| 1. |
- Mejía-Dugand, Santiago, 1982-
(författare)
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Diffusion of Environmental Technology in a Megacity - A case study of Mexico City
- 2013
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In a world recently declared urban, each day technology plays a more important role in society. A majority of people seem to believe in technology not only for solving everyday problems and for supporting the current production and economic systems, but also for the redress of environmental problems that are caused to a large extent by the same technology that has driven society to the current standards. In this direction, megacities (i.e. cities with more than ten million inhabitants) represent a valuable example of both the problems caused by high urbanization rates and the possibility of solving them using technology. However, the mere development of technology does not guarantee its immediate adoption and successful implementation by a given society.In this thesis, one of the largest megacities in the world (i.e. in terms of population) was chosen as a case study for the analysis of the adoption and diffusion of environmental technology. Mexico City is studied through a set of interviews with local stakeholders from academia, government, industry and other external organizations such as non-profit organizations and international institutions. This approach resulted in the identification of different obstacles to the adoption and implementation of technologies, but also led to a successful case of technology adoption that allowed for the understanding of important traits that facilitated not only such adoption, but also the subsequent diffusion and spread to other cities.Although the thesis has a strong focus on the demand side (in this case Mexico City), the supply side (in this case the Swedish environmental technology sector) is also considered and analyzed. By using statistical data of common enterprise and economic nature, the composition of the sector was described and analyzed with the intention to identify important areas and behavioral traits that could give insight into the hindrances that the sector faces when exporting its offerings. Given the interest that the Swedish government has put in the sector for contributing to the country’s economic growth, the different studies commissioned for the assessment of the sector are also discussed in this thesis. The different conclusions and suggestions made by the different agencies entrusted with this task are shown and analyzed.Conclusions are drawn regarding the need for designing strategies that consider local conditions, that are flexible and adaptive to a highly dynamic environment and that pay particular attention to the development of strong demonstration projects that facilitate overcoming the distrust normally created when new technologies are introduced in a society.
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| 2. |
- Wen, Qianyun, 1993-
(författare)
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Decision Support for Energy Transition : Application of Multi-criteria Decision Making on Danish Residential Heating
- 2023
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- With the increasing awareness of the impact of climate change, there has been more intention to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieve carbon neutrality targets. However, as one essential element for human well-being, residential heating remains a major contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions. The complex, interdependent, and sometimes contradictory nature of factors influencing residential heating choices makes it a difficult problem to address. Multiple actors with different goals and priorities further complicate the decision-making process. Moreover, given the current energy crisis, selecting an appropriate heating system for residential areas has become even more crucial. Therefore, there is a need for decision support tools that can consider multi-dimensional factors and heating alternatives, which usually have a long-term impact involved in residential heating choices. Thus, this thesis aims to improve the understanding of what influences decisions to choose a heating technology alternative and how decision support tools can sup-port these decisions. Among the decision-making techniques, multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods have been chosen because they are capable of considering a wide range of factors and are simple to understand and use, taking into account data availability and capability. A systematic literature review is conducted to understand the criteria and MCDM methods commonly used in the field. Two appended papers applied different approaches of MCDM methods to support the Danish residential heating transition. These applications also act as case studies to address the research questions. This thesis highlights financial, technical, and environmental factors for decision-making on heating technologies and addresses common problems that might occur during the decision-support process. Specifically, it suggests considering financial costs, environmental emissions, technical efficiency and lifetime when choosing a heating technology and using distance-to-ideal MCDM combining other methods. Furthermore, the thesis reflects on the complexity of MCDM applications in decision support and presents a publicly available online decision support tool based on the research (https://api.flexsus.org/MCDM). This thesis contributes to knowledge for academics and fills gaps in residential heating decision-making. For practitioners, a useful tool is provided for improving the quality of decision-making in residential heating, offering a practical and scientific perspective for making informed decisions without consuming extra resources. By increasing the under-standing of influencing factors and decision-support methods for heating technologies, this thesis helps facilitate the heating transition.
