1,721,120 research outputs found
Analysing stakeholders' perspectives towards a socio-technical change: The energy transition journey in Gela Municipality
Full text linkThis article investigates the perspectives of involved stakeholders in supporting niche empowering processes necessary for a sustainable energy transitions. It analyses these perspectives by focusing on a concrete example of an on-going transition from fossil fuel to bio-based technologies, namely the case of Gela (Italy). Based on semi-structured interviews conducted with private and public stakeholders, our findings allowed the identification of potential pathways in supporting the empowerment of the investigated energy niche. Among them we can recall: Information campaigns; scientific and technological collaborations, tax relief and production incentives; infrastructural investments; training courses for advanced biorefineries; simplification of administrative procedures
From the “age of instability” to the “age of responsibility”: economic uncertainty and sustainable investments
No full textPurpose: This paper sets out to investigate investors' sustainable preferences under different market conditions. Specifically, the authors examine the existence of a positive sustainable asset pricing gap, and whether it is influenced by the socioeconomic and financial sentiments. The increase of uncertainty rises investors' skepticism whether sustainable companies are under-performing the traditional counterparts, causing larger increasing gap. Conversely, if sustainable assets are overperforming, the increase of market uncertainty raises investors' sustainable preferences. Design/methodology/approach: The authors examine the existence of a positive sustainable asset pricing gap, and whether it is influenced by the socioeconomic and financial sentiments. Through a quantile regression, the authors remark the variability of sustainable preferences where market participants, although recognizing the present and future value added of sustainable investing, also show skepticism (i.e. asymmetric tail behavior). However, the analysis of the total change of sustainable investments returns over time demonstrates the emergence of positive viewpoints incentivized by economic and market uncertainty. Findings: The market-driven social responsibility exalts the positive insights regarding the future of sustainable developments. As the authors discuss along the paper, investors are gaining awareness about the environmental and social goals pursued by socially responsible companies. Hence, the authors consider how economic instability might stimulate the assessment of the social and environmental impact of the unsustainable production systems, switching investments toward virtuous sustainable companies. This could generate a series of positive externalities that might improve the welfare conditions of the whole society. Originality/value: The authors conduct an original empirical exercise, combining different techniques (i.e. quantile regressions and wavelet analysis). To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper trying to evidence a systematic connection between market uncertainty and sustainable preferences accounting for different market states (thanks to quantile regressions)
La diffusione di internet presso gli operatori dell'industria dei viaggi e del turismo abruzzese: identificazione, analisi, prospettive
No full textA socio-economic analysis of biomethane in the transport sector: The case of Italy
No full textThe transport sector has a low penetration of renewable energy, and this presents a serious obstacle to tackling climate change. Biomethane is seen as a decarbonisation solution, but only some European countries have pursued its development. Italy is one of these countries, having released a decree to stimulate development of the sector. The present work considers two typologies of substrate (the organic fraction of municipal solid waste and by-products) used in three sizes of plants (125 m3/h, 250 m3/h and 500 m3/h). A detailed socio-economic analysis is presented and policy implications are provided. The recovery of waste enables the creation of a circular economy, but the economic feasibility of such a model is verified in only some scenarios. A sensitivity analysis on the critical variables is conducted to support investment in this area. The use of green gas is found to be capable of significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the transport sector, but the economic value of any environmental externality is low due to the value of carbon dioxide
Tackling Uncertainty in the Bio-Based Economy.
No full textThere is a clear overall consensus among international institutions and governments on the need to scale down the reliance of the global economy on fossil fuels. Yet, a sustainable transition from a long-established regime based on rooted production and consumption models, requires tackling a wide array of challenges. Indeed, the transition towards a bio-based economy is still characterized by a high degree of complexity and uncertainty. Managing complexity and accounting for uncertainty entails appropriate and multidisciplinary tools. In this regard, sustainability certifications, standards and labels can play a pivotal role in navigating this transition, creating the conditions to ensure a level playing field between bio-based and conventional products
Aspetti metodologici e strumentali ritenuti critici per la progettazione ed il controllo di un metodo di simulazione dei processi di sterilizzazione termica
No full textAn Optimization-Based Dynamic Reordering Heuristic for Coordination of Vehicles in Mixed Traffic Intersections
Full text linkIn this article, we address a coordination problem for connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) in mixed traffic settings with human-driven vehicles (HDVs). The main objective is to have a safe and optimal crossing order for vehicles approaching unsignalized intersections. This problem results in a mixed-integer quadratic programming (MIQP) formulation, which is unsuitable for real-time applications. Therefore, we propose a computationally tractable optimization-based heuristic that monitors platoons of CAVs and HDVs to evaluate whether alternative crossing orders can perform better. It first checks the future constraint violation that consistently occurs between pairs of platoons to determine a potential swap. Next, the costs of quadratic programming (QP) formulations associated with the current and alternative orders are compared in a depth-first branching fashion. In simulations, we show that our heuristic can be a hundred times faster than the original and simplified MIQPs (SMIQPs) and yields solutions that are close to optimal and have better order consistency
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