Download or read book The Economic Superorganism written by Carey W. King and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-10-07 with total page 474 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Energy drives the economy, economics informs policy, and policy affects social outcomes. Since the oil crises of the 1970s, pundits have debated the validity of this sequence, but most economists and politicians still ignore it. Thus, they delude the public about the underlying influence of energy costs and constraints on economic policies that address such pressing contemporary issues as income inequality, growth, debt, and climate change. To understand why, Carey King explores the scientific and rhetorical basis of the competing narratives both within and between energy technology and economics. Energy and economic discourse seems to mirror Newton’s 3rd Law of Motion: For every narrative there is an equal and opposite counter-narrative. The competing energy narratives pit "drill, baby, drill!" against renewable technologies such as wind and solar. Both claim to provide secure, reliable, clean, and affordable energy to support economic growth with the most benefit to society, but how? To answer this question, we need to understand the competing economic narratives, techno-optimism and techno-realism. Techno-optimism claims that innovation overcomes any physical resource constraints and enables the social outcomes and economic growth we desire. Techno-realism, in contrast, states that no matter what energy technologies we use, feedbacks from physical growth on a finite planet constrain economic growth and create an uneven distribution of social impacts. In The Economic Superorganism, you will discover stories, data, science, and philosophy to guide you through the arguments from competing narratives on energy, growth, and policy. You will be able to distinguish the technically possible from the socially viable, and understand how our future depends on this distinction.

Download or read book Economy Energy Environment Simulation written by K. Uno and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2005-12-08 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the policy arena, as well as in the academic world, a new challenge is having to deal with the global community. We are increasingly aware that the world is linked through economy–energy–environment interactions. We are increasingly aware, at the same time, that the emergence of the global community does not imply an integrated harmonious world; rather, it is a community where co- tries/regions of different interests and values face each other directly. Global governance has to be achieved through actions of national governments under different motives and constraints. We need to have an analytical tool that is capable of producing a global picture, yet with detailed country resolution. If the world is a better place now compared to 100 years ago in terms of p- capita income, this is due to the industrialization that continued throughout the 20th century. We entered the 21st century knowing that the human aspiration that translates into ever-increasing production may not be tenable in the long run. Sustainability of the global community is at stake. In contrast to inc- mental decision making through the market mechanism that should lead to some optimal state under some assumptions such as perfect knowledge, smooth movement of resources, no externalities, and so forth, we need to have an a- lytical tool to provide us with details of the future state of the world.

Download or read book Energy Modelling Beyond Economics and Technology written by Bernard Giovannini and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Power of Science written by Domenico Rossetti di Valdalbero and published by Peter Lang. This book was released on 2010 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book highlights the interaction between science and politics and between research in economics and European Union policy-making. It focuses on the use of Quantitative tools, Top-down and Bottom-up models in up-stream European decision-making process through five EU policy case studies: energy taxation, climate change, energy efficiency, renewable energy, and internalisation of external costs. The author reveals how the European Commission grounds part of its legitimacy on the «objectivity of the figures» and on its «technical charisma». Faced by strong stakeholders, an elected European Parliament and a Council representing the national interests, the Commission defends the credibility of its policy initiatives (e.g. energy and environment targets, new market mechanisms) by scientific reports. Through an in-depth analysis of the preparatory legislation (Commission White Papers, Communications, Directive Proposals, Staff Working Documents, Impact Assessments), the author explains how the European Commission justifies economically and supports politically its initiatives. This book offers a new way of understanding the EU decision-making process with special reference to the energy and environment fields.

Download or read book Economic Environmental Energy Interactions written by T.R. Lakshmanan and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This publication is concerned with two major current debates in public policy in all affluent societies. One is the widespread concern with the quality of the natural environment-the quality of air, water, land, and wilderness areas-which has expressed itself in the passage and implementation in recent years of a variety of environmental laws and regulations. A second debate concerns the adequacy of energy resources to meet the requirements of a growing economy. The requirement that industries must abate environmental pollution leads to increased costs of production and, in turn, to higher prices, falling output in those industries, and reduced employment and income in the region where such industries are located. There may be, at the same time, growth in indus tries that supply pollution abatement equipment and services in those or other regions. Over time, the health and economic benefits of higher envi ronmental quality express themselves in changing patterns of consumption.

