| 1. |
- Maranghino-Singer, B., et al.
(författare)
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An information system supporting cap and trade in organizations
- 2015
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Ingår i: ICT Innovations for Sustainability. - Cham : Springer. - 9783319092270 - 9783319092287 ; , s. 285-299
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present a software system to create and implement internal markets in organizations that want to limit the CO2 emissions or the use of scarce resources by their employees. This system can be applied to domains such as business travel by distributing a limited number of permits for business travel-related CO2 emissions at the beginning of a period and then allowing the permits to be traded inside the organization. The system calculates the CO2 emissions caused byplanned trips and provides the market mechanisms to trade the permits. The approach can be generalized from emission permits to any scarce good that is assigned by the management to units or individual members of the organization, such as parking spaces. Both cases are described by way of detailed examples.
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| 2. |
- Huber, M. Z., et al.
(författare)
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Gamification and sustainable consumption : Overcoming the limitations of persuasive technologies
- 2014
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Ingår i: ICT Innovations for Sustainability. - Cham : Springer. - 9783319092270 - 9783319092287 ; , s. 367-385
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The current patterns of production and consumption in the industrialized world are not sustainable. The goods and services we consume cause resource extractions, greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental impacts that are already affecting the conditions of living on Earth. To support the transition toward sustainable consumption patterns, ICT applications that persuade consumers to change their behavior into a ‘‘green’’ direction have been developed in the field of Persuasive Technology (PT). Such persuasive systems, however, have been criticized for two reasons. First, they are often based on the assumption that information (e.g., information on individual energy consumption) causes behavior change, or a change in awareness and attitude that then changes behavior. Second, PT approaches assume that the designer of the system starts from objective criteria for ‘‘sustainable’’ behavior and is able to operationalize them in the context of the application. In this chapter, we are exploring the potential of gamification to overcome the limitations of persuasive systems. Gamification, the process of using game elements in a non-game context, opens up a broader design space for ICT applications created to support sustainable consumption. In particular, a gamifi- cation-based approach may give the user more autonomy in selecting goals and relating individual action to social interaction. The idea of gamification may also help designers to view the user’s actions in a broader context and to recognize the relevance of different motivational aspects of social interaction, such as competition and cooperation. Based on this discussion we define basic requirements to be used as guidance in gamification-based motivation design for sustainable consumption.
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| 3. |
- Wäger, Patrick A., et al.
(författare)
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Experience with a System Dynamics model in a prospective study on the future impact of ICT on environmental sustainability
- 2006
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the iEMSs 3rd Biennial Meeting,Summit on Environmental Modelling and Software. - 1424308526 - 9781424308521
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- To assess the potential impact of ICT on environmental sustainability in the European Union within a time horizon until 2020, we developed a System Dynamics model. In our contribution we make a critical, retrospective evaluation of the model with regard to the requirements and expectations of the project commissioners and of experts involved in the modeling and simulation process. The issues addressed are problem adequacy, validity, transparency, communicability and receptivity of the model. We conclude that modeling approaches that better support a modular model design than System Dynamics does would lead to better results regarding these requirements, and that a modeling language based on a more domain-specific ontology than System Dynamics would be needed to create models that are communicable and have an adequate epistemic connectivity to the scientific and political discourse.
