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20 Dissertation Topics on Sustainability and Green Technology

Published by Carmen Troy at January 9th, 2023 , Revised On August 16, 2023

Introduction

Looking for interesting and manageable topics on sustainability and green technology for your dissertation or thesis? Well, you have come to the right place.

The subject of sustainability, green technology, and environmental friendliness has gained tremendous importance over the last years – thanks to the ever-increasing pollution, climate change, and high production costs throughout the world.

Without wasting any more of your time, here are the 20 dissertation topics ideas in this trendy field, so you choose the one that is not only intriguing but also manageable for you.

These topics have been developed by PhD writers of our team , so you can trust to use these topics for drafting your dissertation.

You may also want to start your dissertation by requesting  a brief research proposal  from our writers on any of these topics, which includes an  introduction  to the topic,  research question ,  aim and objectives ,  literature review  along with the proposed  methodology  of research to be conducted.  Let us know  if you need any help in getting started.

Check our  dissertation examples  to get an idea of  how to structure your dissertation .

Review the full list of  dissertation topics for 2022 here.

2022 Research Topics on Sustainability and Green Technology

Topic 1: the role of artificial intelligence (ai) and green technology in the develpment of smart and sustainable towns.

Research Aim: This study intends to find the role of artificial intelligence (AI) and green technology in developing smart and sustainable towns. It will review the concepts of smart and sustainable towns to show their importance in the modern era to reduce global warming. Then it will assess the role of AI by analyzing various machine learning and deep learning models to show how these models can help develop smart and sustainable towns. Lastly, it will review what work has already been done in this area and what should be done.

Topic 2: Impact of Research and Development (R&D) Expenditure in Green Technology on the Sustainability Outcomes of the Construction Industry- A Case of Malaysian Construction Industry

Research Aim: This study intends to analyze the impact of Research and Development (R&D) expenditure in green technology on the sustainability outcomes of the construction industry in Malaysia. It will review the current green technology used in the Malaysian construction industry and its development. Moreover, it will show how the construction industry is spending to develop new green technology and how much it requires to make it completely sustainable. It will also identify various national and international sources which can invest in this industry to make it more sustainable.

Topic 3: What are the Motivating and Demotivating Factors for Green Supply Chain Practices? An Exploratory Study Finding the Factors Affecting Green Supply Chain Practices in the UK

Research Aim: This research will identify various motivating and demotivating factors (return on green investment, production output, local and global competitiveness, political support, international support, investors support, etc.) for green supply chain practices. It will study various industries in the UK, such as construction, hotel industry, retail industry, etc., find out how the abovementioned factors affected their interest in green technology and green supply chain practices. Moreover, it will assess the work done in this area and how various institutions can motivate these industries.

Topic 4: Influence of Green Advertising on the Consumer View of Green Technology and Sustainability in the US

Research Aim: This study shows the impact of green advertising on the consumer perception of green technology and sustainability. It will assess how various components of green advertising work and how they affect the consumer perception of the need for green technology. Moreover, it will analyze different green advertising strategies used by companies in the US to influence consumer perception and how these strategies can be improved to make US consumers more interested in the products, which are a product of environment-friendly production process.

Topic 5: Green Economy a Necessity? Impact of Green Technology on Sustainable Economic Growth and Development- A Case of ASEAN Economies

Research Aim: It proposes a framework to analyze the impact of green technology on sustainable economic growth and development. It will show whether the green economy is essential for growth and development or not. It will assess various effects of green technology on the economy and ecology. And show how improving ecology can benefit human development, which can be good for long-term economic growth in the ASEAN countries. Lastly, it will analyze the current progress of these countries in creating a green economy.

Covid-19 Sustainability and Green Technology Research Topics

Topic 1: covid-19 and the need to expand sustainable energy.

Research Aim: It’s high time to expand sustainable energy during COVID-19.

Topic 2: COVID-19 and the environment

Research Aim: This study will focus on the positive and negative impacts of COVID-19 on the environment.

Topic 3: Economic expenditure on the green environment during COVID-19

Research Aim: This study will review the economic expenditure and plans on the green environment during COVID-19.

Topic 4: The green economy after COVID-19

Research Aim: This study will analyse the current issues related to green technology and predict the future of a green environment after COVID-19.

Dissertation Topics Ideas on Sustainability and Green Technology for 2021

Topic 1: research on sustainable gardens.

Research Aim: This research aims to conduct research on creating sustainable gardens and identify their benefits.

Topic 2: Sustainable outdoor designs using recycled materials

Research Aim: This research aims to identify various methods of creating sustainable outdoor designs using recycled materials and identify their benefits.

Topic 3: Pollution-free disposal and recycling of trash

Research Aim: This research aims to identify various methods to ensure pollution-free disposal and recycling of trash

Topic 4: Importance of gardening- awareness and ideas for the city, terrace/roof gardening

Research Aim: This research aims to address the importance of gardening and its awareness among the public. It will also focus on identifying cost-effective and innovative ideas for the city, terrace/roof gardening.

20 Dissertation Topics Ideas on Sustainability and Green Technology for 2020

Topic 1: examining the economic impacts of green technology.

Research Aim: The research will involve comparing the costs incurred in developing green energy and the economic benefits. The services will be saved once alternative forms of materials and energy sources are used. It will be relevant in identifying whether it is worth investing in green technology from an economic perspective. It will also help in developing supportive policies that guide green technology.

Topic 2: How do national and regional politics affect environmental sustainability?

Research Aim: This research study will analyse the role of politics in the environment. It will explore the positive or negative impacts of individual political inclinations.

Topic 3: How sustainable is the environment in the current and forthcoming eras?

Research Aim: This research will analyse global trends and their impacts on environmental trends. Developments such as increasing population, climate change, and using various materials affect the people. It will inform about how sustainability measures can be structured to align with the trends.

Topic 4: Adoption of green energy by low-end users

Research Aim: The research will be based on realising a market niche that cannot afford or are not willing to spend on an expensive product. Additionally, the embrace of some advanced technologies varies across classes, mainly based on exposure. There is also the notion that green technology can be expensive, making the stated users reluctant to use it. Accordingly, the research will focus on the factors that make the users have their respective levels of using green technology.

Topic 5: How green technology can affect organisational processes

Research Aim: This research will analyze how processes that can include procuring and sourcing, producing, sales, marketing, and delivering products, among others, can be impacted once green technology is introduced. It will help analyse cost and time effectiveness and the satisfaction of the organization’s stakeholders. It can help recommend structural changes when an organisation is considering green technology.

Topic 6: To what extent does green technology contribute to environmental sustainability?

Research Aim:  notably, several factors are contributing to environmental degradation and pollution. While green technology has been identified in previous research to ensure sustainability, its contribution can be compared with the other factors. Accordingly, recommendations can be made about whether it is the absolute solution to sustainability.

Topic 7: Green technology and global environmental sustainability frameworks

Research Aim: The study will assess how the frameworks affect the use of green technology. Various global environmental practices are commonly developed. The research will suggest any amendments to the frameworks to positively correlate them with green technology. Also, the topic will evaluate how the frameworks are implemented in various regions.

Topic 8: Green technology practices in developing countries

Research Aim: The research will explore the extent to which developing countries use and promote green technology. They are characterised by having a lower economy. The priority they have on sustainability will be established.

Topic 9: How do policies affect the use of green technology in a country?

Research Aim: The research acknowledges that regulatory bodies devise policies to guide various industries. The guidelines can be supportive or suppressive in the development and use of green technology. For instance, the bodies’ incentives can encourage green technology, while factors like high taxation can discourage it. Therefore, focusing on a particular country’s policies can be insightful into the level at which the technology is incorporated.

Topic 10: Incentives for green technology and environmental sustainability

Research Aim: The study will be purposed on how green technology can be promoted among users and manufacturers. It will first identify the challenges the users can use and apply the technology. It will also evaluate the level of sensitisation about green technology that people in a region have. The various stakeholders can execute the incentives in environmental sustainability.

How Can ResearchProspect Help?

ResearchProspect writers can send several custom topic ideas to your email address. Once you have chosen a topic that suits your needs and interests, you can order for our dissertation outline service , which will include a brief introduction to the topic, research questions , literature review , methodology , expected results , and conclusion . The dissertation outline will enable you to review the quality of our work before placing the order for our full dissertation writing service !

More Research Titles on Sustainability and Green Technology

Topic 1: what roles do ngos have on environmental sustainability and green technology.

Research Aim: The research will establish how NGOs can be incorporated into sustainability. NGOs have distinct objectives. While some are specific to environmental conservation, others focus on aspects that indirectly affect the environment positively or negatively. The study will then suggest how the NGOs can be motivated to advance their operations and promote green technology.

Topic 2: Impactful green thinking to achieve sustainability

Research Aim: The research analyses humans’ behaviour on issues that can promote sustainability. It explores how people can change their perspective on the environment and take measures at individual and collective levels. It will recommend some habitual changes that can positively impact the environment.

Topic 3: A holistic approach to environmental sustainability

Research Aim: Sustainability comprises various factors, ranging from behavioural, resources, technological, and procedural. Most studies have focused on particular sets of characteristics. However, it can be intriguing how integrating sustainability factors can be achieved. Also, it will be realised if implementing some measures of sustainability has any correlation to others.

Topic 4: Can there be a balance between lifestyle and green technology?

Research Aim: the study will assess the relationship between current lifestyle and green technology. It will be relevant in identifying the personal understanding of green technology’s contribution and how people are ready to adjust their lifestyle to technology. It will further show how green technology affects lifestyles.

Topic 5: How do businesses perceive green energy and environmental sustainability?

Research Aim: The research aims to identify how profit-making organisations approach green technology. It will focus on whether they find it less costly and useful. Also, it will establish whether they find products that involve green technology are usually marketable. Further, it will identify the organisation’s preference for the working environment, whether in regions that promote environmental sustainability or those that do not.

Topic 6: Examining sustainability policies in developed and developing countries

Research Aim: The research will compare regulations instituted in the two sets of countries. It will also assess the extent of implementation of the policies in the countries.

Topic 7: Challenges facing green technology as one of the drivers towards sustainability

Research Aim: The research will be based on green technology recognition as a crucial attribute to environmental sustainability. Despite the assertion, the technology has not attained universal coverage as it would be more impactful. The challenges can vary from economic, social, geographical, and regulatory, and it can then be recommended that the research focuses on a particular region. The results can also be analysed to identify any general challenges in the areas.

Topic 8: What is the consumer perspective towards green production?

