International Economics of Resource Efficiency

International Economics of Resource Efficiency PDF Author: Raimund Bleischwitz
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3790826014
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 409

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Book Description
Human societies face a threatening future of resource scarcity and environmental damages. This book addresses the challenge of turning these risks into opportunities and policies. It is a collection of high level contributions from experts of sustainable growth and sustainable resource management. Focussing on economics, sustainability, technology and policy, the book highlights system innovation, leapfrogging strategies of emerging economies, possible rebound effects and international market development. It puts natural resources centre stage and will make an important contribution to achieving the goal of a 21st century Green Economy.

The Greening of Industrial Ecosystems

The Greening of Industrial Ecosystems PDF Author: National Academy of Engineering
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309049377
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 270

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Book Description
In the 1970s, the first wave of environmental regulation targeted specific sources of pollutants. In the 1990s, concern is focused not on the ends of pipes or the tops of smokestacks but on sweeping regional and global issues. This landmark volume explores the new industrial ecology, an emerging framework for making environmental factors an integral part of economic and business decision making. Experts on this new frontier explore concepts and applications, including: Bringing international law up to par with many national laws to encourage industrial ecology principles. Integrating environmental costs into accounting systems. Understanding design for environment, industrial "metabolism," and sustainable development and how these concepts will affect the behavior of industrial and service firms. The volume looks at negative and positive aspects of technology and addresses treatment of waste as a raw material. This volume will be important to domestic and international policymakers, leaders in business and industry, environmental specialists, and engineers and designers.

International Economics of Resource Efficiency

International Economics of Resource Efficiency PDF Author: Raimund Bleischwitz
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3790826014
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 409

Get Book Here

Book Description
Human societies face a threatening future of resource scarcity and environmental damages. This book addresses the challenge of turning these risks into opportunities and policies. It is a collection of high level contributions from experts of sustainable growth and sustainable resource management. Focussing on economics, sustainability, technology and policy, the book highlights system innovation, leapfrogging strategies of emerging economies, possible rebound effects and international market development. It puts natural resources centre stage and will make an important contribution to achieving the goal of a 21st century Green Economy.

Resource Efficiency and Climate Change

Resource Efficiency and Climate Change PDF Author: United Nations
Publisher: UN
ISBN: 9789211587449
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 172

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Book Description
"The International Resource Panel (IRP) was established to provide independent, coherent and authoritative scientific assessments on the use of natural resources and their environmental impacts over the full life cycle. The Panel aims to contribute to a better understanding of how to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation while enhancing well-being. The Secretariat is hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme. IRP assessments demonstrate the opportunities for governments, businesses and wider society to work together to create and implement policies that ultimately lead to sustainable resource management, including through better planning, technological innovation and strategic incentives and investments. Materials are vital to modern society, but their production is an important source of greenhouse gases. Emissions from material production are now comparable to those from agriculture, forestry, and land use change combined, yet they have received much less attention from the climate policy community. The IPR authors propose looking beyond energy efficiency to reduce global carbon footprint. This report was developed by the IRP in response to a request from the Group of 7. It conducts a rigorous assessment of the contribution of material efficiency to GHG abatement strategies. More concretely, it assesses the potential reduction of GHG emissions from material efficiency strategies applied in residential buildings and light duty vehicles, and reviews policies that address these strategies. The IRP modelling results show that increasing material efficiency can help enhance efforts in moving towards the 1.5° C target set by the Paris Agreement." -- Page 4 of cover

Eco-efficiency

Eco-efficiency PDF Author: Livio D. DeSimone
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9780262541091
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
This book outlines the principles of eco-efficiency and presents case studies of their application from a number of international companies, including 3M and the Dow Chemical Company. The term "eco-efficiency" describes business activities that create economic value while reducing ecological impact and resource use. This book outlines the principles of eco-efficiency and presents case studies of their application from a number of international companies, including 3M and the Dow Chemical Company. It also discusses the value of partnerships--with other companies, business associations, communities, regulators, and environmental and other nongovernmental groups. In the conclusion, the authors argue that business must become more eco-efficient and that governments need to change the conditions under which business operates, including tax and regulatory regimes, to make them more conducive to eco-efficiency.

OECD Green Growth Studies Material Resources, Productivity and the Environment

OECD Green Growth Studies Material Resources, Productivity and the Environment PDF Author: OECD
Publisher: OECD Publishing
ISBN: 9264190503
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 176

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Book Description
This book provides a factual analysis of material flows and resource productivity in OECD countries in a global context.

