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Purpose: This paper investigates the influence of the ongoing crisis of Russia's incursion on Ukraine on the risk dynamics of energy futures contracts with high-frequency data on four different futures contracts using risk metrics of value at risk (VaR) and conditional value at risk (CVaR) for the USA market. Design/methodology/approach: The author used different generalised autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity - Extreme Value Theory (GARCH)-EVT models and compared the performance of each of the competing models. Backtesting evidence shows that VaR and CVaR combined with GARCH-EVT better estimate risk. Findings: The study results show that combined risk metrics are efficient and adaptive to estimating the risk dynamics and backtesting of the models, revealing that the autoregressive moving average (ARMA) (1,1)-asymmetric power autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity (APARCH) model performs relatively better than other models. Practical implications: The paper has practical implications for different market participants. From the risk manager's and day traders' angles, the market participants can estimate the risk exposure in the energy futures contract and take positions accordingly. The results are important for oil-importing countries due to the developing supply crisis and price escalation, which can brew inflation in the economy. Originality/value: To the best of the author's knowledge, the paper is the first to throw light on the risk angle of energy futures contracts during the ongoing crisis of the Russia–Ukraine war. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The majority of the environmental impacts in a typical supply chain can arise beyond the focal firm boundaries. However, no standardised method to quantify these impacts at the supply chain level currently exists. The purpose of this paper is to identify the quantitative methods developed to measure the environmental performance of supply chains and evaluate their key features.Design/methodology/approach A systematic literature review is conducted at the intersection of performance measurement and green supply chain management (GSCM) fields, covering 78 publications in peer-reviewed academic journals. The literature is reviewed according to several perspectives, including the environmental aspects considered, the main purpose of measurement, model types and the extent of supply chain covered by performance measurements.Findings Adopted environmental metrics show a low degree of standardisation and focus on natural resources, energy and emissions to air. The visibility and traceability of environmental aspects are still limited; the assessment of environmental impacts does not span in most cases beyond the direct business partners of the focal firms. A trade-off was observed between the range of environmental aspects and the extent of the supply chain considered with no method suitable for a holistic evaluation of the environmental supply chain performance identified. Three major streams of research developing in the field are identified, based on different scope.Originality/value This paper is the first attempt to examine in detail what tiers of the supply chain are actually involved in green performance assessment, ultimately contributing to clarify the scope of the supply chain dimension in GSCM performance measurement research. The work also recognises which methods are applicable to extended supply chains and explores how different methodologies perform in terms of supply chain extent covered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The need to improve energy efficiency as an essential factor for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through green financing is one of the most important issues worldwide. It is even more important for ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries because of their potential for economic growth and the challenge of their environmental problems. This paper therefore addresses the question of whether and how green finance (with the proxy of issued green bonds [GBs]) promotes energy efficiency (with the proxy of energy intensity) in the ASEAN member countries. Design/methodology/approach: The paper runs a two-stage generalized method of moments (GMM) system model for the quarterly data over the period 2017–2020. It also uses a linear interaction model to explore how the pandemic may affect the relationship between green finance and energy efficiency in this region. Findings: The main results only demonstrate the short-term negative impact of GBs on energy intensity. Furthermore, per capita income, economic integration and renewable energy supply can be used as potential variables to reduce energy intensity, while modernization in ASEAN increases energy intensity. Establishment of digital green finance, long-term planning of a green finance market, trade liberalization and policies to mitigate the negative impacts of COVID-19 are recommended as golden policy implications. Research limitations/implications: The present study has several limitations. First, it accounts for explanatory variables by following a number of previous studies. This may lead to omissions or errors. Second, the empirical estimates were conducted for 160 observations due to the repositioning of GBs in ASEAN, which is not bad but not good for an empirical study. Originality/value: To the best of authors' knowledge, there has not been any in-depth study focusing on the relationship between energy efficiency and green financing for the case of ASEAN economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Industrial organizations often face difficulties in finding out the methods to meet ever increasing customer expectations and to remain competitive in the global market while maintaining controllable expenses. An effective and efficient green supply chain management (GSCM) can provide a competitive edge to the business. This paper focusses on the selection of green suppliers while simultaneously balancing economic, environmental and social issues. Design/methodology/approach: In this study, it is assumed that two types of decision-makers (DMs), namely, the first level and second-level DMs operate at two separate groups in GSC. The first-level DMs always empathise to optimize carbon emissions, per unit energy consumption per product and per unit waste production, while the second-level DMs seek to optimize ordering costs, number of rejected units and number of late delivered units in the entire GSCM. In this paper, fuzzy goal programming (FGP) approach has been adopted to obtain