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| 3. |
- Fenton, Paul, 1981-
(författare)
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Sustainability · Strategy · Space – exploring influences on governing for urban sustainability in municipalities
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The pursuit of urban sustainability is considered central to sustainable development and is a key objective of the global Sustainable Development Goals (2015) and the New Urban Agenda (2016). This thesis aims to contribute to debates on urban sustainability by providing insights as to the role of actors participating in processes of governing for urban sustainability, with particular focus on the municipal organisation.The thesis employs an interdisciplinary approach to illustrate divergent approaches to governing for urban sustainability, with reference to empirical studies of strategic planning processes in municipalities in selected North-western European countries – Sweden, Switzerland and The Netherlands.These studies address themes including climate change, sustainable transport and multi-level governance. The thesis provides a broad overview of theoretical discussions related to governing, strategy and planning, the role of actors in governing for urban sustainability, and the particular importance of climate change as a challenge for urban sustainability.A number of research gaps are identified and addressed in two research questions, focusing on the organisation and practice of processes of governing for urban sustainability, and the factors influencing actors participating in such processes. The thesis responds to these research questions with reference to five appended papers, which illustrate different dimensions of governing for urban sustainability.The first paper concerns the organisation of processes to develop energy and climate strategies in Swedish municipalities, and the second paper highlights the experiences of actors participating in such processes. The third paper presents results from a survey illustrating the expectations of stakeholders active in governing transport in the city of Norrköping, Sweden.In the fourth paper, the development and implementation of policies aiming for sustainable transport and urban sustainability in Basel, Switzerland, are discussed. In the final paper, cooperation through transnational municipal networks is explored with reference to the World Ports Climate Declaration, an initiative of the city of Rotterdam.The thesis confirms the presence of five factors – capacity, mandate, resources, scope and will – that shape the “strategy space” of actors and play an important role in conditioning the form and content of processes of governing for urban sustainability. The thesis suggests that the ways in which a municipal organisation perceive and mobilise the five factors will strongly determine the extent of its sustainability strategy space.In sum, municipal organisations and other actors participating in processes of governing for urban sustainability need to mobilise the five factors and expand their strategy space, in order to achieve vertical and horizontal alignment of strategic objectives and facilitate implementation that delivers transformative change.
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| 4. |
- Päivärinne, Sofia, 1984-
(författare)
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Utilisation of Excess Heat Towards a Circular Economy : Implications of interorganisational collaborations and strategic planning
- 2017
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In order to significantly lower the environmental impact from human activities, numerous efforts and approaches related to the transformation of human activities have developed during the last decades. Examples of such efforts are policies and strategies at different levels, some with a top-down approach focusing on extensive institutional changes, and some with a bottom-up approach focusing on industrial actors and industry-led activities.One essential aspect of these efforts concerns the energy used producing the products and services provided within our society. This includes, for example, improved efficiency of processes in order to minimise the amount of energy used, or optimisation of efficiency by using energy with the lowest possible exergy value. It can also be about re-use of energy, which is the focus of this thesis. Heat, which is the main by-product of all energy systems, can be utilised for heating purposes to lower the primary energy demand for heating. Increased utilisation of excess heat, however, requires collaboration between normally unrelated actors, those with a supply of and those demanding excess heat.In Sweden, which is a Northern European country with high demand for heat, the tradition of large energy-intensive manufacturing industries generating large amounts of excess heat, in combination with well-established district heating distribution systems, constitute good conditions for excess heat utilisation. Despite the fact that Sweden is among the world leaders in utilising excess heat, there is however, still a large unutilised potential.From this background, the objective of this thesis is to identify challenges behind excess heat utilisation for heating purposes, and to propose practical suggestions to facilitate expanded excess heat utilisation. The overall objective is analysed with a focus on drivers and barriers behind interorganisational collaborations on excess heat utilisation, important components of interorganisational business models and how the technical conditions regarding supply and demand could be facilitated by strategic municipal spatial planning processes. The research is largely based on interviews conducted with societal actors with different perspectives on excess heat utilisation; energy companies, industries generating high-grade