Research Aim: Businesses target to satisfy the needs of consumers. The study will assess whether the consumer has a force towards producers that can make the latter inclined towards using green technology. This research study will essentially focus on the consumables industry.

Topic 9: Stakeholders’ contribution to green technology

Research Aim: The research will establish all the stakeholders in green energy. It will reveal their interests and drivers towards green technology. There will be an insight into whether there is a conflict of interests between the stakeholders and how they can be resolved. It will also help identify how the stakeholders can collaborate and integrate their resources and ideas.

Topic 10: Current trends in green technology and the future of technology

Research Aim: the research will aim to overview how green energy has been advancing over time. The trend will then help in predicting the future of green technology. Besides, it will be informative about the contribution green energy has had on environmental sustainability at various levels. It will then make recommendations about the optimum technology as per the available information and developments.

Also Read: Dissertation Topics in Engineering Management

How ResearchProspect Can Help You?

We are aware of the problems students are likely to face when it comes to finding a suitable topic in sustainability and green technology. Therefore our expert writers are always looking forward to assisting you with your topic search.

We hope you could find a suitable topic from the 20 topic suggestions in green technology and sustainability as provided in this article. But even if you didn’t find any of these topics suitable for your needs, you can always contact us to get custom topics ideas from our expert writers.

Our team of expert writers in any field you like your work to be carried out in will facilitate you and ensure you get the grades that you are worthy of and deserve.

Important Notes:

As a student of sustainability and green technology looking to get good grades, it is essential to develop new ideas and experiment with existing sustainability and green technology theories – i.e., to add value and interest to your research topic.

Sustainability and green technology are vast and interrelated to many other academic disciplines like environmental engineering . That is why it is imperative to create a sustainability and green technology dissertation topic that is particular, sound, and solves a practical problem that may be rampant in the field.

We can’t stress how important it is to develop a logical research topic based on your fundamental research. There are several significant downfalls to getting your issue wrong; your supervisor may not be interested in working on it, the topic has no academic creditability, the research may not make logical sense, and there is a possibility that the study is not viable.

This impacts your time and efforts in writing your dissertation , as you may end up in the cycle of rejection at the initial stage of the dissertation. That is why we recommend reviewing existing research to develop a topic, taking advice from your supervisor, and even asking for help in this particular stage of your dissertation.

While developing a research topic, keeping our advice in mind will allow you to pick one of the best sustainability and green technology dissertation topics that fulfil your requirement of writing a research paper and add to the body of knowledge.

Therefore, it is recommended that when finalising your dissertation topic, you read recently published literature to identify gaps in the research that you may help fill.

Remember- dissertation topics need to be unique, solve an identified problem, be logical, and be practically implemented. Please look at some of our sample sustainability and green technology dissertation topics to get an idea for your dissertation.

How to Structure your Dissertation on Sustainability & Green Technology

A well-structured dissertation can help students to achieve a high overall academic grade.

• A Title Page
• Acknowledgements
• Declaration
• Abstract: A summary of the research completed
• Table of Contents
• Introduction : This chapter includes the project rationale, research background, key research aims and objectives, and the research problems. An outline of the structure of a dissertation can also be added to this chapter.
• Literature Review : This chapter presents relevant theories and frameworks by analysing published and unpublished literature on the chosen research topic to address research questions . The purpose is to highlight and discuss the selected research area’s relative weaknesses and strengths whilst identifying any research gaps. Break down the topic, and binding terms can positively impact your dissertation and your tutor.
• Methodology : The data collection and analysis methods and techniques employed by the researcher are presented in the Methodology chapter, which usually includes research design , research philosophy, research limitations, code of conduct, ethical consideration, data collection methods, and data analysis strategy .
• Findings and Analysis : Findings of the research are analysed in detail under the Findings and Analysis chapter. All key findings/results are outlined in this chapter without interpreting the data or drawing any conclusions. It can be useful to include graphs, charts, and tables in this chapter to identify meaningful trends and relationships.
• Discussion and Conclusion : The researcher presents his interpretation of results in this chapter and states whether the research hypothesis has been verified or not. An essential aspect of this section of the paper is to link the results and evidence from the literature. Recommendations with regards to implications of the findings and directions for the future may also be provided. Finally, a summary of the overall research, along with final judgments, opinions, and comments, must be included in the form of suggestions for improvement.
• References : This should be completed following your University’s requirements
• Bibliography
• Appendices : Any additional information, diagrams, and graphs used to complete the dissertation but not part of the dissertation should be included in the Appendices chapter. Essentially, the purpose is to expand the information/data.

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Original research article, research on the impact of green technology innovation on energy total factor productivity, based on provincial data of china.

• 1 Guangzhou Institute of International Finance, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, China
• 2 School of Economics and Statistics, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, China

Against the background of carbon peaking and carbon neutralization, green technology innovation plays an important role in promoting the energy total factor productivity (TFP). This study verifies the impact of green technology innovation on energy TFP in a complete sample and the subsamples by region, by constructing a panel threshold model, and analyzes its influence mechanism on the basis of the mediating effect test based on annual provincial data of mainland China from 2005 to 2018. The empirical results reveal the following: first, with the level of economic development as the threshold variable, there is a threshold effect in the impact of green technology innovation on the energy TFP; second, green technology innovation has an impact on the energy TFP through industrial structure upgrading; that is, industrial structure has a mediating effect in the influence mechanism; and third, there is heterogeneity in the impact of green technology innovation on the energy TFP among different regions in China, and the threshold effect only exists in the western region, since the central and eastern regions have crossed a certain developmental stage.

Introduction

Energy TFP is usually defined by the ratio of energy input to output ( Perez-Lombard et al., 2013 ). The promotion of energy TFP plays an important role in the sustainable development of the economy. The energy TFP includes the input of a series of means of production such as labor, energy, and capital, and is accompanied by the expected output GDP and the non-expected output carbon dioxide emissions. From the perspective of input, the promotion of energy efficiency avoids excessive energy consumption, and in terms of the output, it reduces the excessive damage to the environment. The energy TFP can reflect the efficiency of comprehensive development and utilization of energy to a large extent, and also helps to identify the state of economic growth, that is, whether economic growth depends on the consumption of energy scale or the improvement of energy use efficiency. A lot of literature works related to energy TFP have discussed ways to improve efficiency. Xie et al. (2014) measured energy TFP in the OECD and BRIC countries and found that the adjustment of the energy structure has a certain impact on energy TFP. Energy consumption can be reduced by restructuring industries so as to improve energy TFP ( Xiong et al., 2019 ; Zhu et al., 2019 ; Yu, 2020 ). The efficiency of technological innovation is the main reason for energy TFP improvement in the industrial sector, and the effect of the technological progress on energy TFP is gradually increasing ( Fisher-Vanden et al., 2006 ; Baccarelli et al., 2016 ; Naranjo et al., 2019 ). Miao et al. (2018) demonstrate the significant positive driving effect of technology innovation on energy TFP. Hellsmark et al. (2016) believed that industrial technology innovation can rapidly improve energy TFP so as to achieve rapid industrial growth and expansion. From the perspectives of changing energy structure, adjusting industrial structure, and technology innovation, the related literature fully demonstrates the effectiveness of technology innovation in improving energy TFP. However, the adjustment of energy structure and industrial structure is more dependent on the resource endowment of economic subjects, while technological innovation improves the energy utilization efficiency through improvement at the technological level, which has a more realistic value.

Energy TFP measurement needs to focus not only on the desired output but also on the undesired output. Based on the consideration of environmental factors, energy TFP measurement involves two aspects of the output: desired output and undesired output. The desired output refers to the output, such as GDP, which can increase human material products and services to a certain extent. The undesired output refers to additional products that have a negative effect on the human environment and health due to the consumption of energy and other elements in the production process, such as the greenhouse effect caused by carbon dioxide emissions in the production process. Too many studies have mainly focused on the contribution of energy to economic development, with less consideration on the impact of energy consumption on environmental quality, that is, ignoring the issue of the relationship between energy consumption and sustainable development. With the increasing prominence of environmental problems, more and more studies have included environmental factors into the consideration of energy TFP measurement to reduce the deviation in the process of energy TFP measurement ( Zhang et al., 2011 ; He et al., 2013 ; Yang and Wang, 2013 ; Simsek, 2014 ; Vlontzos et al., 2014 ). Environmental regulation significantly promotes green technology innovation and reduces environmental pollution in the process of economic development ( Du et al., 2021 ). Hu and Wang (2006) constructed a full-factor energy efficiency analysis framework to maximize the energy TFP output to improve energy TFP, which means that improving energy TFP should not only increase the desired output but also pay attention to the weakening of the undesired output. Environmental regulation can reduce the undesired output such as carbon dioxide, while improving energy TFP through technological innovation can play an essential role and have global strategic significance.

Technological innovation promotes the maturity of production technology and the development of new products, thus improving efficiency significantly. From the perspective of the innovation system, the improvement of energy TFP by technological innovation is to reduce the leakage in the process of energy use by means of process transformation, and then to improve the total factor productivity of energy. From the perspective of industrial ecological chain, technological innovation promotes the upgrading of the regional structure and the exchange and cooperation between the industrial structure, and innovation jointly promotes technological innovation and industrial structure upgrading ( Greunz, 2004 ; Motohashi and Yun, 2007 ; Altenburg et al., 2008 ), and adjusting industrial structure can improve energy utilization efficiency as well ( Zhao et al., 2010 ; Zhou et al., 2013 ; Yu et al., 2016 ; Wang et al., 2020 ). The technical level of energy TFP production depends on the technological innovation ability; empirical results show that the enhancement of technological innovation ability can effectively improve energy efficiency and reduce energy consumption intensity ( Du and Yan, 2009 ; Zhong and Li, 2020 ). Wagner et al. (2014) found from innovative activities, with potential environmental impact that the potential of technological innovation is unlimited. Although technological innovation has a strong effect on efficiency, pure technological innovation does not take into account the external effects of the environment, so green technology innovation is more in line with the goal of sustainable development ( Li and Liao, 2020 ). Considering that technological innovation promotes the upgrading of the industrial structure and thus has an impact on energy TFP, this study chooses the upgrading of the industrial structure as a mediating variable to study the indirect impact of green technological innovation on total factor productivity of energy.

