More and more companies are trying to adopt a sustainability strategy, because of a growing awareness among people about a need for better environment in the future. It has been noticed that a balance between economic, social and environmental aspects is of great significance. The benefits of a strategy to become more balanced are said to be competitive advantage and stakeholder satisfaction besides the economic, social and environmental benefits.

This paper will examine transportation as follows; first it will discuss traffic as a whole and in Claremont. Second, sustainability in Claremont will be looked at great depth highlighting the city’s goals and methods for creating sustainable transportation. Examples of roadways in the city will be given and reevaluated as satisfying sustainable traffic. Policy regulations and restrictions will then be discussed on how the contribute to congestion and affect sustainable transportation. Finally sustainability will be redefined in regards to transportation and assessing city roadways.

The 21st century has emerged with Canadians experiencing great concern about how we do things in the world. The degrading environment preys greatly on the minds of Canadians while our actions may not match our thoughts. How do we educate our students as future leaders about sustainability and help them understand that our individual actions make a difference? The intent of this study was to make a difference in students’ and teachers’ lives. It needed to be determined if teachers felt that there was a gap in the current way that we are teaching about sustainability. The results of a Manitoba teacher survey and a literature review identified several different risk and protective factors: those that either constrain or support the teaching of sustainability in a science classroom. The three risks that were discovered to be the strongest were preparation time, availability of resources and that sustainability issues are often highly complex. These concerns became the foundation for informing the implementation phase of this study. From this information a resource that met all of the specific learning outcomes (SLOs) as mandated by Manitoba Education, Citizenship, and Youth (MECY) for the grade 8 Water Systems cluster was designed and piloted. Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological theory (1979) and The Natural Step’s Four Systems Conditions were used as a foundation. There was a significant difference between the pilot groups and the control groups in three of the four areas tested. Teachers reported enjoying using the resource, and finding it helpful. They also reported that their students were engaged by the use of the resource. The thesis summation suggests how the resource might be shared and improved upon with and by teachers around the province and beyond, and hope that it provides a framework for future lessons or units related to sustainability. / May 2008

No description available.

This thesis was conducted in the field of Environmental technology for the Sustainability & Technology Assessment group, at Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology. Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology is a research institute, striving to contribute to Singapore’s industrial capital through use-inspired research. The manufacturing industry contributes to a significant portion of the world´s total energy and resource consumption. This resource consumption could be reduced significantly through sustainable initiatives and technologies already available today. The reasons why companies choose not to invest in such technologies are often not due to technical factors, but rather due to financial factors. Financial barriers exist because investments are made on the basis of cost based value systems, which seldom justify investments in sustainable technology. When investments are made, the primary reason is to reduce costs while intangible benefits are ignored. However, this study shows that sustainability creates intangible value that current value systems cannot account for. Understanding the true value of sustainability would help decision makers realize that sustainable manufacturing is a viable business opportunity. This thesis studies the effect sustainable attributes has on a company’s ability to generate value. A value system is proposed, linking 40 sustainable attributes to value domains of intangible value. The value of sustainable attributes is quantified using the Sustainable Value approach. The study shows that social indicators, deemed by others to be unsuitable, can be used when proper adjustments to the Sustainable Value approach are made. A case study was performed on the Swedish manufacturing company Finess Hygiene AB to investigate the applicability of the model. The case study showed that the value system was applicable using data that already exists within the company, but the main challenge lies in collecting good and reliable benchmark data. Benchmark data is significantly easier to obtain in Sweden than Singapore for users wishing to apply the proposed value system. A follow up study should be performed to study the potential of a large scale adoption of the value system in Singapore.

As the globalization process in our society grows the awareness about social responsibility of an organization increases. As the 21st century proceeds, the profit creation and an organizations work with sustainability will become increasingly inseparable leading to an intensified influence of Corporate Social Responsibility on stakeholder perception and social legitimacy affecting the economic outcome. The increased influence on stakeholders highlights the importance of communication. Since CSR is a relative question of what constitutes good business practice in the eye of the emerging societal demands that shapes tomorrow’s expectations new ways of communication need to be investigated. The mobility and the novel form of interaction make mobiles and mobile applications suitable for a wide range of different contexts and its suitability for communicating a company’s sustainability initiatives is investigated in this thesis. The empirical findings, based upon a case study on the telecommunication sector, a user survey, mobile technologies, and present sustainability solutions show that mobile applications can be an alternative to existing communication channels used today. However, there are some limitations that come with this medium. The limitations are the usage area of application, the low interest and awareness of CSR communication, the susceptibility among commonalty and what responsibility areas that are suitable to communicate through applications. However, with the limitations of mobile applications as a means to communicate are a few identified solutions and recommendations. The most prominent ones are related to application usage and the ways to adapt sustainability measures to the chosen technology. More specific gamification, visualization, manipulation are identified as vital aspects as well as a focus on application functionalities and providing sustainability as a value add-on.

