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Entrepreneurship.

The portable solar cooker case is appropriate for upper division undergraduate and graduate students in entrepreneurship, international, strategy or sustainability courses.

xCRUZA, a small industrial design studio in Buenos Aires, Argentina, has experienced limited success and expansion since the company was founded in 2005. Focusing on eco design principles, xCRUZA has maintained an eclectic design mix pertaining to product development in children's toys, medicine, and cleaning products. Challenged by a struggling Argentine economy, a population not focused on environmental concerns, and a general lack of capital availability, the founders of xCRUZA chose to design, develop, market and sell a portable solar cooker. The cooker was originally designed by two of the founders while studying engineering at university. While innovative and award winning in design, xCRUZA's solar cooker has proven to be a challenge to the founders' success both in getting their product to market and fulfilling the mission of the studio.

The learning objectives for the case include: to explore the challenges of an entrepreneurial start-up dedicated to eco design and sustainability principles, to examine market opportunities and consider approaches to selling in dissimilar markets, generate a discussion on strategies that xCRUZA has and can employ, to analyze the mission and direction of xCRUZA. Are they on the right track?

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Aims to bring attention to the problems faced by rural Bangladeshis. Several objectives for the paper were identified. First, to illustrate that Bangladeshis suffer from acute levels of poverty, a lack of clean drinking water and regular flooding and cyclonic conditions. Second, to establish the failure of western “handout” aid provision to address these problems. Third, to evidence the possibilities for the production of more durable building materials utilising regionally available waste materials and proven solar technologies. Finally, to present strategies in which solar technologies could contribute to the reduction of poverty and improvements in health standards.

The ongoing development and testing of the innovative solar technology concepts reported in the paper were informed by a literature review covering solar cookers and solar kilns. The methodology and detail of the testing of that solar technology is currently considered commercially sensitive. With regard to the poverty alleviation strategies proposed within the paper, their development was underpinned by a methodology combining a thorough review of the relevant literature with input from practitioners in Bangladesh.

Utilising aid moneys for the establishment of solar technology‐based small‐scale production of vernacular building materials could address poverty by affording access to wealth‐generating activities in the sale of goods and clean drinking water from rainwater harvesting. Additionally, such activities would enable Bangladeshi society to be better able to withstand and then recover from natural disasters, by possessing more resistant shelters, and being more economically resilient.

The experimental component of the research is ongoing and considered commercially sensitive. No limitations have thus far been identified within this component. The implications of the research regarding solar technologies are potentially considerable in that the innovative approach under examination, if underpinned by positive results, represents a new area of activity and has both social and technical implications.

Current aid is not significantly alleviating the problems experienced by Bangladeshis resulting from poverty, arsenic contamination of deep water aquifers and regular flooding. The technology and strategies proposed address the fact that the current vernacular shelters provide little resistance to flooding, and are unsuitable for rainwater harvesting, whilst also allowing participation in wealth‐generating activities. Such a combination has the potential to reverse the trend for Bangladesh to increasingly rely on “hand‐out” aid.

The value of the paper is largely in the area of bringing new possibilities to the attention of the research and practitioner communities dealing with both solar technologies and developing world poverty alleviation.

Solar selective coatings are designed and formulated for effective collection and retention of solar energy. Several types of coatings can be utilized for economical collection of solar energy, the most common and simplest will be ordinary non‐glass, heat resistant black paint. The coatings may be moderately selective or non‐selective absorbers, consisting of organic or inorganic matt black paints. These are easiest to apply and the least expensive of all collector coatings. In this category other types are ceramic and organic enamels and chemical or electrochemical metal conversion coatings. An impending energy crisis has already aroused interest and scientific pursuit in the field. An analysis of the state‐of‐the‐art in solar selective coatings was felt necessary at this time.

Energy consumption in transportation accounted for over 29% of total final consumption (TFC) of energy and 65% of global oil usage, and it is highly connected to mobility. Mobility is essential for access to day-to-day activities such as education, leisure, healthcare, business activities, and commercial and industrial operations. This study examines the energy consumption for the transport industry, and the level of renewable energy development in some selected Sub-Saharan African (SSA) nations. This study relied on previous publications of government, reports and articles related to the subject matter. Vehicle ownership is fast increasing, particularly in cities. Still, it begins at a relatively low level because the area is home to countries with the lowest ownership rates worldwide. In its current state, the energy sector faces significant challenges such as inadequate and poorly maintained infrastructure, dealing with increasing traffic congestion in cities, large-scale imports of used vehicles with poor emission standards that affect air quality in cities, a lack of safe and formally operated public transportation systems, and inadequate consideration for women and disabled mobility needs. Motorcycle and tricycle are dominating the rural areas, accounting for a substantial amount of this growth. Aviation is the largest non-road user of energy, and this trend is predicted to continue through 2040 as Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grows and urbanisation expands. This study revealed the energy consumption for the transport industry, and the level of renewable energy development in some selected SSA. Rail and navigation lag behind current global levels. The usage of biofuel and rail transport was recommended.

This paper aims to examine recent trends and China's role in the emerging global green system of innovation (GGSI) and present the major achievement in China's R&D sectors and major challenges faced by the country. The authors use China's role in the clean development mechanism (CDM) as a case to demonstrate the country's willingness to adopt new technology and green innovation.

