Zoekresultaten

Design guidelines for the monetary and financial system in the digital age

In the aftermath of the systemic financial crises of 2007-9, several scholars argued that the problem of systemic financial crises is not well understood. At the same time, the introduction of digital technologies led to new threats and opportunities for the design of the monetary and financial system. For example, thousands of private cryptocurrencies have been implemented and hundreds of research papers on the (possible) introduction of public digital currencies have been published. It is often not explained why these new forms of digital money are needed and which (systemic) problems they (can) solve. In addition, the literature does not provide requirements nor guidelines to shape the development of the monetary and financial system in the digital age. This thesis applies design science to the monetary and financial system as a whole. The application of this novel methodology offers new possibilities to examine this complex system. The contribution of this thesis is threefold. First, different theories on money, banking and systemic financial crises have been researched through an extensive literature review and balance sheets. Second, those theories have been used to develop design requirements and guidelines. Finally, the consensus and pivotal dissensions about the systemic problem(s) of the current monetary and financial system, requirements and guidelines among experts have been identified through semistructured interviews. This research process results in widely supported requirements that demarcate the design space and widely supported guidelines that aim to give direction within the design space, that is, to the future development of the monetary and financial system.

Summary of the State-of-the-Art report

Summary of the State-of-the-Art report for SEEV4city.

In situ detection of product age and argon concentration as measure of the re-use potential of insulating glass units in buildings

High level circular use of post-consumer insulating glass units will contribute to lower the environmental and social impact of insulation glass industry. The application of various circular strategies for insulating glass units (IGU’s) is rising. The product age will give an indication of the remaining life-time of an IGU, but a method which includes screening a technical quality is needed to check if an IGU is indeed suitable for re-use on a high level of circularity. In this study the argon concentration is suggested as discriminative quality. Energy efficient double glazing applied in windows of buildings situated in The Netherlands were studied. Product codes were noted and unraveled. Measurements were performed using the Sparklike Laser Portable, a non-invasive argon measuring device, which generates argon concentration, glass thickness and cavity width values. In addition, measurements were performed with a Glass Check thickness meter. The resulting data were analyzed. Measuring errors were explored and used to setup a testing procedure. Threshold values of the product age and argon concentration were selected for different circular strategies. In conclusion, a screening method using the product age and argon concentration to determine the circular use potential of insulating glass units is proposed.

CyberParks - the interface between people, places and technology

Providing energy services to prosumer communities

Recent years have shown the emergence of numerous local energy initiatives (prosumer communities) in the Netherlands. Many of them have set the goal to establish a local and sustainable energy provision on a not-for-profit basis. In this study we carried out exploratory case studies on a number of Dutch prosumer communities. The objective is to analyse their development process, to examine the barriers they encounter while organising their initiative, and to find how ICT could be applied to counteract these barriers and support communities in reaching their goals. The study shows that prosumer communities develop along a stepwise, evolutionary growth path, while they are struggling with organising their initiative, because the right expertise is lacking on various issues (such as energy technology, finance and legislation). Participants stated that, depending on the development phase of their initiative, there is a strong need for information and specific expertise. With a foreseeable growing technical complexity they indicated that they wanted to be relieved with the right tools and services at the right moment. Based on these findings we developed a generic solution through the concept of a prosumer community shopping mall. The concept provides an integrated and scalable ICT environment, offering a wide spectrum of energy services that supports prosumer communities in every phase of their evolutionary growth path. As such the mall operates as a broker and clearing house between 2 prosumer communities and service providers, where the service offerings grow and fit with the needs and demands of the communities along their growth path. The shopping mall operates for many prosumer communities, thus providing economies of scale. Each prosumer community is presented its own virtual mall, with specific content and a personalised look-and-feel.

Open source developing, designing and constructing small urban areas with re-used demolition waste in the city of Utrecht

From the article: "ABSTRACT: The research group Supply Chain Redesign in the Built Environment of HU University of Applied Sciences is working on research that combines principles of the circular economy with open source architectural design & urban planning. The aim is finding new ways to re-use demolition waste and recycled materials in small scale urban area developments. And to “democratize” traditional processes in the built environment. Different recent studies have shown the potential benefits, such as a reduction of emissions. In “Hof van Cartesius”, a practical case-study in Utrecht, the ambitions and implications of this approach are being questioned, investigated and tested."