excess heat, facilities generating low-grade excess heat, facilities demanding low-grade excess heat, experts of utilisation of low-grade excess heat, branch organisations, municipal spatial planners, energy- and climate advisors, and developers. Document studies have been conducted in order to collect case specific knowledge. The research questions are explored based on literature studies on the principles of industrial symbiosis, business model perspective and strategic planning. Further, they are examined in a Swedish context.It is concluded that the three perspectives complement each other by providing a system perspective on increased utilisation of excess heat as they seek to contribute both environmental and financial benefits at both a company and societal level. In order to facilitate further utilisation of excess heat it is important to focus on the organisational factors of humility, honesty, transparency, trust, fine-grained information transfer, joint problem solving, and shared visions of common goals, which are important conditions behind development of functional and long-term durable collaborations. Business models for collaboration could contribute to the creation of these organisationally important conditions. Such business models could also provide knowledge on how to create and capture joint values. For some collaborations involving actors lacking the technical knowledge related to the capturing and distribution of excess heat, a third-party providing services related to the technical knowledge required could be beneficial. Collaborations in which one of the actors consists of an energy company often entail the technical knowledge required. This implies that different collaborations involving different types of actors and under different prevailing financial, technical and organisational conditions require customised and flexible business solutions. Local authorities could, through their overall function, initiate interorganisational collaborations on excess heat within the framework of municipal spatial planning. The results do however show that the investigated planning processes could develop more extensive stakeholder participation to include further societal actors related to excess heat. More extensive stakeholder participation, have the potential to initiate new development of collaborations on excess heat between normally unrelated actors, both with and without involvements of third-party knowledge brokers. A broader participation is also expected to result in increased knowledge on how to plan to further facilitate the condition of excess heat utilisation.
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| 5. |
- Zanatta, Hanna, 1993-
(författare)
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The diffusion of biogas systems in Brazil
- 2024
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Brazil is one of the largest economies in the Global South. Because of the country’s strong agribusiness and large population, it has a huge potential for biogas production that has yet to be realized. Biogas systems could potentially address a broad range of social, environmental, and economic issues, such as improving accessibility to clean energy sources in rural areas, alternative cooking fuel, and providing proper treatment of organic waste. Hence, biogas systems can play an important role in sustainability transitions by improving the environmental performance of energy generation, waste management systems, and food production. However, despite the availability of substrate for biogas production and the multiple benefits that biogas systems could bring, there is still a large implementation gap. Biogas systems go beyond technical components and involve a multitude of stakeholders, infrastructure, knowledge, and formal and informal institutions. Therefore, the diffusion of biogas systems cannot be explained only by analyzing the technical components of biogas systems. Previous studies have explored the influences of societal contexts on technological diffusion, but these explored countries in the Global North. However, social, economic, and political aspects differ significantly between Global North and Global South countries. This thesis aims to explain how societal contexts influence the diffusion of biogas systems in Brazil. The thesis distinguishes between societal contexts, delineating them as societal environments and socio-economic structures. Societal environments refer to the circumstances and aspects surrounding the diffusion process where alignment processes between new socio-technical systems and society happen across five environments: user, business, regulatory, cultural, and trans-local. Socio-economic structures refer to societal arrangements that shape social and economic aspects of society. The Varieties of Capitalism framework provides a tool for comparison of the socio-economic structures of different countries in the Global North and South. The thesis relies on case studies based on quantitative and qualitative data from documents (scientific articles, news articles, technical reports, research reports, official documents by governmental agencies, and policies) and interviews. Societal contexts appear to be more unstable and fragmented compared to counterparts in the Global North, influencing the diffusion of biogas systems. Hierarchical structures in Brazil lead to power disparities between administrative levels (municipal, state, and federal levels), impacting policymaking and hindering local-level biogas system configurations. The thesis highlights socio-economic diversity among Brazilian states and how it influences where and which biogas system configurations are formed. This thesis emphasizes that studies on biogas systems’ potential should consider contextual aspects beyond substrate availability to comprehensively understand biogas systems diffusion in diverse settings.
