Promoting Sustainability Awareness through Energy Engaged Virtual Communities of Construction Stakeholders

International audienceSustainability requires the engagement of every single constituent of the "building" product supply chain, from concept design to operation. The research explores ways of creating circles of impacts that bind building professionals, energy administrations, and citizens in a shared low carbon experience through a "one-stop-shop" Sustainable Construction Service Platform. The paper discusses awareness raising, stakeholders' engagement, technical requirements, and adoption and diffusion factors related to the platform. The research identifies the need to use advanced knowledge management functionality to leverage the value dimension of the proposed "one-stop-shop" service platform initiative

Environmental Collaboration for Sustainability in the Construction Industry: An Exploratory Study in Italy

The notion of sustainability, in its three-fold meaning (economic, environmental, and social), is being adopted more and more by companies. Today it is widely accepted that sustainability cannot be achieved by firms in isolation, but requires the collaboration of all supply chain players. This issue is particularly relevant in industrial contexts where the supply chains are complex in terms of structure and number of players, such as the construction industry. Thus, the aim of the paper is to explore the sustainability practices adopted in the construction industry, with a particular attention to the role of environmental collaboration of supply chain partners in achieving sustainability. By means of multiple case study-based research, we investigate sustainability practices on a sample of construction companies of Italy, thus identifying three main sustainability approaches, which differ in both the strategic orientation towards sustainability and the level of implementation in design, purchasing, and governance processes, as well as the main variables driving the adoption of these approaches

Improving knowledge exchange from research to urban sustainability

This thesis explores knowledge exchange (KE) practices used by researchers and practitioners in the urban environment, aimed at improving urban sustainability. Using qualitative research methods and the case study approach, the research investigates the historical case of implementation of the Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS) in Scotland, in order to illustrate practitioners-led KE. Furthermore, it analyses four case studies from the EPSRC-funded Sustainable Urban Environments Programme, in order to illustrate KE from the perspective of research. To assess how KE practices’ impact on urban sustainability can be improved, the thesis develops two new frameworks: (i) the Engagement Benefits Framework, assessing KE features associated with impactful collaborations; and (ii) the KE Impact Assessment Framework, assessing scattered impacts on complex environments, such as urban sustainability. The analysis of data using both frameworks resulted in the identification of four engagement models: ‘consultancy’, ‘co-production’, ‘advisory’ and ‘dissemination’ models. The ‘co-production’ and ‘advisory’ models display the most of engagement benefits. They also score highest on the KE Impact Assessment Framework. It is therefore concluded that knowledge exchange characterised by engagement benefits can achieve better impacts on complex environments. The KE Impact Assessment Framework represents a static record of impacts achieved without recourse to information about causal relationships between them. To reflect the long-term process of alignment and change in the built environment illustrated by the SUDS case study, the assessment would need to be repeated. Lastly, KE’s most essential outcome is the built capacity of practitioners, which enables them to contextualise and utilise the knowledge beyond the project and to reflect the changing requirements of sustainability transitions

Evaluation des impacts simultanes de la localisation, de l'efficacite et du type de produits fabriques sur les performances environnementales et financieres d'une chaine logistique

Les entreprises sont, de plus en plus, poussées à analyser leurs émissions de carbone. Notre recherche s intéresse donc à celles-ci quand elles sont dues au transport et au stockage le long de la chaîne logistique. Pour ce faire, nous avons développé un modèle utilisant la simulation à événements discrets. L outil proposé modélise une stratégie de réponse à la demande et coordonne les flux en Make To Stock. Trois paramètres variables sont pris en compte : la performance industrielle avec l utilisation d un taux de rendement synthétique, la localisation des entreprises et le type de produits fabriqués. Différents scénarii, à politique industrielle et localisation soit homogène soit dégradée soit quelconque et à type de produits différents sont simulés. L objectif est de comparer les critères environnementaux (émissions de carbone) mais aussi financiers (niveau de stock, kilométrage) de ces configurations. Cette méthode est appliquée aux secteurs mécanique et plasturgique. Les principaux objectifs de l étude sont les suivants : développer des références pour la simulation de chaîne logistique et conduire des expériences pertinentes afin d optimiser les chaînes logistiques vertes.Rendering the supply chain more eco-friendly is an innovative idea progressively adopted by industry. Our research focuses on the CO2 emissions along the supply chain due to freight energy use and storage. A supply chain approach by using a discrete event model was developed. Our proposed tool is able to model Re Order Point production management policy (ROP). Moreover, it can consider the main demand response strategy Make To Stock (MTS). Manufacturing capability is also taken into account using an Overall Equipment Effectiveness indicator (OEE). In addition, the location of the firms and their type of products are modeled. Simulations were conducted by varying the manufacturing capacity, the type of product and the firm location in MTS environment and a ROP planning policy. The purpose is to compare supply chain CO2 emissions and financial elements of different configurations. This method is applied to mechanical and plastic industries. The principle objectives of the study are twofold: develop a supply chain simulation benchmark and conduct pertinent experiments to improve green supply chains.ST ETIENNE-ENS des Mines (422182304) / SudocSudocFranceF