compromise solution of the formulated problem by attaining the uppermost degree of each membership goal while reducing their deviational variables. Furthermore, demand has also been forecasted using exponential smoothing analysis. The model is verified on a real-time industrial case study. Findings: This research enables DMs to analyse uncertainty scenarios in GSCM when information about different parameters are not known precisely. Research limitations/implications: The proposed model is restricted to vagueness only, however, DMs may need to consider probabilistic multi-choice scenarios also. Practical implications: The proposed model is generic and can be applied for large-scale GSC environments with little modifications. Originality/value: No prior attempt is made till date to present interval type-2 fuzzy sets in a multi-objective GSC environment where the DMs are at hierarchical levels. Interval type-2 fuzzy sets are considered as better ways to represent inconsistencies of human judgements, its incompleteness and imprecision more accurately and objectively. Also, crisp or deterministic forms of uncertain parameters have been obtained by taking expected value of the fuzzy parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper examines the impact of Russian invasion of Ukraine on the intraday efficiency of four major energy markets, namely, diesel oil, Brent oil, light oil and natural gas. Design/methodology/approach: This study applies the multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis (MFDFA) to high-frequency returns (30-min intervals) for the period from October 21, 2021, to May 20, 2022. The data sample of 5,141 observations is divided into two sub-samples, before and after the invasion of 24th February 2022. Additionally, the magnitude of long memory index is employed to investigate the presence of herding behavior around the invasion period. Findings: Results confirm the presence of multifractality in energy markets and reveal significant changes of multifractal strength due to the invasion, indicating a decline of intraday efficiency for oil markets. Surprisingly, the natural gas market, being the least efficient before the invasion, turns out to be more efficient after the invasion. The findings also suggest that investors in these energy markets are likely to show herding, more prominently after the invasion. Practical implications: The multifractal patterns, in particular the long memory property of energy markets, can help investors develop profitable investment strategies. Furthermore, the improved efficiency observed in the natural gas market, after the invasion, highlights its unique traits and underlying complexity. Originality/value: This study is the first attempt to assess the impact of the Russia–Ukraine war on the efficiency of global commodity markets. This is quite important because the adverse effects of the war on financial markets may potentially cause destabilizing outcomes and negative effects on social welfare on a global scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Service modularity promotes efficiency at the provider end of the supply chain and customisation at the customer end. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how logistics service modularity contributes to sustainable development through the means of energy efficiency. This is analysed in the context of logistics services for household waste collection. Design/methodology/approach: A single case study methodology with embedded units is adopted where semi-structured interviews were conducted with a waste service provider (WSP) and buyers (municipalities) in Sweden, focussing on five types of logistics services for waste collection: collection of food and residual waste at apartments and one-family houses, as well as collection of gardening waste. Service modules are identified and analysed by blueprinting the service. Findings: The findings show different service modules – standardised or customised – and their contribution to sustainable development operationalised through energy efficiency. Principles for an energy-centric service design are proposed. Research limitations/implications: The research is limited to Swedish household waste collection setting. Promising efficiency through standardisation, logistics service modularity has a potential to improve energy efficiency as well. This neglected link between sustainability and service modularity offers fruitful research avenues. Practical implications: This research is of practical relevance to waste logistics service providers and the municipality by suggesting principles for energy-centric service design. The service blueprint enables using logistics service modularity for improving energy efficiency in different logistics service settings. Originality/value: This research incorporates an environmentally sustainable development perspective into logistics service modularity and contributes to the literature by exploring how energy efficiency is improved by modular design of logistics services. Furthermore, the study is one of the first to use service blueprinting to analyse logistics service modularity, providing a methodological contribution to that field in general and logistics in particular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to extend game analysis to explore decision-making mechanisms for promoting a specific type of products, low energy consumption for individual one while the total energy consumption is huge due to the high quantity of sales, that is, low for individual and high for total (LIHT) in terms of energy consumption.Design/methodology/approach Game models are developed to compare decisions of optimal prices for newly developed and environmentally friendly (NDEF) and regular products as well as associated sales quantity, profits, carbon emissions under different governmental policies, along with a case of low energy-intensive broadband terminal products in the Chinese telecommunication industry under the carbon tax and subsidy policies.Findings For both NDEF and regular products, optimal prices decrease under the subsidy policy while both increase under the tax policy. Manufacturers’ decision of optimal prices is highly relevant with unit carbon tax/subsidy and the consumers’ preference. Both the tax and subsidy policies can improve consumption of NDEF products while the subsidy policy can be more effective at the current initial stage.Research limitations/implications This paper provides decision support for manufacturers to promote sustainable consumption of LIHT products. Research ideas on models development and solutions for optimal prices can be applied