Green technology innovation belongs to the scope of technological innovation, which is the general name of management and technology innovation aimed at protecting the environment. In the process of innovation practice, although some innovations can greatly improve productivity, they do not consider the external effects on the environment; for example, technological innovation is simply about increasing the output in energy-intensive industries. As a result, various industries abide by the green principle and pay more and more attention to economic development and environmental problems ( Gorelick and Walmsley, 2020 ; Sukharev, 2020 ). Green technology follows the ecological principle and the law of ecological economy, considers the saving of resources and energy in the process of innovation, avoids, eliminates or reduces the pollution and damage to the ecological environment in the process of innovation, and maintains the minimum ecological negative effect in technological innovation. Green technology innovation aims to achieve long-term sustainable development; produce economic, environmental, and social benefits; save resources and energy; and eliminate or reduce environmental pollution and degradation ( Zhou et al., 2014 ; Li et al., 2018 ). Because green technology innovation considers the external efficiency of the environment, there may be conflicts between self-interests and social benefits in the process of enterprises’ implementing green technology innovation, thus reducing the power of green technology innovation ( Braun and Wield, 1994 ; Li et al., 2019a ).

The significant effect of technological innovation on energy TFP is based on the consistency of interests which belong to stakeholders, but the impact of green technology innovation on the interests of stakeholders may be different. Green technology innovation may increase the production cost of enterprises, and the improvement of energy TFP requires more consideration of environmental externalities. Therefore, whether green technology innovation has an impact on energy TFP needs to be explored in both theory and practice. Based on this, this article studies the impact of green technology innovation on energy TFP.

This article focuses on the impact of green technology innovation on energy TFP. Its marginal contributions are as follows: first, green technology innovation that will involve subject behavior and external environmental effects related to the subject’s behavior is considered in a framework. Most of the existing literature works only consider green technology innovation or the total factor productivity of energy, and less considers external effects such as environment. In this article, green technology innovation is separated from the innovation system, the undesired output is included in TFP measurement, green technology innovation is included in the behavior of the innovation subject, and external effect of environment is considered in energy TFP measurement. Second, the threshold effect of green technology innovation on energy TFP is studied. In the process of empirical analysis, it is found that green technology innovation does not necessarily have a significant impact on energy TFP, but through the threshold effect model, it is found that when the level of economic development is the threshold variable, there is a threshold effect in the impact of green technology innovation on energy TFP. Third, the mediating effect mechanism of green technology innovation on energy TFP was studied. Through the selection and experiment of different mediating variables, this article empirically tests the mediating effect of the industrial structure in the impact of green technology innovation on energy TFP. Fourth, there is spatial heterogeneity in the impact of green technological innovation on energy TFP. Since China’s economy has very strong regional heterogeneity, according to the basic situation of economic development in the area of space, this article divides the full sample into three subsamples: the eastern, the central, and the western regions, to study the heterogeneity.

The structure of the rest of this article is as follows: the second section is about the measurement of the impact of green technology innovation on energy TFP, including model setting, variables, data sources, and test results. The third section focuses on the influence mechanism analysis of green technology innovation on energy TFP. In terms of the technology of testing the mediating effect, this part estimates the parameters and analyzes the mediating effect by setting the mediating effect model. The fourth section is about the heterogeneity analysis of the impact of green technology innovation on energy TFP. According to the basic situation of economic development, the full sample is divided into three subsamples, and the heterogeneity is analyzed. The fifth section draws the basic conclusion.

Econometric Test of the Impact of Green Technology Innovation on Energy Total Factor Productivity

Panel threshold model setting.

The improvement of energy TFP by technological innovation has been proven in a lot of literature works, but whether green technology innovation affects energy TFP needs to be tested with more empirical evidence. From the perspective of the relationship between technological innovation and energy TFP, technological innovation requires costs; the greater uncertainty of green technological innovation means that enterprises are facing greater uncertainty in technological innovation; this uncertainty makes enterprises, as the main body of technological innovation, more inclined to realize their self-interests when making decisions, and then tend to ignore the strategic interests. Accordingly, in the face of various external constraints, enterprises have very great differences in their green technology innovation motivation, so green technology innovation has an impact on total factor productivity, but this impact needs to be verified through econometric tests.

In different stages of economic development, the strength and consciousness of enterprises to support green technology innovation are different. For example, in regions with a high degree of economic development, people have higher demand for products and environmental quality, and the corresponding innovation subjects can bear greater risks of technological innovation and research. Therefore, there is a certain threshold for the impact of green technology innovation on energy TFP in theory.

On that basis, this study assumes that green technology innovation has a significant effect on energy TFP, and this effect is nonlinear and has a threshold effect, and the variable of the core threshold effect is the level of economic development. The threshold effect model can examine the function between the two and the threshold effect ( Liu et al., 2020 ). In this study, the level of economic development is taken as the threshold variable, and the panel threshold model proposed by Hansen is adopted ( Hansen, 1999 ). The basic form of the model is as follows:

where EE it represents the energy TFP, which is used to measure energy efficiency; GTI it represents the green technology innovation; threshold variable EDI it is the economic development level; γ is the threshold value to be estimated; I ( · ) is the indicator function; and when the condition in parentheses is satisfied,  I ( · ) = 1 ; otherwise, it is 0. μ i is a fixed effect, which is used to describe the heterogeneity of different provinces at different levels of economic development; ε it is the error term. In addition, i represents different provinces and t represents different years.

After the threshold and slope values are estimated, the significance of the threshold effect should be tested. The basic principle of testing the threshold effect is as follows. Taking single threshold as an example, the null hypothesis and test statistics of the model are obtained as follows:

If the null hypothesis is rejected, there is threshold effect in the impact of green technological innovation on energy TFP. S 0 is the sum of squares of residuals obtained under the null hypothesis H 0 , and S 0 ≥ S 1 ( γ ^ ) . Under the null hypothesis, the threshold value γ of the economic development level needs to be evaluated, so the distribution of F 1 is nonstandard, but the bootstrap method can be used to simulate its asymptotic distribution, so the confidence interval of distribution F 1 in Eq. 2 can be obtained.

After determining the threshold effect of the economic development level, it is necessary to test whether the threshold estimated value γ ^ is equal to its true value. The null hypothesis of the single threshold model and the corresponding test statistics are as follows:

where the LR distribution is also nonstandard. This study adopts a formula proposed by Hansen (1999) ; that is, when L R 1 ( γ ) > − 2 l n ( 1 − 1 − α ) ( α is the significant level), the null hypothesis is rejected.

Variable and Data Description

Variable description.

Energy TFP is the explained variable, which is measured by the ratio of energy consumption to GDP in many studies. This method of measuring energy efficiency is not responsive to the dynamic change of efficiency ( Hang and Tu, 2007 ; Adom and Kwakwa, 2014 ). In the continuous research of energy TFP, some methods such as index decomposition analysis (IDA), parametric stochastic Frontier analysis (SFA), and nonparametric data envelopment analysis (DEA) have been proposed to measure energy efficiency or total factor productivity ( Zhou et al., 2012 ; Filippini and Hunt, 2015 ; Li et al., 2019b ; Liao and Drakeford, 2019 ; Zheng et al., 2020 ). These methods can dynamically investigate the dynamic changes of energy efficiency or total factor productivity, and then study the effects of other factors on energy TFP, but these methods do not consider the interest correlation between the evaluation subjects. The cross-efficiency evaluation can dynamically investigate the dynamic changes of energy TFP on the basis of self-evaluation and other evaluation so that the evaluation results are comparable, and a complete ranking result can be obtained. Therefore, this study selects the DEA cross-efficiency model to measure energy TFP. The basic form is as follows:

Let S be the number of provinces selected in this study; then the vectors of m energy input indexes and n energy output of the decision-making unit DMU i are expressed as X i = ( x 1 i , x 2 i , · · · · · · , x m i ) T > 0 , Y i = ( y 1 i , y 2 i , · · · · · · , y n i ) T > 0,1 ≤ i ≤ s ,

• The constraints are

where θ ^ d i represents the cross-efficiency value of D M U i ( 1 ≤ i ≤ s ) based on D M U d . The value of the final energy TFP of D M U i is expressed by the average value of the cross-efficiency values of decision-making units D M U d from D M U 1 to D M U s .

In the energy TFP calculation, it usually takes into account the input of the means of production, while this study also focuses on the expected and unexpected outputs. Labor, capital stock, and energy consumption are used as input indicators. The number of urban employment is used to measure the labor force, the perpetual inventory is used to estimate capital stock, and the basic equation is K i , T = K i , T − 1 ( 1 − δ i , T ) + I i , T , where i and T are the i-th province and the T-th period, δ is the economic depreciation rate, I is the total fixed capital formation, the initial capital stock is obtained by dividing the fixed capital in the initial year by 10%, and the economic depreciation rate δ is set at 9.6% ( Zhang, 2008 ). Energy consumption is measured by the total amount of energy consumption in each province.

The desired output of energy TFP is measured by GDP, and the undesired output is measured by carbon dioxide emission. The details are shown in Table 1 . Data of GDP are converted to real regional GDP with the year 2000 as the base year. Carbon emissions are estimated by the direct method: C O 2 i = σ c V c + σ o V o + σ q V q , where V c ,     V o ,    and  V q represent the energy consumption of coal, oil, and natural gas, respectively, for the production of region i , and σ c , σ o , and σ q represent the carbon emission coefficients of coal, oil, and natural gas, respectively.

TABLE 1 . Input–output variables used to measure energy TFP.

The explanatory variable is green technology innovation, expressed by the number of green patent application, including green invention patents and green utility model patents. The control variables of the model include foreign direct investment (FDI), industrial structure (IS), and energy price. FDI which is closely related to economic development is measured by the proportion of foreign direct investment in regional GDP ( Li et al., 2019c ), IS was measured by the proportion of the output value of secondary industry in GDP, and the energy price is calculated by this formula: P E = λ c P c + λ o P o + λ e P e , where λ c ,   λ o , and  λ e represent the proportion of coal, oil, and electricity in total energy consumption in each year, respectively, and P c ,   P o ,  and  P e represent the average price of coal, oil, and electricity in turn, respectively. The energy price is calculated by multiplying the annual fuel and power purchase index of each province by the energy price of the previous year. The threshold variable is the level of economic development, measured by per-capita GDP in each region and adjusted to a constant price based on 2000 ( Matei, 2020 ). The mediating variable is the upgrading of the industrial structure, which is measured by the hierarchical coefficient of the industrial structure. The specific formula is W = 3 q ( 3 ) + 2 q ( 2 ) + q ( 1 ) , where q ( 1 ) ,   q ( 2 ) ,  and  q ( 3 ) are the proportions of the added value of the primary, secondary, and tertiary industries, respectively.

