abstract: The intent of this study was to identify the most viable among a proposive sample of emerging sustainable construction technologies with respect to the Twin Cities Metropolitan Geographic Area. With space heating and space cooling accounting for such a significant portion of energy consumption in Twin Cities homes, a representative sample of homes was analyzed for annual heating and cooling loads. For each home a series of heating, ventilation, air conditioning (HVAC) and envelope equipment was modeled in order to provide data for various sustainable home construction technologies. The result was a specific amount of energy savings from baseline construction methods for each sustainable technology. The study found that integrated geothermal heat pump and radiant conditioning systems have a far greater impact on energy savings than the construction methods evaluated. Nevertheless, insulated concrete forms provided the greatest energy savings within the proposive set of construction methods. The greatest amount of space conditioning energy savings of all configurations tested was 73.48% using an integrated geothermal heat pump and radiant conditioning system, structural insulated panel wall construction, aerosol air infiltration prevention, and insulated concrete form basement construction. The results of the study were used to determine areas for further research and to provide awareness within the Twin Cities construction enterprise to determine the most viable technologies that contractors, municipalities, and citizens should prioritize moving forward. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering 2019

The interest regarding sustainability assessment is increasing in the construction and civil industry, where CEEQUAL is the only sustainability assessment tool for civil projects in Sweden. CEEQUAL is a sustainability assessment founded in Great Britain, launched by the organisation Institution of Civil Engineers in 2003 with the purpose to assess sustainability aspects of civil- and infrastructure projects in Great Britain and Ireland. The certification according to CEEQUAL is based on self-assessment performed by an educated assessor. The assessor gather evidences which should prove that consideration has been taken to the purpose of the question in the CEEQUAL-manual. The evidence is then reviewed by an independent verifier, thereafter the project is assigned an award and a rating. In 2011, the international version was launched and Skanska was one of the first companies to certify a project outside Great Britain and Ireland. The aim of the thesis is to examine two of the identified problems regarding the sustainability aspects in the civil industry today, monitoring of sustainability goals and the time consuming process to find adequate proof documentation of a CEEQUAL-certification. How well does CEEQUAL take into account the monitoring, both during the project but also during the operation and how CEEQUAL can be developed to be more sustainable. The time consuming process is remedied by a reference card, specific for road- and infrastructure projects at Skanska Sweden AB. In the operation manual of Skanska Sweden there is a variety of tools to be used as evidence in a CEEQUAL-certification. The main documents to consider are Project Plan, Risk Inventory, GreenWorkplace and Safety- and Environmental Tour. For Skanska to be more sustainable, they need to further consider responsible sourcing and the water usage of the project, both regarding the products but also the water usage during construction and operation stage. The case study BoKlok Runhälla is a development project by Skanska Väg och Anläggning Mellansverige, where the goal for the CEEQUAL-certification was to achieve at least 40 % of the total score, by only working with the usual tools that is used at a civil project at Skanska. BoKlok Runhälla achieved, after the self-assessment by the assessor, 60 % of the total score. Though, the high rate in this case is due to the right conditions regarding investigations of ecology and biodiversity, cultural relics and stormwater management together with a ground indication map. This was offset by the unsound ground conditions, which means that only a low percentage of the masses could be recycled. The case study shows that the right conditions together with prestudies about the prerequisites facilitates the certification substantially. CEEQUAL contributes to a monitoring of the sustainability work during the construction stage of the project by documentation of the evidences within a number of sustainability aspects. CEEQUAL is certifying the process, that there are procedures considering sustainability rather than the performance, in other words what is fulfilled considering the usage of energy, water, waste and so on. The CEEQUAL manual is designed so that the requirements are met, not how they has been fulfilled or what it can cause. The difficulty is to set up general guidelines and measures of for example the usage of water, electricity and waste. Now, CEEQUAL only rewards if there are any measures or goals, but no target level of it. One can conclude that the CEEQUAL manual working effectively to cover up the relevant subjects for the compliance of the projects. Preparations in terms of plans and programs which facilitates a sustainable work during operation stage of the project is covered by the manual. Though, one problem is that the project only gets rewarded and not penalized, which means that a project can get a certificate without regards to the compliance of the project. Recommendations for CEEQUAL to developed is to work with clear guidelines on target levels in terms of the consumption of electricity, water, waste et cetera and to use mandatory requirements for the projects to ensure a minimum level and that no considerable sustainability aspect are waived. Also set higher standards on the suppliers and the choice of materials regarding life cycle analysis, which should not only consider energy consumptions and greenhouse gases but also have a broader perspective are development opportunities for CEEQUAL. Besides this, a discussion was held regarding if time-limited certification together with monitoring of the sustainability work after a few years is a step in the right direction. This requires a greater commitment from all parties involved, including clients and operators. However, the review of the manual shows that for a sustainable work a major commitment from the client and the designer is needed to create the conditions for a more sustainable work.

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The concept of sustainability in Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D) has been largely associated with the sustainability of ICT4D projects. In other words, most ICT4D literature consider the “continuous operation of ICT4D projects” as the sustainability of ICT4D. This implies that the failure of these ICT4D projects threatens or compromises the existence of sustainability in ICT4D (Heeks, 2002). In this study we do not argue that this view is false; however, sustainability in ICT4D should be considered from a broader perspective, and should not be limited to the uninterrupted operational success of ICT4D projects. Sustainability in ICT4D has proven a challenge to put into practice. This is as a result of a number of known and unknown elements that should be independently and sometimes collectively considered in the implementation of ICT4D, to enable sustainability and sustained benefit realisation. Therefore, this study undertakes a systematic literature review that aims to identify and understand aspects that could enable or disable sustainability in ICT4D within the context of developing communities. Furthermore, based on the analysis and findings from the systematic review of selected ICT4D articles, sourced from various academic journals and conference proceedings, the researcher proposes a framework that seeks to illustrate the building blocks of sustainability in ICT4D. The proposed framework emphasises critical elements that require consideration in ICT4D implementations, so as to enable the realisation of sustained socio-economic benefit for local livelihoods. / Dissertation (MIT (Information Systems))--University of Pretoria, 2019. / Informatics / MIT (Information Systems) / Unrestricted

Sustainability education has become an important focus of many higher education institutions (HEIs), with the inclusion of many sustainability-related learning objectives for undergraduate students. As sustainability is a new, rising discipline, an increasing number of HEIs have made efforts to assess their teaching and learning effectiveness. However, most assessments fall short in determining the relationship between sustainability curriculum and the impacts on leaning outcomes. Therefore, this study aims to assess the impact of academic setting, specifically of a structured sustainability curriculum, on undergraduate sustainability knowledge, as well as analyze the implications of perceived barriers and opportunities to implementing sustainability into academics. Using California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly) as a case study, this research emphasizes the results from an online sustainability knowledge survey administered to honors students who take a structured sustainability knowledge curriculum and general students who are not required to take any sustainability courses, but can elect to do so. The study reveals that honors students have significantly higher sustainability knowledge scores (SKS) after taking a structured sustainability curriculum, but also reveals that those post-curriculum SKS of honors students are not significantly different from that of general students after taking 3 courses. The results further indicate that honors students that take a 3-course sustainability curriculum do not score significantly higher than those that take a 1-course sustainability curriculum. However, general students that take 3 sustainability-related courses score significantly higher than general students who take 0, or 1 to 2 sustainability-related courses. These results suggest that unlike honors students, general students need to take a minimum of 3 courses in sustainability to achieve significantly higher SKS. The findings also show that the SKS of students do not significantly differ across colleges and that the SKS of students in the general population have the potential to improve, suggesting that additional sustainability education can benefit all students. Additionally, the analysis of student perceptions reveals that students support the integration of sustainability into existing courses, which can help address the main perceived barriers of time constraints, lack of course promotion, and lack of relevance to major. Ultimately, the results suggest that university-level decision-makers should focus efforts on integrating sustainability into existing courses, increasing the opportunity for all students to take at least 3 sustainability-related courses during their undergraduate experience. Such efforts would be a first step in developing sustainability education at an HEI and would help achieve significant improvement in undergraduate student SKS.

The manual procurement processes used by some private companies result in increased costs and contract fulfillment delays. The focus of this multiple case study was to explore the strategies procurement managers use to reduce costs and contract fulfillment delays. The population for this study was three procurement managers of private plastics companies located at Maitama, in Abuja, Nigeria. Weiss's theory of change was the conceptual framework for this study. Data collection included semistructured face-to-face interviews and an exploration of company archival financial documents. Data were transcribed, coded, and then validated through member checking, resulting in the emergence of 5 themes: change implementation strategies, strategies for reducing cost and contract fulfillment delays, change implementation barriers, employee-focused factors, and strategies for responding to the changing external environmental factors. The 2 most important themes identified from the study were change implementation strategies and strategies for reducing cost and contract fulfillment delays. These strategies could help organizational leaders who desire improved procurement process change to define long-term goals and then map backward to identify preconditions to achieve the preferred change. The implications for positive social change include increased sustainability for companies and the consequent potential to increase employment among youth, improve standards of living of the workforce, and reduce social vices in Abuja, Nigeria.

Small business enterprises (SBEs) are major contributors to national job creation and employment, but small businesses face a myriad of challenges which lead to their failure before 5 years of operation. Some small business owners lack the skills to create strategies that will lead to long term business survival. Porter'€™s 5 forces competition was used as the conceptual framework for this multiple case study. The purpose of the study was to explore the strategies Nigerian SBEs use to sustain their first 5 years of operation. Semistructured interviews served to collect data from the chief executive officers of 2 SBEs in the maritime industry in Lagos, Nigeria. Data analysis entailed the use of qualitative analysis to capture and organize data and identify emerging themes. Some emerging themes included the securing of the necessary finances, the ability to respond to the effects of government policy, and providing excellent customer service. The implications of this study for social change include the mitigation of the negative effects of business failure on the people of the host community. Small business owners and leaders, partners of small business owners, and policymakers might benefit from this research by deploying the findings to appropriate business domains.

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