to other LIHT products.Practical implications The results provide insights for governments on how to effectively evaluate and motivate sustainable consumption for LIHT products.Originality/value This paper first explores how to motivate sustainable consumption of LIHT products by developing models, examining effectiveness of potential governmental policies as well as associated carbon emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose Past research demonstrated that novel IT-based business models generate tremendous returns for innovators. However, the risks associated with these innovations remain under-explored. This paper aims to address this critical gap analyzing risks and offering important insights particularly for practitioners.Design/methodology/approach The authors adopted an exploratory multiple-case study research design. It draws on 22 semi-structured interviews with managers from leading energy utilities, as well as leading providers of virtual power plants technology within the German energy industry.Findings The research reveals that main risks in new digital business models in the energy sector are associated with three forms of interdependence between innovation actors: the regulatory, the technological and the collaborative. To deal with these interdependencies, the authors propose an original multi-step risk management framework. This framework considers the outreach as a critical dimension for risk assessment and offers a new risk response matrix to draw individual and collective mitigation activities for specific types of risks.Practical implications This paper offers a framework for the management of interdependence risks that are fundamental for business model innovations based on IT. Thus, it is applicable in companies both inside the energy sector and beyond.Originality/value This paper analyzes an important digital business model innovation that has not yet been explored in management literature – the virtual power plant (VPP). It is based on original and current empirical work and proposes a novel risk management framework for business organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to attempt to answer the questions posed by the special issue editors using insights from leading academics in the field and case examples drawn from two renowned global companies. It also aims to define potential avenues for further research in the thematic areas covered. Design/methodology/approach - The paper uses a roundtable discussion with the Council for Supply Chain Management Professionals's Education Strategy Committee and case materials and presentations from Cisco Systems and Walmart to generate the insights. Findings - The existing cost/lead-time trade-off model still applies yet changes in fuel prices and the importance of sustainability initiatives (also from a marketing point of view) lead to different equilibrium points. Research limitations/implications - Based on insight from leading academics and case examples, the paper suggests that the trade-offs are made more intricate and require the more accurate addition of new factors such as social costs as today most of the decision making tends to be traditional economic and not yet include social and environmental as much. Nuances need to be added to avoid marketing skewing the trade-off away from sustainability over time if it turns out that sustainability is a marketing/public relations fad that might go away. And the length of time for sustainable initiatives to have an impact needs to be considered, if it turns out the marketing advantage does not have staying power as long as investment write off periods. These suggest potentially fruitful avenues for further research. The cases also offer practical guidance as to how leading companies green their supply chains. Originality/value - This paper specifically addresses the call for papers questions of the special issue editors through the synthesis of insights from leading academics and companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - Several studies have provided empirical evidence that female labor force participation rate exhibits a U-shape during the process of economic development. The purpose of this paper is to explore the existence of U-shape relationship in the case of Pakistan and if it does exist, what factors determine this U-shape relationship? Design/methodology/approach - For the estimation purpose data according to provinces and regions are pooled for three years. The model is estimated using a simple fixed effect test. Findings - The results affirm the existence of U-shaped relationship. Estimation of the pooled data attributed this U-shape relationship with female education attainment, sectoral employment share, unemployment rate, wages and marital status. Results confirm that high rate of economic development is encouraging the female participation in the labor force by increasing the work opportunities for females. The females are taking full advantage of these increased opportunities by increasing their level of education attainment. Research limitations/implications - In testing the U-shape hypothesis, household expenditure on fuel consumption representing level of economic development in the country is used as the data on GDP are not available at the provincial level. Practical implications - This paper recommends that skill-based education programmes should be promoted so that females could be absorbed in the formal labor market. It also recommends measures to decrease unemployment rates and improve labor market conditions. Originality/value - The paper is first of its kind as it applied pooled data technique for the estimation of U-shape relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the complex interrelationships among thedifferent variables purporting to explain household energy consumption and carbon emissions. Energy consumption and carbon emissions in dwellings have been argued to be a complex socio-technical problem that involves interaction of many variables that are interdependent on one another. Design/methodology/approach – The paper investigates the explanatory power of these variables through the use of structural equation modelling which has the advantage of handling complex real-life problems that cannot be modelled by other multivariate analysis methods. This study uses the publicly available datasets of the Scottish House Condition Survey and the Scottish Environmental Attitudes and Behaviours datasets. Findings – This paper found that floor area, energy efficiency in terms of standard assessment procedure value, number of occupants in the dwelling, household income, dwelling