Data Sources

The sample data are from 30 provinces of mainland China (the sample does not include Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and Tibet due to data problems) in 2005–2018. The time frequency of the data is set to year. The green patent data come from CNRDS green patent-GPRD database. The data of urban employment, total energy consumption, and the added value of the primary, secondary, and tertiary industries are derived from the China Energy Database. The output value of the secondary industry and the regional GDP are derived from the annual statistical yearbooks published by the National Bureau of Statistics. Gross fixed capital formation of the whole society comes from the Wind Database. Foreign direct investment data are from the provincial statistical yearbooks. The purchase price indexes of fuel and power come from the China Price Yearbook. The “China Price Yearbook (2004)” has a relatively comprehensive record of various energy prices, so they can be used to calculate the average price of the three energy sources in 2003 and convert into the form of yuan/ton standard coal to get the energy price in 2003. Other variables are shown in Table 2 .

TABLE 2 . Explanatory variables, control variables, threshold variables, and mediating variables used in empirical studies.

According to the data source, relevant data are collected and relevant variables are measured. The descriptive statistics of each variable are shown in Table 3 .

TABLE 3 . Descriptive statistics of variables.

It can be seen from Table 3 that the variation degree of each variable is quite great, especially the variable of the level of economic development. Table 3 describes the basic characteristics of the data for 30 provinces in China from 2005 to 2018, including the average values, standard deviation, minimum, and maximum values. For the green technology innovation data, there is a large gap between the maximum value 5.603 and the minimum value 0.001, which indicates that there are significant gaps in the level of green technology innovation among different regions. In terms of standard deviation, the standard deviation of energy price is the largest, followed by that of the level of economic development. From the discrete degree of these indicators, it can be seen that there is a large standard deviation in the three variables of the economic development level, energy price, and green technology innovation level, which indicates that heterogeneity exists in the field of green technology innovation and energy technology. Heterogeneity research can be analyzed from different perspectives and methods to explore the development law of things and the internal relations of some influencing factors in a more comprehensive way ( Li et al., 2020a ; Li et al., 2020b ; Li and Zhong, 2020 ; Li et al., 2021a ; Li et al., 2021b ).

Empirical Results

On the basis of the constructed threshold model, it is necessary to determine the existence of threshold effect and the number and size of the threshold value. Using sample data, the existence of threshold effect is tested, and the test results are shown in Table 4 .

TABLE 4 . Test results of threshold effect of the full sample.

Table 4 shows that with the level of economic development as the threshold variable, green technology innovation has a single threshold effect on energy TFP. The F statistics value of the single threshold effect test is 68.59, passing the significance test at 95% confidence level, while the F statistics value of the double threshold effect is 9.98, failing the significance test. Judging from the F statistics in Table 4 , the impact of green technology innovation on energy TFP does cause a single threshold effect based on the level of economic development. The threshold estimate of the variable of the economic development level is 7.248. The single threshold effect model is used to estimate the parameters of the model, and the results are shown in Table 5 .

TABLE 5 . Parameter estimation results of a single threshold model with full sample.

Table 5 shows that with the economic development level as the threshold variable, green technology innovation has a threshold effect on energy TFP. From the regression results of the panel threshold effect, the promotion of green technology innovation to energy TFP is restricted by the threshold effect of the economic development level. When the level of economic development is below the threshold value of 7.248, the influence coefficient of green technology innovation on energy TFP is relatively low, which is 0.113. When the level of economic development crosses the threshold value of 7.248, the influence coefficient of green technology innovation on energy TFP is increased to 0.536. This indicates that the impact of green technology innovation on energy TFP is different at different levels of economic development. Under the low level of economic development, due to extensive economic management, it is difficult for the economic entities to achieve the balance between their own interests and the social benefits in production decision-making, and they pay more attention to their own short-term economic interests; correspondingly, the low level of economic development leads to low promotion of green technology innovation on energy TFP. With the improvement of the level of economic development, the decision-making behavior of economic entities is more focused on strategic development. Local governments gradually implement environmental regulations and other measures to promote the economic transformation of various regions. Therefore, the promotion of green technology innovation on energy TFP is significantly improved.

Mechanism Analysis of the Impact of Green Technology Innovation on Energy Total Factor Productivity

Mediating effect model setting.

Green technology innovation has positive promoting effect on economic growth, and this positive role has a threshold effect, so the impact of green technology innovation on energy TFP is not direct, but through other channels. Enterprises are the main body of technological innovation. When technology and capital are combined, they will have a very important impact on the industrial ecology. From the perspective of industrial evolution, technological innovation promotes the upgrading of the industrial structure. In terms of energy consumption, the period of industrialization has greatly increased energy consumption. With the evolution of industrial structure, the industry has gradually developed to the tertiary industry. On the one hand, through the improvement of industrial technology, the comprehensive utilization efficiency of energy has been greatly improved, and then promoting carbon emissions reach the peak faster, which has effectively improved the total factor productivity of energy. On the other hand, the industrial structure gradually shifts from a higher proportion of high-energy industries to a higher proportion of low-energy industries, thus reducing the amount of energy consumption. Green technology innovation needs strategic adjustment. For the micro entity, it is difficult to cover the short-term investment cost of green technology innovation before it reaches a certain level of economic development. Therefore, there is a threshold in the impact of green technology innovation on energy TFP. Based on the above analysis, the impact of green technology innovation on energy TFP is affected by the way of the industrial structure; that is, there is a mediating effect of the industrial structure, but there may be differences among different regions.

In order to study the influence mechanism of green technology innovation on energy TFP and explore the mediating effect, this part introduces industrial structure upgrading as the mediating variable on the basis of the theoretical analysis. The mediating effect models are as follows:

where E E i t represents the energy TFP; G T I i t represents the green technology innovation; I N S i t represents the industrial structure upgrading, that is, the mediating variable; C O N T R i k t represents the control variables, including industrial structure (IS), foreign direct investment (FDI), and energy prices (PRI); subscripts i , t , and k represent different provinces, time, and control variables, respectively, i = 1,2,…,31, t = 1,2,…,9, k = 1,2,3; and ε represents the random error term.

In the mediating effect analysis, Model (10) is first regressed to test whether the regression coefficients of energy TFP and green technological innovation are positive, and only when the coefficients are significantly positive the next test can be carried out; otherwise, the test is terminated. Second, Model (11) is regressed to test whether the regression coefficients of the mediating variable industrial structure upgrading and green technology innovation are significantly positive, and if they are significantly positive, green technology innovation supports the upgrading of the industrial structure. Then, Model (12) is regressed, and if the coefficients c ′ and b are significant and the value of c ′ decreases compared with that of c , there is a partial mediating effect, and if the coefficient c ′ is not significant while the coefficient b is significant, there is a complete mediating effect.

Mediating Effect Test and Result Analysis

The parameters in Models (10)–(12) are estimated by using the same sample data, and the results are shown in Table 6 .

TABLE 6 . Mediating effect results (with the stepwise regression coefficient method).

Table 6 shows that green technology innovation influences energy TFP through the channel of industrial structure upgrading; that is, industrial structure upgrading has a mediating effect in the influence mechanism. The overall regression results show that the regression coefficients of both green technology innovation and industrial structure upgrading on energy TFP are significant, indicating that the total effect is significant. In Model (10), the impact of green technology innovation on energy TFP is verified. The coefficient of GTI is 0.192, which is significantly positive at the level of 1%, indicating that green technology innovation promotes energy TFP. In Model (11), there is a significant positive correlation between green technology innovation and industrial structure upgrading at the level of 1%, which indicates that green technology innovation accelerates industrial structure upgrading. In Model (12), after adding the industrial structure upgrading variable to Model (11), the coefficients of green technology innovation and industrial structure upgrading are significantly positive, and the coefficient of green technology innovation is reduced from 0.192, when there is no mediating variable, to 0.0758. It indicates that industrial structure upgrading plays a partial mediating effect in the impact of green technology innovation on energy TFP.

It can be concluded from Table 7 that the mediating effect of the industrial structure in the influence mechanism of green technology innovation on energy TFP is robust. Compared with the empirical results in Table 6 , the significance and direction of parameter estimation in Table 7 have not changed, and the mediating effect has not changed significantly. Through the Bootstrap test, the direct effect value of green technology innovation on energy TFP is 0.12, while the indirect effect value of green technology innovation on energy TFP through industrial structure upgrading is 0.09, and the mediating effect accounts for 42.86% of the total effect, and the effect is significant. According to Table 7 , the confidence intervals of direct and indirect effects are observed, excluding 0, indicating that the mediating effect of green technology innovation on energy TFP through industrial structure upgrading is tenable and robust.

TABLE 7 . Robustness test results with the Bootstrap sampling method.

Heterogeneity Analysis on the Impact of Green Technology Innovation on Energy Total Factor Productivity

Sample partition based on regions.

According to the above test results, green technology innovation has a threshold effect on energy TFP, so to a large extent, the impact of green technology innovation on energy TFP is heterogeneous. It can also be known from the aforementioned descriptive statistics that there are differences in the level of economic development, green technology innovation, and energy TFP in different regions. As a country with extremely uneven economic development, China has significant differences in the level of economic development among different provinces. Therefore, this part analyzes the heterogeneity of the impact of green technology innovation on the energy TFP based on regional differences.

Provincial administrative regions are the main basis of regional division in China. Most of the research literature works on Chinese regions are based on Chinese mainland provincial administrative regions. This study also divides regions into 30 provincial administrative regions (excluding Tibet). According to the descriptive statistics of variables in Table 3 , combined with the level of economic development and the practice of most literature, 30 provinces are divided into three regions: the eastern, the central, and the western regions. There are 11 provinces and municipalities in the eastern region, including Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Liaoning, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Shandong, Guangdong, and Hainan. The central region includes eight provinces such as Shanxi, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Anhui, Jiangxi, Henan, Hubei, and Hunan. There are 11 provinces and municipalities in the western region, including Inner Mongolia, Guangxi, Chongqing, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Shanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai, and Xinjiang.

Empirical Result Analysis

According to the division of regions, three subsamples are obtained. The test of the threshold effect shows that there is heterogeneity in the threshold values of the three subsamples. Therefore, the threshold effect of the three subsamples should be tested separately. The specific test results are shown in Table 8 .

TABLE 8 . The threshold effect test results of the three sub-samples.