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| 6. |
- Fenton, Paul David, 1981-
(författare)
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Five factors for urban sustainability - exploring influences on municipal strategic planning
- 2014
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In recent decades, there has been increasing consensus that sustainable urban development is critical to the future of human societies and planetary systems. The effects of population growth and the environmental impacts of human activities are evident around the world, observable not only in the rapid urbanisation of many large cities, but also in small-medium conurbations, rural communities, and even uninhabited areas. For this reason, sustainable urban development is the theme of this licentiate thesis.The thesis focuses on the role of municipal organisations, the ways in which processes to develop strategies and policies addressing urban sustainability are organised, and how other stakeholders participate in such processes. The thesis concludes by presenting a new conceptual framework that aims to inform such strategic processes - the “five factors” influencing strategic planning processes for urban sustainability in municipalities.The five factors concern the capacity of municipalities and others to act for urban sustainability; their mandate to do so; the resources available to them; the scope of their processes and intended outcomes; and their will, individually and collectively, to pursue urban sustainability. The “five factors” concept may aid future analysis of urban sustainability processes, both in planning and implementation. The “five factors” are based upon the findings of the three appended papers and the synthesis of their results in this thesis.The first and second papers present studies of energy and climate strategy planning processes in Swedish municipalities active in a national programme, the Sustainable Municipality (Uthållig kommun). Paper 1 focuses upon the organisation of processes to develop energy and climate strategies, whereas Paper 2 reflects upon the experiences of participating stakeholders in such processes. The two papers build upon existing theoretical frameworks and present empirical data from case studies of five municipalities, based on document studies, interviews and comparative analysis, in order to make conclusions about the advantages and disadvantages of variations in the form and composition of energy and climate planning (e.g. that early involvement of stakeholders results in more comprehensive strategies).In contrast, Paper 3 presents analysis of a multidisciplinary sample of academic journal articles addressing “urban sustainability” and published during the period 2011-2012. As such, this paper focuses on how urban sustainability is practiced, observed and represented in academic literature, and considers different issues that arise as a consequence (e.g. a lack of analysis of urban sustainability governance processes in municipalities). Whereas Papers 1 and 2 observe practice, making insights with reference to specific theoretical perspectives, Paper 3 provides overview and identifies wider challenges and opportunities for research on the theme of urban sustainability. Together, the three papers highlight a number of issues that influence the development of municipalities’ strategic work for urban sustainability – the five factors.
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| 7. |
- Grönberg, Per-Olof, 1966-
(författare)
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Learning and Returning : Return Migration of Swedish Engineers from the United States, 1880-1940
- 2003
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis examines different aspects of international migration and return migration among Swedish engineers – particularly to and from the United States between 1880 and 1940. The social, geographical, and educational backgrounds of these engineers and their role in diffusing technological knowledge in Sweden in addition to being a possible source of technical development during the country’s second industrial breakthrough is of particular interest. Swedish engineers were a geographically mobile group. The labour market and contemporary mass emigration from Sweden to North America contributed. However, the ideal emigrating Swedish engineer was, in a Weberian sense, a ”target migrant” who planned to return after a well-defined interval. More than two-thirds of the emigrating engineers later returned to Sweden. International industrial competition was important in the Swedish development nationalism and so was American examples and returning Swedish-Americans. American experience, but also German, was a valuable symbolic capital in what can be identified as an engineering field in line with Bourdieu. The engineers were informed about technical development in the leading industrial countries and this spurred an interest to work with technology that