age, consumption behaviour and age of householders are among the variables explaining dwellings energy consumption and carbon emissions. The explanatory power of each of these variables was therefore explored. Originality/value – The paper concludes that understanding the complex–causal relationships among the explanatory variables would help decision-makers draw more realistic policies for household energy consumption which is critical to the agenda pertaining to carbon emission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This paper aims to detect abnormal energy uses which relate to undetected consumption, thefts, measurement errors, etc. The detection of irregular power consumption, with variation in irregularities, helps the electric utilities in planning and making strategies to transfer reliable and efficient electricity from generators to the end-users. Abnormal peak load demand is a kind of aberration that needs to be detected. Design/methodology/approach – This paper proposes a Density-Based Micro Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise (DBMSCAN) clustering algorithm, which is implemented for identification of ranked irregular electricity consumption and occurrence of peak and valley loads. In the proposed algorithm, two parameters, a and ß, are introduced, and, on tuning of these parameters, after setting of global parameters, a varied number of micro-clusters and ranked irregular consumptions, respectively, are obtained. An approach is incorporated with the introduction of a new term Irregularity Variance in the suggested algorithm to find variation in the irregular consumptions according to anomalous behaviors. Findings – No set of global parameters in DBSCAN is found in clustering of load pattern data of a practical system as the data. The proposed DBMSCAN approach finds clustering results and ranked irregular consumption such as different types of abnormal peak demands, sudden change in the demand, nearly zero demand, etc. with computational ease without any iterative control method. Originality/value – The DBMSCAN can be applied on any data set to find ranked outliers. It is an unsupervised approach of clustering technique to find the clustering results and ranked irregular consumptions while focusing on the analysis of and variations in anomalous behaviors in electricity consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Buildings use approximately 40% of global energy and are responsible for almost a third of the worldwide greenhouse gas emissions. They also utilise about 60% of the world’s electricity. In the last decade, stringent building regulations have led to significant improvements in the quality of the thermal characteristics of many building envelopes. However, similar considerations have not been paid to the number and activities of occupants in a building, which play an increasingly important role in energy consumption, optimisation processes, and indoor air quality. More than 50% of the energy consumption could be saved in Demand Controlled Ventilation (DCV) if accurate information about the number of occupants is readily available (Mysen et al., 2005). But due to privacy concerns, designing a precise occupancy sensing/counting system is a highly challenging task. While several studies count the number of occupants in rooms/zones for the optimisation of energy consumption, insufficient information is available on the comparison, analysis and pros and cons of these occupancy estimation techniques. This paper provides a review of occupancy measurement techniques and also discusses research trends and challenges. Additionally, a novel privacy preserved occupancy monitoring solution is also proposed in this paper. Security analyses of the proposed scheme reveal that the new occupancy monitoring system is privacy preserved compared to other traditional schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Governments around the world instituted guidelines for calculating energy efficiency of vehicles not only by models, but by the whole universe of new vehicles registered. This paper compiles Multi-criteria decisionmaking (MCDM) studies related to automotive industry. We applied a Systematic Literature Review on MCDM studies published until 2015 to identify patterns onMCDMapplications to design vehicles more fuel efficient in order to achieve full compliance with energy efficiency guidelines (e.g., Inovar-Auto). From 339 papers, 45 papers have been identified as describing some MCDM technique and correlation to automotive industry. We classified the most common MCDM technique and application in the automotive industry. Integrated approaches were more usual than individual ones. Application of fuzzy methods to tackle uncertainties in the data was also observed. Despite the maturity in the use of MCDM in several areas of knowledge, and intensive use in the automotive industry, none of them are directly linked to car design for energy efficiency. Analytic Hierarchy Process was identified as the common technique applied in the automotive industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to present and assess the EU energy policies regarding their dependence on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) implications and the level of complexity of the applied ICT implications using the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity of Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method. The used criteria have been retrieved from the official "ICT Implication Assessment method of EU Legislation". Design/methodology/approach: The methodology approach deals with the ranking representation of EU energy policies according to the ICT exploitation. The data for the study were collected from the official website of the European Union (EU) (www.europa.eu). According to these data, the subtopics of the EU energy policies regard the internal energy market, the European energy policy, the energy efficiency, the nuclear energy, the security of energy supply, the external dimension, the enlargement and the renewable energy sources. The EU energy policies were assessed using the TOPSIS multicriteria analysis. The TOPSIS is widely used to solve real-world decision-making problems due to its characteristic to deal with different information types. Findings: According to the results of the research, the EU energy policies achieve a good level of dependence on ICT implications and of complexity of the applied ICT implications but not the optimum. However, EU policy-makers should take into account the ICT factors while updating an existing one or while designing a new energy policy. The results of this research