From Table 8 , it can be concluded that with the level of economic development as the threshold variable, there is heterogeneity in the threshold of three subsamples. With the level of economic development as the threshold variable, the green technology innovation in the western region has a single threshold effect on the energy TFP, but there is no threshold effect in the eastern and central regions. The F statistic value of the single threshold effect test is 67.63, which is significant at the level of 1%, and the F statistic value of the double threshold effect test is 12.99, which has not passed the significance test. The F statistic values of the threshold effect test in both the eastern and the central regions do not pass the significance test. Therefore, it can be concluded that the threshold effect of green technology innovation on energy TFP has spatial regional differences with the level of economic development as the threshold variable. At the same time, the results of the threshold effect test show that the central and eastern regions have crossed a certain stage of economic development.

Based on the above analysis, the parameters of the threshold effect in the western region are estimated, and the results are shown in Table 9 .

TABLE 9 . Parameter estimation results of the single threshold model in the western region.

Combining the results in Table 5 and Table 9 , it can be seen that the threshold effect range of green technology innovation on the energy TFP in the western region is lower than that of the full sample. In Table 5 , the threshold effect values of the full sample are 0.113 and 0.536, and in Table 9 , the threshold effect values of the western region are 0.239 and 4.062. The range of the threshold effect value in the western region becomes smaller, while the threshold effect in the eastern and central regions no longer exists, indicating that when economic growth goes beyond a certain limit, the positive effect of green technology innovation on energy TFP will play a promoting role, which can be gradually independent on the level of economic development. According to the estimated results of the parameters in Table 9 , when the level of economic development is below the threshold value of 4.062, the influence coefficient of green technology innovation on energy TFP is 0.239. When the level of economic development increases above the threshold value of 4.062, the influence coefficient of green technology innovation on energy TFP is 4.495. This indicates that with the development of the western region, the role of green technology innovation in promoting energy TFP is becoming more and more significant, so in the construction of the western economy, the investment of green technology innovation should be increased, and the improvement of energy TFP should be promoted, so as to achieve a win–win situation.

By constructing the panel threshold effect model and using Chinese mainland provincial data, this study examines the impact of green technology innovation on energy TFP and analyzes its mechanism and heterogeneity. The conclusions are as follows:

First, with the level of economic development as the threshold variable, green technology innovation has heterogeneous threshold effect on energy TFP. Based on the data of the full sample, it is estimated that the impact of green technology innovation on energy TFP is restricted by the level of economic development, and there is a single threshold effect. However, combining with the empirical analysis results, it can be found that this threshold effect does not exist in the central and eastern regions. Green technology innovation has positive effect on energy TFP, which indicates that green innovation must be promoted in order to achieve long-term sustainable development of economy. From the threshold effect, the promotion effect of green technology innovation on energy TFP increases with the improvement of the economic development level.

Second, green technology innovation has an impact on energy TFP through industrial structure upgrading; that is, industrial structure has mediating effect in the influence mechanism. Industrial structure upgrading realizes industrial structure optimization by increasing the proportion of the tertiary industry, improving energy utilization efficiency through technology innovation and product upgrading, and improving energy TFP.

Third, the impact of green technology innovation on energy TFP is heterogeneous in the western, central, and the eastern regions of China, and the threshold effect only exists in the western region, since the economic development of the central and eastern regions has crossed a certain stage. In the eastern and central regions, there is no threshold effect in the impact of green technology innovation on energy TFP, while in the western region, there is a single threshold effect, and the impact of green technology innovation on energy TFP increases significantly with the level of economic development. In the eastern and central regions of China, the effectiveness of green technology has exceeded a certain stage, and green technology innovation has gradually played a strategic role in promoting the total factor productivity of energy.

Data Availability Statement

The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/ Supplementary Material , and further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.

Author Contributions

MW: grasp the theme and research direction, YL: empirical research and data, GL: data.

This research was funded by the Chinese National Funding of Social Sciences, grant number 18ATJ002, and the 13th Five-year Plan of Guangzhou Social Science, grant number 2018GZYB129.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Supplementary Material

The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fenvs.2021.710931/full#supplementary-material

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Keywords: green technology innovation, energy TFP, threshold effect, mediating effect, heterogeneity

Citation: Wang M, Li Y and Liao G (2021) Research on the Impact of Green Technology Innovation on Energy Total Factor Productivity, Based on Provincial Data of China. Front. Environ. Sci. 9:710931. doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2021.710931

Received: 17 May 2021; Accepted: 03 June 2021; Published: 25 June 2021.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2021 Wang, Li and Liao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Yanling Li, [email protected]

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Impact of Green Design and Technology on Building Environment

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Currently, the public has a strong sense of the need for environment protection and the use of sustainable, or “green,” design in buildings and other civil structures. Since green design elements and technologies are different from traditional design, they probably have impacts on the building environment, such as vibration, lighting, noise, temperature, relative humidity, and overall comfort. Determining these impacts of green design on building environments is the primary objective of this study. The Zero Energy Research (ZOE) laboratory, located at the University of North Texas Discovery Park, is analyzed as a case study. Because the ZOE lab is a … continued below

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• Discipline: Engineering Technology-Construction Management
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• PublicationType: Master's Thesis

Currently, the public has a strong sense of the need for environment protection and the use of sustainable, or “green,” design in buildings and other civil structures. Since green design elements and technologies are different from traditional design, they probably have impacts on the building environment, such as vibration, lighting, noise, temperature, relative humidity, and overall comfort. Determining these impacts of green design on building environments is the primary objective of this study. The Zero Energy Research (ZOE) laboratory, located at the University of North Texas Discovery Park, is analyzed as a case study. Because the ZOE lab is a building that combines various green design elements and energy efficient technologies, such as solar panels, a geothermal heating system, and wind turbines, it provides an ideal case to study. Through field measurements and a questionnaire survey of regular occupants of the ZOE lab, this thesis analyzed and reported: 1) whether green design elements changed the building’s ability to meet common building environmental standards, 2) whether green design elements assisted in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) scoring, and 3) whether green design elements decreased the subjective comfort level of the occupants.

• building environment
• green building
• zero energy lab

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• Buildings -- Energy conservation -- Texas -- Denton -- Case studies.
• Sustainable architecture -- Texas -- Denton -- Case studies.
• Sustainable buildings -- Texas -- Denton -- Design and construction -- Case studies.
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Showing result 1 - 5 of 468 swedish dissertations containing the words thesis on green technology .

1. Gold-Based Nanoparticles and Thin Films : Applications to Green Nanotechnology

Author : Pia Lansåker ; Claes-Göran Granqvist ; Gunnar Niklasson ; Ulf Helmersson ; Uppsala universitet ; [] Keywords : TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER ; ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY ; green nanotechnology ; transparent conductors ; nanoparticles ; gold coalescence ; substrate effect ; temperature effect ; Fysik ; Physics ;

Abstract : The use of gold-based nanoparticles and thin films is very promising when it comes to improving several green nanotechnologies. Therefore, in order to further their use in applications such as electrochromic devices, photovoltaics, light-emitting diodes and photocatalysis, the aim of this work was to study the growth of gold-based nanoparticles and thin films. READ MORE

2. Environmental Assessment and Strategic Technology Choice : The Case of Renewable Transport Fuels

Author : Karl Hillman ; Björn Sandén ; Ken Green ; Göteborg Chalmers Tekniska Högskola Miljösystemanalys Institutionen för energi och miljö ; [] Keywords : TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER ; ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY ; TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER ; ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY ; SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP ; SOCIAL SCIENCES ; environmental assessment ; life cycle assessment LCA ; socio-technical change ; strategic technology choice ; renewable fuels ;

Abstract : The scale of the required changes is huge, and time is limited if we are to avoid the most severe effects of climate change. To reduce greenhouse gas emissions from road transport, several fuels and electricity originating from renewable energy sources have been proposed, all of them in different stages of development and with various and shifting environmental impacts. READ MORE

3. Particle image velocimetry in practice

Author : Torbjörn Green ; Kristian Angele ; Luleå tekniska universitet ; [] Keywords : TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER ; ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY ; Strömningslära ; Fluid Mechanics ;

Abstract : Experimental fluid mechanics has for a long time been used to visualize flow phenomenon. An early pioneer was Ludwig Prandtl who used aluminum particles in water flumes to describe the flow in a qualitative manner. In line with the rapid development of Computational Fluid Dynamics, CFD, the need for new validation tools has increased. READ MORE

4. Cost management for underground infrastructure projects : a case study on cost increase and its causes

Author : Peter Lundman ; Stuart D. Green ; Luleå tekniska universitet ; [] Keywords : TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER ; ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY ; Mining and Rock Engineering ; Gruv- och Berganläggningsteknik ;

Abstract : Extensive investments in infrastructure for transportation are currently being carried out in Sweden. A substantial part consists of underground road- and railway projects. READ MORE

5. PIV in Practice

Author : Torbjörn Green ; Andreas Fouras ; Luleå tekniska universitet ; [] Keywords : TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER ; ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY ; Strömningslära ; Fluid Mechanics ;

Abstract : Experimental fluid mechanics has for a long time been used to visualize flow phenomenonqualitatively. Traditionally, visualization has been done with dye or tracer particle dueto their ability to follow the flow pattern well. READ MORE

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The Concept of Green Technology in Modern World Compare & Contrast Essay

Green technology, the most compelling imperative, available opportunities.

A comparative analysis of the environmental and economic imperatives will afford a position about the most compelling imperative. The paper begins by discussing green technology, proceeds to make a detailed discussion of environmental imperative culminating with a discussion of the economic imperative to precipitate a clear understanding of the weightiest imperative of the two, ending with a discussion of the opportunities and the researcher’s contribution to the opportunities.

A strong ethical link should be established between nature and human beings, gradually determining a collective behavior and attitudes of human beings towards the environment endearing them to adopt green technology.

Green technology had its emergency in the 1990 when a number of environmental consequences on the use of already available technologies had started to be experienced on a wide scale (Green Technology, 2006). Then, scientists realized that burning of fossil fuels and other human activities had been the major source of gases that were evidently known to create the green house gas effects in the environment.

It was further projected that at the then current rate of releasing the green house gases, a revolutionary technology was necessary to curb and reduce the observed trend. That was when green technology was recognized as one of the main approaches to altering the destructive behavior of human beings on the environment.

In Green Technology (2006), it is argued that a strong ethical link could be established between nature and human beings, thus, influencing the collective behavior and attitudes of human beings towards the environment. The links between all these components that seems to provide a handy solution to all the problems and challenges about the environment was and remains to be green technology.

It has been argued that intrinsic values can be gained from the use of green technology. They include benefits in the development of social life, improvements in the economic lives of people, and the environment in all its respects.

