Renewable, ethical? Assessing the energy justice potential of renewable electricity

Energy justice is increasingly being used as a framework to conceptualize the impacts of energy decision making in more holistic ways and to consider the social implications in terms of existing ethical values. Similarly, renewable energy technologies are increasingly being promoted for their environmental and social benefits. However, little work has been done to systematically examine the extent to which, in what ways and in what contexts, renewable energy technologies can contribute to achieving energy justice. This paper assesses the potential of renewable electricity technologies to address energy justice in various global contexts via a systematic review of existing studies analyzed in terms of the principles and dimensions of energy justice. Based on publications including peer reviewed academic literature, books, and in some cases reports by government or international organizations, we assess renewable electricity technologies in both grid integrated and off-grid use contexts. We conduct our investigation through the rubric of the affirmative and prohibitive principles of energy justice and in terms of its temporal, geographic, socio-political, economic, and technological dimensions. Renewable electricity technology development has and continue to have different impacts in different social contexts, and by considering the different impacts explicitly across global contexts, including differences between rural and urban contexts, this paper contributes to identifying and understanding how, in what ways, and in what particular conditions and circumstances renewable electricity technologies may correspond with or work to promote energy justice

UK contractors’ views on self-compacting concrete in construction

This briefing was published in the journal Proceedings of the ICE - Construction Materials [© ICE Publishing]. The website is at: http://www.icevirtuallibrary.com/content/serial/coma. Permission is granted by ICE Publishing to print one copy for personal use. Any other use of these PDF files is subject to reprint fees.Self-compacting concrete (SCC) is claimed to offer faster construction, safer sites and more consistent concrete quality, but little corroborative research data exist on performance advantages, particularly in comparison with traditional construction. Industry opinions also appear to be divided. For these reasons, an extensive interview programme was undertaken with UK contractors – from large national concrete frame contractors to small, locally based housebuilders – to assess whether benefits were being achieved and to try to understand the reasons why SCC is, or is not, being used. The 48 participants reported that decisions on the suitability of SCC were inherently complex and, if selected, there were challenges in understanding ‘how’ construction should be planned and managed to accommodate the use of SCC and to fully utilise its advantages. The findings identify the need for a step change in the industry’s perception of SCC, such that it should be considered as a construction method, not simply as a material

Building information modelling and its effect on off-site construction in UK civil engineering

This article was published in the journal, Proceedings of the ICE - Management, Procurement and Law [© Thomas Telford Ltd.] and the website is at: http://www.icevirtuallibrary.com/content/serial/mpalIn 2011, the UK government mandated that, by March 2016, all public-sector construction projects would be undertaken within a three-dimensional building information model (BIM) environment. This has caused both construction procurers and providers to embark on a journey towards universal BIM adoption, including the integration of BIM within a revised construction process. In addition, off-site construction has seen significant development in the building sector in the past decade; however, in infrastructure, off-site constructionoff-site construction exploitation has been more limited. This paper presents findings from UK-focused research into how innovation initiatives such as BIM and off-site construction can and need to be considered together, thus allowing leaner design, a greater integration of lifetime project data and more novel technical solutions. Key themes that emerged from the thematic analysis of the interviews show the importance of configuration and interface management; information data flow; project management and delivery; procurement and contracts. The analysis outlines the benefits of utilising off-site construction within a BIM environment, the challenges currently facing the supply chain, and recommendations are made as to how best to implement the emergent benefits