can provide an overview of the current situation regarding the current legislation while moving toward a sustainable eEurope. There is a need for stronger incubation efforts for a wide range of innovations to be ready in due time. Originality/value: This is the first time that EU energy policies are presented and assessed regarding their dependence on ICT implications and the level of complexity of the applied ICT implications using the TOPSIS method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose Non-fossil fuels are receiving increasing attention within the context of addressing global climate challenges. Based on a review of non-fossil fuel consumption in major countries worldwide from 1985 to 2015, the purpose of this paper is to analyze trends for global non-fossil fuel consumption, share of fuel consumption and inequality.Design/methodology/approach The similarities were obtained between the logarithmic mean divisia index and the mean-rate-of-change index decomposition analysis methods, and a method was proposed for complete decomposition of the incremental Gini coefficient.Findings Empirical analysis showed that: global non-fossil fuel consumption accounts for a small share of the total energy consumption, but presents an increasing trend; the level of global non-fossil fuel consumption inequality is high but has gradually declined, which is mainly attributed to the concentration effect; inequality in global non-fossil fuel consumption is mainly due to the difference between nuclear power and hydropower consumption, but the contributions of nuclear power and hydropower to per capita non-fossil fuel consumption are declining; and population has the greatest influence on global non-fossil fuel consumption during the sampling period.Originality/value The main contribution of this study is its analysis of global non-fossil fuel consumption trends, disparities and driving factors. In addition, a general formula for complete index decomposition is proposed and the incremental Gini coefficient is wholly decomposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present some basic conceptual aspects and empiric examples of urban mitigation and adaptation to climate change, of greening urban development, as there is strong need for further research and education on these issues. Design/methodology/approach – Starting with a review of the 4th IPCC report and the Stern Review, a strategy is developed on how to make cities main actors in fighting climate change. First examples of successful urban greening are presented. Findings – Cities are main drivers of climate change, and they are driven by climate change. Therefore, there is a strong need for "greening" urban development, i.e. for both mitigation and adaptation activities. Practical implications – Mitigation requires the reduction (more or less drastically) of urban energy and material flows. Adaptation requires restructure (more or less radically) of the established urban stocks. Originality/value – Until recently, cities and urban areas have not been in the focus of climate change research and climate policy. The paper shows the need for change of both theory and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of the paper is to analyse whether environmental issues form a supplier selection criteria of companies when sourcing third party logistics (3PL) services. Design/methodology/approach - The paper is based on a total of nine cases, where six buyers and three 3PL are analysed in depth so that data are collected for both parties involved in related dyadic relationships. Findings - While 3PL reports an increasing interest in environmental issues, buying decisions are still made on "traditional" performance objectives, such as price, quality and timely delivery. Environmental concerns have not been incorporated and at best form a kind of minimum requirement. Related cooperation, as asked for when taking a wider supply chain management perspective, could not be identified. Research limitations/implications - The paper has the limitation that only a total of nine companies are analysed. Yet, these companies can be seen as being good representatives of the overall industry. Further, detailed information is collected on all companies, it permitted the understanding of related corporate action. One implication would be conducting, e.g. a survey for collecting data on a larger number of cases. Practical implications - Buyers of 3PL services and companies are challenged towards rethinking their strategies. Originality/value - So far, there is very little research on how buyers and 3PL jointly manage environmental issues. The paper addresses environmental issues as a buying criteria and places this into the wider literature on logistics and sustainable supply chain management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine to what extent religious work values such as Islamic work values (IWVs) could have an influence on sustainable work behaviours and sustainable energy consumptions among employees in the workplace.Design/methodology/approach Data were collected through survey questionnaires. The sample consisted of 264 Muslim employees who work in the private and public organisations in Malaysia. Structural equation modelling was conducted using a second-order model.Findings The results showed that religious values (i.e. IWVs) have a significant relationship with sustainable work behaviours and sustainable energy consumptions. The effect on sustainable work behaviours was stronger than its effect on sustainable energy consumptions.Practical implications This study suggests that the policy makers and pundits should pay attention to employees rather than focussing on just the CEO or the managers as the key players in the industries. This would help reduce the emissions of greenhouse gasses and other environmental degradations.Originality/value With regard to sustainability, past studies have mostly used general values rather than religious values in analysing work behaviours or energy consumptions. Furthermore, most previous studies have used behavioural intentions in their theory and concepts when explaining sustainable behaviours. This study extends the literature by conceptualising the value-attitude-behaviour theory which focusses on actual behaviours rather than on intentions in explaining the effect of religious work values on sustainable behaviours and energy consumptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose Although social media proficiency and use are key business and marketing practices in today’s digital environment, research has failed to offer sufficient insights into what drives small