Page - 6 - in options, Volume winter 2014/2015

research news 6 options + winter 2014/2015 www.iiasa.ac.at iiasa research Chasing innovation How do new energy technologies come to fruition? Energy Technology Innovation: Learning from Historical Successes and Failures, a new book by IIASA researchers Charlie Wilson and Arnulf Grubler, uses case studies of past successes and failures to build a systemic perspective on historical energy innovation. By examining historical trends, the researchers find patterns for success that could be translated to future energy policy. People in motion A new book, Spatial Mobility, Migration, and  Living Arrangements, edited by IIASA researcher Raya Muttarak et al., explores how migration, both internationally and nationally, affects people’s lives and families. What happens to relationships when couples live apart? Who do immigrants marry? Why don’t young people leave the parental home? Which parent do children live with after divorce? The research covered in this book brings new light to the impacts of mobility on family lives as well as of life events on mobility. Future thinking How will likely future global trends—in fields ranging from demography and health to climate change—affect future generations? Will tomorrow’s children be better off than their parents? In the book Zukunft Denken, IIASA World Population Program Director Wolfgang Lutz and European Forum Alpbach President Franz Fischler explore possible future scenarios for Austria and the world, based in large part on research conducted at  IIASA by Lutz  and  colleagues. www.iiasa.ac.at/events/zukunft-denken-14 Demography and religion Religion is a key factor in demography, important for projections of future population growth and for other social indicators. A new journal, Yearbook of International Religious Demography, is the first to bring a quantitative demographic focus to the study of religion. The journal is co-edited by IIASA  researcher Vegard Skirbekk, an  expert in the field of religious demography. It includes three studies by  IIASA researchers focused on religion and  ethnicity in Vienna, Europe, and the world. www.iiasa.ac.at/news/pop-religion-14 Green growth—the idea that economic growth can go hand in hand with climate mitigation, sustainable resource use, and the protection of biodiversity—sounds beautiful in theory. But finding practical green growth solutions remains a major challenge for economists and policymakers. “Economic models do not tend to deal with the long horizons required to address the relevant questions of climate change, technological transitions, and long-run environmental depletion,” says IIASA researcher Jesus Crespo Cuaresma. He is a co-editor of a new book, Green Growth and Sustainable Development, which explores new research methods for understanding green growth. The book came out of a three-day IIASA workshop co-organized by the Institute’s Advanced Systems Analysis and World Population research programs, which brought together economists and mathematicians skilled in developing models for green growth and sustainability. “In reality the feedback between environment and economic growth is manifold and complex. It becomes even more complex in a warming world,” says Elena Rovenskaya, director of the IIASA Advanced Systems Analysis Program. “One way to explore the complex interactions within the human–earth system is to use small-scale stylized models that represent the feedbacks between economy and environment.” The studies in the book describe a number of different models and their application to specific questions at the environment–economy interface. One study, for example, explores the trade-offs between economic growth and air pollution, which is damaging to human health. Another study examines how the exhaustibility of natural resources impacts decision making. Other studies explore the impacts of environmental regulation on economic growth and innovation—and find different results depending on the specific setting. Rovenskaya says, “This book is a good example of fruitful collaboration between mathematicians and economists, using advanced mathematics to generate qualitative insights into feedbacks within the coupled human–earth system.” KL Further info Crespo Cuaresma J, Palokangas T, Tarasyev A (Eds) (2013). Green Growth and Sustainable  Development. Springer [doi:10.1007/978-3-642-34354-4]. Elena Rovenskaya rovenska@iiasa.ac.at § Jesus Crespo Cuaresma crespo@iiasa.ac.at Green growth and sustainable development