A Digital Path to Sustainable Infrastructure Management


Book Description

A Digital Path for Sustainable Infrastructure Management delivers the much sought-after guidance that the industry seeks to embrace technological advancements, establish new sustainable working practices, and foster socially valuable collaborations.




Technology-Driven Sustainability


Book Description

This book provides a critical overview of technologies that are used within the fashion industry and supply chain, with a special emphasis on how they engender sustainability and the circular economy. The chapters present contemporary case studies alongside new research on technologies such as 3D printing, 3D scanning and recycling technology to assess the effect they will have on the future of fashion and its global supply chain.




ICT Diffusion and Environmental Sustainability


Book Description

Recently, the adoption of information and communication technologies (ICT) has increasingly been recognized as crucial for economic prosperity, human development, and well-being, along with sustainable development. World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Forum emphasizes the role of ICT adoption in sustainability, with due regard to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The research has largely documented favorable economic outcomes of increasing the use of ICT. However, the ecological dimensions of ICT have received the least attention in the literature. In effect, ICT has influenced human life from many perspectives including ecological aspects of life. The links of ICT with the environment are rather complex. On the one hand, ICT growth deteriorates the environment by increasing the production, use, and disposal of ICT products. For instance, increasing e-waste and larger use of energy in manufacturing cause adverse effects on the environment. The life cycle theory of ICT suggests that several stages of the life of ICT result in pollution. The life cycle of ICT-related products spans over “production, delivery, transport, use, and disposal”. On the other hand, ICT is considered a solution to reinforce environmental protection, mitigate the adverse impacts created in the environment by human activities, and address key environmental challenges such as climate change and sustainability.







Emerging Environmental Technologies, Volume II


Book Description

Within the span of last couple of years, the increasing human interference with v- ious natural ecosystems and higher discharge of pollutants has presented numerous challenges to the society related to preserving the nature for a better tomorrow. The challenges also mount pressure on the scienti?c community to invent technologies that would provide solutions to the problems that are man made and also decrease the negative consequences that we are facing because of our own actions. This edited book attempts to present eight technological innovations that have shown potential to provide answers to a few challenges. Like the previous collection, the described innovations in the current volume also cover a range of areas including water and soil pollution, bio-sensors and energy. However, it is to be realized that no combination of technology can be enough to make a sizeable difference. As I said in my last collection, technological advances have to be integrated with a change in social behavior. The philosophy of sustainable development has to be the principle of future planning and growth. In this collection, I am pleased to include an article on noise pollution. Noise is a pollutant of our own behavior and can only be solved by a behavioral change. The change that is either voluntary or enforced by laws. As an environmental scientist noise is not normally a pollutant that would come in mind as a leading pollutant.




Handbook on Sustainability Transition and Sustainable Peace


Book Description

In this book 60 authors from many disciplines and from 18 countries on five continents examine in ten parts: Moving towards Sustainability Transition; Aiming at Sustainable Peace; Meeting Challenges of the 21st Century: Demographic Imbalances, Temperature Rise and the Climate–Conflict Nexus; Initiating Research on Global Environmental Change, Limits to Growth, Decoupling of Growth and Resource Needs; Developing Theoretical Approaches on Sustainability and Transitions; Analysing National Debates on Sustainability in North America; Preparing Transitions towards a Sustainable Economy and Society, Production and Consumption and Urbanization; Examining Sustainability Transitions in the Water, Food and Health Sectors from Latin American and European Perspectives; Preparing Sustainability Transitions in the Energy Sector; and Relying on Transnational, International, Regional and National Governance for Strategies and Policies Towards Sustainability Transition. This book is based on workshops held in Mexico (2012) and in the US (2013), on a winter school at Chulalongkorn University, Thailand (2013), and on commissioned chapters. The workshop in Mexico and the publication were supported by two grants by the German Foundation for Peace Research (DSF). All texts in this book were peer-reviewed by scholars from all parts of the world.




Tech to Table


Book Description

Imagine eating a burger grown in a laboratory, a strawberry picked by a robot, or a pastry created with a 3-D printer. You would never taste the difference, but these inventions might just save your health and the planet's. Today, landmark technological advances are driving solutions to the biggest problems created by industrialized food. Tech to Table introduces readers to twenty-five of the most creative entrepreneurs innovating these solutions. They come from various places and professions, identities and backgrounds. But they share an outsider's perspective and an idealistic, often disruptive, ambition to reinvent the food system. The pace and breadth of change is astonishing, as investors pump billions of dollars into ag-tech. Not every innovator will prosper long-term, but each marks a fundamental change in our approach to feeding a growing population--sustainably.




Smart and Sustainable Planning for Cities and Regions


Book Description

This book comprises a selection of the top contributions presented at the second international conference “Smart and Sustainable Planning for Cities and Regions 2017”, held in March 2017 in Bolzano, Italy. Featuring forty-six papers by policy-makers, academics and consultants, it discusses current groundbreaking research in smart and sustainable planning, including the progress made in overcoming cities’ challenges towards improving the quality of life. Climate change adaptation and mitigation of global warming, generally identified as drivers of global policies, are just the “tip of the iceberg” when it comes to smart energy transition. Indeed, equally relevant towards this current transformation – and key topics in this volume – are ICTs, public spaces and society; next economy for the city; strategies and actions for good governance; urban-rural innovation; rethinking mobility. The book’s depth in understanding and insightfulness in re-thinking demonstrate the breaking of new ground in smart and sustainable planning. A new ground that policy-makers, academics and consultants may build upon as a bedrock for smart and sustainable planning.




Dynamic Sustainabilities


Book Description

First Published in 2010. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.




A Simple Path to Sustainability


Book Description

With unequaled insight, business experts profile 12 outstanding, sustainable, small- to medium-sized enterprises and explain how their green strategies and methods have helped them succeed. A Simple Path to Sustainability: Green Business Strategies for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses is designed specifically to help smaller enterprises share in the benefits that flow from sustainability. Built around case histories showcasing 12 small to medium-size enterprises (SMEs) that have outstanding records of sustainability, this unique, hands-on guide will help readers choose and develop sustainability strategies and undertake the marketing and management initiatives necessary for success. The studies collected here detail each company's journey from initial idea through building a new culture, engaging stakeholders, gaining competitive advantage, and planning for the future. Each study also covers the challenges encountered, successes and failures, and lessons learned. Cases are centered around distinct themes, including a marketing/public relations perspective, a risk management perspective, an organizational culture perspective, and a new product development perspective. Taken as a whole, these stories do more than inform. They will inspire managers to become green entrepreneurs, undertaking sustainable strategies that can reap surprising benefits.