Download or read book A Manual for the Economic Evaluation of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Technologies written by Walter Short and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Manual for the Economic Evaluation of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Technologies provides guidance on economic evaluation approaches, metrics, and levels of detail required, while offering a consistent basis on which analysts can perform analyses using standard assumptions and bases. It not only provides information on the primary economic measures used in economic analyses and the fundamentals of finance but also provides guidance focused on the special considerations required in the economic evaluation of energy efficiency and renewable energy systems.

Download or read book The Superorganism written by Bert Holldobler and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2009 with total page 556 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Pulitzer Prize-winning authors of "The Ants" render the extraordinary lives of the social insects--ants, bees, wasps, and termites--in this visually spectacular volume. 110 color and 100 black-and-white illustrations.

Download or read book Energy Modelling Studies and Conservation written by Sam Stuart and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2013-10-22 with total page 724 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Energy Modelling Studies and Conservation documents the proceedings of seminar of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe held in Washington D.C., on 24-28 March 1980. The volume begins with a Seminar Theme Paper that identifies background policy issues that lead to modeling; discusses points of view involved in energy policy modeling; defines the context of a set of energy conservation problems or questions being analyzed; and provides a forward-looking view of the subject and its problems. This is followed by 54 papers that are organized into three main topics: (1) energy models of major interest to individual countries; (2) the interaction between energy conservation measures and the economy; and (3) the international aspects of energy conservation models. The papers on Topic 1 cover forecasting methodologies, demand and conservation studies, and electricity and supply studies. The papers on Topic 2 present the experiences in countries such as Norway, UK, the USSR, and US. The papers on Topic 3 include studies on energy conservation policies in France, Germany, and Italy; and the MARKAL multi-period linear programming model for joint research and development in the field of new energy technologies of the 17 countries of the International Energy Agency.

Download or read book The Energy Journal written by and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 830 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Energy Efficiency in Household Appliances written by Paolo Bertoldi and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 646 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is widespread interest throughout the world in improving appliance energy efficiency. Methods to reach that end include energy labeling, energy efficiency standards and market conditioning (e.g, energy efficient procurement and DSM programs). Energy efficiency standards, which started out as an action to reduce demand for energy in individual countries, has now become a subject of regional and even worldwide dimension, particularly in the context of global climate change mitigation. Mandatory energy efficiency standards are in place for some appliances in China, Canada, Mexico, the Philippines and the United States. Standards for refrigerator/freezers will take effect in Australia and the European Union in 1999. Voluntary energy efficiency standards are in place for refrigerators in Brazil, India and Korea and for air conditioners in India, Japan and Korea. Table I showed potential global energy use reductions from codes and standards in buildings. If individual country data can be assembled, a more accurate approach to estimating potential reductions in energy use and carbon emissions would be to perform a bottom-up analysis for energy using equipment on an end-use basis in as many large developing countries as possible. The impact of standards would be assessed as more efficient appliances replaced existing stock models and new purchases that increased saturation rates were made at higher efficiencies than would otherwise be the case. This approach would show the slow but steady buildup of annual energy savings from efficiency standards or other programs to improve energy efficiency.

Download or read book Beyond Engineering written by Robert Pool and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1997-07-17 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We have long recognized technology as a driving force behind much historical and cultural change. The invention of the printing press initiated the Reformation. The development of the compass ushered in the Age of Exploration and the discovery of the New World. The cotton gin created the conditions that led to the Civil War. Now, in Beyond Engineering, science writer Robert Pool turns the question around to examine how society shapes technology. Drawing on such disparate fields as history, economics, risk analysis, management science, sociology, and psychology, Pool illuminates the complex, often fascinating interplay between machines and society, in a book that will revolutionize how we think about technology. We tend to think that reason guides technological development, that engineering expertise alone determines the final form an invention takes. But if you look closely enough at the history of any invention, says Pool, you will find that factors unrelated to engineering seem to have an almost equal impact. In his wide-ranging volume, he traces developments in nuclear energy, automobiles, light bulbs, commercial electricity, and personal computers, to reveal that the ultimate shape of a technology often has as much to do with outside and unforeseen forces. For instance, Pool explores the reasons why steam-powered cars lost out to internal combustion engines. He shows that the Stanley Steamer was in many ways superior to the Model T--it set a land speed record in 1906 of more than 127 miles per hour, it had no transmission (and no transmission headaches), and it was simpler (one Stanley engine had only twenty-two moving parts) and quieter than a gas engine--but the steamers were killed off by factors that had little or nothing to do with their engineering merits, including the Stanley twins' lack of business acumen and an outbreak of hoof-and-mouth disease. Pool illuminates other aspects of technology as well. He traces how seemingly minor decisions made early along the path of development can have profound consequences further down the road, and perhaps most important, he argues that with the increasing complexity of our technological advances--from nuclear reactors to genetic engineering--the number of things that can go wrong multiplies, making it increasingly difficult to engineer risk out of the equation. Citing such catastrophes as Bhopal, Three Mile Island, the Exxon Valdez, the Challenger, and Chernobyl, he argues that is it time to rethink our approach to technology. The days are gone when machines were solely a product of larger-than-life inventors and hard-working engineers. Increasingly, technology will be a joint effort, with its design shaped not only by engineers and executives but also psychologists, political scientists, management theorists, risk specialists, regulators and courts, and the general public. Whether discussing bovine growth hormone, molten-salt reactors, or baboon-to-human transplants, Beyond Engineering is an engaging look at modern technology and an illuminating account of how technology and the modern world shape each other.