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| 4. |
- Ahmadi Achachlouei, Mohammad, 1981-
(författare)
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Exploring the Effects of ICT on Environmental Sustainability: From Life Cycle Assessment to Complex Systems Modeling
- 2015
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The production and consumption of information and communication technology (ICT) products and services continue to grow worldwide. This trend is accompanied by a corresponding increase in electricity use by ICT, as well as direct environmental impacts of the technology. Yet a more complicated picture of ICT’s effects is emerging. Positive indirect effects on environmental sustainability can be seen in substitution and optimization (enabling effects), and negative indirect effects can be seen in additional demand due to efficiency improvements (rebound effects).A variety of methods can be employed to model and assess these direct and indirect effects of ICT on environmental sustainability. This doctoral thesis explores methods of modeling and assessing environmental effects of ICT, including electronic media. In a series of five studies, three methods were at times applied in case studies and at others analyzed theoretically. These methods include life cycle assessment (LCA) and complex systems modeling approaches, including System Dynamics (SD) and agent-based (AB) modeling.The first two studies employ the LCA approach in a case study of an ICT application, namely, the tablet edition of a Swedish design magazine. The use of tablets has skyrocketed in recent years, and this phenomenon has been little studied to date. Potential environmental impacts of the magazine’s tablet edition were assessed and compared with those of the print edition. The tablet edition’s emerging version (which is marked by a low number of readers and low reading time per copy) resulted in higher potential environmental impacts per reader than did the print edition. However, the mature tablet edition (with a higher number of readers and greater reading time per copy) yielded lower impacts per reader in half the ten impact categories assessed.While previous studies of electronic media have reported that the main life-cycle contributor to environmental impacts is the use phase (which includes operational electricity use as well as the manufacture of the electronic device), the present study did not support those findings in all scenarios studied in this thesis. Rather, this study found that the number of readers played an important role in determining which life-cycle phase had the greatest impacts. For the emerging version, with few readers, content production was the leading driver of environmental impacts. For the mature version, with a higher number of readers, electronic storage and distribution were the major contributors to environmental impacts. Only when there were many readers but low overall use of the tablet device was the use phase the main contributor to environmental impacts of the tablet edition of the magazine.The third study goes beyond direct effects at product- and service-level LCAs, revisiting an SD simulation study originally conducted in 2002 to model indirect environmental effects of ICT in 15 European countries for the period 2000-2020. In the current study, three scenarios of the 2002 study were validated in light of new empirical data from the period 2000–2012. A new scenario was developed to revisit the quantitative and qualitative results of the original study. The results showed, inter alia, that ICT has a stimulating influence on total passenger transport, for it makes it more cost- and time-efficient (rebound effects).The modeling mechanism used to represent this rebound effect is further investigated in the fourth study, which discusses the feedback loops used to model two types of rebound effects in passenger transport (direct economic rebound and time rebound). Finally, the role of systems thinking and modeling in conceptualizing and communicating the dynamics of rebound effects is examined.The aim of the fifth study was to explore the power of systems modeling and simulation to represent nonlinearities of the complex and dynamic systems examined elsewhere in this thesis. That study reviews previous studies that have compared the SD and AB approaches and models, summarizing their purpose, methodology, and results, based on certain criteria for choosing between SD and AB approaches. The transformation procedure used to develop an AB model for purposes of comparison with an SD model is also explored.In conclusion, first-order or direct environmental effects of ICT production, use, and disposal can be assessed employing an LCA method. This method can also be used to assess second-order or enabling effects by comparing ICT applications with conventional alternatives. However, the assessment of enabling effects can benefit from systems modeling methods, which are able to formally describe the drivers of change, as well as the dynamics of complex social, technical, and environmental systems associated with ICT applications. Such systems methods can also be used to model third-order or rebound effects of efficiency improvements by ICT.
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| 5. |
- Ahmadi Achachlouei, Mohammad, et al.
(författare)
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Modeling the Effects of ICT on Environmental Sustainability : Revisiting a System Dynamics Model Developed for the European Commission
- 2015
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Ingår i: ICT Innovations for Sustainability. - Switzerland : Springer Publishing Company. - 9783319092270 - 9783319092287 ; , s. 449-474
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This chapter revisits a System Dynamics model developed in 2002 with the aim of exploring the future impacts of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on environmental sustainability in the EU, which then consisted of 15 countries. The time horizon of the study was 20 years (2000–2020). We analyze the results in light of empirical data that is now available for 2000–2012. None of the three scenarios that were developed by experts to specify the external factors needed to run the model were realistic from today’s point of view. If the model is re-run with more realistic input data for the first half of the simulation period, however, the main results regarding the impact of ICT remain qualitatively the same; they seem to be relatively robust implications of the causal system structure, as it is represented in the model. Overall, the impacts of ICT for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental burdens for 2020 tend to be slightly stronger if the simulation is based on the empirical data now available.
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| 6. |
- Ahmadi Achachlouei, Mohammad, et al.
