AimSustainability has become an important factor to consider while buying goods and services. People are being more conscious toward environmental impacts of products and services. This attitude has motivated many businesses to develop their production in contact with sustainability. The aim of this paper is to investigate different consumer behaviors toward sustainability in general and in relation to vehicles in Norway and Sweden.ApproachThe project has been embarked by dividing it into two tasks.1. Analyzing past, present and future development, growth and importance of sustainability concept. Describe the role of Government authorities in Norway and Sweden to promote sustainable consumption.2. Investigating important factors of consumer behaviors which influence their buying decision toward sustainable products in general and in relation to sustainable vehicles. Highlight the role of vehicle manufacturing companies to promote sustainable consumption.MethodA research has been conducted in order to explore consumer behavior toward sustainability in Norway and Sweden. Research is based on Document study and primary research which include questionnaire survey with consumers and interviews with vehicle dealers. In addition an expert inquiry is conducted to light up consumer intensions in Norway and Sweden toward sustainability.ResultsThe result of investigation has been revealed in shape of analyses and conclusion at the end. A comparison has been made between primary research and secondary research and findings are overlapping. Sustainable vehicles are being more popular among consumers in Norway and Sweden. Consumption trends are changing over time and environmental friendly attitudes are more developing among Swedish consumers as compared to Norwegian.

Abstract This study is to explore the cognition of local civil servants from the Kao-Kao-Ping Area on their value system of social development and sustainable local policies. Recently Taiwan government has adopted sustainable development as the ideal and direction of policy fulfillment, nontherless it seems bounded only at the central-government level Whether the local governments attentively adopt sustainable development principle and local civil servants own the cognition and understanding of sustainable development deserves further studying. Based on literature review on international and national materials, three parts of survey items were constructed ¡Vsocial paradigm of sustainability, sustainable development principles and local sustainable policies. Total 991 questionnaires were mailed and 381 valid responses were analyzed. The empirical analysis showed the local servants of the Kao-Kao-Ping Area generally posses positive cognition on sustainable development. Their perspectives on social development lean toward New Environmental Paradigm. Specifically, the perspectives can be divided into ¡§environment-oriented¡¨, ¡§equilibrium-oriented¡¨ and ¡§social norms ¡Voriented¡¨. The sustainable principles emphasized by the international societies and the central government are highly accepted, especially, the implementing directions of sustainable development. The local sustainable policies were highly recognized but with some vagueness on the position of ¡§main stream¡¨ values, such as highways or mass transportation, local place marketing, incentives to factories, local activities with international focus or unique locality. According to the study finding and the observations form the real situations, the cognition of civil servants on sustainable development is not related to the local policy practice.

Current water shortages in the United States and Texas are expected to only worsen so that by 2050, approximately 40% of both U.S. and Texas residents will live in areas of water scarcity (U.S. House Committee, 2003; Texas Water Development Board, 2003). In response to these grim projections, both lawmakers and environmentalists are calling for conservation measures so that future shortages or costly new supply initiatives are avoided. One area where substantial consumption decreases could be made is the municipal sector, which is projected to account for 35% of all water consumed in Texas by 2050 (Texas Water Development Board, 2002). Both organizations and voluntary programs have been established to reduce water consumption in this area. One of the largest and most innovative programs in the state is the Austin Green Building Program (AGBP). It was the first program of its kind in the U.S. that rates new homes and remodels in regards to five categories related to sustainability: energy efficiency, water efficiency, materials efficiency, health and safety and community (City of Austin, 2001). This research identified the factors (weather, home size, lot size, appraised value, and existence of a pool) that effect water consumption for residences qualifying as "Austin Green Homes", and identified those green features or designs that had the greatest effect on water consumption, that were most commonly included, and the reasons why contractors incorporated them. Non-green features such as temperature, rainfall, home and lot size, appraised value and a pool seemed to have the greatest impact on water consumption, from an analysis of R2 values, albeit a positive relation for each variable. When green features were investigated, findings showed that different features were effective in reducing water consumption for different builders and in many cases, water-conserving features actually led to increased use. Finally, results showed that large builders incorporated fewer water-related green features in their homes and achieved lower star ratings in general than small green builders.

