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.
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.
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.
Author: Manoranjan Mishra
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1000292207
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 293
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Book Description
The EU is a major trade partner with India, and economic linkages continue to deepen. India and the EU have increased their political interactions and are crucial partners in promoting sustainable development. Recent trends in India-EU relations show that New Delhi and Brussels are keen to expand their partnership in multiple areas, including sustainable development and natural resources management. This volume takes a unique approach to exploring the efficient management of resources in the era of resource depletion due to climate changes and business expansion, in conjunction with considering the multiple dimensions of India-European Union cooperation. It analyzes regional and global trends in the process of globalization and sustainable development, particularly in the context of natural resource management and resource efficiency. It offers a variety of perspectives through useful and current information in this field, providing a concise and holistic understanding of the issues and challenges faced when exploiting natural resources for sustainable and efficient resource utilization.
Author: Mario Schmidt
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3662567458
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 549
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Book Description
The book presents about 100 current examples of how energy and materials can be saved in manufacturing companies. They serve to show which measures can be used in modern companies to exploit the potential for resource efficiency. The book is aimed at practitioners in companies and consulting firms, but is also suitable for the university sector as a practical introduction to the topic of resource efficiency. The materials used account for almost 43 percent of the costs of an average industrial company in Germany. Personnel costs, on the other hand, are only 22 percent, while energy costs are as low as 2 percent. If a company wants to save costs, above all it must consider the use of materials and produce in a resource-efficient manner. This simultaneously relieves the environment and reduces dependence on scarce raw materials. The implementation of resource efficiency is not easy. There are indeed numerous starting points in production, often in process innovations or in product development. However, only a few companies publish their measures and savings potentials. In practice, this means that there are often no learning examples in practice, but some of them are explicitly listed in this work. As you can see, resource efficiency in production and products can also be seen as a success factor for many companies. In the project 100 Pioneers in Efficient Resource Management, committed companies from Baden-Wuerttemberg are showing their solutions. The project was carried out by a competent team from the Pforzheim University and the State Agency for Environmental Technology. Leading trade associations in Baden-Württemberg have supported it.
Author: Bruce Lankford
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134079389
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 245
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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.
Author: Sadhan Kumar Ghosh
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 9811072906
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 1254
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Book Description
The book contains high-quality research papers presented at Sixth International Conference on Solid Waste Management held at Jadavpur University, Kolkata India during November 23-26, 2016. The Conference, IconSWM 2016, is organized by Centre for Quality Management System, Jadavpur University in association with premier institutes and societies of India. The researchers from more than 30 countries presented their work in Solid Waste Management. The book is divided into two volumes and deliberates on various issues related to innovation and implementation in sustainable waste management, segregation, collection, transportation of waste, treatment technology, policy and strategies, energy recovery, life cycle analysis, climate change, research and business opportunities.
Author: Stefan Krämer
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 3527340742
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 528
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Book Description
This monograph provides foundations, methods, guidelines and examples for monitoring and improving resource efficiency during the operation of processing plants and for improving their design. The measures taken to improve their energy and resource efficiency are strongly influenced by regulations and standards which are covered in Part I of this book. Without changing the actual processing equipment, the way how the processes are operated can have a strong influence on the resource efficiency of the plants and this potential can be exploited with much smaller investments than needed for the introduction of new process technologies. This aspect is the focus of Part II. In Part III we discuss physical changes of the process technology such as heat integration, synthesis and realization of optimal processes, and industrial symbiosis. The last part deals with the people that are needed to make these changes possible and discusses the path towards a resource efficiency culture. Written with industrial solutions in mind, this text will benefit practitioners as well as the academic community.
Author: Sigrun Kabisch
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319593242
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 402
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Book Description
The book addresses urban transformations towards sustainability in light of challenges of global urbanization processes and the consequences of global environmental change. The aim is to show that urban transformations only succeed if both innovative scientific solutions and practice-oriented governance approaches are developed. This assumption is addressed by providing theoretical insights and empirical evidence pointing particularly at 3 concepts or qualities which are determined here as being central for achieving urban sustainability: resource efficiency, quality of life and resilience. Urban case studies from several international research projects illustrate our conceptual approach of urban transformations towards sustainable development. Thus, the book reaches far beyond a mere additive description of single case studies. It incorporates the results of condensed synthesis, resulting from comparisons and evaluations. It provides, based on cross-cutting reflection of single cases and different scales and methods of analysis, general and transferable findings. They do not only consider the scientific sphere but deliberately go beyond it discussing transferability of knowledge into practice, governance options and the feasibility of policy strategies in order to pave the way for sustainable urban transformations to happen today and in the future.
Author: Harry Lehmann
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000213749
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 371
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Book Description
The fourth Factor X publication from the German Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt, UBA), Sustainable Development and Resource Productivity: The Nexus Approaches explores the interdependencies of sustainable development paths and associated resource requirements, describing and analysing the necessities for a more resource efficient world. The use of and competition for increasingly scarce resources are growing worldwide with current production and consumption patterns of industrialised economies soon to reach the point where the ecosphere will be overtaxed far beyond its limits. Against this background, this volume examines the important initiatives to monitor resource use at the international, EU and national level. The current trends and challenges related to sustainable resource use are discussed, including international challenges for a resource efficient world, megatrends, justice and equitable access to resources. In the second part of the book, contributions examine implementation strategies. They assess the concept known as circular economy and discuss the theory of growth and the role of the financial and education systems. The final section places special emphasis on practical examples. Overall, the book presents concrete ways and examples of achieving more sustainability in practice. Discussing solutions for a more sustainable use of natural resources, this book is essential reading for scholars and students of natural resources and sustainable development and decision-makers and experts from the fields of policy development, industry and civil society. The Open Access version of this book, available at https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781003000365, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
