The environmental impacts of face-to-face and remote university classes during the COVID-19 pandemic

Silva, Diogo Aparecido Lopes; Giusti, Gabriela; Rampasso, Izabela Simon; Junior, Antonio Carlos Farrapo; Marins, M.A; Anholon, Rosley

doi:10.1016/j.spc.2021.05.002

Cited by 23 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 35 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Compared to universities in Europe, such as those in England, this electricity consumption of the three mentioned categories represents a low value [35,51]; on the other hand, it is within the levels of institutions such as the Universidad de Almería [25]. In Latin America, energy consumption in higher education institutions had a significant reduction and in an order of magnitude similar to the present study, as has been reported for countries such as Brazil [39].…”

Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 84%

“…In this context, it is interesting to carry out a comparative analysis between the environmental impacts caused by the activities of the universities before the COVID-19 pandemic and the activities that are being carried out remotely today, which has been addressed by Lopes et al in institutions of Higher Education in Brazil [39], and that has allowed the use of environmental impact methodologies such as Life Cycle Analysis, to carry out more sophisticated studies. In addition, Clemson University has conducted a study of the reduction in energy consumption and the low estimated impacts in reducing its carbon footprint, in which case the decrease was approximately 30% [40].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

COVID-19 Pandemic Effect on Energy Consumption in State Universities: Michoacan, Mexico Case Study

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The COVID-19 pandemic has generated multiple impacts. In particular, in the educational sector, the virtual class modality generated changes in the patterns of energy consumption at the institutional level; the identification of this consumption will allow us to reflect on new energy saving and efficient use strategies. In this research, we present a case study of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on electricity consumption in 13 state universities in Michoacán, Mexico. Electric energy consumption has been evaluated before and during the presence of the COVID-19 between 2019 and 2020. The comparative analysis estimated the reduction in energy consumption and its economic and environmental impact. The results show a considerable decrease in electricity consumption, generating an average saving of 76.24 MWh/month, which translates into an annual emission reduction from 2019 to 2020 of approximately 497 TnCO2e, and in economic terms of $8,882.25 USD each month. In general, it was identified that consumption patterns in the use of machinery and computer equipment for administrative activities were drastically reduced. If education continues in virtual or hybrid modes, energy consumption schemes will continue to decline and institutions could move towards resilient, affordable, and sustainable models of energy production and consumption.

show abstract

Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 84%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 Pandemic Effect on Energy Consumption in State Universities: Michoacan, Mexico Case Study

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This plan includes plans for the determination of all kinds of measures to minimize the harmful effects of biocidal and other related products to be used for cleaning and disinfection on humans, nature, and other living things, the usage characteristics of the products, the hazard classes, and the correct usage methods Chen and O’Keeffe ( 2020 ), Curryer et al ( 2021 ), CDC ( 2020 ) Occupational health and safety Risk assessment Risk assessment refers to the work that needs to be done in order to identify the hazards that exist in the workplace, analyze and rank the factors that cause these hazards to turn into risks, and decide on control measures Lordan et al ( 2021 ), Malomet and Harber ( 2021 ), Ambatipudi et al ( 2021 ), Wang et al ( 2020a ), Lu et al ( 2021 ) Audit and organization It is necessary to monitor and control whether the occupational health and safety measures taken in the workplace are followed and to ensure that nonconformities are eliminated. For this purpose, it covers the process of forming teams, determining their duties, and supporting them with feedback and recording mechanisms Byrne et al ( 2020 ), Brooks et al ( 2022 ), Carnegie et al ( 2021 ), Malomet and Harber ( 2021 ) Waste management It refers to ensuring management without harming the environment and health during the collection and disposal of waste Betancourt et al ( 2021 ), Sarkodie and Owusu ( 2021 ), Scott et al ( 2021 ), Silva et al ( 2021 ) …”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On the other hand, Fischetti et al ( 2021 ) examined the effect of table, armchair, etc., placement on the risk of infection. Silva et al ( 2021 ), Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of face-to-face and distance learning classes was carried out in a higher education institution in the context of COVID-19. Betancourt and others ( 2021 ) provided early warning detection in COVID-19 by clinical tests for positive detection of virus RNA in the wastewater of students in 13 dormitories at the University of Arizona.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 safe campus evaluation for universities by a hybrid interval type-2 fuzzy decision-making model

