333.7 Natürliche Ressourcen, Energie und Umwelt
Refine
Document Type
- Journal article (12)
- Conference proceeding (5)
- Book chapter (4)
- Anthology (1)
- Report (1)
Is part of the Bibliography
- yes (23)
Institute
- ESB Business School (9)
- Technik (7)
- Life Sciences (3)
- Texoversum (2)
- Informatik (1)
- Zentrale Einrichtungen (1)
Publisher
Innovations incorporating environmental and social considerations can address many sustainability challenges. Such sustainable innovations emerge in networks often comprising actors from business, academia, civil society, and government. The crucial interactions here are the (co-)creation and transfer of knowledge, mutual learning, and experimentation in different environments. To better understand these knowledge processes and hence the eventual outcome of sustainable innovations, we analyze the actors’ relationships with the help of proximity and its five dimensions, namely geographical, cognitive, institutional, organizational, and social proximity. Building upon findings from sustainability science and innovation system theory, we present a refined proximity framework, introducing a differentiation of institutional proximity into micro- and macro-institutional proximity and a differentiation of cognitive proximity into systems-cognitive, normative-cognitive, and transformative-cognitive proximity. Analyzing examples from the literature by applying this framework, we see that all proximity dimensions and their interdependencies help to better understand knowledge processes and innovations in sustainability-oriented innovation networks. We find that such networks often depict low levels of micro-institutional and systems-cognitive proximity, which coheres with the prevalence of inter- and transdisciplinary approaches and the wide inclusion of relevant stakeholders for addressing sustainability issues. Our framework further reveals that successful networks show high levels in other proximity dimensions, with normative-cognitive proximity appearing to play a crucial role, highlighting the importance of shared goal orientations. Our results provide valuable input for the formation of sustainability-oriented innovation networks by pointing out the necessary combination of distances that allow for creativity and learning, combined with appropriate proximities for exchange and mutual understanding.
Climate change is one of the key challenges of this century due to its impact on society and the economy. Students are asking their business schools to scale up climate change education (CCE) across all disciplines, and employers are looking for graduates ready to work on solutions. This desire for solutions is shared by faculty; however, in a recent survey, many highlighted that they lack knowledge about climate change mitigation and how to integrate CCE into their disciplines.
This chapter supports lecturers, professors and senior management in their journey to get an overview of CCE and, more importantly, to find high-impact climate solutions to be integrated and assessed in their teaching units.
The EAT–Lancet planetary health diet (PHD) provides guidelines on a global scale and calls for red meat consumption to be halved. Operational PHD guidelines at country level have yet to be determined. Here we argue that the biological link between milk and bovine-meat production must be considered when operationalizing the globally calculated PHD to national contexts. Using a stylized computer simulation model rooted in a food system approach, we explore the impact of dietary scenarios on milk and bovine-meat production and show that ignoring this biological link can lead to substantial imbalances between national dietary guidelines and production outcomes and potentially lead to food waste. Furthermore, we assess current national dietary guidelines in Europe and find that most disregard this biological link and are incompatible with the PHD, with implications for policymakers and consumers to consider when adapting the PHD in national contexts.
The chemical recycling of used motor oil via catalytic cracking to convert it into secondary diesel-like fuels is a sustainable and technically attractive solution for managing environmental concerns associated with traditional disposal. In this context, this study was conducted to screen basic and acidic-aluminum silicate catalysts doped with different metals, including Mg, Zn, Cu, and Ni. The catalysts were thoroughly characterized using various techniques such as N2 adsorption–desorption isotherms, FT-IR spectroscopy, and TG analysis. The liquid and gaseous products were identified using GC, and their characteristics were compared with acceptable ranges from ASTM characterization methods for diesel fuel. The results showed that metal doping improved the performance of the catalysts, resulting in higher conversion rates of up to 65%, compared to thermal (15%) and aluminum silicates (≈20%). Among all catalysts, basic aluminum silicates doped with Ni showed the best catalytic performance, with conversions and yields three times higher than aluminum silicate catalysts. These findings significantly contribute to developing efficient and eco-friendly processes for the chemical recycling of used motor oil. This study highlights the potential of basic aluminum silicates doped with Ni as a promising catalyst for catalytic cracking and encourages further research in this area.
