Managing knowledge: lessons from the oil and gas sector

Knowledge management (KM) is of increasing interest to a number of leading UK construction organizations. Companies are keen to find out what other organizations are doing both within the construction and other industry sectors. There are important lessons to be learned from Canadian oil and gas organizations on how they manage their knowledge. A case study is used to explore the KM activities of eight leading organizations and investigate the opportunities for construction organizations to adopt some of their ideas. Three areas are covered: KM strategy and implementation, people aspects of KM and metrics for KM performance. There are several potential lessons for UK organizations: the need for KM to be driven by senior management if it is to have any notable success; the use of people‐centred techniques for sharing tacit knowledge and IT tools for sharing explicit knowledge; the importance of selling solutions to project teams to obtain employee support for KM; peer recognition has a more sustainable impact than financial reward; and KM measurement should be considered as a way of improving its impact, rather than justifying expenditure.     

Environmental policy and Japanese society: part II. lessons about Japan and about policy

This paper analyzes Japanese environmental policy to draw lessons about Japanese society and about environmental policy. It critically examines three myths about Japan: the myth of consensus, the myth of centralization, and the myth of rational policy. The paper then discusses the implications of Japan's experiences for the relationship between environmental quality and economic growth, the problems of an administrative system to compensate pollution victims, and the difficulties in establishing a system for environmental impact assessment. Part I of the essay, appears on p. 191 of this journal, examined successes and failures of Japanese environmental policy.     

Industrial electricity consumption efficiency and energy policy in Japan

This study analyzes the potential for energy savings by identifying inefficiencies in electricity use and their determinants in the Japanese industrial sector. Specifically, we used stochastic frontier analysis to estimate inefficiencies in electricity consumption based on data obtained from electric power companies. We identified significant determinants of electricity consumption efficiency and that changes in national energy policy following the Great East Japan Earthquake changed electricity consumption behavior. The contribution of this study is that its findings can be used to improve the cost-effectiveness of policies aimed at improving energy efficiency.     

Learning from students: geodesign lessons from the regional design studio

This paper explores potential issues in the emerging field of geodesign by examining key lessons learned through design studios. Presenting three distinct projects as examples from regional design studios in an undergraduate landscape architecture program, this paper points out common learning experiences that repeat despite very different contexts. Recurring issues that can be observed from these examples include difficulty in addressing scale, difficulties in dealing with the volumes of data and information available and complications due to perceptions of the false dichotomy between science and design. With the potential to reshape urban planning and design, the need for geodesign to openly embrace a grand vision of itself is evident. However, for these changes to be meaningful, serious changes need to be undertaken in our educational processes developing a generation of urban and regional geodesigners who are better equipped to think scientifically while shaping landscapes and places responsibly and creatively.     

Banking structure and regional economic growth: lessons from Italy

Following the literature on the comparative advantage of small versus large banks at lending to small businesses and in light of the worldwide decline in the number of intermediaries that specialise in this type of lending associated with deregulation in the banking industry, we examine the role that specific categories of banks have played in the context of Italy’s regional economic growth. Over the estimation period, 1970–1993, which ends in the year of full implementation of the banking reform that introduced statutory de-specialisation and branching liberalisation, Italy featured not only a substantial presence of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the real sector, as is still the case, but also a large and heterogeneous set of credit institutions with different ownership, size and lending styles. Exploiting these peculiarities we study the role of specific intermediaries and gather indirect evidence concerning the likely effects, ceteris paribus, of the current consolidation processes. The main findings, stemming from panel regressions with fixed effects, are as follows. The overall size of the financial sector has a weak impact on growth, but some intermediaries are better than others: cooperative banks and special credit institutions play a positive role, banks of national interest (basically large private banks) and public law banks (government-owned banks) either do not affect growth or have a negative influence depending on how growth is measured. Cooperative banks were mostly small banks and special credit institutions were all but large conglomerates with standardized credit policies, hence our results lend support to the current worldwide concerns of a reduction in the availability of credit to SMEs resulting from consolidation and regulatory reforms in the banking industry.