firms to use social media and how they vitalise co-creative social media environments with consumers. In response, the purpose of this paper is to examine how small firms utilise social media to interact and build bonds with consumers. These bonds become an important tool in the development of successful, profitable businesses and marketing practices in the digital age.Design/methodology/approach To examine how small firms use social media to engage with consumers and vice versa, the authors utilised a case-study approach and collected qualitative data by conducting semi-structured interviews.Findings The results showed that the small firms in this research seek to establish relationships and facilitate interactions with their core consumers in order to co-create value. In particular, the data demonstrate that producers engage in two distinctive practices: bonding (i.e. cultivating emotional ties with music fans) and spreading (i.e. encouraging expressive circulation by fans). Altogether, the findings indicate that the representative firms in this research use social media to develop synergistic relationships with consumers and to tap into the collective energy of consumers in their business environments.Originality/value The authors show that small companies use social media to establish relationships and interact with fans in order to co-create value and vitalise collective consumption, engagement, and participation. The case blurs the traditional distinction between production and consumption and suggests that the value of goods is a social creation, not merely a manufactured product. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multipath routing holds a great potential to provide sufficient bandwidth to a plethora of applications in wireless sensor networks. In this paper, we consider the problem of interference that can significantly affect the expected performances. We focus on the performance evaluation of the iterative paths discovery approach as opposed to the traditional concurrent multipath routing. Five different variants of multipath protocols are simulated and evaluated using different performance metrics. We mainly show that the iterative approach allows better performances when used jointly with an interference-aware metric or when an interference-zone marking strategy is employed. This latter appears to exhibit the best performances in terms of success ratio, achieved throughput, control messages overhead as well as energy consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present details of a large-scale experiment that evaluated the impact of communicating two types of feedback to householders regarding their domestic electricity consumption: feedback on their own consumption and feedback of both their own consumption and that of others in their locality. Design/methodology/approach – Digital technologies were used to automatically measure and communicate the electricity consumption of 316 UK residents for a period of 16 weeks. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions: one involving no feedback; one involving feedback about a household's own usage, and one involving a household's own usage plus social norms feedback (the average consumption of others in the locality). At the end of the study, a selection of participants took part in interviews or focus groups. Findings – Both types of feedback (individual and individual-plus-social-norms) led to reductions in consumption of about 3 per cent. Those receiving social norms feedback were significantly more likely to engage with the information provided. However, the social norms information had no additional impact on consumption. Survey and interview data confirmed that participants from both conditions had been encouraged to adopt new energy-saving practices. The study concludes that near real-time individual feedback can be sufficient for usage reduction if it is provided in a historical format. It also suggests that the impact of social norms information may previously have been confounded with that of individual feedback. Originality/value – This is the first time that a controlled experiment in the field of domestic electricity consumption has compared the impact of real-time social norm information with that of information that only contains individual household usage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to present green information technology (GIT) initiatives of leading countries and to suggest strategies for environmental sustainability for the follower countries. Design/methodology/approach – A comprehensive review of greening of IT and greening by IT programs for sustainable growth in leading countries, the growing GIT market, and possible GIT strategies for the follower countries is provided. Findings – Green IT initiatives and practices in leading countries mirror each country's IT infrastructure and governmental efforts for green growth society. Some of the best practices of these countries should be benchmarked by the follower countries that have recently experienced dramatic increases in energy consumption and CO2 emission. Research limitations/implications – Each country has its own unique political, social, and economic conditions. Thus, a universal set of GIT initiatives is not suggested in this study. Practical implications – GIT should be a critical national strategy for any country. The findings of this study provide guidance to government and corporate leaders, especially for the developing countries, on how to develop effective GIT programs for sustainable green society. Originality/value – This study presents a comprehensive discussion of GIT initiatives and practices of leading countries and the exploding GIT market around the world. It also provides new insights for GIT for the follower countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to develop energy optimizer (ENEO) - a model-based decision support system (DSS) for an existing European chemical plant with a multi-stage continuous production process. The system comprises two modules - energy cost minimization and joined energy cost minimization and output maximization. Following the description of the researched production, the paper presents a gist of the underlying formulations. Then, it tests the DSS on real data instances with a focus on its configuration, practical implications and implementation challenges. Design/methodology/approach - The design of the planning tool is consistent with that of the model-based DSS and based on the existing information systems. The defined research problems are explored with the use of quantitative methods - the operations research