(författare)
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Modelling Rebound Effects in System Dynamics
- 2014
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the 28th Conference on Environmental Informatics - EnviroInfo 2014 - ICT for Energy Efficiency. - Germany : BIS Oldenburg. - 9783814223179
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The induction of demand by increasing the efficiency of a production or consumption process is known as the rebound effect. Feedback loops in System Dynamics can be used to conceptualize the structure of this complex phenomenon and also for communicating model-based insights. In passenger transport, the rebound effect can be induced through increased cost efficiency (direct economic rebound) and/or increase in speed (time rebound). In this paper we review and compare two models on environmental effects of passenger transport—including a model on the role of information and communication technology. We highlight the feedback mechanisms used to deal with the rebound effect (price, efficiency, and time rebound).
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| 7. |
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| 8. |
- Ahmadi Achachlouei, Mohammad, et al.
(författare)
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System Dynamics vs. agent-based modeling—comparing models and approaches : A literature review and a transformation procedure
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Systems modeling and simulation methods such as System Dynamics (SD) and agent-based (AB) modeling have been used to foster a better understanding of the dynamics and complexity of natural, technical, and social systems. System Dynamics provides an aggregate-level perspective, highlighting thinking in feedback loops and employing differential equations to model the causal relations in a system, exploring the system's dynamics by numerically solving the equations. Agent-based modeling, in a bottom-up method, focuses on constituent units (agents) and their interactions to explore the emerging behavior at a system level by means of simulation. Comparing these modeling methods can help us understand their strengths and weaknesses in order to choose the right approach for a given modeling problem. It may also support the analysis of a given system to build multiple models using the different approaches and comparing them, in particular to treat fundamental uncertainties in systems modeling and simulation. In this paper, we review the existing studies comparing the SD and AB approaches and models, investigating the aims, methodology, and results of such comparative studies. We also highlight lessons learned for future model comparisons by examining how the corresponding SD and AB models are built for the purpose of comparison. A procedure for transforming System Dynamics models into agent-based models is presented and discussed using examples from the literature.
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| 9. |
- Ahmadi Achachlouei, Mohammad, et al.
(författare)
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Using Systems Thinking and System Dynamics Modeling to Understand Rebound Effects
- 2016
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Ingår i: Advances And New Trends In Environmental And Energy Informatics. - Cham, Switzerland : Springer Publishing Company. - 9783319234557 - 9783319234540 ; , s. 237-255
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Processes leading to an increase of demand for a resource as a consequence of increasing the efficiency of using this resource in production or consumption are known as (direct) rebound effects. Rebound effects at micro and macro levels tend to offset the reduction in resource consumption enabled by progress in efficiency. Systems thinking and modeling instruments such as causal loop diagrams and System Dynamics can be used to conceptualize the structure of this complex phenomenon and also to communicate model-based insights. In passenger transport, the rebound effect can be invoked by increased cost efficiency (direct economic rebound) and/or increase in speed (time rebound). In this paper we review and compare two existing models on passenger transport—including a model on the role of information and communication technology—with regard to the feedback loops used to conceptualize rebound effects.
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| 10. |
- Bieser, Jan C. T., et al.
(författare)
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Impacts of telecommuting on time use and travel : A case study of a neighborhood telecommuting center in Stockholm
- 2021
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Ingår i: Travel Behaviour & Society. - : Elsevier BV. - 2214-367X .- 2214-3688. ; 23, s. 157-165
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- While telecommuting (TC) research heavily discusses travel impacts of home-based TC, little is known about impacts of working from a neighborhood TC center on travel and non-travel activities and their energy requirements. We conduct a case study on the impacts of the work location (employer's office, TC center, home) on time use and travel using data collected in a neighborhood TC center in Stockholm. Our results show that telecommuters more frequently replaced working from the TC center for working from the more distant employer's office than for working from home. On TC center and home office days, diarists spent less time traveling, and on home office days more time on chores and leisure than on employer office days. When working from the TC center instead of the employer's office, telecommuters frequently used the same or more energy-efficient commute modes, e.g. biking instead of the car, which was feasible because the TC center is in the local neighborhood. However, when working from home, diarists mainly used the car for private travel. Thus, energy savings of TC can be increased by providing energy-efficient transport options or local access to non-work destinations to telecommuters. TC energy impacts depend also on changes to energy requirements for nontravel activities, for space heating/cooling/lighting at all work locations, and systemic TC effects (e.g. residential relocation), which can only be observed in the long term. Thus, future TC assessments should take an even broader perspective in terms of travel and non-travel activities, their energy requirements, and systemic effects.
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