In addition to that, green technology has been identified to contribute positively to the provision of much needed energy while leaving the environment clean and intact. Thus, natural resources are preserved in the process, for the current and future generations. Therefore, green technology reinforces the concept on the stewardship of the environment towards nature (Green Technology, 2006).

It is important to explicitly understand the definite meaning of green technology. “Green technology is the term for any application of science, knowledge of technology towards improving the relationship between human technology involvement and the impact this has on the environment and natural resources” (Green Technology, 2006). However, green technology is concept that can be implemented with the environmental and economic imperatives whose weight is analyzed below.

It has been sanguinely argued that both the environmental and the economic imperatives are complimentary for green technology despite each bearing its own weight relative to the other. However, an analysis of both imperatives will afford a more definite answer about the one imperative that is more compelling than the other.

On the basis of an environmental imperative, Mintzer, Miller and Serchuk (n.d) argue that scientific research has shown a strong correlation between acid rain and other environmentally destructive pollutants to be the direct result of human activities particularly in the extraction of energy from fossil fuels by burning them.

Policy makers synonymously agree on that point. On that basis, green technology, from the perspective of environmental imperative is viewed as one that comes in between the destruction and conservation of the environment.

Analytically, therefore, despite costs projected to be incurred in either toting up the environment and preventing damage to the environment have been fiercely contended giving credit to the economic imperative, yet it is worth noting that the environmental imperative provides a way in which people should be personally responsible for their actions.

In addition to that, Mintzer, Miller and Serchuk (n.d) argue that by products of economic tasks should be the responsibility of the markets and decision makers, propping up the point that the environmental imperative is a strong driving force in the direction of urging people and communities to adopt green technology.

It is also possible to argue, according to Mintzer, Miller and Serchuk (n.d), that many people across many cities in the world today breathe air whose quality is below the recommended standards, emphasizing further on the environmental imperative.

Mintzer, Miller and Serchuk (n.d) contend that a litany of adverse environmental effects have been experienced ranging from global warming, effects of burning fossil fuels, threatening rising levels of seas and a myriad of other adverse effects, further giving impetus to the environmental imperative. It is further argued that shifting to the use of green technology from carbon producing activities comes with numerous economic benefits (Eckersley, 2010).

Among the most immediate benefits include improved human health, reduced effects of land degradation, and overall stagnation of the most dreaded effect, global warming. Thus, green technology will supplement these energy sources and the benefits outweigh the cost of investment (Hart, 2009).

On the other hand, the economic imperative, though, complimentary in green energy pursuits, is sometimes difficult to quantify and implement. That is particularly the case when companies are slow and find it difficult to integrate all aspects of economic social responsibility in an economic perspective.

Siegel (2009) adds weight to the argument by deductively asserting that private and social costs of a firm cannot be accurately merged. In addition to that, Siegel (2009) further argues that firms see economic value in, for example a forest, based on the economic benefits derived from these assets.

The economic imperative fails in its model, or at least, finds it difficult to incorporate the element of external costs such as costs incurred due to the destruction of the environment such as economic activities that directly result in acid rains and other adverse effects on the environment.

However, the model can only be propped up by government intervention by addressing social costs associated with the economic model. Siegel (2009) further argues that incorporating a model in firms that embrace environmental social responsibility may be challenging to firms since their sole objective is to make profits.

In addition to that, instrumental use of environmental social responsibility (ESR) may not be motivational in its context to firms. Thus, the possibility of green technology being propelled and motivation for its use being emphasized from the perspective of the economic imperative remains a challenge and dim compared to the environmental inoperative.

However, one can argue that the economic imperative is not entirely without weight in encouraging the use of green technology. In the arguments presented by Siegel (2009), a number of firms have realized the economic sense of incorporating ESR in their activities.

Siegel (2009) affirms that firms have started to integrate ESR in the pursuit of green technology as it has been realized that opportunities are rive for firms who make early entry into the field of green technology. Analytically, therefore, it is possible for firms which make early market entry with green technology to offer such competion to late entrants thus enabling them to provide high entry barriers leading them to perform much better than rivals.

Analytically, therefore, the environmental imperative, given the lengthy arguments presented above bear more weight than the economic imperative in adopting the green technology.

Nevertheless, it has been noted that while thousands of jobs can been generated with green technology, manufacturing solar panels is largely outsourced, and their design and construction is still in its infancy in the US (Fitzgerald, 2009). That is one of the opportunities that need to be seized upon.

However, it is now clear that most cities are ready to take the initiative of becoming solar energy centers. That may result in the creation of an array of job opportunities due to green technology. Besides that, lack of federal standards to provide subsidies for the green economic model is a challenge and shortcoming for the technology.

That has been evident from previous attempts to go green by adopting wind energy, adoption of cars that are non-polluting, retro-filling jobs, and environmental cleanup jobs as has been evidently argued by (Fitzgerald, 2009).

Fitzgerald (2009) compellingly argues that a number of success factors catalyzed by evidently strong propping elements in the economic model for the implementation of diverse green technologies are evident across a number of cities in the US. One typically motivating example is the Austin Texas. The city is well placed in terms of a strong political base that supports the use of green technology.

City facilities that can be tailored to adapt to the technology, informed and friendly citizens who have come to embrace the use of green technology, a highly educated and technically skilled workforce, a range of incentives particularly financial incentives, besides a supportive business community are among the supporting variables for implementing green technology (Fitzgerald, 2009).

Arguments indicate that the success of green technology, despite the favoring environmental, economic, and political environment, success is far from complete.

Despite the slow pace of success, a number of initiatives have been aggressively launched and are projected to contribute a significant amount of electricity into the consumer grid. Among these is the 2008 AE initiative.

It is projected that by 2020, a total of 100 megawatts of electricity will be generated from the project. A number of other initiatives that are distributed and in Texas include the Clean Energy Incubator by Austin, the Clean Energy Park, and HelioVolt among others.

Another motivating example of available opportunities in green technology is the HelioVolt Company which was established solely to manufacture thin film solar cells with an aim of creating an estimated 150 jobs. The company is one example of companies that are fast fitting into the green technology economic model.

Based on the arguments by both Siegel (2009) and Fitzgerald (2009) the possibility of making the array of available opportunities to fruition on the use of green technology includes a call for a concerted effort by the government to tailor and implement relevant policies on the use of green technology (Veen, 2010).

In addition to that, firms need to recognize and enforce the concept of environmental social responsibility (ESR) at firm level and even policy level as a universal requirement for companies whose activities are related to the environment. Further still, according to Fitzgerald (2009), the government should initiate green technology programs and provide incentives towards achieving that objective.

Eckersley, R., (2010). The politics of carbon leakage and the fairness of border measures. Ethics & International Affairs, 367 (27), 24.4.

Green Technology. (2006). Strategy and Leadership for clean and sustainable communities. Web.

Fitzgerald, J. (2009). Cities on the front lines .conversion to solar and wind energy Is an environmental necessity and an industrial opportunity. Success will require a concerted national policy. London: Oxford University Press.

Hart, S.L. (2009). Taking the Green Leap. Cornell University. Web.

Mintzer, I., M., Miller, A., S., & Serchuk, A. The Environmental Imperative: A Driving Force in the Development and Deployment of Renewable Energy Technologies.

Siegel, D. S., (2009). Green Management Matters Only If It Yields More Green: An Economic/Strategic Perspective. Web.

Veen, C. V. (2010). Can Green Technology Propel Economic Development? Web.

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IvyPanda. (2020, May 6). The Concept of Green Technology in Modern World. https://ivypanda.com/essays/green-technology/

"The Concept of Green Technology in Modern World." IvyPanda , 6 May 2020, ivypanda.com/essays/green-technology/.

IvyPanda . (2020) 'The Concept of Green Technology in Modern World'. 6 May.

IvyPanda . 2020. "The Concept of Green Technology in Modern World." May 6, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/green-technology/.

1. IvyPanda . "The Concept of Green Technology in Modern World." May 6, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/green-technology/.

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IvyPanda . "The Concept of Green Technology in Modern World." May 6, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/green-technology/.

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Thesis Station

Thesis: use of green technology.

Sample Thesis Paper

Advocates of green technology argue that this is the only way to conserve the environment and save the future generations. Fewer toxins will be released into the environment as green energy sources are less pollutants. These advocates have gone further to assert that green energy does not add greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Therefore, adoption of these energy sources will by far reduce global warming and stabilize the world climate (Botros and Basaly 1997, p. 39).

Traditional sources of energy such as coal and oil are the major emitters of these gases and they are responsible for the accelerating global temperatures, which are now very different. A comparison of these temperatures between 1850s and 2005 reveals huge anomalies as the temperature are rising. For instance, temperatures changed by 1.40c between 1961 and 1990 as shown below.

Please order custom thesis paper, dissertation , term paper , research paper, essay , book report , case study from the Order Now page.

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Researchers explain how green algae and bacteria together contribute to climate protection

by Antje Nieber, Friedrich Schiller University of Jena

A research team at Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany has now found a bacterium that forms a team with a green alga. Both microorganisms support each other in their growth. Additionally, the bacterium helps the microalga to neutralize the toxin of another, harmful bacterium. The fundamental understanding of algal-bacterial interactions also plays an important role in climate protection, as it can help to understand and thus protect this ecologically important partnership.

The results of the study are published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences .

Maria Mittag, corresponding author of the study and Professor of General Botany at Friedrich Schiller University Jena in Germany explains, "We were able to show that the bacterium Mycetocola lacteus lives in a partnership with the green microalga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, from which both sides benefit. While the bacterium receives certain essential B vitamins and a sulfur-containing amino acid from the alga, the growth of the green alga is optimized.

"In addition, the bacterium Mycetocola lacteus and a related bacterial species serve as helper bacteria; they jointly protect the alga from harmful attacks by other bacteria by inactivating a toxin of these hostile bacteria through cleavage. In this way, the bacterial helpers ensure the survival of the algae."

Like bacteria, microalgae are microorganisms. They were found in fresh water as well as in oceans and soil. "Alongside land plants , algae and cyanobacteria produce a large proportion of oxygen and bind around half of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere through photosynthesis. They therefore make an important contribution to life on Earth," says Mittag.

Only healthy algae can absorb and bind carbon dioxide well

This knowledge is also of great importance against the backdrop of global warming. "Only healthy algae can absorb and bind carbon dioxide well. It is therefore important to know which bacteria help the algae to remain photosynthetically active and at the same time neutralize the effect of harmful bacteria. In our study, we found that the bacteria and microalgae used also occur together in their natural environment," says Mittag.

In their natural habitats , microorganisms interact with each other and thus shape their coexistence. "In our research, we analyze the complex interplay of these small creatures in order to understand how they influence each other and which factors have a positive or negative effect on their growth.

This is crucial in order to understand the mechanisms that contribute to the preservation of natural ecosystems and to develop effective protective measures," explains Christian Hertweck, Professor of Natural Product Chemistry at the University of Jena and Head of the Department of Biomolecular Chemistry at the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology.

The study was carried out as part of a joint research project involving researchers from both the Cluster of Excellence "Balance of the Microverse" and the Collaborative Research Center "ChemBioSys" at the University of Jena. "By combining the biological perspective with analytical natural product chemistry and with our professional expertise in organic synthesis, we have demonstrated the mechanism by which the bacterial toxin is inactivated," explains Hans-Dieter Arndt, Professor of Organic Chemistry at the University of Jena.

Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Provided by Friedrich Schiller University of Jena

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China is all in on green tech. The U.S. and Europe fear unfair competition.

CHENGDU, China — A decade ago, Tongwei Group was a maker of fish food and livestock feed. Today, the company, based in this famously overcast corner of southwest China, is the world’s largest producer of solar cells, the components of panels that turn sunlight into electricity.

At its $2.8 billion facility on the outskirts of Chengdu, robotic arms stacked the delicate cells on autonomous carts that zipped between production stages. Productivity has gone up 161 percent — and the number of workers down by 62 percent — thanks to 5G equipment from homegrown technology giant Huawei, the company says.

Tongwei now has even grander ambitions: It is rapidly expanding and upgrading six production facilities and, by the end of this year, aims to churn out 130 gigawatts’ worth of cells annually — four times the total solar capacity installed in the United States in 2023.

China — through solar companies like this — will be without doubt the “main force leading the global energy transition,” said Liu Hanyuan, Tongwei’s founder and chairman.

Tongwei encapsulates how China has come to dominate global clean technology markets. China produces 80 percent of the world’s solar panels — compared with the United States’ 2 percent — and makes about two-thirds of the world’s electric vehicles, wind turbines and lithium-ion batteries.

That may be good for the Earth, which desperately needs to move away from fossil fuels to slow global warming.

Climate activists hope that China’s surging investments in clean technology will soon tip the balance and stop the country’s emissions of carbon dioxide — which are nearly double those of the United States — from rising any further. Last year, China installed more solar panels than the rest of the world combined.

But China’s overwhelming dominance has alarmed officials in the United States and in Europe, who say they are worried that a flood of cheap Chinese products will undercut their efforts to grow their own renewable energy industries — especially if the Chinese companies have what they consider an unfair advantage.

Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen, who is expected to soon make her second visit to Beijing in less than a year, said in a speech Wednesday that she will press China to address “excess capacity” — including in solar, electric cars and batteries — that “distorts global prices” and “hurts American firms and workers.”

Combined, this raises the specter of another trade war, one that activists say could pit protectionism against planet.

Green tech grows as economy slows

China’s metamorphosis into clean tech giant was ordered from the very top. Leader Xi Jinping made supporting “essentially green” industries a priority last month as he tries to stop the world’s second-largest economy from slowing.

Clean energy is a bright spot in an otherwise gloomy economic outlook : China’s exports of electric vehicles, lithium-ion batteries and solar products soared 30 percent to $146 billion last year. BYD overtook Tesla in 2023 to become the world’s top-selling electric-car maker.

This helped make the renewable energy industry the biggest contributor to the country’s economy, ahead of every other sector, according to the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air , a think tank.

That shift has come about thanks in no small part to state support. For over a decade, Beijing has used measures including subsidies and tax breaks to create dozens of huge conglomerates that dominate sustainable energy industries.

The Tongwei facility, toured by The Washington Post, is 15 percent owned by two of Chengdu city’s state-run investment companies. In the first nine months of last year, the company reported being subsidized with $125 million by the state, a 240 percent rise from 2022.

This has led to saturation in the domestic market — a good thing, climate activists say, as the world’s largest polluter transitions to renewable energy — after manufacturers churned out electric cars, batteries, solar panels and wind turbines faster than China needs.

That has forced them to search for profits overseas, where there are more buyers willing to pay higher prices.

This, critics say, could push American and European competitors out of the global market.

Western governments have expanded investigations into unfair Chinese trade practices like subsidies and dumping.

Yellen will hammer home this message in her upcoming visit. This month, the European Commission said it found sufficient evidence of subsidies boosting Chinese electric-vehicle exports and warned it will probably raise tariffs later this year. This came after Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, warned of a “race to the bottom” in clean tech amid alleged unfair competition by Chinese firms.

With the trade temperature mounting, Beijing has begun accusing Western governments of trying to hobble its most advanced companies — part of what it sees as a broader campaign to keep China down.

Concerns about Chinese exports are “nothing more than an effort to hold back China’s industrial upgrade and to use unfair means to protect the vested interests of certain Western countries,” the official Xinhua News Agency stated in a recent article.

Liu, the Tongwei chairman, also urged an end to “protectionist measures.”

China’s solar industry has “comprehensively overtaken” Europe and the United States, he said in written answers to questions from The Post after declining an interview. It is “not really realistic” for the world to reach net zero carbon emissions by the middle of the century without embracing Chinese manufacturing, he wrote.

China’s defensiveness is spurred by a sense that its big bet on low-carbon technologies was just starting to pay off.

“From a Chinese perspective, their industrial policy really worked,” said Nis Grünberg, a researcher at the Mercator Institute of China Studies, a Berlin-based think tank. “Now they are starting to hit walls.”

Beijing could revert to economic retaliation

This could mean China will now turn to its “well-rehearsed playbook of pressure and evasion,” said Yanmei Xie, an analyst at Gavekal, a research firm.

It turned to that playbook in the 2010s during solar panel trade disputes to keep trade barriers low, and it has threatened more recently to restrict critical minerals like graphite , a metal needed to power electric vehicles.

These worries are most acute for solar energy, which scientists predict will be the world’s leading source of energy by the middle of the century. China controls over 80 percent of manufacturing and makes over 95 percent of the world’s silicon wafers, a key component.

But breaking China’s near monopoly on parts of the renewable energy supply chain won’t be easy or cheap.

Rich nations will need to spend about $6 trillion between 2023 and 2050 to create viable alternatives to Chinese clean tech products, according to Wood Mackenzie, a global energy consultancy.

That’s because Chinese companies already have such a big head start in creating well-integrated supply chains and have gained a significant foothold in international markets.

While the United States has been able to maintain its global lead in critical technologies like semiconductors by focusing on advanced research, this approach doesn’t apply to renewable energy, said Ilaria Mazzocco, an expert on Chinese industrial policy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank.

The main way to gain an advantage in clean energy is to scale up and cut costs, which “really plays to China’s advantage,” she said.

There are, however, some signs of bloat in the sector. Longi, another of China’s largest solar companies, is reportedly planning to slash its workforce by 30 percent. The company told The Post prices are falling because of “excessive competition” and “huge new investments and rapid increases in production capacity.”

But Beijing appears unlikely to take its foot off the renewable gas any time soon, Mazzocco said. “China is going to fight to maintain its dominance by lowering the cost and expand manufacturing capacity within China.”

Vic Chiang and Pei-Lin Wu in Taipei, Taiwan, contributed to this report.

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Yellen Warns China Against Flood of Cheap Green Energy Exports

The Treasury secretary, who plans to make her second trip to China soon, argued that the country’s excess industrial production warped supply chains.

By Alan Rappeport

The Biden administration is growing increasingly concerned that a glut of heavily subsidized green technology exports from China is distorting global markets and plans to confront Chinese officials about the problem during an upcoming round of economic talks in Beijing.

The tension over industrial policy is flaring as the United States invests heavily in production of solar technology and electric vehicle batteries with funding from the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, while China pumps money into its factory sector to help stimulate its sluggish economy. President Biden and Xi Jinping, China’s leader, have sought to stabilize the relationship between the world’s two largest economies, but differences over trade policy, investment restrictions and cyberespionage continue to strain ties.

In a speech on Wednesday afternoon, Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen laid out her plans to raise the issue of overcapacity with her Chinese counterparts. At the Suniva solar cell factory in Norcross, Ga., she warned that China’s export strategy threatened to destabilize global supply chains that were developing around industries such as solar, electric vehicles and lithium-ion batteries.

“China’s overcapacity distorts global prices and production patterns and hurts American firms and workers, as well as firms and workers around the world,” Ms. Yellen said. “Challenges for individual firms can lead to concentrated supply chains, negatively impacting global economic resilience.”

The Treasury secretary is expected to make her second trip to China in the coming weeks. The South China Morning Post reported that she will visit Guangzhou and Beijing in early April. The Treasury Department declined to comment on her travel plans.

In her speech in Georgia, Ms. Yellen compared China’s investments in green energy technology production to what she described as its previous overinvestment in steel and aluminum, saying it created “global spillovers.”

“It is important to the president and me that American firms and workers can compete on a level playing field,” Ms. Yellen said. “We have raised overcapacity in previous discussions with China, and I plan to make it a key issue in discussions during my next trip there.”

She added: “I will press my Chinese counterparts to take necessary steps to address this issue.”

Ms. Yellen visited Suniva because it is a prime example of how the Biden administration’s industrial investments are reviving struggling companies. The solar panel company closed its Norcross plant in 2017 in part because cheap imports were flooding the U.S. market; it plans to reopen the factory this spring thanks to the Biden administration’s green energy investments.

The Treasury Department estimates that the private sector has announced more than $200 billion of clean power investments since the Inflation Reduction Act, which included nearly $400 billion in tax credits and subsidies for low-emission forms of energy production, was passed.

China, which invested more than $130 billion in its solar sector last year, has voiced its own frustration about America’s manufacturing investments. Buyers of electric vehicles that contain components made in China, Russia, North Korea or Iran are not eligible for generous U.S. tax credits.

China filed a complaint Tuesday with the World Trade Organization arguing that the Biden administration’s electric vehicle subsidy policies are discriminatory.

On Wednesday, China’s leader, Xi Jinping, struck a rosy tone in a meeting with American business leaders and academics in Beijing. He told the executives that China was “building a first-class business environment that is market oriented.” He added that in traditional areas like trade and new ones such as climate change and artificial intelligence, “China and the United States should become boosters for each other’s development, not obstructions on each other.”

