Introduction
With the rampant deterioration of the environment taking place, panic striking and scandalizing environmental issues like global warming and greenhouse effect making banner headlines in our news papers and bulletins. Entire world is busy in devising energy reforms that can save the planet from plunging deep into the pit of destruction and catastrophe. In order to counter the looming energy crisis that is engulfing the world, research scientists all over the world are busy brainstorming their ageing heads in order to devise reliable energy systems, which can prove effective in resolving environmental disasters. (Costanza, 1991)
In order to achieve this objective, substantial progress has been made in the form of accentuating greater usage for energy production and consumption by making use of renewable energy resources which do not undergo exhaustion unlike conventional resources of energy such as coal, oil and natural gas. Another reason due to which the significance of renewable resources has reached unprecedented levels is the economic feasibility involved and it is due to this importance a new discipline of environmental economics has invaded the ecological mainstream this century. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research the environmental economics is the science of empirical and theoretical studies which studies the effect of ‘national or local environmental policies around the world’ it further deals with the economic aspects of environmental policies through cost benefit analysis and ways to counter the rising threat of air pollution, global warming and water quality.
As said earlier, progress on the development and the subsequent extraction of energy benefits from such resources is in pro...
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...ncy than gasoline. (Sorenson 2005)
References
Kosltad D. Charles ‘Environmental Economics’ Second Edition, 2010
Vegiroglu T. Nejat, Schur, Dmitry ‘Hydrogen Material Science and Carbon Nanomaterials’ Kluwer Academic 2004
Freudenberger, Richard ‘Alcohol: A guide to making Ethanol a Renewable Fuel’ Aztext Press 2009
Sorenson, Bent ‘Hydroegn and Fuel Cells: Emerging Technologies and Applications’ Academic Press 2005
Costanza, Robert ‘Ecological Economies: the Science and Management of Sustainability’ Columbia University Press 1991
Olah A. George, Goeppert Alain, Surya.G.K ‘Beyond Oil and Gas: the Methanol Economy’ Wiley-VCH 2009
Mathew, Sathyajit ‘Wind Energy: Fundamentals, resource analysis and economics’ Birkhauser 2006
Beene, John ‘Nickel Beta decay as driver for LENR’ 8 June 2010
http://www.mail-archive.com/vortex-l@eskimo.com/msg39328.html
With a looming energy crisis and an unstoppable rapid decrease in fossil fuels, the need for renewable energy is greater than ever. Yet it is inevitable that with every new solution, there are consequences. People can only hope that the energy crisis will be resolved with every new and advanced generation of scientists.
It is becoming increasingly certain that climate change will have severe adverse effects on the environment in years to come. Addressing this issue poses a serious challenge for policy makers. How we choose to respond to the threat of global warming is not simply a political issue. It is also an economic issue and an ethical one. Responsible, effective climate change policy requires consideration of a number of complex factors, including weighing the costs of implementing climate change policies against the benefits of more environmentally sustainable practices. Furthermore, this analysis must take place amidst serious gaps in the existing research and technology concerning the developing climatic condition.
The electricity sector in developing countries is increasing rapidly, however, there are a number of externalities linked with energy generation and the price of energy does not reflect all the associated costs. These externalities include effects on human health, the environment, climate, subsidies, agriculture as well as reactor accidents and economic effects (Bernal-Agustin & Dufo-Lopez, 2006) (Friedrich & Voss, 1993) (Edkins, Winkler, Marquard, & Spalding-Fecher, 2010). In the uncontrolled market, there is a inclination to produce more energy and produce a larger waste fuel supply than is socially optimal (Aronsson, Backlund, & Lofgren, 1998) therefore economic instruments are necessary to internalize the cost of externalities for optimal pollution.
One of the most debated topics in twenty-first century politics is energy. As the world has progressively improved in technology, so has our dependence on energy. Energy comes from many sources, such as non-renewable and renewable energy. Non-renewable energy pertains to fossil fuel (coal and oil), natural gas, and nuclear. Renewable energy resources are hydro, wind, and solar. Since the industrial revolution most of the energy used has been non-renewable energy. These non-renewable energy sources have caused ecological problems, although there is disagreement to the extent. Energy reliance has also caused economic debate. Everyone wants to use the cheapest energy source. However, the cheaper energy sources have been causing the most ecological
The notion of sustainability sometimes seems vague when applies to real world decision making process. But one universal agreement with regard to how sustainability functions in the political and economic arena unfolds as decisions made today would have huge impact on both nowadays and the future. According to Goulder and Stavins, economists, in order to help decision makers implement policy evaluations, would commonly discount future impacts. Basically, discounting serves as a mechanism to convert the potential impact in the future into computable monetary unit for nowadays. Here comes the first challenge in determining whether the use of non-renewable resources is intertemporally efficient or not. There exists some skepticism and controversy because some people would argue that discounting gives insufficient weight to future benefits and wellbeing of future generations. However, except for the superficial misconceptions, the real challenges lie in the unpredictable future interest rates and the tastes and preferences of future generations. For example, discounting will be used in...
Our current global economy would make Dracula proud. Since 1800, the global population has increased sevenfold. This mind-boggling increase has come at the cost of sucking more and more non-renewable, or fossil, resources from the earth. This exponential expansion comes from improvements on the way we drain finite resources from the earth, and is unsustainable. Due to the economic sleight of hand of externalities, the cost of using these finite, unsustainable resources is not correctly felt in market prices. Market prices don't reflect investments that need to be made into sources of renewable energy. The global economy is recklessly and heedlessly overdrawing irreplaceable resources from the environment, while subsidizing the externalities envolved to the earth's population and environment. