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Article18 August 2022
Mohammad Valipour, Helaleh Khoshkam, Sayed M. Bateni and Essam Heggy
The water crisis is still a major issue in Qatar. Seawater desalination has been strongly implemented in the Persian Gulf region. However, it is costly and there is corrosion in piping materials and other equipment. Hence
The water crisis is still a major issue in Qatar. Seawater desalination has been strongly implemented in the Persian Gulf region. However, it is costly and there is corrosion in piping materials and other equipment. Hence, there is a vital need to detect groundwater resources in Qatar. Various factors affect the variability of groundwater in Qatar including hydrogeological aspects, climate change, drawdown and abstraction, rainwater harvesting, desertification, and population growth. In this study, we employ the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) Land Data Assimilation System (FLDAS) to monitor annual variations of soil moisture (SM) in the depth of 1–2 m (as an indicator of groundwater) and rainfall flux (RF) from 1982 to 2019. The results show that SM and RF anomalies were positive from 1982 to 2000 (except 1992). In contrast, these anomalies became negative during 2001–2019 (expect 2001 and 2018), implying the drawdown of groundwater resources. Drier years (i.e., negative RF anomaly) in the recent 19 years (2001–2019) reduced SM and led to a negative SM anomaly. The Mukaynis and Wadi Jallal regions (located in Al Rayyan and Al Wakrah municipalities, respectively) had the highest RF and SM from 1982 to 2019. The center-pivot irrigation systems close to the Mukaynis and Wadi Jallal regions indicate their accessibility to groundwater resources in Qatar. Moreover, these regions have the lowest risk of salinization and groundwater vulnerability. In addition, annual trends of groundwater storage (GWS) retrieved from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) from 2003 to 2019 have been presented. This study is beneficial for detecting and monitoring groundwater resources for the sustainable management of water resources in arid environments.
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Highlights of SustainabilityVolume 1, Issue 3 (2022), pp. 171–187
709 Views180 Downloads1 Citation
Review8 August 2022
Ambe J. Njoh, Ijang B. Ngyah-Etchutambe, Fri C. Soh-Agwetang, Pascar T. Tah, Mah O. Tarke and Fotoh J. Asah
Ensuring access to clean energy for all—Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) #7—remains one of the most elusive SDGs in developing countries. This study reviews efforts to meet this goal in a developing community, namely Esaghem Village, Manyu
Ensuring access to clean energy for all—Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) #7—remains one of the most elusive SDGs in developing countries. This study reviews efforts to meet this goal in a developing community, namely Esaghem Village, Manyu Division in Cameroon. The efforts involved the use of a micro-off-grid solar PV system. The study employed primary data collected in-situ and from the project documents, and secondary data from electronic as well as conventional sources. The review is intended to highlight the impact of political, eco-nomic, social, technological, ecological, cultural and historical (PESTECH) factors on renew-able energy (RE) initiatives in a developing country. These are important but oft-ignored historio-cultural factors in the energy domain. The review reveals how one feature of indigenous African tradition, namely the self-help ethos can be harnessed to improve clean energy access in a developing country. It also showed how factors commonly associated with developing countries such as war, administrative centralization, bureaucratic corruption and ineptitude as well as poverty, thwart RE initiatives. The review underscores the importance of non-technical dimensions of RE projects and holds many lessons for the development, manage-ment and sustainability of such projects in developing countries writ large.
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This article is part of the Special Issue Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
Highlights of SustainabilityVolume 1, Issue 3 (2022), pp. 159–170
559 Views217 Downloads
Article11 July 2022
Peter Jean-Paul, Tek Tjing Lie, Timothy N. Anderson and Brice Vallès
Disaggregated data is often used to model the cost-benefit of residential energy management systems. However, obtaining such data is time-intensive and monetarily expensive. This hinders the depth of analysis that can be done on these systems
Disaggregated data is often used to model the cost-benefit of residential energy management systems. However, obtaining such data is time-intensive and monetarily expensive. This hinders the depth of analysis that can be done on these systems and negatively influences their large-scale uptake. This study proposes a novel generalised model of these systems that uses smart meter load profile data to model their cost-benefit. Using two years of half-hourly electricity consumption data from 5379 households in London, the model was used to examine how sociodemographic, tariff structures, and the choice of operational objectives of these systems, interact to influence their cost-benefit. The results showed that the proposed model produced reliable cost-benefit results within what is normally obtained in literature. The model demonstrated that applying one set of objectives to different customers leads to an inequitable distribution in benefits; rather, an optimal set of objectives for a given customer under a specific tariff structure can be found to produce a more equitable distribution in benefits across all customers. The proposed model is replicable and uses data that can be obtained easily and cheaply from smart meters, making it versatile for large-scale cost-benefit analysis by any electricity retailer.
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This article is part of the Special Issue Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
Highlights of SustainabilityVolume 1, Issue 3 (2022), pp. 134–158
661 Views178 Downloads
Commentary8 July 2022
Alexis D. Smith
In the Nintendo game Animal Crossing: New Horizons, players move to an uninhabited island and quickly become instrumental to the naming, aesthetic development, and biodiversity of the island. In some ways, the game can foster a
In the Nintendo game Animal Crossing: New Horizons, players move to an uninhabited island and quickly become instrumental to the naming, aesthetic development, and biodiversity of the island. In some ways, the game can foster a love for and curiosity about nature. In other ways, the game reinforces harmful colonialist values and attitudes that are ultimately an obstacle to conservation in the real world. Here I critique the game values relevant to conservation, both the values that benefit and the values that hinder conservation. I discuss possibilities for a future version of the game that reinforces values better aligned with conservation.
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Highlights of SustainabilityVolume 1, Issue 3 (2022), pp. 129–133
726 Views211 Downloads
Article7 July 2022
Ogenis Brilhante and Julia Skinner
This paper uses the IHS Green City Conceptual Framework (IHS-GCCF) to present and discuss the development and application of a tool to measure Environmental Performance (EP) over time applied to ten Asian cities and a method
This paper uses the IHS Green City Conceptual Framework (IHS-GCCF) to present and discuss the development and application of a tool to measure Environmental Performance (EP) over time applied to ten Asian cities and a method using these results to implement a Green City Action Plan (GCAP) applied to the city of Manila. The tool measures EP over time and helps to explain possible factors contributing to the variation of the EPs in the studied time. The GCAP uses the EP results to develop a green city action plan to improve the current EP for a given period. Both tool and method fulfil gaps found in the green city literature, contain innovative approaches, and help cities to measure and plan improvements in their current EP. By applying the EP tool to ten Asian cities in two periods (2007–2009 and 2015–2018), the paper shows that Singapore and Hong Kong had the highest EPs and Bangalore had the lowest. Implementation of water management and climate change strategies are some factors explaining the improvement in Hong Kong’s EP. A strong increase in population size is behind the EP reduction in Bangalore. The Manila GCAP proposes to improve the current EP of the city from 15.43 to 17.41 in twelve years.
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Highlights of SustainabilityVolume 1, Issue 3 (2022), pp. 113–128
708 Views311 Downloads
Short Note2 June 2022
James A. Dyer and Raymond L. Desjardins
The Carbon Footprint (CF) of agriculture must be substantially reduced to help avoid catastrophic climate change. This paper examines the ratio of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions to protein as an indicator of the CF of the
The Carbon Footprint (CF) of agriculture must be substantially reduced to help avoid catastrophic climate change. This paper examines the ratio of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions to protein as an indicator of the CF of the major Canadian livestock commodities using previously published results. The GHG emissions for these commodities were estimated with a spreadsheet model that accounted for all three GHGs, the complete life cycles of each livestock type and the livestock interactions with the agricultural land base. The indicator results reviewed here included the responses to livestock types and diets, livestock versus plant protein sources, spatial scales and geographic differences. The sensitivity of the results shown suggest that GHG-protein ratios could provide valuable guidance for producers and consumers to reduce their GHG emissions. For example, diverting feed grains from beef feedlots to hog production would substantially reduce the CF of red meat, although still not as low as the CF of poultry products. The complete proteins derived from pulses have much lower CF values than all livestock products.
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Highlights of SustainabilityVolume 1, Issue 2 (2022), pp. 105–112
819 Views216 Downloads
Article17 May 2022
Alfred Söderberg
The market share of e-bikes has increased extensively in Europe over the last decade. How this trend will affect the transport system depends to a large extent on the substitution effect which needs to be determined
The market share of e-bikes has increased extensively in Europe over the last decade. How this trend will affect the transport system depends to a large extent on the substitution effect which needs to be determined in detail to allow projections on the potential of e-cycling as a means to promote sustainable transport systems. Further, little is known about what psychological determinants influence e-bike use, an important topic for policy makers that wish to promote e-cycling. This study aggregates GPS data from two randomised controlled trials in Sweden to determine the effect of e-bike use on travel behaviour. Motives behind e-bike use are investigated within a pathanalytic structural model, based on an expanded theory of planned behaviour. The results reveal that, on average, total cycling increased by 4.5 kilometres per person and day during the trials and its modal share measured in distance increased by 19%. E-bike use was predicted by the intention to bike to work, which in turn mediated the effects of attitudes and self-efficacy on e-cycling. Attitude mediated the indirect effect of personal norm on intention and collective efficacy amplified the effect of self-efficacy on intention. The results show that e-cycling has a large potential to contribute to a sustainable transport system. Policy makers could increase the use of e-bikes by strengthening individuals’ attitudes toward cycling and perceived self-efficacy to e-cycle, by making environmental personal norms more salient and by highlighting collective action in the effort to limit environmental degradation.
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Highlights of SustainabilityVolume 1, Issue 2 (2022), pp. 88–104
772 Views203 Downloads
Article6 May 2022
Marjan Marjanović, Wendy Wuyts, Julie Marin and Joanna Williams
The notion of circularity has gained significant attention from governments of many cities across the world. The approaches to circular cities may range from narrower perspectives that see a circular city as the simple sum of
The notion of circularity has gained significant attention from governments of many cities across the world. The approaches to circular cities may range from narrower perspectives that see a circular city as the simple sum of circular economy initiatives to those more holistic that aim to integrate the whole urban system. Several researchers proposed frameworks that would guide cities to take a holistic perspective. This manuscript selects two frameworks and examines through them whether and to what extent broader and more holistic approaches to circular cities are being developed in practice. First, circularity principles, the scope of circular activities, and the concrete circular actions developed in the case study are read through Williams’s approach to circular resource management. Second, the spatial circularity drivers framework of Marin and De Meulder is used to elucidate different sustainability framings and spatial practices that dominate contemporary conceptualisations of circularity. These two lenses are applied to five municipalities in Alberta (Canada) that have decided to develop strategies for ‘shifting the paradigm’ and transitioning to circular cities in 2018. Our study aims to investigate how holistic their roadmaps to circular cities are, and what changes are necessary to move towards more integrated approaches.
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Highlights of SustainabilityVolume 1, Issue 2 (2022), pp. 65–87
965 Views236 Downloads2 Citations
Article29 April 2022
Richard W. Butler and Rachel Dodds
Islands have long attracted tourists and some islands rank amongst the most visited places in the world. Such popularity has created problems of overdevelopment and tourism at unsustainable levels, leading to the phenomenon of overtourism. Traditionally
Islands have long attracted tourists and some islands rank amongst the most visited places in the world. Such popularity has created problems of overdevelopment and tourism at unsustainable levels, leading to the phenomenon of overtourism. Traditionally islands could rely on natural features to limit tourist numbers but this is increasingly not the case today, therefore, this paper reviews how changes in attitude, access and media coverage have led to problems of excessive visitation. The paper discusses the failure to create and implement appropriate policies which might mitigate against such developments and notes the inherent long-term problems many island authorities have traditionally faced when trying to improve economic conditions for their residents. The paper concludes that more specific action in terms of policy goals and implementation are needed if islands are to avoid the issues of unsustainable development and overtourism currently being experienced in many mainland tourist destinations.
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Highlights of SustainabilityVolume 1, Issue 2 (2022), pp. 54–64
874 Views561 Downloads
Article28 March 2022
Reza Heydari, Mohammad Keshtidar, Haywantee Ramkissoon, Mahdi Esfahani and Ehsan Asadollahi
The aim of this study is to identify the adoption of entrepreneurial behaviours in sports tourism in developing countries. This research is a qualitative study. The systematic method of Strauss and Corbin has been used to
The aim of this study is to identify the adoption of entrepreneurial behaviours in sports tourism in developing countries. This research is a qualitative study. The systematic method of Strauss and Corbin has been used to analyse the data. Based on the results of in-depth interviews with stakeholders (n = 25), 75 indicators of sports tourism entrepreneurship were identified. Our research findings show that the necessary institutional arrangements in regulatory/legal/administrative dimensions (rule of law, government policies), normative/cultural (social norms, values, and beliefs), cognitive/educational (promotion of elite knowledge, promotion of social knowledge) and guidance measures/supporter (public sector support, private sector support, complementary attraction and information technology) have potential to improve the rate of entrepreneurial behaviours by increasing the ability and willingness of entrepreneurs to take advantage of entrepreneurial opportunities in the field of sports tourism. Our findings suggest that co-actors need to engage in a multi-stakeholder engagement approach to promote the tourism sports industry in developing countries. The existence of a legal, normative, supportive and educational environment may influence the ability and desire of market participants to identify and embrace entrepreneurial opportunities in the sports tourism sector.
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Highlights of SustainabilityVolume 1, Issue 2 (2022), pp. 41–53
610 Views265 Downloads1 Citation