Resource Efficiency Complexity and the Commons

Resource Efficiency Complexity and the Commons PDF Author: Bruce Lankford
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134079311
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Book Description
The efficient use of natural resources is key to a sustainable economy, and yet the complexities of the physical aspects of resource efficiency are poorly understood. In this challenging book, the author proposes a major advance in our understanding of this topic by analysing resource efficiency and efficiency gains from the perspective of common pool resources, applying this idea particularly to water resources and its use in irrigated agriculture. The author proposes a novel concept of "the paracommons", through which the savings of increased resource efficiency can be viewed. In effect he asks; "who gets the gain of an efficiency gain?" By reusing, economising and avoiding losses, wastes and wastages, freed up resources are available for further use by four ‘destinations’; the same user, parties directly connected to that user, the wider economy or returned to the common pool. The paracommons is thus a commons of – and competition for – resources salvaged by changes to the efficiency of natural resource systems. The idea can be applied to a range of resources such as water, energy, forests and high-seas fisheries. Five issues are explored: the complexity of resource use efficiency; the uncertainty of efficiency interventions and outcomes; destinations of freed up losses, wastes and wastages; implications for resource conservation; and the interconnectedness of users and systems brought about by efficiency changes. The book shows how these ideas put efficiency on a par with other dimensions of resource governance and sustainability such as equity, justice, resilience and access.

The Jevons Paradox and the Myth of Resource Efficiency Improvements

The Jevons Paradox and the Myth of Resource Efficiency Improvements PDF Author: Blake Alcott
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1136553355
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 198

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Book Description
The Jevons Paradox, which was first expressed in 1865 by William Stanley Jevons in relation to use of coal, states that an increase in efficiency in using a resource leads to increased use of that resource rather than to a reduction. This has subsequently been proved to apply not just to fossil fuels, but other resource use scenarios. For example, doubling the efficiency of food production per hectare over the last 50 years (due to the Green Revolution) did not solve the problem of hunger. The increase in efficiency increased production and worsened hunger because of the resulting increase in population. The implications of this in todays world are substantial. Many scientists and policymakers argue that future technological innovations will reduce consumption of resources; the Jevons Paradox explains why this may be a false hope. This is the first book to provide a historical overview of the Jevons Paradox, provide evidence for its existence and apply it to complex systems. Written and edited by world experts in the fields of economics, ecological economics, technology and the environment, it explains the myth of efficiency and explores its implications for resource usage (particularly oil). It is a must-read for policymakers, natural resource managers, academics and students concerned with the effects of efficiency on resource use.

Energy Economics: Energy Efficiency in China

Energy Economics: Energy Efficiency in China PDF Author: Yi-Ming Wei
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319446312
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 354

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Book Description
This book presents a succinct overview of research on China's Energy Efficiency as studied by the Center for Energy & Environmental Policy Research (CEEP), Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT). Energy efficiency, linking energy supply, demand and market, is crucial to the world's energy development. China consumes one fourth of the world's energy currently, however its per capital consumption is no more than half of that in OECD countries. This book provides a comprehensive treatment of the situation of China's energy development, proposes and summarizes the methodologies of energy efficiency measurement, and uses these methods to analyze the energy consumption at sectoral and provincial level, the impacts of economic structure on the energy macro-efficiency, the price elasticity of oil demand, and energy efficiency policies simulations. The book provides scientific support for researchers and policy makers dealing with energy efficiency.

Addressing resource efficiency through the Ecodesign Directive

Addressing resource efficiency through the Ecodesign Directive PDF Author: Carl Dalhammar
Publisher: Nordic Council of Ministers
ISBN: 9289327200
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 270

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Book Description
The European Union has initiated a number of initiatives to improve resource efficiency in Europe. The Ecodesign Directive is one of the policy instruments that could aid the transition towards a more resource efficient economy. So far, the Directive has mainly been applied to set requirements related to energy efficiency, but there is potential for setting legal standards that increase product durability and promote the future re-use and recycling of components and materials. This paper examines the potential benefits and disadvantages in applying the Directive for this purpose, and analyzes the potential to apply certain types of legal standards. There is a need for continuous development of indicators and methods in order to allow for a broader range of legal standards in the future. The study provides some short and long term recommendations on the way forward.

Factor X

Factor X PDF Author: Harry Lehmann
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319500791
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 446

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Book Description
This book describes and analyses necessities for a more resource-efficient world. It discusses solutions for a more sustainable use of natural resources, addressing decision-makers and experts from the fields of policy development, industry, academia, civil society, and the media. The book presents strategies, concrete ways and examples of achieving more sustainable resource use in practice. Following on from two previous titles published on Factor X by the Umweltbundesamt (German Environment Agency), entitled “Factor X: Policy, Strategies and Instruments for a Sustainable Resource Use” (2013) and “Factor X: Re-source – Designing the Recycling Society” (2014), this book further investigates how savings in natural resources and resource efficiency improvements could be achieved, focusing on good practice examples that cover different resource categories, pursue different efficiency strategies and come from different sectors, e.g. innovative products or services, technology, man agement approaches, systemic approaches, etc. The background against which this work is done has a highly comprehensive span, from the first Declaration of the Factor X Club in the nineties, to the European Commission’s Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe that was published in September 2011, through to the German Federal government’s German Resource Efficiency Programme (ProgRess I and II) in 2012 and 2016, the G7 Alliance for Resource Efficiency, and most recently the development and implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).