Mapping of Strategic Factors for 2nd Life Battery Repurposing: A qualitative multiple case study of Norwegian actors

Policies for energy efficiency and renewable energies, as well as consolidating CO2 standards for vehicles, have been implemented to achieve climate targets set by The Paris Climate Agreement. In recent years these actions have led to a boost in the global electrification of the transport sector, and hence Electric Vehicles (EVs). In Norway, EVs represented a market share at 55% in 2020, making the country a first-mover internationally. A Lithium-Ion Batteries (LIB) is removed from the EV when the retaining capacity drops below 80%, which will lead to an increase of decommissioned LIBs in the future. In recent years, the amount of End of Life (EoL) batteries has been seen as a business opportunity, giving rise to several start-ups employing decommissioned EV batteries in second-life applications. This thesis aims to cover a gap in the research literature, focusing on contributing valuable insight with empirical data from the Norwegian repurpose market. Through a qualitative multi-case study design, a selection of established businesses, either directly or indirectly connected to the Norwegian repurpose market, were studied. Findings mapped out strategic factors for repurposers and identified barriers and drivers in the Norwegian repurposing market. The use case of second-life batteries, channels for sourcing second-life batteries, and how the different cases can overcome barriers in the market proved to be the most influential factors. Barriers within the second-life battery market occur due to a lack of market structure and national regulatory standards. Moreover, empirical evidence shows a need for governmental facilitation to expand the market for second-life battery repurposing

Multiple Lives of The Products: An Investigation Of Products’ Journey in Freecycle Community

In today's needs, it is not enough to imagine products who have only one owner in their entire lives. To create more sustainable futures, designers might increase their ability to imagine multiple lives for things. To enable it, scale is the matter of concern. By increasing the usage scale, and examining the exchange of second-hand products informs designers by imagining multiple scenarios related to things lifes. In this paper we focus on local freecycle groups on Facebook in the context of the second-hand product’s circulation. In the field research, we identify significant usage cases of second-hand products that have multiple owners. We classify them under four sections, which are student house, permanent house, families with a baby, and repurposers according to their concerns, criteria and behaviors related to handed-over products. Finally, we present insights about users’ expectations and concerns that has decisive role in determining the life cycle of the product. We propose thinking for larger usage scales through examples that we provide, guide designers and companies in terms of products' journeys in circulation

Circular Business Models for the Solar Power Industry - Guide for Policy Makers

Solar power and electric vehicles (EV) are set to play a leading role in the achievement of the 2030 EU renewable targets and the commitment to carbon neutrality by 2050. Importantly, solar photovoltaics (PV), in combination with energy storage, also has the potential to significantly enhance European energy security, provide citizens and industry with competitive energy, and lead to the creation of thousands of jobs in manufacturing, installation, maintenance, and end-of-life management. While the expected rapid growth of the solar power sector over the coming decade will bring along various resource and waste management challenges, following a circular economy strategy can ensure that these will be handled in a proactive and future-proof manner. Furthermore, a circular economy approach will offer the European solar industry new business opportunities in the design and manufacturing of circular-ready products, as well as in the reuse, refurbishment and recycling of older solar panels.In response to the emerging resource and waste challenges of the solar power and battery sectors, the CIRCUSOL Innovation Action project (funded by the Horizon2020 programme of the European Commission) explored a number of innovative approaches and strategies towards circular business models in these two sectors. Specifically, the project focused on four circularity strategies: (1) reuse of discarded PV panels in second-life applications, and enabled through service-based business models; (2) repurposing of EVBs in second-life applications, specifically for stationary storage of solar power, and enabled through service-based business models; (3) ecodesign of PV panels; and (4) recycling of PV panels through innovative techniques.This guide for policy makers is based on the lessons learned in the CIRCUSOL project from 2018-2022. It compiles key findings from the project and seeks to sketch out pathways and strategies on the way forward. As such, the report aims to contribute to a debate across policy makers, industry representatives, experts and other stakeholders about a potential future policy and governance framework that could catalyze the transition towards circular and resource-efficient solar power and EV battery sectors in Europe

Open Educational resource (OER) Adoption in Higher education: Examining institutional perspectives

This presentation focuses on institutional stakeholders’ perspectives of OER adoption and integration at a state college in east Florida. This session will provide recommendations for an institutional adoption of OERs at Nova Southeastern University and demonstrate how NSU’s librarians and library resources can be leveraged to ensure a successful OER implementation. This session will also discuss the ways in which librarian advocacy helps in the OER adoption process and how building relationships with librarians may help drive a wide-scale OER implementation

