive correlations and significant spatial clustering in the level of RIID, with the spatial clustering effect of RIID weakening. (3) There are regional differences in the level of RIID, which are expanding. The inter-regional differences are decreasing, while the intra-regional differences are increasing. (4) The construction of agricultural processing facilities, financial investment, financial support, and talent policies are important influencing factors for the current stage of RIID in ethnic regions. Therefore, in the low-level development stage of RIID in ethnic regions, it is necessary to fully utilize the advantages of resource endowment, increase investment in rural infrastructure, and strengthen the guidance of talent flow into rural revitalization construction.","PeriodicalId":509360,"journal":{"name":"Sustainability","volume":"123 31","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141811980","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}
SustainabilityPub Date : 2024-07-23DOI: 10.3390/su16156303
Prima Fithri, Alizar Hasan, S. Syafrizal, Donard Games
{"title":"Enhancing Business Incubator Performances from Knowledge-Based Perspectives","authors":"Prima Fithri, Alizar Hasan, S. Syafrizal, Donard Games","doi":"10.3390/su16156303","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/su16156303","url":null,"abstract":"The rapid evolution of technology has reshaped the global economy, intensified competition, and prompted industry players to embrace innovation to maintain sustained competitiveness. In Indonesia, business incubators, overseen by universities and provincial/city governments, are pivotal. However, understanding the determinants of business incubator performance remains limited. This study investigates 24 statement items aiming to uncover the factors influencing technology business incubators in Indonesia, focusing on knowledge management as a mediating variable from a knowledge-based perspective. Employing a quantitative approach, structural equation modeling (SEM) is utilized to scrutinize these factors’ impact on business incubator performance. The findings reveal that knowledge management serves as a full and partial mediator among funding support, government assistance, incubator governance, and business incubator technology performance. This research offers valuable insights for entrepreneurs and stakeholders by emphasizing the significance of funding, governmental backing, incubator governance, and knowledge management in enhancing incubator business technology performance in Indonesia.","PeriodicalId":509360,"journal":{"name":"Sustainability","volume":"25 8","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141813427","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}
SustainabilityPub Date : 2024-07-23DOI: 10.3390/su16156294
Yan Zhou, Cong Liang, K. Wong
{"title":"The Optimal Logistics Distribution Service Strategy of the E-commerce Closed-Loop Supply Chain Network under Blockchain Technology and the Government Blockchain Subsidy","authors":"Yan Zhou, Cong Liang, K. Wong","doi":"10.3390/su16156294","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/su16156294","url":null,"abstract":"The booming development of e-commerce has promoted the diversified development of logistics distribution services (LDS). For LDS, e-commerce retailers (e-retailers) often choose either the outsourced logistics distribution services strategy (OLDSS) or the self-built logistics distribution services strategy (SBLDSS). Although there are problems such as products getting lost and damaged during the logistics distribution process, the high transparency and traceability characteristics of blockchain technology (BT) can help solve the problem of products being lost and damaged in the logistics distribution process. However, due to the high cost of BT, e-retailers may encounter reduced sales, which causes the supply chain corporate profits to decrease. To encourage the BT investment enthusiasm of the e-retailers and regulate corporate profits, the government implements subsidies for e-retailers’ BT, namely, the government blockchain subsidy (GBS). In addition, in recent years, environmental degradation has become increasingly severe, causing negative impacts on people’s lives. To promote sustainable development, we use variational inequality to establish an e-commerce closed-loop supply chain (E-CLSC) network equilibrium model in which the network equilibrium decisions of e-retailers choosing the OLDSS and those choosing the SBLDSS are obtained. Then, we analyze the impact of the BT input cost and the GBS quota on equilibrium decisions by studying their properties and verifying the theoretical results by performing numerical examples. Finally, we analyze the profits of the e-retailers to obtain the impact of the BT input cost and the GBS quota on e-retailers’ choice of the optimal LDS strategy; in this way, we provide a scientific basis for e-retailers to choose the optimal LDS strategy. The results show that increasing the BT input costs reduces e-retailers’ product sales under the two LDS strategies, which decreases the production rate and the recovery rate of the products. When the BT input cost is low, SBLDSS is the best choice for e-retailers. When the BT input cost is high, OLDSS is the best choice for e-retailers. Moreover, there is a positive correlation between GBS and e-retailers’ product sales; thus, GBS is conducive to expanding market demand, regulating the profits of manufacturers, increasing the e-retailers’ profits, improving the enthusiasm of the e-retailers for BT investment, and promoting the overall development of supply chain enterprises. For e-retailers, choosing the OLDSS can lead to a better development of the E-CLSC.","PeriodicalId":509360,"journal":{"name":"Sustainability","volume":"45 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141813449","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}
SustainabilityPub Date : 2024-07-23DOI: 10.3390/su16156276
A. Abuzaid, M. Alateeq, S. Madadha, Fayiz Emad Addin Al Sharari, Mohammad Khalaf Alsbou
