The Dematerialization Potential of the Australian Economy

In this paper we test the long term dematerialization potential for Australia in terms of materials, energy, and water use as well as CO2 emissions, by introducing concrete targets for major sectors. Major improvements in the construction and housing, transport and mobility, and food and nutrition sectors in the Australian economy, if coupled with significant reductions in the resource export sectors, would substantially improve the current material, energy and emission intensive pattern of Australia’s production and consumption system. Using the Australian Stocks and Flows framework we model all system interactions to understand the contributions of large scale changes in technology, infrastructure and lifestyle to decoupling the economy from the environment. The modelling shows a considerable reduction in natural resource use, while energy and water use decrease to a much lesser extent because a reduction in natural resource consumption creates a trade-off in energy use. It also shows that trade and economic growth may continue, but at a reduced rate compared with a business-as-usual scenario. The findings of our modelling are discussed in light of the large body of literature on dematerialization, eco-efficiency and rebound effects that may occur when efficiency is increased. We argue that Australia cannot rely on incremental efficiency gains but has to undergo a sustainability transition to achieve a low carbon future to keep in line with the international effort to avoid climate change and resource use conflicts. We touch upon the institutional changes that would be required to guide a sustainability transition in the Australian economy, such as, for instance, an emission trading scheme.dematerialization, physical accounting, stocks and flows, resource productivity, material flows, Australia

Comparing Three Telecom Offers and PSS

International audienceThe increasing presence of telecommunication offerings on the market poses the question of material and energy consumption. One way to reduce these impacts would be to shift their business model to Product-Service Systems (PSS). To study this prospective, the paper focuses on three telecom offerings provided by a French telecom carrier and analyses how close they are to PSS. The first is a classical telecom business offering dedicated to small and medium sized enterprises. The second is dedicated to the school market, providing a dematerialized solution to help the different actors to interact and share information. The third concerns retirement homes and medical establishments. It helps the medical staff to improve the safety of disabled persons. Evaluation of the cases highlights the key parameters that guide transition to PSS. The paper shows how the method can be used to understand each offer individually and also to establish priorities between the offers for introducing PSS

Media in the dump

'Media in the Dump' examines the phenomenon of electronic waste through five locations, from sites of manufacture (Silicon Valley) to disposal (China). This essay is original in its interdisciplinary approach to the topic of electronic waste. It synthesises fieldwork and scholarship from technology to design and cultural studies. The structure for this essay is original in its surveying of five 'waste ecologies' that traverse the globe

Technology as Social Instruction: Ursula Franklin and the Dematerialized Fashion Marketplace

COVID-19 necessitated the accelerated growth of a powerful and aggressive new form of fashion retail: online, device-based consumption. This online migration has radically altered modern retail, from invasive marketing to engage consumers, through virtual selection and ultimately the dematerialization of the body and understanding of the self in relation to others. Canadian physicist and technology theorist Dr Ursula Franklin provided valuable insight into the processes wherein emergent technology and human behaviours enmesh within quotidian engagements. In her (brilliant) 1989 Massey College lecture series The Real World of Technology (1999) stated of the adoption of nascent technologies that “Many technological innovations have been introduced in order to change the boundaries of human and social activities with respect to time and space” (194). Time and space have certainly been disrupted with the technological migration of the boutique, and this virtualizing of fashion has in turn dematerialized garments completely. Thus, the engagement is primarily with the technology and not the tactile. The impacts of this are staggering as current models used for fashion manufacturing are deeply imbricated into transglobal “Fast Fashion” supply chains, a process extremely harmful to both workers and environment

Securities clearance and settlement systems - a guide to best practices

As an essential part of a nation's financial sector infrastructure, securities clearance, and settlement systems must be closely integrated with national payment systems, so that safety, soundness, certainty, and efficiency can be achieved at a cost acceptable to all participants. Central banks have paid considerable attention to payment systems, but securities clearance, and settlement systems have only recently been subjected to rigorous assessment. The Western Hemisphere Payments and Securities Clearance and Settlement Initiative (WHI), led by the World Bank, and in cooperation with the Centro de Estudios Monetarios Latinoamericanos (CEMLA), gave the authors a unique opportunity to observe how various countries in Latin America, and the Caribbean undertake securities clearance, and settlement. To do so, the authors developed a practical, and implementable assessment methodology, covering key issues that affect the quality of such systems. In this paper they discuss the objectives, scope, and content of a typical securities system, identify the elements that influence the system's quality, and show how their assessment methodology works. They focus on the development of core principles, and minimum standards for integrated systems of payments, and securities clearance and settlement. Their paper fills a gap by providing an evaluation tool for assessors of such systems, especially those who must assess evolving systems in developing, and transition economies. Essentially, an assessment involves a structured analysis to answer four related questions: 1) What are the objective, and scope of a securities clearance and settlement system? 2) Who are the participants, what roles do they play, and what expectations do they have? 3) What procedures are required to satisfy the participants'needs? 4) What inherent risks are involved, and how can they be mitigated at an acceptable cost?Environmental Economics&Policies,Payment Systems&Infrastructure,Financial Intermediation,International Terrorism&Counterterrorism,Securities Markets Policy&Regulation,Financial Intermediation,Environmental Economics&Policies,Settlement of Investment Disputes,Payment Systems&Infrastructure,Insurance&Risk Mitigation

