Contributions published at Informatics and Sustainability Research (Lorenz Hilty)

With the diffusion of digital technologies, new forms of sharing have emerged called ‘the sharing economy’. Digitalization has been the enabler for covering a broad range of sharable resources (technical aspect of sharing) and for operating beyond the limits of small groups and personal relationships (social aspect of sharing). This two-fold digital transition of sharing has enabled unprecedented efficiency in coordinating access to resources. It created new patterns and practices of sharing in the space between traditional sharing on one side and the formal market economy on the other side; leading to the emergence of a new class of resource allocation systems which we call ‘the digital sharing economy (DSE)’. We analyse the DSE as a socio-economic phenomenon without referring to normative presuppositions, such as the presence of pro-social motivations for sharing. Building on a comprehensive definition of the DSE, we propose a theoretical framework for the DSE that embraces and structures the broad variety of sharing platforms and the practices promoted by them. By separating our analysis from normative pre-mises about sharing, we hope to contribute to an unbiased discussion of the sharing economy phenomenon and to lay the ground for differentiated assessments which refer to explicit normative frameworks such as sustainable development.

The determination of the environmental concentration of a pollutant is a crucial step in the risk assessment of anthropo‐ genic substances. Dynamic probabilistic material flow analysis (DPMFA) is a method to predict flows of substances to the environment that can be converted into environmental concentrations. In cases where direct quantitative measurements of concentrations are impossible, environmental stocks are predicted by reproducing the flow processes creating these stocks in a mathematical model. Incomplete parameter knowledge is represented in the form of stochastic distributions and propa‐ gated through the model using Monte Carlo simulation. This work discusses suitable means for the model design and the representation of system knowledge from several information sources of varying credibility as model parameter distributions, further evaluation of the simulation outcomes using sensitivity analyses, and the impacts of parameter uncertainty on the total uncertainty of the simulation output. Based on a model developed in a case study of carbon nanotubes in Switzerland, the modeling process, the representation and interpretation of the simulation results are described and approaches to sensitivity and uncertainty analyses are demonstrated. Finally, the overall approach is summarized and provided in the form of a set of modelling and evaluation rules for DPMFA studies.

Information on the flows of specific polymers through the anthroposphere forms the basis of any assessment of the environmental implications of plastic. This work presents a dynamic probabilistic material flow analysis of seven commodity thermoplastics: low-density polyethylene (LDPE), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), expanded polystyrene (EPS), polyvinylchloride (PVC), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The analysis examines nine product sectors and 35 product categories, including textiles, across Europe from 1950 to 2016. Total consumption of these seven polymers was 90.0 ± 4.8 kg/cap in 2016. The in-use stock that year was 47 kg/cap for LDPE, 81 kg/cap for HDPE, 81 kg/cap for PP, 21 kg/cap for PS, 56 kg/cap for EPS, 163 kg/cap for PVC, and 16 kg/cap for PET. For EPS and PVC, the fraction contained in the in-use stock is 51% and 39% of the total production. Landfill is the major compartment where LDPE, HDPE, PP, PS, and PET end up (48%–60%). Elimination—incineration and destruction in waste incineration plants—occurs for 15%–19% of LDPE, HDPE, PP, PS, and PET, and 10% of EPS and PVC. Current European recycling rates vary from 11% for PS to 33% for PET. The precise separation of different polymers into very detailed product categories will allow the formulation of future scenarios about interventions to improve the circularity of specific polymers and provide the basis to assess the polymer-specific releases to the environment.