was largely unknown in Sweden at the time. The engineers emigrated to learn the technology and the contemporary spirit in Sweden increased the power and influence of engineers with this experience. Return rates among engineers differed according to their social, geographical and educational background. Generally speaking, engineers from a high social origin, a high level of education, and born in the larger cities were most prone to return. The social and symbolic capital of these engineers made them attach greater importance to the opportunities on the engineering field. Foreign experience raised engineers with low social origins and levels of education. However those with a higher background and more education classes, who also had foreign experience were the ones who were most likely to reach the level of management. Four representative companies are studied to examine the role of returning engineers. These are: ASEA (electrical), Sandvikens Järnverks AB (steel and iron), Bolidens Gruv AB (mining) and Bolinders Mekaniska Verkstads AB (engineering industry). The share of returning engineers who filled responsible positions was highest at ASEA. It was somewhat lower at Sandviken. At the other two companies, there were returning engineers in the top management but the source material does not allow for the same kind of systematic study as at the two former. Even if there also was purely technical influence brought about by the returning engineers, the knowledge gained from American companies consisted mainly of how to rationally organise workshops and rolling mills etc. in a more or less Taylorist spirit. Often, these practices were combined with a sense of welfarism that largely also came from the United States. However, it would be an exaggeration to call all these practices American as engineers with experience in Germany also contributed ideas regarding organisation. The technical influence on Sweden was thus a mix in which the United States was most important. In the electrical industry, engineers who had worked in Germany challenged those who returned from the United States while those with experience in Britain contributed to Swedish engineering companies. Engineers who had worked in Norway played a considerable role in the mining industry. It was in the field of steel and iron production Swedish-American engineers were most evident. The returning engineers filled a large number of key positions in the leading companies in the four industrial branches studied here. The fact that there were several engineers with similar experience acting after a specific pattern ensured they held considerable influence. Returning engineers were most evident in the electrical and engineering industries and least conspicuous in mining although even there a fourth of all managing directors and chief engineers had foreign experience. This pattern clearly points to the returning engineers as being a source of technical development in Sweden during the second industrial breakthrough. As such, they could possibly be considered an historical example of what today is often referred to as ‘brain-gain’.
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| 8. |
- Gustafsson, Sara, Biträdande professor, 1974-, et al.
(författare)
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Strategic spatial planning -a missed opportunity to facilitate district heating systems based on excess heat
- 2019
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Ingår i: European Planning Studies. - : Taylor & Francis. - 0965-4313 .- 1469-5944. ; 27:9, s. 1709-1726
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Strategic spatial planning is important for developing long-termvisions and strategies towards regional and local sustainability.This paper explores if and how strategic spatial planning could beuseful for overcoming some barriers related to new sustainableways of heating residential areas, using district heating systemsbased on industrial excess heat. This longitudinal study builds oninterviews with municipal and private actors in six Swedishmunicipalities. It highlights that important barriers can beovercome by influencing the design and location of residentialdistricts and industrial activities. Further, it identifies missedopportunities in local spatial planning practice as stakeholders areinvolved late in the planning when much is set, leaving littlespace for stakeholders to have an impact. Consequently, theremight be a lack of knowledge and expertise in how such issuescould enhance planning. Strategic spatial planning could facilitateconditions for excess heat-based systems of district heating as itimplies a broader systems perspective which could enhance abroader planning scope. Plan programs could bring about morestrategic spatial planning processes as these require earlystakeholder involvement. If taking stakeholder involvement onestep further to stakeholder collaboration or co-production, aneven broader planning scope would be achieved.