In order to understand China's transformation towards the GGSI, the approach used in this study is a review of innovation systems literature combined with analysis of statistical data from various sources. The authors also build an innovation model for the emerging global green system of innovation to demonstrate the building blocks which allow for transformational system failures to be avoided. The clean development mechanism (CDM) is used as a case example as to how GGSI works.

This paper puts into perspective some recent developments in innovation and argues that there is enough evidence to claim that the world is re‐orienting towards a global green system of innovation in which China is already one of the most significant players.

Through building a new innovation model, this study demonstrates the complexity and the development of innovation in the context of China's transformation towards the GGSI.

This study aims to investigate how professional financial statement users use carbon accounting information in their decisions and whether this use is sensitive to changing the decision context from an investment to a donation.

Using a sample of 173 US professional financial statement users, the authors conduct an experiment that manipulates an investment or donation choice to evaluate how differing levels of carbon sequestration affect decision-making across contexts.

Carbon sequestration information affects users’ donation decisions but does not affect investment decisions. Variation in the reliability of the information and whether the information is linked to strategy do not affect users’ decision-making.

This study is performed by an experiment and informs our understanding of the relevance to users of carbon sequestration disclosure. Results indicate that carbon sequestration disclosure has value for donation but not investment decisions. The authors interpret this as evidence of some value of this type of disclosure in professional financial statement users’ decision-making but not for a financially focused evaluation.

This paper provides unique insights into the effect of reporting carbon sequestration on decision-making. There has been significant research on the broader topic of corporate sustainability, and capital markets research indicates that the market values increased sustainability disclosure. This study extends the research by examining a specific component of carbon disclosure that is not currently widely reported and by the use of information for different types of evaluations. The results find evidence that the value of this type of carbon disclosure does not stem from a purely financial perspective but instead, from other nonpecuniary factors.

The building and construction industry has a significant potential to reduce adverse climate change effects. There are plans to improve the natural resource use and greenhouse gas emissions caused by the buildings by choosing energy-efficient technologies, renewable energy sources and sustainable architectural and constructional elements. This study systematically reviews the patent data for climate change mitigation technologies related to buildings, aiming to detect their relative importance and evaluate each technology in the Y02B network.

The applied approach covers the process of (1) selecting high-impact technology, (2) collecting patent data from the USPTO database, (3) creating a citation frequency matrix using cooperative patent classification codes, (4) linking high-impact patents with analytical network process method, (5) limiting centrality of identifying core technologies from indicators and (6) creating a technology network map with social network analysis.

The study results show that energy-saving control techniques, energy-efficient lighting devices, end-user electricity consumption, management technologies and systems that convert solar energy into electrical energy are core solutions that reduce the effects of climate change. In addition, solutions that will support core technologies and whose effects are expected to increase in the coming years are energy-efficient heating, ventilating and air conditioning systems, smart grid integration, hybrid renewable energy systems, fuel cells, free cooling and heat recovery units and glazing technologies.

Most of the studies on patent analysis have failed to demonstrate any convincing evidence down to the lowest component groups of an entire technology network. The applied approach considers and evaluates each component included in a technology network from a holistic perspective.

This paper examines, based on certain criteria, the most feasible sustainable energy technology (SET) for rural Bangladesh. The criteria used for the appropriateness of SET for rural Bangladesh are: (a) availability of energy resources, (b) degree of technological complexity of the proposed technology, (c) cost effectiveness, (d) balance between supply of and demand for energy, (e) contribution of the particular energy technology to reducing greenhouse gas emission, and (f) major constraints associated with accepting the recommended technology. The paper describes the theoretical part of the author's Ph.D. thesis where fundamental work has been done. The study applies the criteria to three main energy technologies‐ biomass, solar and wind‐ and finds that none of these technologies are suitable on their own. However, among the three proposed energy technologies, biomass might be the best possible option which can make a positive contribution to alleviate energy poverty in rural Bangladesh. Findings of this study are useful for development policy makers and researchers.

Both pressure cooking and solar cooking significantly reduced the phytic acid and polyphenol content of cowpea cultivars. A significantly greater reduction in the content of both these antinutrients was noticed during pressure and solar cooking of soaked cowpeas compared to unsoaked seeds. The percentage reduction increased when the soaked cowpeas were dehulled and then cooked by both pressure and solar cooking. The results of the study reveal that solar cooking was more effective than pressure cooking in reducing the concentrations of phytic acid and polyphenols in cowpeas. The cumulative effect of soaking and dehulling, followed by solar cooking, was the removal of most of the polyphenols (88‐94 per cent). Such practices should be encouraged at the home level for the preparation of cowpea seeds.

Phase change materials have been a main topic in research for the last 20 years. They have also been used in many engineering applications, especially in the fields of thermal storage and insulation. They are used for ice storage, building applications, in the field of solar energy storage, heat pumps, heat distribution systems, air conditioning, green houses, solar collectors and cookers, for improving thermal comfort in vehicles, and for the conservation and transport of temperature-sensitive materials such as electronic materials, food, the transport of medical tissue, and engines or hydraulic machines. Recently, PCMs (Phase Change Materials) have entered the textile market for use in increasing the thermal comfort of garments. In such extreme applications of textiles as diving suits, ski wear, and underwear, PCMs can impart outstanding properties to garments. Their insulating properties may prevent the wearer from fatal consequences. In this paper, the use of PCMs, methods of evaluation, and methods and areas of application in textiles are discussed.