Strategy Selection for Product Service Systems Using Case-based Reasoning

A product service system integrates products and services in order to lower environmental impact. It can achieve good eco-efficiency and has received increase in the last decade. This study focuses on strategy selection for product service system design. Case-based reasoning is utilized to provide suggestions for finding an appropriate strategy. To build a case database, successful PSS cases from the literature and websites were collected and formulated. Twelve indices under three categories were analyzed and selected to describe cases. A lot of successful PSS cases and their information were collected. Forty seven cases were used in this study because of the completeness of information. The analytic hierarchic process is used to find the relative weights of the factors that relate to the selection of customers. These weights are used in calculating the similarity in the case-based reasoning process. The successful strategy of the most similar case is extracted and recommended for PSS strategy determination. More than 90% of tested cases obtained an appropriate strategy from the most similar case. Finally, two new products are introduced to find the best strategy for product service system design and development using the proposed case-based reasoning system

Evaluating Enterprize Delivery Using the TYPUS Metrics and the KILT Mode

The goal of this work is the technical, ecological, environmental and social examination of the life-cycle (LC) of any product (consumable, service, production) using the TYPUS metrics and the KILT model. The life-cycle starts when the idea of a product is born and lasts until complete dismissal through design, implementation and operation, etc. In the first phases requirements’ specification, analysis, several design steps (global plan, detailed design, assembly design, etc.) are followed by part manufacturing, assembly, testing, diagnostics and operation, advertisement, service, maintenance, etc. Then finally disassembly and dismissal are coming, but dismissal can be substituted by re-cycling (e.g. melting the metals) or re-use (used parts applications). Qualitative and quantitative evaluations of enterprise results are supported by the new models and metrics

Property and the Construction of the Information Economy: A Neo-Polanyian Ontology

This chapter considers the changing roles and forms of information property within the political economy of informational capitalism. I begin with an overview of the principal methods used in law and in media and communications studies, respectively, to study information property, considering both what each disciplinary cluster traditionally has emphasized and newer, hybrid directions. Next, I develop a three-part framework for analyzing information property as a set of emergent institutional formations that both work to produce and are themselves produced by other evolving political-economic arrangements. The framework considers patterns of change in existing legal institutions for intellectual property, the ongoing dematerialization and datafication of both traditional and new inputs to economic production, and the emerging logics of economic organization within which information resources (and property rights) are mobilized. Finally, I consider the implications of that framing for two very different contemporary information property projects, one relating to data flows within platform-based business models and the other to information commons

Towards a Green Global Golden Age? : ICT enabled cornucopian sustainability and a suggestion for its reform

This conceptual thesis analyses Carlota Pérez vision of a ‘Green Global Golden Age’ that is supposed to reconcile the tension between economic growth and sustainability (Pérez, 2016b). Aiming to address the pressing issue of continued unsustainability, Pérez’ proposed solution is based on the assumption that technological innovation in the field of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) can successfully decouple economic growth from unsustainable levels of raw material consumption and environmental pollution. This shall be achieved by a combination of circular economy principles and dematerialized consumption patterns. The feasibility of Pérez’ proposal is analysed from a sustainability science perspective. This is done via applying a systems perspective on the implications of Pérez’ assumptions regarding ICT with a particular focus on sustainability. The analysis of Pérez’ proposal, its discussion and the later normative extension is structured with the help of the reinterpreted three-dimensional research matrix by Jerneck et al. (2011) that has been appropriated for this thesis. Based on a literary review, Pérez’ proposal is found to present significant trade-offs between the objectives of economic growth and sustainability. With the aim to contribute both, a critical analysis of the sustainability implications of Pérez’ ‘Green Global Golden Age’ and a normative discussion of its potential reform, the second part of this thesis is focusing on the identification of Pérez’ overarching objective and alternative strategies to achieve them. In this analysis, Human wellbeing is identified to be this underlying objective. In contrast to the mainstream operationalization of wellbeing as the number of goods and services an individual enjoys, Amartya Sen’s work on ‘Development as Freedom’ (1999) is introduced as an alternative operationalization of human wellbeing. Following the objective to provide an alternative economic paradigm that unites environmental concerns with human wellbeing in the sense of Sen, Kate Raworth’s (2012) idea of doughnut economics is introduced. Linking back to the review of ICT and its effects on sustainability, the last part is concerned with the critical discussion of Pérez’ Cornucopian perspective on technology. As a result of this discussion, it is made clear that technology plays an important role in the transition towards a sustainable future, but only if its limitations are acknowledged. The thesis concludes with a short summary of the different chapters, and two possible directions for future research