The presented research is dedicated to estimation of the correlation between the level of renewable energy sources and the costs of congestion management in electric networks in selected European countries. Data of six countries in North-West European area (Italy, Spain, Germany, France, Poland and Austria) were investigated. Factors considered included grid congestion costs including re-dispatching costs as well as countertrading costs, gross electricity generation, installed capacity of electric generating facilities, installed capacity of electric non-dispatchable renewable energy sources and total electricity consumption. Special attention is paid to the share of renewable energy sources. It is found that the grid congestion costs are not clearly affected by penetration of non-dispatchable renewables in all the analysed countries and therefore a clear mathematical correlation cannot no be extrapolated with the available data. The results of this research show in general a loose dependency of the grid congestion costs on the penetration of renewables and a strong dependency on the total electrical consumption of the country.
CODE RED FOR HUMANITY. The alarm bells are deafening, and the evidence is irrefutable: greenhouse-gas emissions from fossil-fuel burning and deforestation are choking our planet and putting billions of people at immediate risk. Global heating is affecting every region on Earth, with many of the changes becoming irreversible. (Guterres 2021)
The digitalisation ongoing in households and sustainability-related challenges are multifaceted and complex. The introducing quote of the United Nations Secretary-General refers to the latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), emphasising the urgency to act – now. As of today, becoming a sustainable population is still a distant destination. As outlined in the previous chapters, the challenges associated with that transformation remain huge, complex, and largely unsolved. Recent dramas such as the power incident in Texas (2021), the floods in Germany (2021), or the drought in sub-Saharan Africa (2020s) – are just a few of the uncountable issues stirring up the debate about fossil-fuel abandonment and the timing of climate neutrality. Business research can actually be accused of referring to the persistent focus on gains and growth, despite early warnings for society at large (e.g., Meadows et al., 1972; Kölsch & Veit, 1981; Veit & Thatcher, 2023). However, academic researchers, corporations, and society are now waking up, as shown by the climate change conference. In fact, it appears that the information systems (IS) discipline just began tackling mammoth challenges around climate change within the last decade (Melville, 2010; Watson et al., 2010). The central discussion in emerging work revolves around the role and use of digital technologies on the path to a healthy planet. But while early studies have focused on organisational settings (e.g., Gholami et al., 2016; Seidel et al., 2013), increasingly research addresses private settings (e.g., Wunderlich et al., 2019).
Distributed Ledger Technologies for the energy sector: facilitating interoperability analysis
(2023)
The use of distributed data storage and management structures, such as Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT), in the energy sector has gained great interest in recent times. This opens up new possibilities in e.g. microgrid management, aggregation of distributed resources, peer-to- peer trading, integration of electromobility or proof-of-origin strategies. However, in order to benefit from those new possibilities, new challenges have to be overcome. This work focuses on one of these challenges, which is the need to ensure interoperability when integrating DLT-enabled devices in energy use cases. Firstly, the use of DLTs in the energy sector will be analyzed and the main use cases will be presented. Then, a classification of DLT-Energy use cases will be proposed. Secondly, the need for a common reference architecture framework to analyze those use cases with a focus on interoperability will be discussed and the current activities in research and standardization in this field will be presented. Finally, a new common reference architecture framework based on current activities in standardization will be presented.
It is widely recognized that Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) plays a critical role in creating a more sustainable world by fostering the development of the knowledge, skills, understanding, values, and actions necessary for such change (UNESCO, 2020). In this context, ESD represents a holistic approach that focuses on lifelong learning to create informed people who can make decisions today and in the future. Related to the textile and fashion industry, ESD is an appropriate approach to continuously implement sustainability aspects in education and training. To achieve this goal, the European project "Sustainable Fashion Curriculum at Textile Universities in Europe - Development, Implementation and Evaluation of a Teaching Module for Educators" (Fashion DIET) has developed a digital teaching module in a partnership between a University of Education and universities with textile departments. The main objective of the project is to elaborate an ESD module for university lecturers in order to introduce a sustainable fashion curriculum in textile universities in Europe and implement it in educational systems. The project therefore aims to train educators along the textile supply chain, to inform the young generation about the latest aspects of sustainability and raise awareness by implementing ESD in textile education. This paper presents the learning outcomes of the modules on sustainable fashion design and related production technologies developed by the technical university partners, as part of the total of 42 courses covering didactic-methodological approaches and the sustainable orientation of the fashion market, offered at the consortium level. The project content is made available as Open Educational Resources through Glocal Campus, an open-access e-learning platform that enables virtual collaboration between universities.
