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Relative to the enormous acceptance of the ISO 9000 quality standard, the ISO 14001 environmental management certification has been met with only moderate enthusiasm among industrial facilities. The literature on corporate motivation for ISO 14001 participation is relatively modest considering the enormous number of publications reviewing other aspects of its adoption and implementation. It would seem that the present "marketing" package supporting ISO environmental commitments does not seem to offer sufficiently persuasive incentives for increased sales, either domestically or internationally. While researchers assume that a higher export rate of companies is positively associated with higher ISO participation rates, there have been very few empirical studies that support this inference, and conclusions have not been based on data taken from importing countries or from a systematic evaluation of expressed corporate preference for products sold by ISO 14001 certified companies. The present study reports the results of a survey to firms in six countries that are Israel's leading trade partners, importing chemicals, textiles, and produce. The survey results confirm that while the international market still considers price and quality as the paramount factors in selection of suppliers, environmental management systems (EMS) are an important feature that is frequently taken into consideration. EMS certification appears to signify a supplier who is managing the business well and exhibiting ethical responsibility. The European market proved to be more environmentally conscious than those in other industrialized parts of the world. EMS offer a particularly valuable advantage for producers wishing to reach European markets. As policymakers seek to expand the voluntary adoption of EMS, a clear advantage for exporters should be highlighted among national industries.

In buildings, one or a combination of systems (e.g., central HVAC system, ceiling fan, desk fan, personal heater, and foot warmer) are often responsible for providing thermal comfort to the occupants. While thermal comfort has been shown to differ from person to person and vary over time, these systems are often operated based on prefixed setpoints and schedule of operations or at the request/routine of each individual. This leads to occupants' discomfort and energy wastes. To enable the improvements in both comfort and energy efficiency autonomously, in this paper, we describe the necessity of an integrated system of sensors (e.g., wearable sensors/infrared sensors), infrastructure for enabling system interoperability, learning and control algorithms, and actuators (e.g., HVAC system setpoints, ceiling fans) to work under a governing central intelligent system. To assist readers with little to no exposure to artificial intelligence (AI), we describe the fundamentals of an intelligent entity (rational agent) and components of its problem-solving process (i.e., search algorithms, logic inference, and machine learning) and provide examples from the literature. We then discuss the current application of intelligent personal thermal comfort systems in buildings based on a comprehensive review of the literature. We finally describe future directions for enabling application of fully automated systems to provide comfort in an efficient manner. It is apparent that improvements in all aspects of an intelligent system are be needed to better ascertain the correct combination of systems to activate and for how long to increase the overall efficiency of the system and improve comfort.

The goal of this research is to investigate the benefits of using a web-based social network to promote energy awareness, and influence energy-saving behavior of typical office workers. We propose that a social network integrated into the workplace environment -allowing people to track their own energy-related activities, to share this information, and to view and react to peers' activities -can take advantage of social influence to positively affect behavior. We are currently developing a prototype of such an application through iterative design. In the final phase of this work we will conduct experiments with a large number of subjects to test the ability of this application to influence attitudes and behaviors of office workers, and for providing a platform for commercial building operators to better communicate with occupants.

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