{"title":"The Effect of Suppliers’ Green and Traditional Selection Criteria in Supply Chain Management on Purchasing Firms’ Performance","authors":"A. Abuzaid, M. Alateeq, S. Madadha, Fayiz Emad Addin Al Sharari, Mohammad Khalaf Alsbou","doi":"10.3390/su16156276","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/su16156276","url":null,"abstract":"In recent years, procurement managers have introduced environmental considerations into supplier selection and evaluation as a response to strict environmental regulations implemented by governments. Although previous research investigated the selection of eco-friendly suppliers, little research has been conducted on the significance of the wide range of selection criteria used by industrial customers. The aim of this study was to address this gap and examine the difference in the perceived importance of the selection criteria versus the performance achieved using the selection criteria, in addition to the difference in the business performance and the total supply performance. By investigating the selection criteria of manufacturers in the market environment, this study aimed to demonstrate how their business performance was affected by the performance of suppliers in relation to such criteria. To accomplish this task, this study conducted an empirical analysis based on the questionnaire responses of 72 purchasing managers working in the electrical/electronic and heavy chemical industries. Based on previous research, the following six supplier selection factors were identified: eco-friendliness, quality, relationship, flexibility, delivery, and price/finance. By using statistical analyses, including sample t-tests and multiple regression analysis, this study identified a correlation between supplier and manufacturer performance. The findings show that some factors, such as eco-friendliness, flexibility, price, and delivery, were statistically relevant to the performance of manufacturers, which added value to the decision-making strategy employed in supplier selection.","PeriodicalId":509360,"journal":{"name":"Sustainability","volume":"64 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141810433","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}
SustainabilityPub Date : 2024-07-23DOI: 10.3390/su16156296
Xuemei Zhang, Haodong Zheng, Tao Hang, Qiang Meng
{"title":"How to Choose Recycling Mode between Monopoly and Competition by Considering Blockchain Technology?","authors":"Xuemei Zhang, Haodong Zheng, Tao Hang, Qiang Meng","doi":"10.3390/su16156296","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/su16156296","url":null,"abstract":"Enterprises adopting a circular economy approach can effectively solve the severe situation of resources and the environment, and recycling is considered an effective means to solve environmental issues. Simultaneously, blockchain technology (BT) has been used to enhance product quality trust. However, there is limited literature on how to choose between monopolistic and competitive recycling modes by considering BT. This paper uses a game involving a manufacturer, a retailer, and a third-party recycler (TPR) in a closed-loop supply chain (CLSC). The retailer can recycle on itself and compete with the TPR for recycling used products. The results show that BT adoption could increase the recycling rate and demand for remanufactured products. BT benefits the firms in the CLSC when they control usage costs, regardless of whether competitive recycling mode is used or not. In addition, whether BT is adopted or not, CLSC firms prefer competitive recycling mode only when the competitive intensity exceeds a specific threshold. Moreover, choosing an appropriate recycling mode can alleviate the negative impact of BT on the environment, then an all-win result can be obtained for CLSC firms, consumers, and society. These results can give suggestions for managers to optimize their supply chains regarding adopting BT and implementing recycling mode. In the future, we can expand our research on the transfer price of used products, the positive and negative effects of BT, and BT cost-sharing strategies.","PeriodicalId":509360,"journal":{"name":"Sustainability","volume":"133 30","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141811560","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}
SustainabilityPub Date : 2024-07-23DOI: 10.3390/su16156275
Florian Tomaschko, Lukas Reichelt, Sandra Krommes
{"title":"Digitalisation of Manufacturing Systems: A Literature Review of Approaches to Assess the Sustainability of Digitalisation Technologies in Production Systems","authors":"Florian Tomaschko, Lukas Reichelt, Sandra Krommes","doi":"10.3390/su16156275","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/su16156275","url":null,"abstract":"The digitalisation of production has a positive impact on manufacturing processes in terms of resource efficiency and environmental impact, particularly in the form of increased efficiency as well as cost and resource savings. However, the use of digitalisation technologies is also associated with efforts such as costs, CO2 emissions, and raw material consumption. When planning or deciding on the digitalisation of manufacturing systems, it is therefore necessary to assess whether these technologies pay off in terms of sustainability over their life cycle. This literature review (based on the PRISMA guidelines) analyses the relevance of sustainability assessment and its methods for the digitalisation of production in research. The review reveals that research focuses on the benefits of digitalisation technologies in manufacturing, while the assessment of efforts and their benefits is in its infancy. There is a need for further research on holistic assessment methods for digitalisation technologies. In particular, there is a lack of assessment methods that consistently link the economic and environmental dimensions of sustainability, and there is also a lack of guidance for the application of assessment methods in production.","PeriodicalId":509360,"journal":{"name":"Sustainability","volume":"82 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141810252","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}