Smart electric meters play a pivotal role in making energy systems decarbonized and automating the energy system. Smart electric meters denote huge business opportunities for both public and private companies. Utility players can manage the electricity demand more efficiently whereas customers can monitor and control the electricity bill through the adoption of smart electric meters. The study examines the factors affecting the adoption intention of smart electric meters in Indian households. This study draws a roadmap that how utility providers and customers can improve the smart electric meters adoption. The study has five independent variables (performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, environmentalism, and hedonic motivation) and one dependent variable (adoption intention). The sample size for the study is four hundred and sixty-two respondents from Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR). The data was analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM). The results of this study have confirmed that performance expectancy, environmentalism, and social influence have a significant impact on the intention of adopting smart electric meters. Therefore, utility providers can improve their strategies to attract more customers to adopt smart electric meters by focusing more on the performance of smart electric meters and by making them environmentally friendly. This research offers meaningful insights to both customers and utility providers to make energy systems decarbonized and control energy consumption.

Overwhelming studies unanimously agreed that preservation of the environment is a central climax in the discourse of green banking. There is a growing interest in exploring green banking practices for fostering financial inclusion, economic growth and sustainable development as part of Vision 2030 in Saudi Arabia. There are insufficient studies that examine this in the context of Saudi Arabia. This study aims at exploring the potential of green banking in order to attain sustainable banking and financial inclusion in achieving vision 2030in the country. Qualitative content analysis is used as a methodology of the study. Data were gathered through different sources such as: Web of Science (WOS), related journals, newspapers, published references, research papers, library sources and environmental organizations reports. It is indicated that green banking initiatives can be instrumental in fostering sustainable economic and environmental development in the Kingdom. The paper highlighted various activities of green banking such as: renewable and clean energy, financing green agriculture/food security, high-quality infrastructure among others. Nonetheless, some impediments to the green banking practices such as: risks facing green banks, poor quality of financial services among others are also mentioned in this paper. The paper proffers solutions to the challenges impeding green banking practices. In conclusion, the financial and banking industries in Saudi Arabia has been proving reform of the sector through greening economy. It is there suggested that the stakeholders and policymakers should provide efficient and effective technical, operational legal frameworks for enhancing green economy in achieving Vision 2030 in the country.

Background: Despite China’s 1.4 billion population and massive investment in improving medical education, there is no transformational national or international course focused on emergency trauma care. In order to overcome recognized deficiencies, we developed an affordable knowledge and skills workshop called Essential Trauma Critical Care China (ETCCC). Methods: Pre-course and post-course MCQs were used to test knowledge and simulation scenarios quantified clinical competence. Structured feedback was obtained. To evaluate the effect of ETCCC on staff performance, we analyzed the clinical records and questioned resuscitation team peers for trauma patients requiring resuscitation room intervention in the 10 consecutive patients before and after the workshops. Results: During 2022–2023, five workshops were delivered to participants from six hospitals in two Chinese provinces. Cost per participant did not exceed US$125. Fifty-eight doctors and 37 nurses participated. For all delegates pre-course knowledge scores increased from mean 35% to 70% post-course. 99% (n = 82/83) participants reached the required standard in the post-course written test. Post-course skills tests scores were mean 67% for doctors and 84% for nurses. Nurses demonstrated significant improvements in the rate and quality of trauma history acquisition as well as triage skills after the course (all p < 0.01). Doctors scored significant improvement in the areas of leadership and teamwork, care of cervical spine, circulation assessment and fluid resuscitation (all p < 0.02). Conclusion: Essential Trauma Critical Care China (ETCCC) is the first economically developed medical educational tool shown to improve performance of emergency room staff. Its success may have relevance for trauma-care education in similar medium-resource environments.

The following paper assesses the relationship between electricity consumption, economic growth, environmental pollution, and Information and Communications Technology (ICT) development in Kazakhstan. Using the structural equation method, the study analyzes panel data gathered across various regions of Kazakhstan between 2014 and 2022. The data were sourced from official records of the Bureau of National Statistics of Kazakhstan and include all regions of Kazakhstan. The chosen timeframe includes the period from 2014, which marked a significant drop in oil prices that impacted the overall economic situation in the country, to 2022. The main hypotheses of the study relate to the impact of electricity consumption on economic growth, ICT, and environmental sustainability, as well as ICT’s role in economic development and environmental impact. The results show electricity consumption’s positive effect on economic growth and ICT development while also revealing an increase in pollutant emissions (emissions of liquid and gaseous pollutants) with economic growth and electricity consumption. The development of ICT in Kazakhstan has been revealed to not have a direct effect on reducing pollutant emissions into the environment, raising important questions about how technology can be leveraged to mitigate environmental impact, whether current technological advancements are sufficient to address environmental challenges, and what specific measures are needed to enhance the environmental benefits of ICT. There is a clear necessity to integrate sustainable practices and technologies to achieve balanced development. These results offer important insights into the relationships among electricity consumption, technology, economic development, and environmental issues. They underscore the complexity and multidimensionality of these interactions and suggest directions for future research, especially in the context of finding sustainable solutions for balanced development.

The affectations caused by extreme events of natural origin such as droughts and floods in traditional homes in the province of Gran Chaco, in Bolivia, are frequent. These aspects compromise the habitat of the populations that occupy them, as is the case of the original Weenhayek people, as an alternative for the improvement of the human habitat of this town. Through theoretical and empirical methods, five variables used for the development of the adaptation model were determined, from the bases of planned adaptation as a component of urban-territorial resilience, in search of an improvement of socio-environmental systems in the face of the effects of climate change, exemplified in the Weenhayek native people. The model establishes the improvements of traditional dwellings, from a current trend of deterioration to one of preservation, conservation and growth in the Weenhayek culture, through various features, such as: Respects the cultural design of the house that integrates local patterns of the environment, ecosystem and contemporary construction elements without affecting its image, the materials and construction techniques used are of a traditional nature, but with contemporary elements that improve their application, durability, stability, as an articulated construction system, commits governments in all instances to the technical-constructive study of the rural areas of the human settlements of the Weenhayek people, and establishes a starting point towards new studies focused on native peoples.

Studies show that Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies can enhance compliance with COVID-19 guidelines within the parties in the construction industry in the future and mitigate job loss. It implies that mitigating job loss improves the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 1 (SDG 1) (eliminate poverty). There is a paucity of literature concerning 4IR technologies application and COVID-19 impact on South Africa’s construction industry. Thus, this paper investigates the impacts of the pandemic on the sector and the roles of digital technologies in mitigating job loss in future pandemics. Data were collected via virtual semi-structured interviews. The participants proffered unexplored insights into the impact of the pandemic on the sector and the possible roles that 4IR technology can play in mitigating the spread of the virus within the sector. Findings show that the sector was hit, especially the low-income earners, threatens to achieve Goal 1, despite government institutions’ intervention, such as economic support programmes, health and safety guidelines awareness, and medical facilities. Findings group the emerged impacts into health and safety, environmental, economic, productivity, social, and legal and insurance issues in South Africa. The study shows that technology can be advantageous to improving achieving Goal 1 in a pandemic era due to limited job loss.