Energy productivity and decarbonization of the global economy: Factor five resource productivity

In the 21st Century much of the world will experience untold wealth and prosperity that could not even be conceived only some three centuries before. However as with most, if not all, of the human civilisations, increases in prosperity have accumulated significant environmental impacts that threaten to result in environmentally induced economic decline. A key part of the world’s response to this challenge is to rapidly decarbonise economies around the world, with options to achieve 60-80 per cent improvements (i.e. in the order of Factor 5) in energy and water productivity now available and proven in every sector. Drawing upon the 2009 publication “Factor 5”, in this paper we discuss how to realise such large-scale improvements, involving complexity beyond technical and process innovation. We begin by considering the concept of greenhouse gas stabilisation trajectories that include reducing current greenhouse gas emissions to achieve a ‘peaking’ of global emissions, and subsequent ‘tailing’ of emissions to the desired endpoint in ‘decarbonising’ the economy. Temporal priorities given to peaking and tailing have significant implications for the mix of decarbonising solutions and the need for government and market assistance in causing them to be implemented, requiring careful consideration upfront. Within this context we refer to a number of examples of Factor 5 style opportunities for energy productivity and decarbonisation, and then discuss the need for critical economic contributions to take such success from examples to central mechanisms in decarbonizing the global economy.

Comparison of visual inspection and structural-health monitoring as bridge condition assessment methods

This paper presents the results of a research project aimed at examining the capabilities and challenges of two distinct but not mutually exclusive approaches to in-service bridge assessment: visual inspection and installed monitoring systems. In this study, the intended functionality of both approaches was evaluated on its ability to identify potential structural damage and to provide decision-making support. Inspection and monitoring are compared in terms of their functional performance, cost, and barriers (real and perceived) to implementation. Both methods have strengths and weaknesses across the metrics analyzed, and it is likely that a hybrid evaluation technique that adopts both approaches will optimize efficiency of condition assessment and ultimately lead to better decision making.

Key opportunities for the future of roads to contribute to Australia's climate change response

Road agencies face growing pressure to respond to a range of issues associated with climate change and the reliance on fossil fuels. A key part of this response will be to reduce the dependency on fossil fuel based energy (and the associated greenhouse gas emissions) of transport, both vehicles and infrastructure. This paper presents findings of investigations into three key areas of innovative technologies and processes, namely the inclusion of onsite renewable energy generation technologies as part of road and transport infrastructure, the potential for automated motorways to reduce traffic fuel consumption (referred to as 'Smart Roads'), and the reduction of energy demand from route and signal lighting. The paper then concludes with the recommendation for the engineering profession to embrace sustainability performance assessment and rating tools as the basis for enhancing and communicating the contribution to Australia's response to climate change. Such tools provide a rigorous structure that can standardise approaches to key issues across entire sectors and provide clarity on the evidence required to demonstrate leading performance. The paper has been developed with funding and support provided by Australia's Sustainable Built Environment National Research Centre (SBEnrc), working with partners including Main Roads Western Australia, NSW Roads and Maritime Services, Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads, John Holland Group, the Infrastructure Sustainability Council of Australia, Roads Australia, and the CRC for Low Carbon Living.

The opportunity for implementing Islamic project financing to the Indonesian infrastructure development

Purpose: This chapter discusses the opportunity of Islamic project financing implementation for public infrastructure development in Indonesia. Design/Methodology/Approach: This chapter, firstly, reviewed existing literature on Islamic finance to explore the applicability of Islamic financing in infrastructure development. Interviews were conducted as the first stage of Delphi method approach. This was then followed by reviewing Indonesia’s government policies and regulations in infrastructure industry and Islamic financing. Findings: This chapter enlightens the implementation of Islamic financing on infrastructure project financing in Indonesia. The findings indicate that the government policies and regulations on both infrastructure investment and Islamic financing support the implementation of Islamic project financing, whereas, an improvement is still needed in order to overarch infrastructure business and Islamic financing investment. Research: Financing framework development for Indonesia infrastructure projects. Limitations/Implications: The result reported comprises the preliminary study of Islamic project paper written based on published research papers and interviews. Furthermore, the data collected for the study are limited to the case of Indonesian infrastructure projects. Practical Implication: Islamic financing in Indonesia infrastructure projects development has not been optimally implemented. Therefore, this chapter serves as a catalyst to explore alternative financial scheme such as Islamic financing for infrastructure development. Originality/Value: This chapter highlights possibilities and obstacles in applying Islamic scheme to infrastructure project financing. This provides a framework to analyse the steps to implement Islamic financing successfully in infrastructure development.