Clean energy transition in the Turkish power sector: A techno-economic analysis with a high-resolution power expansion model

The Turkish power sector achieved rapid growth after the 1990s in line with economic growth and beyond. However, domestic resources did not support this development and therefore resulted in a high dependency on imported fossil fuels. Furthermore, the governments were slow off the mark in introducing policies for increasing the share of renewable energy. Even late actions of the governments, as well as significant decreases in the cost of wind and especially solar technologies, have recently brought the Turkish power sector into a promising state. A large-scale generation-expansion power-system model (TR-Power) with a high temporal resolution (hours) is developed for the Turkish power generation sector. Several scenarios were analyzed to assess their environmental and economic impacts. The results indicate that a transition to a low-carbon power grid with around half of the electricity demand satisfied by renewable resources over 25 years would be possible, with annual investments of 3.97–6.88 billion in 2019 US$. Moreover, TR-Power indicates that the shadow price of CO₂ emissions in the power sector will be around 17.1 and 33.8 $/per tCO2 by 2042, under 30% and 40% emission reduction targets relative to the reference scenario.     

EU regional development policy and territorial capital: A systemic approach

The territorial capital of regions is an important determinant of growth, but also of the impact of EU Cohesion Policy. First, because it can act as a filter, enhancing the impact of regional policies. Second, the latter can help building territorial capital which, in turn, will foster regional development. This work analyses the medium and long-run relationship between the territorial capital of EU NUTS 3 regions and Cohesion Policy using data from the programming period 2000–2006. Results point out complementarities between different territorial assets of regions and the impact of EU regional policy: Cohesion Policy effectiveness is higher when investments are focused on the assets complementary to those already abundant in the region.     

Integrating models for regional development decisions: A policy perspective

This paper develops and demonstrates a combined set of models to capture regional development decision processes. The results of the models are then integrated along with other socio-political factors within a policy relevant decision methodology framework. The Haynes and Dinc (1997) extension of the shift-share model identifies regional industrial sectors for analysis based on their scale, productivity and sources of productivity change. By employing Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), the efficiency of these lead sectors is investigated and the future competitiveness of these sectors is evaluated. By incorporating input-output analysis the impact of inter-sectoral transactions on sectoral efficiency is assessed. Since in most cases state economic development planning and implementation processes also involve political judgements, based on the findings of the above models, the study suggests a decision support framework which combines the above mentioned quantitative tools with other qualitative decision factors. An Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) is employed as a multi-objective decision making device to integrate the relevant policy components. Received: March 2001/Accepted: January 2002 The findings, interpretations, and conclusions are entirely those of authors, and do not necessarily represent the views of the World Bank, its executive directors, or the countries the represent.     

Urban energy transitions in ordinary cities: Philadelphia’s place-based policy innovations for socio-technical energy change in the commercial sector

ABSTRACT

Studies of urban energy transitions place less attention to governance dynamics in diversified contexts. This paper thus focuses on an ordinary city, Philadelphia, and its place-based policy innovations in commercial energy efficiency. It develops an analytical framework at the intersection of multi-level governance and socio-technical urban energy change, which applies for a set of key policy initiatives in Philadelphia. The analysis demonstrates the importance of local and broader economic conditions, as well as actor political orientations, for the city’s transformative capacity. It also offers a fine-grained view of transition actors, stressing the key role of third-sector entities for systemic change.     

Risk disclosure in sustainability reports: Empirical evidence from the energy sector

Recently, companies in the energy sector have faced multiple financial and environmental risks. This finding demonstrates the need for energy companies to disclose risk information. However, academic attention on risk disclosure (RD) remains limited. Through manual content analysis and a regression model, this study examines the effect of the features of the board of directors and audit committee on the RD level in sustainability reports. The empirical findings reveal that the size and independence of the board of directors and the size of the audit committee positively affect the RD level.     

Solving the development plan puzzle in Britain: learning lessons from history

Development plans lie at the heart of the British planning system. The concept of planning is inseparably linked to the image of a development plan which, in one form or another, has been a part of the statutory planning system since 1909. The changes to the planning legislation in the early 1990s gave development plans a renewed importance, with the concept of a ‘plan-led’ system of control serving to reinforce the relationship between planning and plans once more. Within this context, this paper questions the extent to which the role of development plans in the planning system has ever been satisfactorily clarified. It takes a historical look at development plans (in England and Wales) since the early 1900s and explores the debates which have surrounded their purpose, preparation, product and implementation. A number of key issues relating to the development plan system are then identified, which have arisen at intervals over the last 50 years and which continue to arise in the contemporary system. In the light of this, the paper suggests some key questions that now need to be addressed if the development plan puzzle is to be solved.     