This thesis examines ways to reduce energy consumption in university buildings. Occupancy based controls and other advanced building technologies being studied at the Intelligent Workplace (IW) at Carnegie Melon University were examined to see if they could be applied in at Texas A&M International University (TAMIU). Additionally, a sustainability assessment for the current TAMIU campus was performed with an analysis of the potential for TAMIU to obtain LEED certification from the US Green Building Council. First, occupancy-based controls that would shut off lighting, utilize power management features on computer equipment, and reduce airflow when a space is unoccupied were examined. An estimated annual savings of $525 could be obtained in the test office at Texas A&M by implementing these controls. If same controls were applied to the proposed green building at TAMIU, approximately $203,422 could be saved annually. Secondly, advanced building technologies used at the IW were examined to see if they are feasible in the new green building at TAMIU. Biodiesel cogeneration was found to be economically infeasible as a main power supply using the loads calculated for the building. A feasibility calculation for a radiant heating and cooling system with ventilation was performed and it was estimated that using one of these systems could have potential at TAMIU if the building envelope is designed correctly. Displacement ventilation could be implemented for research purposes in the test bed, but should not be implemented on a broader basis until more is known about the performance of these systems in hot and humid climates. Daylighting should be used in the new building whenever its implementation will not significantly increase solar loads. Thirdly, a sustainability assessment of the current TAMIU campus was performed. Several good practices and areas for improvement were identified in nine sustainability-related areas. The current TAMIU campus was examined to see what scope of work would be required to achieve LEED certification from the US Green Building Council. It was found that 39 credits, which is enough to achieve LEED certification, are either achievable as-is, achievable with a policy change, or achievable with a minor retrofit scope.

South Korea is among a host of countries trying to achieve sustainable development across whole industry sectors by adopting "Green Growth" as the vision of the national development in the Korean government. The government has executed a vast effort regarding the policy, and these efforts have produced several successful results. However, the vision of the Green Growth does not appear to be settled in the construction industry, which is a sector that has a huge impact on sustainability and has made striking economic impacts over the last several decades to Korea's growth and development. Although the performances under the Green Growth are difficult to be evaluated because the Green Growth policy is now in the process of revisions and supplement, this is the time to diagnose the current situation and efforts of Green Growth in the Korean construction industry. A primary goal of the thesis is developing a preliminary framework to promote Green Growth in the Korean construction industry in order to reduce possible trials and errors in the early phase of the implementation of Green Growth. To accomplish this goal, a detailed analysis of the current Korean sustainability system, Green Growth, was then undertaken given this is the current policy guidance for the Korean construction industry. To garner further input on the direction of sustainability policy and methods in Korea, in-depth interviews with professionals in relevant construction-related businesses were conducted. In addition, the study conducts an analysis how sustainable development has occurred in the U.S. construction industry to determine what the driving forces that could transfer and be of assistance to Korea. A preliminary sustainability system framework is developed along with associated guidelines. The guidelines suggest that sustainability policy directed towards the Korean construction industry should be apparent so that stakeholder can implement it with consistency and detail. Also suggested is a movement away from the current policy that largely focuses on green building to one that is more holistic and includes infrastructure and other aspects of the built, environmental, and socio-economic systems. In this light, the primary concept of the policy aligns with the sustainability concept of the triple bottom line: environment, economy and society. Through the feedback from a performance measurement system, the policy is evaluated and is adjusted to stimulate the Green Growth over the construction industry in South Korea.

This thesis examines ways to reduce energy consumption in university buildings. Occupancy based controls and other advanced building technologies being studied at the Intelligent Workplace (IW) at Carnegie Melon University were examined to see if they could be applied in at Texas A&M International University (TAMIU). Additionally, a sustainability assessment for the current TAMIU campus was performed with an analysis of the potential for TAMIU to obtain LEED certification from the US Green Building Council. First, occupancy-based controls that would shut off lighting, utilize power management features on computer equipment, and reduce airflow when a space is unoccupied were examined. An estimated annual savings of $525 could be obtained in the test office at Texas A&M by implementing these controls. If same controls were applied to the proposed green building at TAMIU, approximately $203,422 could be saved annually. Secondly, advanced building technologies used at the IW were examined to see if they are feasible in the new green building at TAMIU. Biodiesel cogeneration was found to be economically infeasible as a main power supply using the loads calculated for the building. A feasibility calculation for a radiant heating and cooling system with ventilation was performed and it was estimated that using one of these systems could have potential at TAMIU if the building envelope is designed correctly. Displacement ventilation could be implemented for research purposes in the test bed, but should not be implemented on a broader basis until more is known about the performance of these systems in hot and humid climates. Daylighting should be used in the new building whenever its implementation will not significantly increase solar loads. Thirdly, a sustainability assessment of the current TAMIU campus was performed. Several good practices and areas for improvement were identified in nine sustainability-related areas. The current TAMIU campus was examined to see what scope of work would be required to achieve LEED certification from the US Green Building Council. It was found that 39 credits, which is enough to achieve LEED certification, are either achievable as-is, achievable with a policy change, or achievable with a minor retrofit scope.

Thesis (Honors)--University of South Florida, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.