Data driven modeling for power transformer lifespan evaluation

Large sized power transformers are important parts of the power supply chain. These very critical networks of engineering assets are an essential base of a nation’s energy resource infrastructure. This research identifies the key factors influencing transformer normal operating conditions and predicts the asset management lifespan. Engineering asset research has developed few lifespan forecasting methods combining real-time monitoring solutions for transformer maintenance and replacement. Utilizing the rich data source from a remote terminal unit (RTU) system for sensor-data driven analysis, this research develops an innovative real-time lifespan forecasting approach applying logistic regression based on the Weibull distribution. The methodology and the implementation prototype are verified using a data series from 161 kV transformers to evaluate the efficiency and accuracy for energy sector applications. The asset stakeholders and suppliers significantly benefit from the real-time power transformer lifespan evaluation for maintenance and replacement decision support.

Enhancing information about sustainability features for sustainable housing delivery

Sustainability practices in government regulations and within the society influence the delivery of sustainable housing. The actual delivery rate of Australian sustain-able housing is not as high as other countries. There is an absence of engagement by stakeholders in adopting sustainable housing practices. This may be due, in the current Australian property market, to confusion as to what sustainability features should be considered, given the large range of environmental, economic and social sustainability options possible. One of the main problems appears to be that information demanders, especially real estate agents, valuers, insurance agents and mortgage lenders do not include sustainability perspectives in their advice or in their decision processes. Information distribution in the Australian property market is flawed, resulting in a lack of return-on-investment value of ‘green’ features implemented by some stakeholders. This paper reviewed the global sustainable development concept and Australian sustainable assessment methods. This review identified the possibility of a research project which aimed at identifying and integrating different perceptions and priority needs of the information demanders, for developing a model for the potential implementation of sustainability features distribution in the property industry. This research will reduce confusion on the sustainability-related information which can influence the decision making of stakeholders in the supply and demand of sustainable housing.

A data fusion approach of multiple maintenance data sources for real-world reliability modelling

A central tenet in the theory of reliability modelling is the quantification of the probability of asset failure. In general, reliability depends on asset age and the maintenance policy applied. Usually, failure and maintenance times are the primary inputs to reliability models. However, for many organisations, different aspects of these data are often recorded in different databases (e.g. work order notifications, event logs, condition monitoring data, and process control data). These recorded data cannot be interpreted individually, since they typically do not have all the information necessary to ascertain failure and preventive maintenance times. This paper presents a methodology for the extraction of failure and preventive maintenance times using commonly-available, real-world data sources. A text-mining approach is employed to extract keywords indicative of the source of the maintenance event. Using these keywords, a Naïve Bayes classifier is then applied to attribute each machine stoppage to one of two classes: failure or preventive. The accuracy of the algorithm is assessed and the classified failure time data are then presented. The applicability of the methodology is demonstrated on a maintenance data set from an Australian electricity company.

Driving whole-of-life efficiencies through BIM and procurement

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is a digital process that encompasses all aspects, disciplines and systems of built assets within a single virtual model. This allows stakeholders to collaborate more accurately and efficiently than with traditional processes. Case study 1 Design: New Generation Rollingstock Maintenance Centre, Queensland. Case Study 2 Construction: Perth Children's Hospital, Western Australia. Case Study 3 Asset Management: Sydney Opera House, New South Wales. This project sought to provide the built environment industry with a framework to measure and maximize benefits from implementing BIM across the life-cycle phases of a built asset.

Comparison of the sensitivity of different sensor technologies to imbalance severity in low speed wind turbines

Imbalance is not only a direct major cause of downtime in wind turbines, but also accelerates the degradation of neighbouring and downstream components (e.g. main bearing, generator). Along with detection, the imbalance quantification is also essential as some residual imbalance always exist even in a healthy turbine. Three different commonly used sensor technologies (vibration, acoustic emission and electrical measurements) are investigated in this work to verify their sensitivity to different imbalance grades. This study is based on data obtained by experimental tests performed on a small scale wind turbine drive train test-rig for different shaft speeds and imbalance levels. According to the analysis results, electrical measurements seem to be the most suitable for tracking the development of imbalance.

Overfishing, uncertainty, and ocean governance: Lord Perry's question revisited

“Why does overfishing persist in the face of regulation?” The author argues that over fishing,a fundamental cause of the crisis facing our oceans, is the result of the failure of our fishing management agencies (ultimately our politicians and communities) to embrace a small suite of powerful tools (more correctly strategic approaches) which have been developed to account for uncertainty. Broad success in managing fisheries to achieve sustainability goals will only come if these tools are enthusiastically applied. This will not happen until organisational cultures within fishery management agencies undergo a major shift leading to an asset-based biodiversity conservation, rather than resource exploitation, to be placed at the centre of ocean governance.This thesis examines these issues in the context of case studies covering regional, national and provincial (State) fishery management agencies. With the exception of the case study of a regional fishery (the southern ocean krill fishery) all case studies are drawn from Australian experiences. The central recommendation of the thesis is that fishery management agencies, worldwide, should be replaced by biodiversity asset management agencies.

Análise do nível de aderência do modelo conceitual do sistema de custos às teorias da contabilidade de custo: experiência no governo federal para configuração e implantação do sistema de informações de custos - SIC

Este estudo expõe os objetivos, as diretrizes, o modelo conceitual e o processo desenvolvido para a implantação do Sistema de Informações de Custos do Governo Federal (SIC), descrevendo e explicando o marco conceitual e suas principais características, a abordagem em três dimensões (conceitual, tecnológica e cultural), as razões para os procedimentos adotados na sua construção, trabalhando a correspondência entre os conceitos da contabilidade governamental e da contabilidade de custos. O trabalho teve como proposta identificar e apresentar a configuração do sistema de informações de custos (SIC) a ser adotado pelo Brasil no âmbito da Administração Pública Federal como uma solução conciliatória junto aos atores envolvidos, e analisar e revelar o nível de aderência do SIC às teorias da Contabilidade de Custos, para tal fim foi desenvolvida a pesquisa exploratóriodescritiva, socorrendo-se em pesquisas bibliográfica e documental; na coleta de informações aplicando as técnicas de entrevista e observação direta intensiva; e na análise dos dados levantados, a técnica de análise de conteúdo. A importância do SIC é enfatizada como elemento de mensuração de custos, de melhoria da qualidade do gasto público e de vetor indutor da construção da mentalidade de custos na Administração Pública Federal que, poderá vir a ser o grande salto da administração patrimonial e burocrática para a administração gerencial.

Dokumentazio zerbitzuak Euskal Herriko komunikabideetan

1. ATALA - IKERKETAK / 1ª PARTE - INVESTIGACIONES: I. Euskal Herriko komunikabideetako dokumentazio zerbitzuen analisia. Teresa Agirreazaldegi, Mª Milagros Ronco eta Idoia Camacho. II. Los documentalistas en las redacciones digitales de prensa y televisión: nuevos retos profesionales. Pere Masip, Josep Lluís Micó y José Alberto García Avilés. III. Documentación digital y gestión de contenidos en la televisión de hoy. Carmen Peñafiel y Nereida López. IV. Los documentos audiovisuales y su conservación. Mª Milagros Ronco López. V. Tresna linguistikoak informazioa atzitzeko. Eneko Agirre eta Iñaki Alegria. VI. Sarean Zer? Interneteko berriak lotzeko baliabidea. Gregorio Hernández. 2. ATALA - PROFESIONALEN EKARPENAK / 2ª PARTE - APORTACIONES PROFESIONALES: VII. Euskadi Irratiko Artxiboa. Iñigo Ceberio. VIII. Catalogación y ambientación del sonido en radio y televisión. Itziar Mendia. IX. El área de archivo en el proyecto de digitalización de ETB. Jesús Andérez. X. Media Asset Management (M.A.M.) y plataformas de digitalización de contenidos de ETB. Koldo Lizarralde. XI. El servicio de documentación de la agencia de noticias Atlas País Vasco. Sonia Guardado. XII. Sistema de trabajo del centro de documentación del periódico El Correo. Jesús Oleaga. XIII. La documentación del grupo Vocento. Mauricio Martín XIV. Berria egunkariaren dokumentazio zerbitzua: bi datu-base kazetarien zerbitzura. Margari Eizagirre eta Jon Barandiaran. XV. El servicio de documentación del Grupo Noticias. Isabel Muñoz e Itziar Aldaz. XVI. La hemeroteca de EITB: la orientación al cliente. Marta Iturregi. XVII. Euskarazko tokiko hedabideen balio dokumentalaz. Joxe Rojas. XVIII. Hemeroteka Plus: publikazio idatzien ustiaketa digitala. Julen Arrizabalaga.

Museos, redes sociales y tecnología 2.0

Índice: - Sobre museos, redes sociales y tecnología 2.0 (Alex Ibáñez Etxeberria). - Sitios web y museos: nuevas aplicaciones para el aprendizaje informal (Mikel Asensio, Elena Asenjo y Alex Ibáñez Etxeberria). - From headphones to microphones: mobile social media in the museum as distributed network (Nancy Proctor). - Mobile learning y patrimionio: aprendiendo historia con mi teléfono, mi GPS y mi PDA (Alex Ibáñez Etxeberria, Mikel Asensio y José Miguel Correa). - Digital asset management strategies for multi-platform content delivery (Titus Bicknell). - Redes sociales y museos participativos: la irrupción de las tecnologías 2.0 en la sociedad y su aplicación en los museos a través del caso de Arazi (Juan José Aranburu).

Organizações sociais na saúde: Rio Intransparente

O presente trabalho tem por objetivo analisar uma das diversas alterações decorrentes da contrarreforma do Estado brasileiro que tem incidido diretamente sobre o campo das políticas sociais: a adoção dos modelos privatizantes de gestão. A despeito do acirramento da questão social e consequente aumento da demanda por serviços sociais, o Estado tem caminhado numa via oposta. Focaliza as políticas sociais, precariza os serviços já existentes e drena recursos da seguridade social para sustentação das altas taxas de juros e pagamento da dívida pública. Somado a isso, para possibilitar a criação de novos espaços lucrativos, o Estado tem reeditado repetidamente diferentes instrumentos de privatização das políticas sociais as Organizações Sociais, as Organizações da Sociedade Civil de Interesse Público, as Fundações Estatais de Direito Privado e a Empresa Brasileira de Serviços Hospitalares processando-se, desta forma, um duplo favorecimento do capital na apropriação do fundo público. Desse modo, conferimos especial destaque às Organizações Sociais, instrumento privilegiado da operacionalização da modernização da gestão da rede de serviços da atual gestão municipal da política de saúde carioca. Buscamos analisar as tendências da alocação dos recursos orçamentários da saúde no Rio de Janeiro (Função Saúde e Fundo Municipal), os contratos de gestão a fim de captar os processos de privatização, focalização e mercantilização da saúde, no período de 2009-2010. Nesse contexto, revelou-se uma profunda falta de transparência nos gastos públicos com a política de saúde carioca que perpassa os recursos destinados ao Fundo Municipal de Saúde, mas também se expressa nos inúmeros repasses financeiros muitas vezes elevados e sem justificativas palpáveis destinados às Organizações Sociais. Desse modo, a efetivação das ações e serviços do Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS) fica relegada ao segundo plano e põe-se na ordem do dia o favorecimento do capital através de uma apropriação cada vez maior do fundo público.