While telecommuting (TC) research heavily discusses travel impacts of home-based TC, little is known about impacts of working from a neighborhood TC center on travel and non-travel activities and their energy requirements. We conduct a case study on the impacts of the work location (employer’s office, TC center, home) on time use and travel using data collected in a neighborhood TC center in Stockholm. Our results show that telecommuters more frequently replaced working from the TC center for working from the more distant employer’s office than for working from home. On TC center and home office days, diarists spent less time traveling, and on home office days more time on chores and leisure than on employer office days. When working from the TC center instead of the employer’s office, telecommuters frequently used the same or more energy-efficient commute modes, e.g. biking instead of the car, which was feasible because the TC center is in the local neighborhood. However, when working from home, diarists mainly used the car for private travel. Thus, energy savings of TC can be increased by providing energy-efficient transport options or local access to non-work destinations to telecommuters. TC energy impacts depend also on changes to energy requirements for non-travel activities, for space heating/cooling/lighting at all work locations, and systemic TC effects (e.g. residential relocation), which can only be observed in the long term. Thus, future TC assessments should take an even broader perspective in terms of travel and non-travel activities, their energy requirements, and systemic effects.

The digitally enabled sharing economy, also called the “digital sharing economy” (DSE), has changed patterns of consumption by introducing new choices and channels for provision and receipt of services. The DSE encompasses sharing systems whose business models may vary distinctly from platform to platform. Although business models in the context of the sharing economy have been studied so far, we have observed that the current literature does not provide an approach that covers all the possible business models (in the broadest sense of the term) that (potentially) exist within the scope of the DSE. The present paper, therefore, aims to propose a typology of business models in the DSE that covers a wide space of models – even those which may not involve “business” in the commercial sense. This is achieved through an iterative inductive process based on a design science research approach. The typology can assist in positioning the current and future sharing systems in the DSE by systematically classifying their business models. It is intended to serve as a guiding tool for the sustainability assessment of platforms from both resource and socio-economic perspectives. The present study can also enable researchers and practitioners to capture and systematically analyse digital sharing business models based on a structured, actionable approach.

Participatory technology assessment aims to examine the risks and opportunities of technology in more detail with a heterogeneous group of people. In this regard, the Landscape of Opinions for Technology Assessment (LOTA) software was created to transparently present these peopleís normative orientation and prepare a participatory discourse. Using Design Science Research (DSR) and Human-Centered Design (HCD), this thesis iteratively investigated how the software can be further improved. With additional analysis of impacts in the context of the unified goals, the LOTA process could be significantly improved. In line with this process improvement, the visualizations could also be further standardized and simplified. These visual improvements and the applied storytelling now make it easier to use LOTA outside the university environment.

Since the emergence of the Internet, many new enterprises in the travel sector have entered the market. All players in the tourism business were able to contact consumers directly. This threat of disintermediation for the traditional travel agencies required to innovate new products more rapidly or to implement new technologies. In particular technologies are regarded as the main driver of competitive business models. Recent developments allow travel agents to collect and analyze data for personalized recommendations. Consumers expressed privacy concerns with respect to the collection of a large amount of personal data. Based on these objections, the following research questions were formulated: (1) What technological developments did travel agencies integrate into their business models over time? (2) What are the technology-based differences between the business models of traditional and online travel agencies? (3) What are distinctions in the application of new technologies between developed and emerging markets regarding business models of travel agents? (4) How are travel agencies using innovations for data collection as part of optimizing their businesses? (5) How do the business practices of travel agencies influence consumer perceived privacy concerns? A theoretical background is provided by definitions, by an introduction to the methodology, and by highlighting technological developments of the travel market. A systematic literature review is used to compile the results as a basis for answering the research questions. For this purpose, the business models of travel agencies are presented in the business model canvas framework. For the within-case analysis, 18 business models from 1982-2019 were divided into five periods, and the cross-case analysis was performed subsequently. A further analysis was carried out to compare the technological standard of the individual business models against the emergence of technologies in the travel market. In addition, the integration of consumer needs into the business models was examined. In this context, data collection by travel agencies and consumer privacy concerns are discussed. The cross-case analysis demonstrates that online travel agencies were at least one step ahead of traditional travel agencies with respect to integrating new technologies throughout the observed period. Travel agencies from developed countries outperformed those from emerging markets due to their more advanced business models. In the last period, online travel agencies can be regarded as an exception, since they operated at the same technology level in both regions. An analysis of individual business models contradicts this result, as both types of travel agencies alternately used more innovative resources. In summary, the results of this study suggest that travel agencies do not operate at the cutting edge of current technological capabilities. By contrast, there exist a lot of opportunities to integrate blockchain technologies, artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality. These new technologies allow simultaneous data collection, and thus, trigger significant privacy concerns. As a result, decisions on purchase and trust in travel websites or apps are negatively impacted. At the same time, despite concerns some users continue to book their travel online. Reasons for this behavior may be related to the brand, a low perception of risk, or personalized products that convey confidence to the consumer. This contradiction illustrates the strong variation in attitudes of individuals with regard to privacy and data protection. In particular, the permanent collection of data by travel agencies and the non-transparent and uncontrolled transfer to third parties amplify concerns of consumers.