As demand for energy is skyrocketing around the globe, environmental challenges are becoming more severe than ever before. Carbon dioxide, methane gas and other greenhouse gases are rapidly contributing to global warming and ozone depletion phenomenon. Buildings are among major contributors of greenhouse gases. They are consuming more than 40% of total energy and three quarter of the total electricity in the United States. It is to some distance the responsibility of building design professionals to address the impacts of their practice on the environment by reducing the energy consumption and carbon emission of their projects. This thesis aims to create a practical design guideline to help architects design energy-neutral homes in North America. The study's primary emphasis is on reducing building energy demand by implementing core principles of building physics into the design process throughout a case study project. What makes this process unique compared to other existing green design programs is its focus on architect's knowledge to implement core energy saving design strategies into design and evaluate their performance with a normative simulation tool. Selection and analysis of building systems, financial evaluation of cost effective systems and materials, uncertainty analysis of building systems, construction cost estimating and marketing analysis of the case study project, demonstrate simple strategies for designers to use in projects with higher sensitivity. In conclusion, the idea behind this methodology is building marketable energy-neutral homes in the current market with existing materials and none-complex technologies. The success of this design method is depends on the knowledge and skills of architects in building science, architectural design, and building construction. Despite barriers and many uncertainties embedded in this process, moving toward energy-neutral homes will have positive impacts on environment even if it could not reach the Net-Zero balance.

As sustainability increasingly becomes a concern to society, it is in state transportation agencies' best interests to embrace and adopt initiatives that will both educate their employees and the communities they serve on how transportation systems and system operations can be viewed within such a context. One of the strategies some state departments of transportation (SDOTs) have adopted for providing a more sustainable approach to highway design is a "green streets and highways rating system." Adopting a strategy such as the one proposed in this thesis for the Georgia Department of Transportation will enable an agency to compare projects based on sustainability goals and outcomes. Such a rating system can provide several benefits to a state department of transportation. As a public relations tool, publishing the sustainability rating results of completed projects can promote an "environmentally friendly" image of the agency. In some cases, this could be used to garner increased support for an agency's program. Comparing the ratings of proposed projects during the early programming process may also help in the selection of more sustainably effective and efficient projects. Additionally, a project in the project planning phase could use the green rating criteria to identify those areas where changes in design could result in more environmentally sensitive designs. A green streets and highways rating tool is an important means of fostering an environmental ethic in a transportation agency, one that could become more important in years to come.

Thesis (M. Arch.)--University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references.

This study argues that the art of dance can be used as a tool for sustainability, including matters of human rights, political oppression, awareness in environmental and ecological destruction.This thesis explores possible ways for dance to contribute to sustainable development and whether these ways are effective. It also seeks to locate the possibilities and limits of dance in comparison with other forms of art that can also be used to promote sustainability. The research was conducted by gathering data from a variety of sources including interviews, videos, a literature review and personal observation.Dance was found in many instances to be a successful way of addressing sustainability issues. The advantages of dance over other forms of art include its familiarity for most people; its capacity to uplift people’s feelings; the ease of combination with other forms of art; and the variety of choices in moves, styles and ways of addressing pressing issues. The drawbacks of dance, include the fact that dance is nonverbal and not easy to preserve or describe; as well as practical limitations facing the people involved with dance and not the art form as such.The findings from this research offer insight into the current and potential future impact of dance on sustainability issues. Dance can contribute to diverse dimensions of sustainable development, though this impact is somewhat constrained by the low status of dance in many educational systems.andriana.christina@gmail.com

