Christa Liedtke

LIVING LAB: user‐driven innovation for sustainability

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to summarize and discuss the results from the LIVING LAB design study, a project within the 7th Framework Programme of the European Union. The aim of this project was to develop the conceptual design of the LIVING LAB Research Infrastructure that will be used to research human interaction with, and stimulate the adoption of, sustainable, smart and healthy innovations around the home.Design/methodology/approach – A LIVING LAB is a combined lab‐/household system, analysing existing product‐service‐systems as well as technical and socioeconomic influences focused on the social needs of people, aiming at the development of integrated technical and social innovations and simultaneously promoting the conditions of sustainable development (highest resource efficiency, highest user orientation, etc.). This approach allows the development and testing of sustainable domestic technologies, while putting the user on centre stage.Findings – As this paper discusses the design stud...

Resource intensity in global food chains : the hot spot analysis

Purpose – The Hot Spot Analysis developed by the Wuppertal Institute is a screening tool focussing on the demand of reliable sustainability‐oriented decision‐making processes in complex value chains identifying high priority areas (“hot spots”) for effective measures in companies. This paper aims to focus on this tool.Design/methodology/approach – The Hot Spot Analysis is a qualitative method following a cradle‐to‐cradle approach. With the examples of coffee and cream cheese hot spots of sustainability indicators throughout the entire life cycle are identified and evaluated with data from literature reviews and expert consultations or stakeholder statements. This paper focuses on the indicator resource efficiency as an example of how the methodology works.Findings – The identified hot spots for coffee are the raw material procurement phase in terms of abiotic material, water and energy consumption, the production phase concerning biotic material and the energy consumption in the use phase. For cream chees...

Head and stalk structures of soybean vacuolar membranes

Highly purified tonoplast fractions isolated by preparative free-flow electrophoresis from hypocotyls of etiolated soybean (Glycine max L. (Merr.)) were examined by negative-staining electron microscopy, and many but not all vesicles were found to exhibit head and stalk structures resembling the 9-nm stalked F1 ATPase particles reported previously for Neurospora (Bowman et al., 1989, J. Biol. Chem. 264, 15606–15612). The structures show distinguishing characteristics similar to those for Neurospora. These include a cleft in the particle not exhibited by mitochondrial F1 ATPase and a tendency to disappear from the membrane when treated with nitrate plus Mg−2+-ATP-containing solutions. The position of the stalked ATPase structures, indicates that some of the tonoplast vesicles were oriented cytoplasmic side out whereas others were oriented cytoplasmic side in.

Designing value through less by integrating sustainability strategies into lifestyles

The article argues for a need to overcome a conventional notion of product design. In this regard, the article offers an integrative and systemic approach to sustainable design. Instead of focussing on objects, a user-centred perspective is adopted. A sustainable design of products and services requires the integration of production-orientated (efficiency and consistency) and consumption-orientated (sufficiency) strategies. The article introduces the concept of an indicator that is capable of comprehending a lifecycle-wide analysis of products and that favours the integration of existing sustainability strategies. The goal is not to design sustainable products but rather to design systems that manage to foster sustainable lifestyles. The article illustrates the usability of the introduced concept by showing examples of strategic integrative thinking in sustainable design from the Sustainable Summer Schools.1

Identification of tonoplast fractions resolved from plasma membrane by free-flow electrophoresis using filipin-labeling and antibody to the tonoplast ATPase

SummaryPreparative free-flow electrophoresis has been employed in combination with density gradient centrifugation to prepare fractions enriched in either tonoplast or plasma membrane from dark grown seedlings of cress (roots), zucchini (hypocotyls), soybean (hypocotyls) and maize (coleoptiles). A polyclonal antibody to the 72,000 Mr subunit to the maize tonoplast ATPase was used to identify the tonoplast fractions from the free-flow electrophoresic separations and to show the absence of tonoplast contamination in plasma membranes derived from the same homogenates. These findings confirm the identity of the tonoplast fraction based on the presence of the proton translocating ATPase determined previously from sucrose gradient fractionation and inhibitor studies to be a tonoplast marker. Using staining with phosphotungstic acid at low pH, the plasma membrane fractions obtained after free-flow electrophoresis were shown to be > 90% plasma membrane-derived with little or no cross-contamination of plasma membrane vesicles in the tonoplast-containing fractions.Finally, the composition of the fractions was correlated with the characteristic morphologic appearance after filipin treatment and freeze-fracture. By means of morphometric analyses using this criterion, both the identity and the purity of the tonoplast and the plasma membrane fractions received further confirmation. Essentially homogeneous fractions were obtained by subjecting fractions already enriched by a centrifugation method to the final separation by free-flow electrophoresis.

Business Models for Sustainability in Living Labs

There are an estimated 170 active living labs across the globe. All have common elements but not all of them contribute to the delivery of sustainable living. Here we consider the business models of sustainability in living labs (SusLabs). Specifically we review four active living laboratories that are part of the SusLab North West Europe network. We show that the business cases are different for at least two reasons. One is that each SusLab project has a specific focus even though all are seeking to develop energy efficient innovative products, services or systems. Examples of focus include demonstration projects, knowledge generation through research and business to business development. The other is that each came about for different reasons which might include significant public or private sponsorship, or through academia-business co-creation, and this too is reflected in the business case. We also show that the business cases are not static, but may evolve over time as opportunities are created and as partners develop a clearer understanding of the potential of each SusLab. We propose that, based on a common definition of a SusLab, theoretical considerations and societal needs, as well as insights from the cases, it should be possible to build a business case for a SusLab which draws on knowledge rather than learning-by-doing.

Transformation Towards a Sustainable Society Key Intervention Areas

Social innovations, which transform resource intensive routines and practices into low-resource ones, combined with socio-technically designed transition paths, which are created around sustainability and environmental criteria, are milestones for implementation and diffusion of SCP (Sustainable Consumption and Production). This paper analyses such processes based on eight key components in order to evaluate and explain transformation and transition towards a sustainable lifestyle. Actors on all levels of society are included in this approach, creating a whole framework. Global megatrends, such as climate change, demographic change or resource scarcity will be put into relation with current policies and production trends, which play an important role for the development of transition pathways and future scenarios. This will enable us to work out guidelines and ideas on how to create a more sustainable society specifically.

The nutritional footprint: An innovative management approach for the food sector

The food and nutrition sector accounts for huge environmental impacts caused by production, processing, final consumption and waste treatment in private households or in out of home catering settings. Further, the field of nutrition inextricably links environmental and health aspects to each other. Thus, the domain of nutrition has to be considered intensively if environmental aspects and health considerations should be further investigated. However, a healthy and environmentally friendly diet is a criterion which remains quite abstract to the consumer. Against this background, the following research question is addressed: “How can environmental and health indicators be linked to each other?” For that reason a comprehensive concept is developed in this paper, the so-called nutritional footprint. The model is based on conceptual frameworks, such as the Hot Spot Analysis. Within a data assortment, relevant and available environmental data (e.g. material footprint or water consumption within the life cycle) is set in relation to available nutrition data (e.g. nutrient density or the classical calorie specifications). The paper shows that a nutritional footprint – as an assessment instrument – presents a way to communicate environmental and health issues together and provides a comprehensive and integrated perspective on quantitative and qualitative data. The concept developed in this paper is also available and useful for companies to expand their internal data and their external communication performance. Nonetheless, the current paper presents a first version on this concept, which has to be refined in cooperation with a leading fast food company in order to integrate the approach in their business.

Material and Carbon Footprint of Household Activities

This chapter addresses the resource consumption and GHG emissions associated with household activities and household types. Over the course of 6 weeks 16 participating households were asked to provide data regarding their activities in the fields of housing, mobility, nutrition, waste, goods and appliances, tourism and recreation. This extensive survey enabled the authors to calculate the households Material and Carbon Footprint, representing the environmental pressure for certain household types and lifestyles. It was found that even households with similar soziodemographics differ highly in their overall impact as well as the shares attributed to the different fields especially for nutrition, housing and mobility. Two workshops were conducted where households were asked to identify possible short-, mid- and long time strategies for reducing their environmental impact (road mapping). Although not all households participated, it had become clear that many external factors prevent households from adapting their behaviour most notably in the field of mobility. However, the road mapping process also showed a high affinity of the volunteers towards lifestyle changes. Regarding the set of methods used in the study, the authors conclude that the approach is promising, but future research is necessary: amongst other potential improvements it would certainly be helpful to not only analyze the resulting environmental impact of households but also the circumstances that lead to the household’s specific social practises and routines.

Social Practices as a Main Focus in Living Lab Research

This chapter introduces the theoretical background of social practice theories as a main focus in sustainable living lab research as well as its connection to the living lab approach and links to desired broader socio-technical transition paths. Applications of practice theories to sustainable consumption and in the field of heating are introduced and conclusions drawn for using practice theories in living lab research and experiments.