Spatial planning of public charging points using multi-dimensional analysis of early adopters of electric vehicles for a city region

The success of a mass roll out of Plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) is largely underpinned by establishment of suitable charging infrastructure. This paper presents a geospatial modelling approach, exploring the potentials for deployment of publicly accessible charging opportunities for consumers based on two traits — one, trip characteristics (journey purpose and destinations); two, PEV adoption intensity. Its applicability is demonstrated through a case study, which combines census statistics indicating lifestyle trends, family size, age group and affordability with travel patterns for an administrative region in the North-East England. Three categories of potential PEV users have been identified — ‘New Urban Colonists’, ‘City Adventurers’ and ‘Corporate Chieftains’. Analysis results indicate that Corporate Chieftains, primarily residing in peri-urban locations, with multi-car ownership and availability of onsite overnight charging facilities form the strongest group of early adopters, irrespective of public charging provision. On the other hand, New Urban Colonists and City Adventurers, primarily residing in the inner-city regions, show potentials of forming a relatively bigger cohort of early PEV adopters but their uptake is found to be dependent largely on public charging facilities. Our study suggests that effective PEV diffusion in city-regions globally would require catering mainly to the demands of the latter group, focussing on development of a purpose-built public charging infrastructure, both for provision of on-street overnight charging facilities in residential locations and for fast charging at parking hubs (park and ride, amenities and commercial centres)

Competing coalitions: The politics of renewable energy and fossil fuels in Mexico, South Africa and Thailand

This paper analyses why middle-income countries incentivize renewable energy despite inexpensive domestic fossil fuel resources and lack of international support. We examine the politics of renewable energy programs in Mexico, South Africa and Thailand. All three countries hold abundant local fossil fuel and renewable energy resources. We argue that renewable energy programs become implementable policy options in fossil fuel resource-rich middle-income countries when coalitions of powerful political actors support them. This study presents an analysis of the domestic coalitions in support of and those in opposition to renewable energy policies from a discourse network perspective. Discourse networks reflect actors and the arguments they share to advance or hamper the policy process. The analysis draws on a data set of 560 coded statements in support or opposition of renewable energy from media articles, policy documents and interviews. Findings show similar structures of competing coalitions in all three countries, with the discourse in all three countries revealing strong linkages between environmental and economic considerations

The relationship between buildings and health: A systematic review

© 2018 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Faculty of 268 Public Health. All rights reserved. Background The built environment exerts one of the strongest directly measurable effects on physical and mental health, yet the evidence base underpinning the design of healthy urban planning is not fully developed. Method This study provides a systematic review of quantitative studies assessing the impact of buildings on health. In total, 7127 studies were identified from a structured search of eight databases combined with manual searching for grey literature. Only quantitative studies conducted between January 2000 and November 2016 were eligible for inclusion. Studies were assessed using the quality assessment tool for quantitative studies. Results In total, 39 studies were included in this review. Findings showed consistently that housing refurbishment and modifications, provision of adequate heating, improvements to ventilation and water supply were associated with improved respiratory outcomes, quality of life and mental health. Prioritization of housing for vulnerable groups led to improved wellbeing. However, the quality of the underpinning evidence and lack of methodological rigour in most of the studies makes it difficult to draw causal links. Conclusion This review identified evidence to demonstrate the strong association between certain features of housing and wellbeing such as adequate heating and ventilation. Our findings highlight the need for strengthening of the evidence base in order for meaningful conclusions to be drawn

Global commitment towards sustainable energy

Energy is crucial to economic and social development and improves quality of life. However, fossil fuel energy produces greenhouse gases (GHGs) and cannot be sustained for a long time. It is essential to tackle these problems by moving towards renewable and sustainable energy. Some countries, including those in the Arabian Gulf region, are still in the appraisal stage of adopting different forms of renewable energy. This paper reviews the business potential and likely GHG reductions associated with adopting renewable energy in Oman. It is revealed that 1·9 Mt of annual carbon dioxide emissions could be cut by producing 10% of the country’s electricity from renewables. The paper further discusses the global sustainable energy commitment under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and reviews the 2030 targets of some countries that are high producers of GHGs. It is anticipated that if all these planned targets are achieved, the total sustainable energy contribution could grow by nearly 11 000 TWh by 2030. These plans provide guidance for those countries still preparing to submit their plans to the UN