In recent years, there has been a rapid growth in the use of digital sharing platforms by individuals and also companies in various sectors. These platforms – such as Uber, Airbnb, Couchsurfing, BlaBlaCar, and many others – are predominantly associated with the sharing economy phenomenon. It is envisioned that in the coming years, the proliferation of platforms in the area of sharing economy will reach a point where it will eventually become a crucial, inevitable part of the global economy. Sharing platforms appear to have been more attractive in the eyes of consumers because they offer a wide variety of services that are often more affordable, efficient, convenient, and accessible than their counterparts in the conventional market. Nevertheless, the growth of the digitally enabled sharing economy can have both positive and negative effects from a sustainability perspective. In the technical sense of sharing, potential positive impacts take place as consumption processes are optimized through higher utilization of resources. From a social aspect, sharing enhances consumers’ collaboration and cooperation in providing access to resources, particularly in the case of consumer-to-consumer sharing models. However, a more critical insight can reveal risks of digital sharing for sustainability as well: For example, rebound effects – which occur as a result of increase of efficiency in consumption – and increasing inequality and discrimination in the social and economic practices promoted by platforms. It is, therefore, of utmost importance to reflect on the potential impacts of the digital sharing economy for sustainability.

The substitution of material-based services with digital services—for example films or music—alters the environmental impact of our everyday activities and shifts visible material use to less visible digital services. A holistic life cycle assessment (LCA) of digital transformation requires the assessment of information and communication technology (ICT) with its wide range of multifunctional devices as well as substitution and summation effects caused by new services enabled by modern ICT. The 73rd Discussion Forum on Life Cycle Assessment (DF LCA) was held on 21 November 2019 to discuss the environmental implications of digital transformation in view of the effective as well as the potential environmental impacts. While currently being a small but already relevant contributor to the overall greenhouse gas emissions, the relevance of the ICT sector is predicted to grow rapidly within the next 5 to 10 years (Belkhir & Elmeligi, 2018). This 1-day forum offered the possibility to discuss current as well as potential future implications of devices as well as digital services on the environment.

In order to help decision-makers find ways to reduce CO2 emissions of Swiss cities, a simulation game is being developed within the "Post-fossil cities" project. During the game, participants take on different roles in which they together explore pathways to a future, post-fossil city. An important requirement to the software system of the game was to be easily configurable in order to keep the game adaptive to different target groups of players. We describe a User Interface Management System (UIMS) that has been designed and implemented to realise the flexibility demanded from the game designers' side. The system allows game facilitators to configure the game and decide what kinds of visualisations are used during game sessions. The paper describes how the configuration system was conceptualised, implemented and integrated into the overall system architecture of the simulation game.

The number of mobile Intemet-enabled devices (MIEDs) is growing. Producing MIEDs requires resources, energy and causes considerable emissions. Extending the service life MIEDs could significantly reduce the demand for new devices and associated environmental impacts. However, whether service life extension actually reduces environmental impacts associated with MIEDs is still uncertain. First, available life cycle assessments of MIEDs suggest that the production of integrated circuits (ICs) accounts for the majority of GHG emissions during the production phase and that greenhouse gas emissions increase with the size of the device and, more importantly, with its storage capacity. However, there is only little information available on MIED specific components such as logic or memory type integrated circuits. In order to quantify environmental impacts of service life extension of MIEDs new approaches for life cycle inventory modelling (e.g. modular modelling) are required. Second, service life-extending measures are subject to rebound effects, which occur if the number of devices being produced does not fall as expected. Such effects depend on consumer behaviour (e.g. re-spending effects) and the rationalities of involved economic actors. Thus, environmental, behavioural and economic aspects have tobe taken into account in order to develop service life-extending measures that entail environmental benefits while being both economically viable and appealing to consumers.

Der neue Mobilfunk ist viel energieeffizienter und bringt Anwendungen, die den CO2-Ausstoss senken.

Die Welt ist geprägt von Ungleichheit, sowohl innerhalb der Länder als auch zwischen diesen. Ungleichheit zu verringern, aber dies nicht auf Kosten zukünftiger Generationen, ist die zentrale Herausforderung nachhaltiger Entwicklung. Lorenz Hilty erforscht, was die Digitalisierung dazu beitragen kann.

Estimating the amount of energy used while browsing the Internet has been a heated research topic over the last couple of decades. In 2019 The Shift Project (TSP), a French non-profit think tank and novel voice in the ICT for Sustainability community, released multiple polarizing studies and tools concerning the environmental impact of Internet usage which have received considerable media attention. One of the tools presented by TSP is the Carbonalyser, a browser add-on which calculates the carbon emissions resulting from browsing the Internet. In this thesis the Carbonalyser is critically analyzed to establish whether it is a valid tool to estimate the climate impact of the individual’s Internet use. For this purpose, it is first analyzed as a black box before focusing on its source code and underlying model. The results suggest that the Carbonalyser’s estimates are inaccurate, due to multiple fallacies. In conclusion, the Carbonalyser cannot be endorsed as it is currently implemented and suggestions for enhancements are given.

Third-degree price differentiation is given when a supplier offers similar goods to different consumers at a different price (Varian, 1996). Usually, the differentiated price is based on the consumers individual willingness to pay, which allows the seller to extract more of the consumers surplus to increase his own profit (Miller, 2014). Thus, the seller takes a position of power by using the knowledge of the consumers willingness to pay and the monopolistic market power, which are prerequisites for the price differentiation (Phlips, 1983). The abuse of this position of power for the purpose of self-serving profit maximization indicates potential for an ethical conflict. Furthermore, theoretical and empirical studies suggest that price differentiation is widely perceived as unfair by consumers (Schwaiger & Hufnagel, 2018). The perception of unfairness is based on the violation of norms (Xia, Monroe, & Cox, 2004). This paper examines the ethical legitimation of third-degree price differentiation. In doing so, the author is guided by the scheme of ethical decision-making by Bleisch and Huppenbauer (2014). The aim of this paper is to identify the moral norms which emerge in third-degree price differentiation. Based on these norms, a final decision will be made as to how third-degree price differentiation should be ethically assessed.

There is a growing discussion about the "Digital Sharing Economy" (DSE). The pervasiveness of digital platforms and the growing interest in a sharing (rather than ownership) style of consumption have allowed for sharing practices to scale up and become a widespread phenomenon. Digital sharing platforms offer a wide variety of services which appear to be more affordable, efficient, and accessible than their conventional counterparts, making them more attractive in the eyes of consumers. The DSE has manifested itself most remarkably in consumer-to-consumer (C2C) and business-to-consumer (B2C) sharing models. New business models have been created to capture and offer the values driving the emerging sharing trend. The innovative, digitally enabled mode of providing access to resources as a service in the DSE has changed consumption patterns both at micro level, as a change in individual lifestyles, and at macro level, manifested in a transformation of socio-economic structures. These ongoing changes may have both positive and negative implications for society from a sustainability perspective. Recognising that the (potential and actual) impacts of sharing platforms on sustainability have not been studied in a systematic way yet, the present paper aims to develop a systematic insight into this interaction by focusing on the business models emerging around sharing platforms as a central starting point. To achieve this, we use a typology of business models that recognizes the affordances and key attributes of sharing in the DSE. The typology covers both C2C and B2C models of sharing. Based on this typology, we discuss the implications of each type of sharing model for sustainability by asking two central questions: How may the given type of sharing affect resource consumption? And what will be the potential impacts on social practices and structures? We hope that the present study can serve as a guideline for assessing the sustainability impacts of sharing platforms -- either already operating in the market or envisaged. By highlighting the aspects most relevant from a sustainability point of view, we expect to contribute to an evolution of the DSE business models towards sustainable development.

The goal of this bachelor thesis is it to examine the effectiveness of the planned CO2-tax of Switzerland which is discussed within the scope of the revision of its CO2 law. Along with it the question is posed if it is possible to achieve the Paris climate goal with the help of this tax. The member states of the Paris Agreement obligate themselves to reduce their yearly greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent until 2030, in comparison to the reference year 1990. The national council of Switzerland wants to achieve 75 percent of the reduction inland. On the basis of price elasticities of selected studies, it was calculated for different scenarios that, ceteris paribus, the yearly CO2-emissions are going to be reduced by 1.93 million to 3.37 million tons of CO2 until 2030, in comparison to the year 2017, with the help of the CO2-tax. As a result, the goal is going to be missed by at least 8 million tons of CO2. Furthermore, it is shown, that with the same tax it is possible to save between 49.27 million and 60.27 million tons of CO2 equivalents from 2018 until 2050, which corresponds to more than the swiss greenhouse gas emissions of the whole year 2017.

Heat waves, rise in sea levels and the disappearance of the arctic sea ice are some of the effects of climate change (Collins et al., 2013). These effects will have negative impacts on all human beings, making climate change “the defining issue of our time” (United Nations, n.d., para. 1). Studies indicate that information and communication technologies (ICT) can provide a significant GHG abatement potential. In this thesis, I identify four ICT use cases with the potential to reduce GHG emissions in Germany in 2030 and estimate their GHG abatement potential. Each use case has the theoretical potential to provide a significant GHG abatement potential. I find that the largest potential lies in smart energy, including smart gas grids. Hybrid heat pumps, facilitated and supported by smart gas grids, provide a significant GHG abatement potential. The second highest potential lies in smart buildings, followed by smart traffic and smart agriculture. I recommend taking targeted actions to increase the awareness of the potential of these use cases to increase the adoption rates and mitigate GHG emissions.

The digital transition of society has changed sharing practices and scaled them up to become a new phenomenon: the digitally enabled sharing economy or the “digital sharing economy” (DSE) for short. As a prominent enabler of change in consumption patterns, the DSE has allowed people to collaborate in providing and receiving services in their peer networks. Participating in the DSE is becoming increasingly interesting and more effective in the eyes of its users. The effects of this new trend, however, may be positive or negative from a sustainability perspective. The DSE can optimize the consumption and utilization of available products while improving connectedness for social collaboration. Nevertheless, it has raised concerns about the 'rebound effects' caused by the savings obtained from sharing systems and also about the social status of its participants, including fairness and working conditions, and other social and economic issues.

Through virtual presence, information and communication technology (ICT) allows employees to work from places other than their employer's office and reduce commuting-related environmental effects (telecommuting). Working from a local co-working space, as a form of telecommuting, has the potential to significantly reduce commuting and is not associated with deficits of working from home (e.g. isolation, lack of focus). However, environmental burden might increase through co-working due to the infrastructure required to set-up and operate the co-working space and potential rebound effects. In this paper, we (1) develop a framework of direct and indirect environmental effects of co-working based on a well-known conceptual framework of environmental effects of ICT and, (2) apply the framework to investigate the case of a co-working living lab established in Stockholm. Based on interviews and surveys conducted with co-workers in the living lab and infrastructure data of the co-working space, we roughly estimate associated energy impacts. Results show that energy requirements associated with operating the co-working space can counterbalance commute-related energy savings. Thus, in order to realize energy savings co-working should be accompanied with additional energy saving measures such as a net reduction of (heated) floor space (at the co-working space, at the employer's office and the co-workers home) and use of energy-efficient transport modes.