In kleinen und mittleren Unternehmen (KMU) werden Energieeffizienz-Potentiale in geringerem Maße ausgeschöpft als in Großunternehmen. Zugleich bilden KMU den überwältigenden Anteil deutscher Unternehmen. Die Steigerung der Energieeffizienz verspricht einen substanziellen Beitrag zur Umweltentlastung. Energiemanagement wird gemeinhin als wesentlicher Treiber von Energieeffizienz Maßnahmen in Deutschland betrachtet. Im Kontext von Unternehmen wird Energiemanagement üblicherweise synonym mit dem Energiemanagement-standard ISO 50001 betrachtet. Problematisch zeigt sich diese Perspektive mit Blick auf KMU, für die eine aufwändige Implementierung eines solchen System in den überwiegenden Fällen nicht infrage kommt. Vor diesem Hintergrund darf sich eine Förderung von Energiemanagement in KMU jedoch nicht entmutigen lassen. Im Rahmen des Projekts wurde ein bedarfsgerechtes und an den Bedürfnissen von KMU orientiertes Konzept von Energiemanagement für KMU entwickelt. Die Ausarbeitung erfolgte in einem sogenannten Reallabor, das gleichsam als Partner-Netzwerk die Ergebnisse des Projekts kooperativ produziert hat. Das Reallabor setzte sich zusammen aus den koordinierenden Partnern aus der Wissenschaft (REZ Hochschule Reutlingen, Institut für Energieeffizienz in der Produktion EEP), sechs KMU aus der Region Reutlingen und einem Sounding-Board bestehend aus vier weiteren Partnern.
Im Rahmen des Reallabors wurden jene Bausteine definiert, die Energiemanagement für KMU ausmachen. Sensibilität und Basiswissen ist für KMU unumgänglich in den Bereichen: 1. Motivation für Energieeffizienz & Klimaneutralität, 2. Organisation-Entscheiden-Verhalten, 3. Energie-Daten Management und 4. Energieeffizienz-Maßnahmen (Querschnitt-Technologien). Den vier festgelegten Bausteinen wurden unterschiedliche Inhalte Schwerpunkte zugeordnet. Die Bausteine und Schwerpunkte wurden jeweils begründet und mit konkreten Lehr-, Lern- und Sensibilisierungszielen benannt. Parallel zur Festlegung der Bausteine und Schwerpunkte von Energiemanagement wurden Lehr-, Lern- und Sensibilisierungs-Materialien ausgearbeitet, bestehend aus Leitfäden und Checklisten. Die Ausarbeitung wurde jeweils mit Themen-Workshops parallel begleitet. Die entwickelten Lehr-, Lern- und Sensibilisierungs-Materialien wurden in und mit den Partnerunternehmen getestet. Alle Materialien stehen mit Abschluss des Projekts für die Verbreitung zur freien Verfügung.
Der zukünftige Beitrag zur Umweltentlastung hängt von der breiten Umsetzung außerhalb des Projektkontexts ab. Die Sensibilisierung und Qualifizierung für Energiemanagement schafft eine nachhaltige Energiesparkultur in KMU. Eine breite Anwendung des entwickelten Konzepts im Rahmen von moderierten Unternehmens-Netzwerken fördert die nachhaltige Befähigung von KMU Energieeffizienz zu planen und umzusetzen.
Einige Ideen, Erfahrungen und Realitäten für die Studierenden und Bürger in Reutlingen. Zusammengestellt von 50 Studierenden 2020/21 und aus Beiträgen von 40 Institutionen und Unternehmen in und um Reutlingen.
Ein Versuch, sehr konkret am Tatsächlichen zu erklären, was zu mehr Nachhaltigkeit führt, in Reutlingen. Dabei bleibt nicht aus, auch auf Schwachstellen hinzuweisen.
Wenn Studierende und Bürger in den nächsten Jahren bewusst zu mehr Nachhaltigkeit bereit sind, so sind sie mit den Ideen und Realitäten in diesem Projekt auf einem guten Weg.
