Optimization in Green Sustainability and Ecological Transition


Book Description

This book collects selected contributions of the “Optimization and Decision Science - ODS2023” international conference on the theme of optimization in green sustainability and ecological transition. ODS2023 was held in Ischia, 4–7 September 2023, and was organized by AIRO, the Italian Operations Research Society. The book offers new and original contributions on operations research, optimization, decision science, and prescriptive analytics from both a methodological and applied perspectives with a special focus on SDG related topics. It provides a state-of-the art on problem models and solving methods to address a widely class of real-world problems, arising in different application areas such as logistics, transportation, manufacturing, health, ICT and mobile networks, and emergency/disaster management. In addition, the scientific works collected in this book aim at providing significant contributions in the themes of sustainability, traffic and pollution reductions, and energy management. This book is aimed primarily at researchers and Ph.D. students in the Operations Research community. However, due to its interdisciplinary contents, this book is of high interest also for students and researchers from other disciplines, including artificial intelligence, computer sciences, finance, mathematics, and engineering as well as for practitioners facing complex decision-making problems in logistics, manufacturing production, and services.




Methods in Sustainability Science


Book Description

Methods in Sustainability Science: Assessment, Prioritization, Improvement, Design and Optimization presents cutting edge, detailed methodologies needed to create sustainable growth in any field or industry, including life cycle assessments, building design, and energy systems. The book utilized a systematic structured approach to each of the methodologies described in an interdisciplinary way to ensure the methodologies are applicable in the real world, including case studies to demonstrate the methods. The chapters are written by a global team of authors in a variety of sustainability related fields. Methods in Sustainability Science: Assessment, Prioritization, Improvement, Design and Optimization will provide academics, researchers and practitioners in sustainability, especially environmental science and environmental engineering, with the most recent methodologies needed to maintain a sustainable future. It is also a necessary read for postgraduates in sustainability, as well as academics and researchers in energy and chemical engineering who need to ensure their industrial methodologies are sustainable. - Provides a comprehensive overview of the most recent methodologies in sustainability assessment, prioritization, improvement, design and optimization - Sections are organized in a systematic and logical way to clearly present the most recent methodologies for sustainability and the chapters utilize an interdisciplinary approach that covers all considerations of sustainability - Includes detailed case studies demonstrating the efficacies of the described methods




Sustainability in Transition


Book Description

Sustainability in Transition: Principles for Developing Solutions offers the first in-depth education-focused treatment of how to address sustainability in a comprehensive manner. The textbook is structured as a learning-centered approach to walk students through the process of linking sustainable behavior and decision-making to green innovation systems and triple-bottom-line economic development practices, in order to achieve sustainable change in incremental to transformational ways. All chapters combine theory and practice with the help of global case study and research study examples to illustrate barriers and best practices. Each chapter begins with learning objectives and ends with a check-on-learning section that ties the main points back to the core themes of the book. Chapters include a section focused on measuring progress and a box comparing international research or case studies to the North American focus of the chapter. A list of additional academic sources for students that complement each chapter are included. Building sustainability tools, techniques and competencies cumulatively with the help of problem- and project-based learning modules, Sustainability in Transition: Principles for Developing Solutions is a comprehensive resource for learning sustainability theory and doing sustainability practice. It will be essential reading for advanced undergraduate and graduate level students who have already completed introductory sustainability classes.




Green Growth and Sustainable Development


Book Description

The book examines problems associated with green growth and sustainable development on the basis of recent contributions in economics, natural sciences and applied mathematics, especially optimal control theory. Its main topics include pollution, biodiversity, exhaustible resources and climate change. The integrating framework of the book is dynamic systems theory which offers a common basis for multidisciplinatory research and mathematical tools for solving complicated models, leading to new insights in environmental issues. ​




Rethinking the Green State


Book Description

This innovative book is one of the first to conduct a systematic comprehensive analysis of the ideals and practices of the evolving green state. It draws on elements of political theory, feminist theory, post-structuralism, governance and institutional theory to conceptualise the green state and advances thinking on how to understand its emergence in the context of climate and sustainability transitions. Focusing on the state as an actor in environmental, climate and sustainability politics, the book explores different principles guiding the emergence of the green state and examines the performance of states and institutional responses to the sustainable and climate transitions in the European and Nordic context in particular. The book’s unique focus on the Nordic countries underlines the important to learn from Nordics, which are perceived to be in the forefront of climate and sustainability governance as well as historically strong welfare states. With chapter contributions from leading international scholars in political science, sociology, economics, energy and environmental systems and climate policy studies, this book will be of great value to postgraduate students and researchers working on sustainability transitions, environmental politics and governance, and those with an area studies focus on the Nordic countries.







Transition to a Sustainable Society


Book Description

Amounts of fossil fuels left on the planet are limited, and their use is further restricted due to constraints on CO2 emissions: there is a need to convert to a sustainable system. This book offers a backcasting approach to evaluate the physical constraints on sustainable development.




Harnessing High-Performance Computing and AI for Environmental Sustainability


Book Description

The world is addressing the insistent challenge of climate change, and the need for innovative solutions has become paramount. In this period of technical developments, artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a powerful instrument with enormous prospects to combat climate change and other environmental subjects. AI's ability to process vast amounts of data, identify patterns, and make intelligent predictions offers unprecedented opportunities to tackle this global crisis. High-Performance Computing (HPC) or super-computing environments address these large and complex challenges with individual nodes (computers) working together in a cluster (connected group) to perform massive amounts of computing in a short period. Creating and removing these clusters is often automated in the cloud to reduce costs. Computer networks, communication systems, and other IT infrastructures have a growing environmental footprint due to significant energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. To address this seemingly self-defeating conundrum, and create a truly sustainable environment, new energy models, algorithms, methodologies, platforms, tools, and systems are required to support next-generation computing and communication infrastructures. Harnessing High-Performance Computing and AI for Environmental Sustainability navigates through AI-driven solutions from sustainable agriculture and land management to energy optimization and smart grids. It unveils how AI algorithms can analyze colossal datasets, offering unprecedented insights into climate modeling, weather prediction, and long-term climate trends. Integrating AI-powered optimization algorithms revolutionizes energy systems, propelling the transition towards a low-carbon future by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and enhancing efficiency. This book is ideal for educators, environmentalists, industry professionals, and researchers alike, and it explores the ethical dimensions and policies surrounding AI's contribution to environmental development.




Green Growth: Managing the Transition to a Sustainable Economy


Book Description

This volume is a practical guide that helps the reader build a quick, evidence-based understanding of green-growth strategies and challenges. Its cogent analysis of real-life case studies enables policy makers and company executives identify successful strategies they can adopt, and pitfalls they can avoid, in drafting and implementing green growth policies. The contributors’ empirical assessment of these studies identifies the structural conditions required for economic growth to be compatible with environmental sustainability and how the transition to a new economic paradigm should be managed. A crucial addition to the debate now beginning in earnest around the world, this volume attempts to understand how we can nurture a new-born model of sustainable growth and help it evolve to maturity.