Publications by Claudia Rebeca Binder Signer

Carving the transformation pathways to sustainable futures: A novel analytical framework for backcasting in sustainability transitions

Despite the increasing number of climate and sustainability pledges, knowledge of how to reach those targets within a given system – systems and transformation knowledge – is often lacking. Backcasting can be highly relevant for tackling this transformatio ...

2025

Load-shifting for cost, carbon, and grid benefits: A model-driven adaptive survey with German and Swiss households

Claudia Rebeca Binder Signer, Matteo Barsanti

Survey data helps understand user energy behaviour and inform policies supporting the transition to a renewable, user-centric electricity grid. To explore user responses to dynamic, hypothetical energy scenarios – such as time-varying electricity tariffs o ...

2025

A review of participatory modelling techniques for energy transition scenarios

Claudia Rebeca Binder Signer, Mert Duygan, Jaïr Kees Evert Karel Campfens

Energy transitions are pivotal for sustainability, yet their complexity and uncertainty pose significant challenges for effective planning and implementation. Participatory modelling has emerged as a promising approach to support these transitions, as it i ...

Elsevier BV2025

Tipping points toward sustainability: The role of industrial ecology

Claudia Rebeca Binder Signer, Aristide Henri Roger Athanassiadis

The discussion of tipping points (TPs) is getting increasing attention when addressing the climate and energy crisis. While industrial ecology (IE) has been playing a role in the climate and energy debates, it has so far fallen short of substantially addin ...

WILEY2025

Photovoltaic panels diffusion in Switzerland: understanding adopters profiles using clustering methods

Claudia Rebeca Binder Signer, Gloria Serra Coch, Maria Anna Hecher, Pablo Francisco Martinez Alcaraz

The adoption of photovoltaic panels (PV) by households is essential to meet residential Swiss energy transition targets. While previous studies have mostly focused on the factors influencing PV adoption by comparing adopters with non-adopters, few have ack ...

2025

Mapping operational and embodied emissions in relation to household and ownership profiles with bottom-up building stock analysis: The case of Vaud, Switzerland

Claudia Rebeca Binder Signer, Aristide Henri Roger Athanassiadis, Ankita Singhvi

We conducted a bottom-up, spatially explicit building stock analysis to examine the social and spatial heterogeneity of operational and embodied emissions of residential buildings in Canton Vaud, Switzerland. Variations emerged between locations, household ...

2025

Initiating social tipping dynamics in energy transitions: A novel analytical approach for exploring feedback loops and intervention points

Claudia Rebeca Binder Signer, Mert Duygan, Jaïr Kees Evert Karel Campfens

Social tipping dynamics illustrate how minor interventions can catalyse non-linear changes in energy transitions. Despite their importance, the feedback loops driving these dynamics are often analysed in isolation and predominantly qualitatively. This stud ...

2025

Where does plastic waste go? Local dynamics of waste flows in Indonesian neighbourhoods

Claudia Rebeca Binder Signer, Giulia Frigo

This study examines plastic waste flows across administrative wards (Kelurahan) and neighbourhoods (Rukun Warga) in Bandung, Indonesia, focusing on the role of local source separation programs, socioeconomic factors, and infrastructures in shaping plastic ...

2025

Configurations for circularity? A scoping review of urban planning approaches in the circular economy literature

Claudia Rebeca Binder Signer, Aristide Henri Roger Athanassiadis, Ankita Singhvi

This thematic analysis explores how circular economy literature addresses the relationship between the urban circular economy, land use and urban planning. Our scoping review identifies three spatial transformation strategies to enable circularity: densifi ...

2025

Beyond the average consumer: Mapping the potential of demand-side management among patterns of appliance usage

Claudia Rebeca Binder Signer, Matteo Barsanti, Selin Yilmaz

To support the decarbonisation of the power sector and offset the volatility of a system with high levels of renewables, there is growing interest in residential Demand-Side Management (DSM) solutions. Traditional DSM strategies require consumers to active ...

2024

An empirical comparative analysis of functional and perceived neighbourhood boundaries across Geneva, Switzerland

François Golay, Melissa Pang, Claudia Rebeca Binder Signer

The neighbourhood unit is used extensively across numerous disciplines to empirically measure various urban characteristics and phenomena. Spatially heterogeneous system variables-e.g., environmental, sociodemographic, infrastructural etc.-create distinct ...

Elsevier Sci Ltd2024

Informing targeted Demand-Side Management: Leveraging appliance usage patterns to model residential energy demand heterogeneity

Claudia Rebeca Binder Signer, Matteo Barsanti

The transition towards decentralised and decarbonised electricity systems requires a detailed understanding of residential energy demand to inform effective Demand-Side Management (DSM) strategies. Current modelling approaches predominantly rely on socio-d ...

2024

Report on the Statistical Analysis of Actor Decisions (Survey)

Claudia Rebeca Binder Signer, Maria Anna Hecher

Deliverable for WP3.3 of the project ABM4EnergyTransition 'Agent-based Simulation of Transition Scenarios for regional Heating and Energy Transformation'. ...

2024

Is the sharing economy a sustainable mode of consumption? An empirical case study of sharing of household goods and environmental rebound effects in a university context

Claudia Rebeca Binder Signer, Albert Merino, Ralph Hansmann

The Sharing Economy has been suggested as a sustainable mode of consumption due to its potential to lower resource use and waste generation. A better understanding of sharing drivers, consumption dynamics, and their interlinkages is essential to suitably a ...

Elsevier BV2024

Promoting synergies for sustainability through peer-to-peer sharing: an analysis of drivers and barriers

Claudia Rebeca Binder Signer, Ralph Hansmann

Peer-to-peer (P2P) sharing may foster sustainability synergistically by saving resources, reducing costs and promoting satisfaction of consumer needs and social connectivity. A survey of Swiss and Swedish consumers (N = 1522) was conducted to analyze drive ...

TAYLOR & FRANCIS INC2023

Geographic network effects to engage people in the energy transition: The case of PV in Switzerland

Claudia Rebeca Binder Signer, Romano Tobias Wyss, Gloria Serra Coch

With the energy transition and CO2 emissions reduction as a priority on the international policy agenda, governments worldwide are trying to engage the population in investing in renewable energies. In this paper, we study the role of information access an ...

2023

Streamlining the regionalization of economy-wide material flow accounts (EW-MFA): The case of swiss cantons

Claudia Rebeca Binder Signer, Nicole Sophie Wiedmann, Aristide Henri Roger Athanassiadis

Current levels of resource use and pollution emissions are responsible for the trespassing of most planetary boundaries. As such, operational and contextual analysis is needed to provide mitigation strategies and policies. This article aims to streamline E ...

ELSEVIER2023

Impact of Heat Pump Electrification in Distribution Grids through a Socio-technical Approach

Claudia Rebeca Binder Signer, Matteo Barsanti

Predicting the timing and form of grid operation challenges under heat electrification helps to mitigate such challenges with quick and cost-effective interventions, which supports energy transition. However, most current modeling approaches focus on techn ...

IEEE Computer Society2023

Diffusion of energy technologies: the role and dynamics of supply-side information networks

Claudia Rebeca Binder Signer, Romano Tobias Wyss, Gloria Serra Coch, Maria Anna Hecher

The diffusion of energy technologies is key for supporting the energy transition. While social influence and peer effects have been extensively studied on the demand side and found to impact adoption, less focus has been given to the role of information ne ...

2023

Understanding the relationship between activity spaces and commute routes

Claudia Rebeca Binder Signer, Gloria Serra Coch, Maria Anna Hecher

2023