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| 9. |
- Kanda, Wisdom
(författare)
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Promotion of Environmental Technology Export : Governmental Initiatives and Business Concepts
- 2014
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This qualitative and quantitative study examines governmental initiatives and business concepts as approaches to promote the export of environmental technology. Here, environmental technology refers to technologies (products, services, organizational models, and large-scaled technical systems) whose development and use actually provide or intends to provide a better environmental performance than their relevant alternatives from a life cycle perspective. Using literature reviews, surveys and interviews, this thesis collects primary and secondary data from national government level, private Swedish environmental technology firms and Swedish municipality-owned firms.Three main research questions guide this thesis. These questions address how different governments in selected countries promote the export of environmental technologies and how private Swedish environmental technology firms perceive the effectiveness of governmental export promotion initiatives in realising export. In a complementary view, the thesis focuses on fundamental components of business concepts for export of environmental technologies by municipality-owned companies. These three units of analysis (i.e. – governmental initiatives, private companies and municipality-owned companies) are influenced by the characteristics of the environmental technology sector in Sweden.The main results from the study suggest three conclusions. First, governmental initiatives intended to promote the export of environmental technology are largely similar to approaches that intend to promote the export of “conventional” technology. These initiatives can be categorised as: financial aid programs, information programs, education and training programs, and trade mobility related programs. When it comes to perceived effectiveness of governmental promotion initiatives by private firms, results indicate that firms that accessed more than one type of governmental promotion, particularly those including financial support, perceived governmental promotion as contributing to realising export. For municipality-owned companies exporting environmental technology, the thesis proposes seven fundamental components of a business concept as: market (including regulation), finance, resources, activities, partnership (private-public partnership), ownership and responsibility, and legitimacy. Among these factors, regulation, public-private partnership, and legitimacy are particular to environmental technologies.These results suggest a dynamic balance between generic and tailored export promotion initiatives for environmental technology exporters, with much attention to program implementation as is given to program content formulation. The components proposed for municipality export opens up a potentially new research trajectory on environmentally conscious design that considers technological as well as non-technological changes based on large-scaled environmental technology systems for system-wide environmental improvements.
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| 10. |
- Kanda, Wisdom
(författare)
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Stimulating the diffusion of environmental technologies through export
- 2017
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Contemporary environmental problems represent complex societal challenges, and as these problems become increasingly global, the international diffusion of environmental technologies is essential. One way to diffuse technologies internationally is through export. Despite the potential benefits from the adoption of environmental technologies, their export is stifled by externalities and free-rider problems.From this background, the aim of this thesis is to analyse how to stimulate the diffusion of environmental technologies through export. This aim is operationalised using four research questions, which focus on governmental initiatives to promote environmental technology export and their perceived effectiveness among targeted firms, obstacles to and drivers for export among municipally owned companies, the use of international city networks to facilitate environmental technology export and components of business concepts for environmental technology export. These questions are explored in the Swedish context using document analyses, interviews and internet surveys in a compilation thesis which consists of a cover essay and an appendix of five scientifically peer-reviewed and published journal articles.The conclusions are that governmental export promotion initiatives are often generic for all kinds of exporters, including environmental technologies, and comprise financial support, information provision, education and training, and trade and mobility-related programs, often with little incorporation of the specific characteristics of environmental technologies which many exporters perceive as ineffective. Municipally owned companies experience different barriers to and drivers for engaging in international activities compared to privately owned companies, and are often involved in international projects which are not always commercial export. International city networks serve as important arenas for bi-directional information sharing and learning regarding market characteristics, environmental challenges and potential solutions, building legitimacy for technologies and their suppliers. Regarding components of business concepts for the export of environmental technologies, regulation, legitimacy and private-public partnership are identified as particularly important based on the complexity and systemic nature of environmental technologies.Altogether, this thesis makes a contribution by conceptualising the export of environmental technologies with emphasis on technology characteristics, the technology supplier including their business concepts, obstacles to and drivers for export, technology adopters and their characterisation, communication channels and the diffusion context. For policy makers, a dynamic approach to environmental technology export promotion, in which specific attributes of environmental technologies and their suppliers are considered along their international business development, is suggested as a complement to existing generic initiatives. The possibility to provide such support should be reconciled with resource effectiveness, heterogeneity among companies and the complementary role of governmental interventions to market initiatives. Finally, partnerships between publicly and privately owned companies are suggested as particularly relevant since they build on the long-term experience, functioning proof-of-concept and legitimacy of publicly owned companies together with the competitiveness and flexibility of privately owned companies. These attributes could help overcome the liabilities of foreignness and newness, as well as resource constraints which challenge environmental technology export.
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