This paper draws on the 'human reliability' concept as a structure for gaining insight into the maintenance workforce assessment in a process industry. Human reliability hinges on developing the reliability of humans to a threshold that guides the maintenance workforce to execute accurate...

Technological advancement in the manufacturing system in current scenario is inevitable due to today's customer-driven and volatile nature of the market. Implementation of agent technology in a manufacturing system increases flexibility which handles uncertainty generated due to advance...

Indian economic growth is likely to lead to a huge increase of energy use in buildings but so far, policies to address this issue are lacking. Standard building energy use concerning glazing, air conditioning and lighting in different climatic zones across India leads to energy use per m2 which...

This paper aims to examine the potential of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) to address energy- related issues during the rural transition process in China, using a case study of quickly urbanizing and industrializing Yinzhou district in coastal Zhejiang province. Yinzhou's per capita GDP...

The efficiency of electricity generation in hard coal fired power plants varies considerably from country to country and over time. These differences occur both between developing and developed countries and between industrialised nations. The econometric analysis presented in this paper tests...

Energy and resource efficiency innovations (EREIs) are often seen as win-win opportunities for both the economic and the environmental performance of firms. It is thus worth asking how the innovation activities and performance of firms with regard to energy and resource efficiency look like: Do...

This paper explores the incentives for energy efficiency induced by the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) for installations in the energy and industry sectors. Our analysis of the National Allocation Plans for 27 EU Member States for phase 2 of the EU ETS (2008-2012) suggests that...

Residential buildings strongly contribute to global CO2 emissions due to the high energy demand for electricity and heating, particularly in industrialised countries. Within the EU, decentralised heat generation is of particular relevance for future climate policy, as its emissions are not...

The political discussion on energy efficiency is focusing more and more on the building sector due to its susceptibility to potential market failures like the negative external pollution effects of CO2 emission. Using a discrete choice approach, this paper aims at deriving factors which increase...

This paper analyzes barriers for energy efficiency investments for small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in China. Based on a survey of 480 SMEs in Zhejiang Province, this study assesses financial, informational, and organizational barriers for energy efficiency investments in the SME...