Baskak

Ozbey

Yücesan

et al. 2022

Environ Sci Pollut Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, which has affected the whole world in recent years and has had devastating effects on all segments of society, has been one of the most important priorities. The Turkish Standards Institution has determined a checklist to contribute to developing safe and clean environments in higher education institutions in Turkey and to follow-up on infection control measures. However, this study is only a checklist that makes it necessary for decision-makers to make a subjective evaluation during the evaluation process, while the need to develop a more effective, systematic framework that takes into account the importance levels of multiple criteria has emerged. Therefore, this study applies the best-worst method under interval type-2 fuzzy set concept (IT2F-BWM) to determine the importance levels of criteria affecting the “COVID-19 safe campus” evaluation of universities in the context of global pandemic. A three-level hierarchy consisting of three main criteria, 11 sub-criteria, and 58 sub-criteria has been created for this aim. Considering the hierarchy, the most important sub-criterion was determined as periodic disinfection. The high contribution of the interval-valued type-2 fuzzy sets in expressing the uncertainty in the decision-makers’ evaluations and the fact that BWM provides criterion weights with a mathematical optimization model that produces less pairwise comparisons and higher consistency are the main factors in choosing this approach. Simple additive weighting (SAW) has also been injected into the IT2F-BWM to determine the safety level of any university campus regarding COVID-19. Thus, decision-makers will be better prepared for the devastating effects of the pandemic by first improving the factors that are relatively important in the fight against the pandemic. In addition, a threshold value will be determined by considering all criteria, and it will prepare the ground for a road map for campuses. A case study is employed to apply the proposed model, and a comparison study is also presented with the Bayesian BWM to validate the results of the criteria weights. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11356-022-22796-1.

show abstract

“…Previously, e-learning, education and correspondence courses were popularly considered as the part of non-formal education, but today, it seems to gradually replace the formal education system if the circumstances enduringly persist in the short-terms (Mishra et al, 2020). At the University level, for example, face-to-face classes were abruptly transferred to virtual/remote environments, which modified teaching and learning routines and experiences (Silva et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of the quality of digital services provided by an e-learning platform focused on sustainability issues

Delgado

Junior

Mergulhão

et al. 2022

Prod.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Paper aims:The aim was to adapt and apply a SERVQUAL scale to measure the perceived service quality of an e-learning platform provided by the United Nations for Environment Programme (UNEP) focused on sustainability issues.Originality: There is a scarce number of publications using the SERVQUAL for digital services evaluation. This study contributes to filling this gap, generating new insights for the service quality literature by proposing an adaptation of the SERVQUAL scale for online sustainability courses. Research method:The SERVQUAL was carried out with undergraduate and post-graduate students enrolled at a Brazilian higher education institution. A set of 21 questions was set up to evaluate the perceived service quality of the students before/after finishing the online course "Introduction to Life Cycle Thinking (LCT)" provided by UNEP. Main findings:The results showed that the most important features were related to the empathy, assurance and tangibility quality dimensions with emphasis on the high quality of addressing the user doubts and the audio and video resources that helped students in the learning process. In conclusion, the perceived quality was higher than the expectations for many of the SERVQUAL dimensions.Implications for theory and practice: Finally, the step-by-step methodological approach used by this paper should be adopted by other e-learning platforms to investigate quality and service management aspects. Empathy, assurance and tangibility may be seen as key components in the service quality management of e-learning platforms.

show abstract

The environmental impacts of face-to-face and remote university classes during the COVID-19 pandemic

Cited by 23 publications

References 35 publications

COVID-19 Pandemic Effect on Energy Consumption in State Universities: Michoacan, Mexico Case Study

COVID-19 Pandemic Effect on Energy Consumption in State Universities: Michoacan, Mexico Case Study

COVID-19 safe campus evaluation for universities by a hybrid interval type-2 fuzzy decision-making model

Assessment of the quality of digital services provided by an e-learning platform focused on sustainability issues

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About