methodology. Findings - The findings show that ENEO reflects the essence of the researched production process and can provide benefits in practical business operations. Research limitations/implications - Both the proposed system configuration and the formulated models lay a foundation to further research within the described industrial setting. Practical implications - The system can be utilized in daily operations to provide substantial cost savings, improved capacity utilization and reactivity. Originality/value - This paper contributes to research by bridging the gap between theory and practice. On the one hand, it describes an unexplored problem and its subsequent solution embodied in the DSS. On the other hand, it emphasizes the importance of applying the operations research methodology to the real-world issues. Therefore, this work is valuable to both academics and practitioners [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - This double special issue called for logistics solutions and supply chains in times of climate change. The purpose of this editorial is to investigate the current and future implications of climate change, and in particular, energy efficiency for logistics and supply chain management (SCM). Design/methodology/approach - Against the backdrop of climate change, a conceptual framework is constructed that reflects on the immediate and tangible effects of a sustainable agenda on logistics and SCM. Findings - Energy efficiency has been largely neglected in logistics and SCM. At the same time, considering energy efficiency requires considerable rethinking on the operational level (from transportation emissions to the cold chain) as well as even the conceptual level. The energy agenda needs a further development of logistics theory and practice. Originality/value - The editorial highlights the challenges of sustainability and energy in the context of logistics and SCM pertaining to their novelty, importance and interdependence. SCM needs to develop new performance measures that include measures of energy efficiency, in order to adapt to an environment where the old assumption of low fuel costs does not hold stand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Literature has widely discussed the relevant role of financial development in determining atmospheric quality. However, there has not been much discussion of how financial inclusion (FIC) plays its role in environmental quality. Thus, this research aims to unveil the role of financial inclusion in determining the CO2 emissions which serve as a proxy of environmental quality. In addition, this study examines the moderating role of corruption control (CC) in the nexus of FIC-CC. Design/methodology/approach: The empirical results were based on 22 years of annual data from five Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) economies, covering the years 1996–2017. The authors use the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model to check regression among variables. Findings: The empirical findings first disclosed the positive impact of FIC whereas CC had an inverse impact on CO2 emissions. However, the moderating role of CC was observed in mitigating the adverse impact of FIC on ecological quality. In addition, the statistical analysis further showed an inverse impact of economic growth and foreign investment and a positive impact of trade volume and energy consumption on CO2 emissions. Practical implications: This analysis states an important policy regarding integrated FIC and green environmental requirements. Additionally, the negative externality of FIC can be controlled by improving the CC. Originality/value: This study complements the existing literature on FIC and environmental quality by adding the moderating role of CC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This research examines how the design of the online energy label can be improved to stimulate consumer choice of energy-efficient household products in Web stores. Based on general evaluability theory, the authors propose new label formats that aim to improve the evaluability of the label information for consumers and test their influence during two distinct stages in the online decision-making process: consideration set formation and final choice. Design/methodology/approach: Two large-scale controlled online experiments are conducted with over 10,000 consumers in 10 European countries. The experiments test label alternatives in simulated online store environments, mimicking the two distinct decision stages, for four product categories to enhance generalizability. The data are analyzed using random-intercept linear and logistic regression models to account for their multi-level structure. Findings: The results show that the impact of the online energy label on consumers' online decision-making depends on both the label format and the decision stage (consideration vs choice), but in a different way than expected. The findings reveal that the current online energy label is significantly outperformed by a label that provides reference information by incorporating the scale range. This alternative label is particularly effective in the consideration set formation stage, and among consumers who consider energy efficiency a relatively unimportant choice criterion. Research limitations/implications: Online energy labels encourage consumers to consider and choose more energy-efficient products, especially if scale range information is included. The present results stress the importance of presenting this information early on in the online decision process. They also show that, particularly at this early stage and particularly for consumers who find energy efficiency a relatively unimportant choice criterion, label format matters. Practical implications: The present findings provide important input for policymakers in the context of the ongoing revision of the EU energy label. They also help online retailers make decisions about when and how to present product information on their websites. Originality/value: This study contributes to the literature on product labelling by examining the effects of relatively unexplored types of reference information in two distinct stages of the consumer decision-making process. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is the first to test the effectiveness of the online energy label. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to form a valid measure and hierarchical framework to achieve corporate sustainability transitions (CSTs). Design/methodology/approach: The fuzzy Delphi method (FDM) is applied to validate and eliminate challenges in sustainability transition regarding qualitative information. Fuzzy interpretive structural modeling (FISM) is used to build a hierarchical framework under uncertainties. Findings: This study finds that technology investment, data management, eco-management and sociospatial embedding challenges are the highest hierarchical framework levels and affect CST. Practical implications: A lack of awareness and knowledge, a lack of commitment, a lack of strategy, tolerance of unsustainable practices, a lack of stakeholder participation and a fragmented market are perceived as the challenges that show the highest driving and dependence power. These challenges serve as a reference for government and construction firms in the transition to sustainable corporate practices. Originality/value: Unsustainable corporate practices have caused large amounts of energy consumption, resource depletion and environmental impacts. There are challenges in transitioning to corporate sustainability that must be addressed. The most significant challenges that need to be solved to facilitate the transition to corporate sustainability are identified and arranged in a hierarchical model. By identifying the hierarchical relationships among the challenges, a theoretical framework that extends the existing models is developed to assist decision-makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Increasing academic communities and practitioners begin to explore a novel method to reduce environmental pollution and realize green logistics delivery. Additionally, China's Statistical Yearbook shows that the number of private cars has reached 165 million in China. Under this background, this study proposes a green delivery method by the combination of sharing vehicle (private cars) and IoT (Internet of things) from the perspective of vehicle energy efficiency and aims to improve the energy efficiency of social vehicles and provides more convenient delivery services. Design/methodology/approach: This study builds an IoT architecture consisting of customer data layer, information collection layer, cloud optimization layer and delivery task execution layer. Especially in the IoT architecture, a clustering analysis method is used to determine the critical value of customers' classification and shared delivery, a routing optimization method is used to solve the initial solution in could layer and shared technology is used in the implementation of shared delivery. Findings: The results show that the delivery method considering shared vehicles has a positive effect on improving the energy utilization of vehicles. But if all of delivery tasks are performed by the shared vehicle, the application effect may be counterproductive, such as delivery cost increases and energy efficiency decreases. This study provides a good reference for the implementation of green intelligent delivery business, which has a positive effect on the improvement of logistics operation efficiency. Originality/value: This study designs a novel method to solve the green and shared delivery issues under the IoT environment, which integrates the IoT architecture. The proposed methodology is applied in a real case in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of the study is to examine the relationship between the application of smart electronic systems, firm characteristics and efficient energy consumption: a case of public universities in Uganda. Design/methodology/approach: The study adopted both quantitative and qualitative approach as well as descriptive cross-sectional survey design tantamounting to an experimental-observation approach. A sample of four public academic universities were explored using primary data. A semi-structured questionnaire together with an evaluation form and a tested experimental kit (from one of the leading electronics centres in Uganda) was used to examine the consumption rates of different electronic appliances of less than 30 Amps. Further, a Pearson product moment correlation (r) analysis was also used to determine the direction of a relationship among the variables together with a linear relationship (regression) to predict a linear association of one or more variables. Recommendations were also given. Findings: Smart electronic systems make a significant determining factor to both firm characteristics (age, number of students, administrative staff and support staff) as well as efficient energy consumption. Nonetheless, there is no significant difference of efficient energy consumption as far as firm characteristics are concerned. Research limitations/implications: Results support the contributions of the theory of technology and acceptance model by affirming that a number of factors influence the usefulness and ease of use of the smart electronic systems, which in turn influence energy consumption. Practical implications: Universities' management should endeavour to install smart electronic systems. But still, government should try to lower taxes on smart electronic systems and genuine agents should be named for easy and affordable access of the users, universities inclusive. Originality/value: The study contributes towards a theoretical position by affirming the usefulness of technology acceptance model for efficient energy consumption in public universities. Peer review: The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-02-2019-0083 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This research aims to examine behavioral intentions toward purchase of energy-efficient products utilizing the theory of reasoned action framework. Design/methodology/approach – Survey data from a sample of 202 shoppers of electrical appliances and small electronic products was utilized to estimate the proposed model. Findings – The main finding is that attitude toward energy-efficient product has a stronger effect on intentions compared to the subjective norm component. Research limitations/implications – In order to maximize use of their financial resources, companies marketing energy-efficient products need to focus more on enhancing consumer attitudes toward their brands and spend relatively less on efforts to educate consumers about using energy – efficient appliances in general. Practical implications – Since attitudes are formed from beliefs and knowledge, use of informational ads that clearly illustrate energy-saving consequences of their specific brands of products will be an effective marketing approach. Originality/value – This study is timely considering the recent steady increase in energy prices accompanied by growing environmental concerns among businesses, governments, and consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]