From Florine to flocking : observations of a painter - printmaker - embellisher

I am a painter-printmaker-embellisher. The hierarchy of these labels shift to best suit the needs of each piece. Making an image that encourages looking takes precedent over how it is labeled. A quickly read painting is the enemy. I weave together complex passages on the surface to function as a speed bump, to slow down the viewer’s navigation of my paintings. I value color, pattern, and texture above a narrative. Borrowing the palette of Florine Stettheimer and the repetitive touch of Edouard Vuillard, my paintings teeter dangerously between being about the idea of decoration and being decorative. Domesticity, femininity, and craft propel my material explorations to harness the power of their associations. My paintings dwell in the shallow threads of fabric. They seem simple to make, until one attempts to unravel them. I think of my paintings as screens, allowing air to flow freely through the interlocked layers. I leave space for air to get through, as it is the only relief in otherwise claustrophobic paintings. Combinations of dyed fabric, screen printed ink and flock overcrowd my worlds. Saturated color and patterning unify the distinctive techniques. With the help of Google, I construct imagined scenes of various tasks being performed on loop. I am using my painting’s inhabitants to create patterns. The events I depict take place in utopian environments. An idyllic paradise is not normally considered burdensome, until one is forced to relive it endlessly. The repetition of the figures functions optically first and psychologically second. First impressions are not always accurate

Design for Repurposing: A Sustainable Design Strategy for Product Life and Beyond

As a society we are running out of resources and the number of products discarded everyday is no longer sustainable. How can design facilitate a solution to this problem? Design for Repurposing, presents a new strategy for incorporating the concept of repurposing in product design, which aims to extend the longevity of products by intentionally designing features or details that facilitate repurposing. Repurposing is the transformation of products or their components to suit a second purpose after their first has expired. For example, an old truck’s wheel rim is transformed into a grill by welding iron legs onto it. I explored the concept of designing for repurposing by interviewing, photographing and observing how people in developing countries, such as Mexico, transform existing products into different objects for other uses. I translated these observations into a detailed artifact analysis with reflections on what makes certain objects attractive or suitable to those who repurpose them. Design for repurposing converts consumers into engaged users who invest time to transform and customize products, thus easing the amount of waste in landfills and saving energy, money and the environment. The new purposes assigned to products can be classified into three categories: planned, coached and open-ended. These categories share a common goal: to extend the longevity of an object’s use. Repurposing also happens at different scales, such as batch production, and individual level (Do it Yourself: DIY). My thesis contains descriptive information and two checklists for designers, manufacturers and engineers seeking another strategy for sustainable design

From Book To Bookish: Repurposing the Book in the Digital Era

Attacked. Defended. Worshipped. Ridiculed. Recycled. Books today are subject to all of these treatments. Books are used as home décor, mousepads, bill folders, and sculptures. Books are also pulped and anonymously converted into other, non-book related products. It is no coincidence that such transformations and transmutations abound, nor that these bookish forms are variously being shared, promoted or decried. The current digital era both encourages and enables this. But why is the book object still celebrated? How do these celebrations of the book manifest? How much of the ongoing cultural interest in the book is driven by its materiality? Focusing on just one way in which these celebrations manifest, this article displaces questions of text and authorship and instead offers a refreshed, object-orientated account of books today as lively, material ‘things’ and interrogates our taken-for-granted relationships with them. As evidenced in physical and virtual spaces, there is ongoing interest in the book object, bookish objects, book spaces and fascination with the hold that these objects and spaces have on people. Drawing together visual evidence (that resides on my publicly-accessible Pinterest boards), I demonstrate the broader levels of cultural obsession that surround the book object, an obsession that is becoming ever clearer in today’s digital era. This rich examination of the book object draws upon a range of theoretical approaches which can be gathered together under the umbrella of new materialism. Featured theoretical frameworks include: vital materialism and enchantment (Bennett 2010; 2001), thing theory (Brown 2003), sacredness and ritualization (Alasuutari 2006; Bell 1992) ecocriticism and the ethics of waste (Dryzek 2013; Fox 2000; Hawkins 2006; Scanlan 2005); embodied experience as a site of knowledge (Alaimo 2010; Merleau-Ponty 2012; Littau 2006); liquid modernity (Bauman 2000) and Actor-Network-Theory (Akrich and Latour 1994; Latour 2005). With this article I present a framework through which to consider how important embodiment is to the concept of the book and the status of the book today