Download or read book Energy Abstracts for Policy Analysis written by and published by . This book was released on 1989 with total page 486 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Beyond Growth written by Herman E. Daly and published by Beacon Press. This book was released on 2014-09-30 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Daly is turning economics inside out by putting the earth and its diminishing natural resources at the center of the field . . . a kind of reverse Copernican revolution in economics." --Utne Reader "Considered by most to be the dean of ecological economics, Herman E. Daly elegantly topples many shibboleths in Beyond Growth. Daly challenges the conventional notion that growth is always good, and he bucks environmentalist orthodoxy, arguing that the current focus on 'sustainable development' is misguided and that the phrase itself has become meaningless." --Mother Jones "In Beyond Growth, . . . [Daly] derides the concept of 'sustainable growth' as an oxymoron. . . . Calling Mr. Daly 'an unsung hero,' Robert Goodland, the World Bank's top environmental adviser, says, 'He has been a voice crying in the wilderness.'" --G. Pascal Zachary, The Wall Street Journal "A new book by that most far-seeing and heretical of economists, Herman Daly. For 25 years now, Daly has been thinking through a new economics that accounts for the wealth of nature, the value of community and the necessity for morality." --Donella H. Meadows, Los Angeles Times "For clarity of vision and ecological wisdom Herman Daly has no peer among contemporary economists. . . . Beyond Growth is essential reading." --David W. Orr, Oberlin College "There is no more basic ethical question than the one Herman Daly is asking." --Hal Kahn, The San Jose Mercury News "Daly's critiques of economic orthodoxy . . . deliver a powerful and much-needed jolt to conventional thinking." --Karen Pennar, Business Week Named one of a hundred "visionaries who could change your life" by the Utne Reader,Herman Daly is the recipient of many awards, including a Grawemeyer Award, the Heineken Prize for environmental science, and the "Alternative Nobel Prize," the Right Livelihood Award. He is professor at the University of Maryland's School of Public Affairs, and coauthor with John Cobb, Jr., of For the Common Good.

Download or read book Beyond Current Research Trends in CO2 Utilization written by Michele Aresta and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2022-03-08 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Scenarios of U S Carbon Reductions written by and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Assessing Economic Impacts of Greenhouse Gas Mitigation written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2009-05-28 with total page 55 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many economic models exist to estimate the cost and effectiveness of different policies for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Some approaches incorporate rich technological detail, others emphasize the aggregate behavior of the economy and energy system, and some focus on impacts for specific sectors. Understandably, different approaches may be better positioned to provide particular types of information and may yield differing results, at times rendering decisions on future climate change emissions and research and development (R&D) policy difficult. Reliable estimates of the costs and benefits to the U.S. economy for various emissions reduction and adaptation strategies are critical to federal climate change R&D portfolio planning and investment decisions. At the request of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the National Academies organized a workshop to consider these issues. The workshop, summarized in this volume, comprised three dimensions: policy, analysis, and economics. Discussions along these dimensions were meant to lead to constructive identification of gaps and opportunities. The workshop focused on (1) policymakers' informational needs; (2) models and other analytic approaches to meet these needs; (3) important economic considerations, including equity and discounting; and (4) opportunities to enhance analytical capabilities and better inform policy.

Download or read book Transportation Energy Conservation Data Book written by and published by . This book was released on 1977 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: