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1 – 5 of 5Rodrigo Echeverría, Víctor Hugo Moreira, Constanza Sepúlveda and Cecilia Wittwer
The aim of this paper is to elicit the willingness to pay (WTP) of Chilean consumers towards the carbon footprint of food products (fluid milk and bread), controlling for several…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to elicit the willingness to pay (WTP) of Chilean consumers towards the carbon footprint of food products (fluid milk and bread), controlling for several consumer's attributes.
Design/methodology/approach
A contingent valuation method (double bounded dichotomous choice) was used to analyze the WTP, wherein personal interviews were applied to a sample of 774 supermarket consumers.
Findings
Chilean consumers show a positive attitude towards the carbon footprint concept. Consumers are willing to pay 29 percent for fluid milk and 10 percent for bread, over their average prices. It seems that WTP for foods is negatively related to the share of the product on the monthly household expense.
Research limitations/implications
Based on the results of this work, the WTP is unique for each product, and hence, any attempt to extrapolate these results must be done with caution. Further research should include a wider set of products.
Practical implications
Local Chilean companies could obtain an advantage over their competitors (e.g. gain market share) if their products exhibit the carbon footprint. Moreover, if a company has a particular product with a competitive (low) CF, it could charge prices higher than those of its competitors.
Originality/value
This is the first work that provides an analysis of the WTP for carbon footprint labeling of foods in developing countries.
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Flavio Celis-D’Amico, Ernesto Echeverria-Valiente, Rodrigo Garcia-Alvarado, Olavo Escorcia-Oyola and Fernando da Casa-Martín
This study aims to introduce the results of a research carried out to develop a prototype of a highly energy-efficient modular detached house, called CASA+ CASA means HOUSE in…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to introduce the results of a research carried out to develop a prototype of a highly energy-efficient modular detached house, called CASA+ CASA means HOUSE in spanish, adapted to the climatic features of central-southern Chile. The project enables a sustainable alternative to facilitate the reconstruction of the residential areas after the impact of the 2010 earthquake.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology is based on an “integrated design process” of a case study that proposes a constructive response that quantitatively and qualitatively improves the initial data of traditional dwellings. The characteristics of the new system have been simulated with specific software to validate the final decisions, considering the cost–benefit ratio.
Findings
Simulation tools were used to assess and improve the system’s energy performance with respect to present options and to analyse its economic and construction viability. We obtained several economically competitive housing prototypes that substantially reduced energy consumption and the CO2 footprint by between 20% and 80%.
Research limitations/implications
The prototype has not been developed, as we are waiting for funding, but all its energy features have been simulated.
Practical implications
Furthermore, this experience also identified similar modifications made to the design of the houses, which revealed general possibilities for improving energy performance.
Social implications
The origin of this research is a public call for international researchers to improve the quality of the new homes to be built in Chile after the strong earthquake of 2010. The result of the research has been put at the direct service of Chilean society and in other international projects for the construction of low-energy social housing.
Originality/value
These are the result of a long research aimed at establishing a new architectural model that, in addition to improving the architectural quality of the product, obtains significant improvements in energy consumption and CO2 emissions. The most particular aspect is the practical vocation and its implementation with real construction with the support of construction companies.
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Ernesto Echeverria-Valiente, Rodrigo Garcia-Alvarado, Flavio Celis-D’Amico and Gerardo Saelzer-Fuica
This paper aims to review the application of integrated design strategies in several cases of housing in south-central Chile in search of ways to significantly reduce energy loss…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to review the application of integrated design strategies in several cases of housing in south-central Chile in search of ways to significantly reduce energy loss and demand.
Design/methodology/approach
First, seven main design features of energy-efficient buildings in developed countries were identified. Second, these features were reviewed in two professional case studies from architectural practices and two academic exercises on residential design in south-central Chile. In all cases reviewed, characteristics of integrated design were verified to reductions in energy loss and demand. Finally, the procedure implemented was evaluated through surveys of those practitioners responsible for each experience studied.
Findings
This process made it possible to highlight four main features of integrated design, namely, pre-established performance goals, interdisciplinary collaboration, regular broad-ranging meetings and the use of performance assessment tools. With these techniques, reductions of more than 50 per cent in the energy requirements of the housing designs were achieved, while safeguarding the functional, aesthetic and economic aspects of the projects.
Research limitations/implications
However, professionals currently working in this field did express their concern regarding responsibility for the design and the time needed to complete the process.
Practical implications
Furthermore, this experience also identified similar modifications made to the design of the houses, which revealed general possibilities for improving energy performance.
Social implications
The conclusions obtained have been exposed in conferences and graduate programmes and applied in two real projects for the benefit of society: first, the improvement of building envelopes in social housing in Temuco; and second, CASA+, a modular, prefabricated and energy efficient house prototype.
Originality/value
This paper carried out a novel review of an integrated design process in housing cases of developing countries, and identified the key features, which improve the environmental performance of dwellings.
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Can we do business with strangers? A major handicap to any promotion is ignorance of the market and its members. In order to understand Latin Americans, says Albert Hirschman, we…
Abstract
Can we do business with strangers? A major handicap to any promotion is ignorance of the market and its members. In order to understand Latin Americans, says Albert Hirschman, we must first understand how Latin Americans understand each other. We see the “facts” one way, but their perception of these same facts is often very different. This is my purpose in reporting on Peru's attitude and internal discussions on international trade. Why Peru? A U S. State Department official told me that they consider Peru as a sort of bell wether in South America. Abraham Lowenthal of the Inter‐American Dialog says Peru has an international significance greater than would be expected, considering the size of its economy, and E. V. K. Fitzgerald of Cambridge says the Peruvian experience is significant in judgimg prospects in South America.
Carlo Giannetto, Angelina De Pascale, Giuseppe Di Vita and Maurizio Lanfranchi
Apples have always been considered a healthy product able to provide curative properties to consumers. In Italy, there is a long tradition of apple consumption and production both…
Abstract
Purpose
Apples have always been considered a healthy product able to provide curative properties to consumers. In Italy, there is a long tradition of apple consumption and production both as a fresh product and as processed food. However, as with many other products, the consumption of fruits and vegetables and, more specifically apples, has been drastically affected by the first lockdown in 2020. In this project, the authors investigate whether the change in consumption habits had long-lasting consequences beyond 2020 and what are the main eating motivations, food-related behavior and socio-demographic affecting the consumption of fruits and vegetables after the pandemic.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors ran two online surveys with 1,000 Italian consumers across a year (from October 2021 to December 2022). In the study, participants answered questions about their consumption habits and their eating motives. Out of 1,000 consumers, the authors included in the final analysis only the participants who answered both surveys, leaving a final sample of 651 consumers.
Findings
The results show that participants have allocated more budget to fruit and vegetables after the lockdown than before it. Moreover, consumers reported an average increase in the consumption of apples. However, the increase was more pronounced for people aged between 30 and 50 years old and identified as female. After showing the difference across time, a cluster analysis identified three main segments that differ in their eating motives, place of purchase and area of residence.
Practical implications
Overall, the results contribute to a better understanding of how the global pandemic is still affecting people's daily life. Moreover, the findings can be used to guide the marketing and communication strategies of companies in the food sector.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study that investigates changes in the consumption of fruits and vegetables, and, more specifically, apples, in Italy more than one year after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, the study proposes a classification of consumers based on their habits in a time frame during which the COVID-19 wave was at its bottom which is not currently present in the literature.
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