Economic, environmental, and social components form the structure of sustainable development and characterize the positive or negative trends in sustainability, which are a unique sustainable index. The Kuwait water system is considered a case study in this research to develop a methodology for identifying sustainable water systems, especially in terms of the high water demand per capita and high supply of desalinated water. This research provides certain answers to the following issues: 1) the sustainable water system path for Kuwait is unknown; 2) the low price of water for consumers is a reason for the wastefulness in water consumption in Kuwait; 3) there is no sustainable model for the water infrastructure in Kuwait to control and maintain its system; and 4) building a new desalination plant will put pressure on reducing the oil products' revenues that are export to global market. Sustainable water supply systems must be designed and operated so as to accomplish the following: minimize energy use, maximize efficient use of water as a resource, and limit (or even decrease) the associated environmental impacts of water usage. Increasing the production of water and the associated infrastructure are not necessarily sustainable solutions to the challenges of population growth. Consequently, this research provides the following solutions to work together in parallel: 1) Model Urban City (MUC); 2) Sustainable Water System and Infrastructure of Kuwait (SWSIK); 3) Sustainable Kuwait Index (SKI); and 4) reform the current water price policy in Kuwait. This research is dependent on three foundation--MUC, SWSIK, and SKI--to characterize sustainability in Kuwait and to analyze the environmental and economic impacts under three different water price scenarios during the period of 2013-2017. Numerical modeling, Infowater application, is used to connect the data with Arc GIS software to monitor the progress toward sustainability for 78 areas in the country. The Sustainable Water System and Infrastructure of Kuwait (SWSIK) tool is developed in this study and provides a comprehensive tool that analyzes water consumption due to water price policies to determine the energy needed from fossil fuels, the energy costs, and the environmental impacts. The Sustainable Kuwait Index (SKI) is a unique numeric value of 16 indicators. The sustainability indicators for the Kuwait water system are classified into two main categories: environmental and socio-economic, in which the resources, infrastructure, and capacity are components in the environmental category. SKI is determined for urban areas in Kuwait between 2008 and 2012, characterizing the state of sustainability. Population growth and new urban development push decision makers to find alternative solutions--such as reforming water price policies--to reduce wasteful water consumption in both normal and critical times. Two water price policy scenarios were proposed to be implemented, instead of the current water price policy (0.624 per m³). The first scenario involves a constant price charged for water consumption at $1 per m³. The second scenario involves a different structure to schedule water price: free allowance (150 L/C/day) followed by a constant price charged for water consumption over 150 L at $1.6 per m³. The time frame to test both proposal scenarios is between 2013 and 2017. In order to get water for free, the second proposal scenario encourages consumers to consume water wisely. This proposal scenario is acceptable for both consumers and policymakers, and it provides economic and environment benefits for both sides. The second scenario will postpone the need for new desalination plants until 2023. SKI scores are determined for the three water price scenarios during the proposal time (2013-2017) for 78 urban areas in Kuwait. By applying the first scenario ($1.0 per m³), the Kuwait government will save almost 5 million barrels per year from oil products (crude oil, gas oil, and HFO) and reduce natural gas usage by 31% per year. On the other hand, the second scenario can reduce the usage of oil products and natural gas in desalination plants by 26% per year. CO2, SO2, and NO2 emissions under the first and second scenarios were reduced in the range between 26% and 33% per year. Overall, a shortage will occur in 2014 if the Kuwait government does not change the water price structure. The current water price ($0.624 per m³) gives zero economic value to consumers. As a consequence, water bills were not collected effectively due to the low cost. The first scenario, which charges $1 per m³, might be unacceptable for consumers due to the stigma associated with increasing prices. The second scenario, however, satisfies the sustainability conditions, which are: 1) to save the environment; 2) to reduce costs; 3) to be acceptable to society; and 4) to achieve policymakers' goals. The results obtained in this research are intended to promote water system management and provide sustainable indicators to evaluate the development of a sustainable of water infrastructure in Kuwait. / text

Recognizing that green construction industry has begun to notify recently among Hong Kong citizens; people begin to concern about the environment protection practices in daily life. The government has introduced the green building development since 1996, however, the development and policy do not mature enough as other developed countries. The Hong Kong green development is lagging behind. In the context of this research will focus on the following objectives: i) to review the current status of sustainable construction and green technologies in Hong Kong, ii) to identify major barriers towards sustainable construction in Hong Kong, iii) to find out the priority of those barriers which affect the most to the industry. This research will investigate the views for green building of Hong Kong residential and the developers in five aspects, for instance, the financial cost, professional technology & knowledge, perception of users and government initiatives. Among various features of green building, this research will focus on the technology of energy and water conservation, which is the most common adopted green technology in Hong Kong. The building services of existing green building is going to study, in order to review the unpopular reason behind the current situation in HK construction industry. / published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

Buildings are responsible for 40% of the energy used globally as well as emit asmuch as one third of greenhouse gas emissions. With small but widespread changes to theway we build and use our buildings, the built environment could quickly reduce our impact onthe environment. In Sweden young adults are leaving higher education with an everincreasing limiting set of choices, the housing market has been outstripping inflation for over20 years and the continuing deregulation of the housing markets, both private and municipalhas resulted in young adults returning home after their education has finished. Thereforethrough the design of buildings that are expected to last for at least 100 years there is a chanceto reduce our negative environmental impact and reduce the growing financial gap for youngadults, both important factors for sustainable developmentThe premise of the paper is to design a home for a small family that goes beyond greenbuilding standards of energy efficiency and takes into account the resource use and wasteproduction of the occupants. An autonomous house is identified and explored as the solution:a house that has no connections to the municipal systems that supply water and electricity northe municipal systems that deal with the waste produced by the occupants. This paper asks: Isan autonomous house possible in Sweden? And can one self-design and self-build anautonomous home as a way of avoiding the financial pitfalls of the regular housing market?This paper uses the Case Study methodology to follow the journey of the authors desire toreduce their impact on the surrounding environment. A final design is based upon the designmethodology A Pattern Language to develop and explore thoughts and ideas of the humanrequirements and the built environment’s interaction with nature. Given the length of timeallowed to produce this paper and to continue the narrative, the results of as-built home arealso presented and discussed. The final as-built solution thinks beyond the house as a singleentity and looks to the neighbourhood for solutions for resources that can be shared. The scaleof autonomy is expanded upon with autonomous communities seen as a solution with a strongrealisation that context is the main driver for design.