Among the executives with Mr. Xi were Stephen A. Schwarzman, the chairman of Blackstone; Craig Allen , the president of the U.S.-China Business Council; and Cristiano Amon, the president of Qualcomm.

Chris Buckley contributed reporting.

Alan Rappeport is an economic policy reporter, based in Washington. He covers the Treasury Department and writes about taxes, trade and fiscal matters. More about Alan Rappeport

Graduate Education

Office of graduate and postdoctoral education, 12 grad students named as finalists for 2024 three minute thesis competition.

Mar 26, 2024

After six intense preliminary rounds, twelve exceptional scholars have emerged from a pool of 65 talented candidates, earning their place as finalists in Georgia Tech's highly anticipated annual Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition. On Friday, April 5, 2024, these finalists will hit the stage, harnessing their research expertise, to deliver compelling presentations in a three-minute format.

Congratulations to the following twelve finalists:

Karina Bhattacharya MID Industrial Design 

Vinodhini Comandur, Ph.D. Aerospace Engineering 

Mo Jarin, Ph.D. Environmental Engineering 

Anamik Jhunjhunwala, Ph.D. Biomedical Engineering 

Valeria Juarez, Ph.D. Biomedical Engineering 

Alexandra Patterson, Ph.D. Bioengineering 

Jeffrey Pattison, Ph.D. Aerospace Engineering 

Kantwon Rogers, Ph.D. Computer Science 

Mallika Senthil, MS Biomedical Engineering 

Wenting Shi, Ph.D. Chemistry and Biochemistry 

Shreyas Srivathsan, Ph.D. Aerospace Engineering 

Raghav Tandon, Ph.D. Machine Learning 

This year’s 3MT competition takes place on Friday, April 5, 2024, at 5:30 p.m. in the Atlantic Theater in the John Lewis Student Center. The entire Georgia Tech community is encouraged to attend the competition, which occurs as the finale of the 2024 Grad Student Appreciation Week. 3MT will also be streamed online and can be viewed at https://gatech.zoom.us/j/98696536715 .  Audience members and online viewers can vote for their favorite presenter to win the People’s Choice Award.  

Ph.D. winners can win up to $2,000 in research travel grants. The master's winner will receive a $1,000 research travel grant.   

Tech’s 3MT competition is coordinated by the Office of Graduate Education in partnership with the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL), The Naugle Communications Center, and the Language Institute.  

For more information, visit grad.gatech.edu/3mt . 

Brittani Hill | Marketing and Communications Manager 

Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Education 

Related links

Accessibility information.

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Primoris: AI Power Play

• Primoris Services Corporation has demonstrated strong execution and solid operating results, positioning the company to capitalize on the green energy transition and AI-driven demand for data center power.
• The company's record financial performance and increased backlog indicate operational excellence and market confidence, with potential for further repricing as trends in renewable energy and AI technology continue to drive growth.
• Primoris is undervalued compared to its peers, with a favorable forward P/E ratio and the potential for a significant increase in stock price. The company's strategic positioning and efficient capital structure make it a strong buy.

Investment Thesis

I believe that Primoris Services Corporation ( NYSE: PRIM ) has demonstrated strong execution since my last report in October showing how the company was on the precipice of capitalizing on the green energy transition, powered by the Inflation Reduction Act ("IRA"). Since then, the company has delivered solid operating results and strong stock price performance.

However, I don't think it ends here. Rather, I believe the company has a solid opportunity to leverage the strong tailwinds of AI-driven demand for data center power. The company's record financial performance, marked by consistent revenue growth and increased backlog, underscores its operational excellence and market confidence. And this is before new AI data center demand really takes hold of the grid. I see this as a similar setup to where the company was right before the IRA monies started showing up in their order books before the Q3 2023 report last year.

Given this, I believe there is the potential that the construction firm is substantially undervalued, as I believe is evidenced by their favorable forward P/E ratio compared to the sector median. The company's strategic positioning at the nexus of renewable energy and AI technology means that as the company is able to benefit from these trends we could see even more room for repricing. While the company's debt and interest payments are notable, I believe this capital structure acts efficiently, allowing the firm to have adequate working capital for more growth. Given this, I believe Primoris is a strong buy.

Background: Solid Finish To 2023 & AI Upside in 2024

Since my last analysis in October, I believe we've seen Primoris continue to thrive in the current infrastructure environment. The company ended 2023 with its 8th record year of revenue in a row ($5.7 billion), driven by a strong backlog, which grew 20% from 2022 to $10.9 billion ( Q4 Earnings Presentation ). Q4 Non-GAAP EPS of $0.85/share beat by $0.09/share while revenue missed slightly. It was still a solid finish to the year.

Specifically during the Q4 earnings call , Tom McCormick, the President and CEO of Primoris, mentioned "2023 was a good year for Primoris as we delivered revenue growth for the 8th consecutive year and set a record for backlog for the 3rd consecutive year," which resonates with the growth trajectory I've been monitoring​​.

Along this trend, non-utilities MSA revenue (which is a form of recurring revenue I talked about in my last report) jumped 70% for the full year 2023 from 2022 levels.

In my opinion, this is technology startup-level growth. We are seeing it from an energy-utility construction company.

In summary from the call:

Revenue increased to $5.7 billion, up 29% from 2022. The growth was driven largely by our Energy segment, which was up 39%, primarily due to a robust utility-scale solar market, growth in our industrial business, and improvement in our pipeline business from 2022 lows. The Utility segment also saw strong revenue growth, up 18% from the previous year. This was driven by the organic expansion of our power delivery and communications businesses, as well as from acquisitions made in 2022. Looking at backlog, we booked $7.5 billion of work during the year for a book-to-bill ratio of 1.3 times. This resulted in our ending the year with $10.9 billion of total backlog, or an increase of approximately 20% from 2022. Much of this increase was new project awards in our Energy segment. -Q4 Earnings Call.

The energy segment revenue excites me. In my opinion, this is strong evidence that IRA money is starting to take hold.

Primoris Financial Highlights (Primoris Earnings Presentation)

AI Power Has Strong Potential

While the IRA money has started to kick in, there is now also a lot of room to run for power generation for AI data centers. In essence, AI models (such as ones like ChatGPT) require a large amount of electricity to run their models. According to one study , AI data centers are going to more than triple their power usage in the US by 2030 from 126 terawatt hours to 390 terawatt hours by 2030. All of this AI demand will require a new power grid buildout. This is where Primoris comes in.

Already, "2.1 gigawatts worth of DC leases" for data centers have been leased by AI companies in just a 90-day period last summer according to one study done by TD Cowen. Now, the number is likely much higher. The growth potential could be immense. I think Primoris (since they do construction projects to help utility companies build out the grid for this demand) has a major opportunity here. In the meantime, the stock appears cheap.

When comparing Primois to their peers in their sector, the company still trades at a discount to the sector median even after the run-up from the last report I wrote in October. Currently, the company's forward Price-to-Earnings (P/E) ratio stands at 13.62 , significantly lower than the sector median of 19.16, representing a nearly 28.91% discount. While the company trades above the historical 5-year average P/E of 11.37, I believe the markets the company operates in, plus the company's business model itself have evolved. For example, the company has more MSA revenue than before which acts as recurring revenue. This, I believe, deserves to trade at a higher P/E multiple given the consistency characteristics of this type of business.

Using other valuation metrics, PRIM's forward Price-to-Book (P/B) ratio of 1.67 is also below the sector median of 2.79. Couple this with a significantly lower forward Price-to-Sales (P/S) ratio of Primoris at 0.38 compared to the sector median of 1.50, and I think the potential undervaluation comes into focus.

Using the most conservative discount of these three metrics (the 28.91% discount) on the P/E ratio, the company could see up to a 41% increase in its stock price before the company's forward P/E multiple even matches the industry median. I think this is powerful.

Why I Think The Company Has More Room To Run

While Primoris has enjoyed a 34.29% runup since October, I think the potential for the AI data center market leading to more power demand + continued IRA benefits leaves more room to run.

When I last wrote about Primoris, we did not have 2024 earnings guidance. Their full-year non-GAAP earnings guidance is $3.05-$3.25/share. This compares to adjusted EPS of $2.85/share in 2023.

In my opinion, this is powerful growth (especially on the high end) and shows how the thesis for the company is playing out. It makes me believe there is more upside.

Primoris Guidance (Primoris Q4 Earnings Presentation)

After looking through the Q4 report, the only main risk I still see is interest rate risk on their debt. With this, the company is bringing the debt down and still making a positive margin on the borrowed capital. As of December 31st, the company reported a total debt of approximately $964.7 million. This is a decrease from the previous year's total of around ~$1.15 billion ( 10K ). The weighted average interest rate on this debt stood at 6.8% at the end of 2023, up from 6.2% in 2022 and 2.8% in 2021. With this, interest expenses for the year ended December 31, 2023, was $78.2 million, marking a significant increase from the $39.2 million recorded in 2022. The rise in interest expense can be attributed to the uptick in average interest rates we saw in general across the economy in 2023, so this doesn't concern me​​. These interest rates should come down marginally in 2024.

In addition, I don't see this debt in general as a risk but rather as a characteristic of the company's operating strategy and capital structure. The company's total gross margins of 10.3% on all projects in 2023 is higher than the cost of the debt at 6.8%. This means they can borrow at 6.8% and use this capital to fund client projects that make 10.3%.

I believe Primoris demonstrated solid performance throughout 2023 as they were well-positioned to ride the IRA tailwind, and are now well-positioned to capitalize on the burgeoning demand for AI data center power plus the continued expansion in 2024 in the renewable energy sector. The company's execution, underscored by robust year-on-year revenue growth and a record-setting backlog, signifies a trajectory of sustainable growth. Coupled with what I believe to be an attractive valuation, sets up a compelling investment case despite being up 34.29% since my last report. In addition, despite the uptick in debt and interest expenses, the company's proactive management of its financial obligations, and its strategic leverage for growth, particularly in high-potential sectors like renewable energy and AI infrastructure, suggests that these risks are well-contained and what I believe to be strategically managed. Given this, I continue to be a strong buy, believing the company is once again undervalued and stands on the cusp of reaping the benefits of the rapidly developing AI space.

This article was written by

Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have a beneficial long position in the shares of PRIM either through stock ownership, options, or other derivatives. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article. Noah Cox (account author) is the Managing partner of Noah’s Arc Capital Management. His views in this article are not necessarily reflective of the firms. Nothing contained in this note is intended as investment advice. It is solely for informational purposes. Invest at your own risk.

Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.

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