Cybersecurity and resilience in the swiss electricity sector: Status and policy options

Electricity systems are critical infrastructure. With increasing digitalization, they become particularly vulnerable to cyberattacks. Cybersecurity hence becomes increasingly crucial for the security of supply. Based on a detailed analysis of the status of cybersecurity in the Swiss electricity sector, we derive a set of policy recommendations on how to raise countries’ cybersecurity levels in electricity systems. The analysis builds on a national E-survey that solicited self-assessment of cybersecurity maturity levels of 124 Swiss energy market participants. It was complemented by a detailed, comparative analysis of cybersecurity measures in Switzerland and its surrounding European neighbors. On average, we found a cybersecurity maturity that needs to be ameliorated regarding information and operation technology in the Swiss electricity sector. This situation calls for improved regulatory measures and monitoring to stimulate cyber resilience among market participants.     

A perspective on clean power and the future of US energy politics and policy

United States energy policy is undergoing a historic transformation. For the first time, the federal government has taken the lead in aligning energy and environmental regulation. The Environmental Protection Agency has asserted itself under the auspices of an administrative rule known as the Clean Power Plan (CPP) that specifically targets electric utilities, most notably coal-fired utilities, for the express purpose of reducing carbon emissions. The CPP requires states, either individually or through multi-state arrangements, to submit compliance plans in either 2016 or 2018 if an extension is granted. The EPA has suggested three principal “building blocks” for formulating state compliance plans. In the wake of this new regulatory landscape, this paper describes the CPP, identifies the specific challenges facing the electric industry, and provides potential responses to those challenges. The paper concludes that the Clean Power Plan provides the necessary context for the US transition to a clean energy future.     

A new methodology for renewable and rational use of energy policy in building sector: Case study for the island of Crete

This paper discusses the future development of efficient energy policies with respect to building sector, using a new simulation computer model called INVERT. The building sector incorporates supply side systems (heating, domestic hot water (DHW) and cooling systems) and Demand Side Management (DSM) measures. Simulation runs have been carried out up to 2020 for the Greek island of Crete based on sensitivity analyses for different building types, heating/cooling technologies and DHW systems. Promotion schemes for renewable energy sources (RES) and rational use of energy (RUE) are also implemented in the simulation model, since they have a strong impact on long-term financial investment strategies. Transfer costs and CO₂ emissions of various hypothesis scenarios about new or additional promotion schemes for energy conservation in residential buildings have been compared with a reference scenario for the island of Crete. The outcome of this case study is presented and discussed in this paper.     

Mitigating secondary aerosol generation potentials from biofuel use in the energy sector

This paper demonstrates secondary aerosol generation potential of biofuel use in the energy sector from the photochemical interactions of precursor gases on a life cycle basis. The paper is divided into two parts—first, employing life cycle analysis (LCA) to evaluate the extent of the problem for a typical biofuel based electricity production system using five baseline scenarios; second, proposing adequate mitigation options to minimise the secondary aerosol generation potential on a life cycle basis. The baseline scenarios cover representative technologies for 2010 utilising energy crop (miscanthus), short rotation coppiced chips and residual/waste wood in different proportions. The proposed mitigation options include three approaches—biomass gasification prior to combustion, delaying the harvest of biomass, and increasing the geographical distance between the biomass plant and the harvest site (by importing the biofuels).Preliminary results indicate that the baseline scenarios (assuming all the biomass is sourced locally) bear significant secondary aerosol formation potential on a life cycle basis from photochemical neutralisation of acidic emissions (hydrogen chloride and sulphur dioxide) with ammonia. Our results suggest that gasification of miscanthus biomass would provide the best option by minimising the acidic emissions from the combustion plant whereas the other two options of delaying the harvest or importing biofuels from elsewhere would only lead to marginal reduction in the life cycle aerosol loadings of the systems.     

Theory and policy in regional science

These remarks were ones I made as the discussant of Koichi Meras presidential address to the meeting of the Western Regional Science Association, Rio Rico, Arizona, February 2003. Rather than dwelling on the many points of agreement between Mera and myself, I offer a few thoughts of my own on the role of theory and policy in the field of regional science. Regional science can be seen as an agglomeration of a theory community and a policy community, and both are important to the success of the agglomeration. I describe some ways the two communities should relate to each other.