Decision making processes and the adoption of energy saving techniques in social housing

Many innovative techniques and large policy measures have been introduced to reduce energy consumption. Despite the high ambitions and societal pressures, the adoption rate of energy measures is still low. Using adoption theories this paper provides a framework to analyse the adoption process of energy saving techniques in building processes. The stakeholders in the adoption process of energy measures are analysed during every phase of a building project. This framework is used to analyse four projects of a social housing corporation. The low rate of adoption of energy saving techniques can be explained by the large number and variety of stakeholders involved

Theoretical multiplicity for the governance of transitions. The energy producing greenhouse case

Transition management, as a theory of directing structural societal changes towards sustainable system innovations, has become a major topic in scientific research over the last years. In the Netherlands, the concept of transition management was adopted by several governmental agencies as one of the leading principles for steering sustainable development. In this paper we focus on the governance of transitions. The question is if and how transitions towards sustainability can be steered, governed or managed, in particular by governmental actors. We suggest an approach of theoretical multiplicity, arguing that multiple theories will be needed simultaneously for dealing with the complex societal sustainability issues. Therefore, we address the governance question by theoretically comparing transition management theory to a number of related theories on societal change and intervention, such as multi-actor collaboration, network governance, policy agenda setting and adaptive governance. We argue that these related theories put the managerial assumptions of transition management into perspective, by adding other steering roles and leadership mechanisms to the picture. We will illustrate the advantages of theoretical multiplicity by analysing the case of the greenhouse as a source of energy. The energy producing greenhouse can be considered a revolutionary technology, with the potential of turning the greenhouse horticultural sector from a mass energy consumer into a sustainable energy user and producer

Uncertainty management in real estate development: studying the potential of the SCRUM design methodology

Real estate development is all about assessing and controlling risks and uncertainties. Risk management implies making decisions based on quantified risks to execute riskresponse measures. Uncertainties, on the other hand, cannot be quantified and are therefore unpredictable. In literature, much attention is paid to risk management. The management of uncertainties is underexposed. Uncertainties appear in the programming and designing phases of projects. The main goal of our research is to develop guidelines for real estate developers to manage uncertainties in those phases

Greening the design brief

Front End Innovation is a hot research topic, but there is still little research done on its relationship to design for sustainability. This paper explores the challenges of integrating environmental sustainability in this early stages of an innovation process and the design brief. The study is based on a content analysis of 35 design briefs from Belgian SMEs and multinationals, and a practitioners session with representatives from 14 Belgian companies. This results indicate a limited uptake of sustainability in Belgian design briefs. Furthermore, it argues that the use of certain strategies, such as front-loading, pushing sustainability upstream in the briefing process and sustainability opportunity identification in the front end, could help in greening the design brief

Perspective study: governance for C2C

This perspective study will serve as frame of reference for follow-up activities and exchanges both within and outside the Cradle to Cradle Network (C2CN) and it aims to reflect the current challenges and opportunities associated with implementing a Cradle to Cradle approach. In total, four perspective studies have been written, in the areas on industry, area spatial development, governance and on the build theme

Quantifying resource footprints of products and services as the exergy extracted from nature by different countries

Although our whole society depends on the use of natural resources, they are not always used in a sustainable way. To achieve a more sustainable development, resource consumption needs to be measured. Therefore, resource footprint frameworks are being developed. These frameworks integrate inventory methodologies, which quantify the specific resources consumed by a system, with resource accounting impact methodologies, addressing the environmental impact of resource consumption, e.g. the Ecological Footprint. To calculate the inventory of systems at micro-level (processes, products), process-models are generally used, as applied in process-based Life Cycle Analysis (LCA). For systems at meso- and macro-level (sectors, countries), economic input-output/IO-models are mostly used instead of process-models, as applied in IO-analysis and IO-based LCA. The objective of this paper is the development of a new resource footprint framework called IO-CEENE, in which a world IO-model (Exiobase), providing a global perspective, is integrated with the CEENE methodology (Cumulative Exergy Extraction from the Natural Environment), providing a more complete resource range. CEENE is an exergy-based method, thus it considers not only the resource quantity but also the extent to which consumption removes resource quality. Among the exergy-based methods, CEENE covers the largest number of resource groups: fossil fuels, nuclear resources, metals, minerals, land resources, water resources, abiotic renewable resources and atmospheric resources. This new framework allows one to calculate resource footprints of products or services consumed in different countries as the exergy extracted from nature. The way the framework is constructed makes it possible to show which resources and countries contribute to the total footprint. This is illustrated by a case study on wheat production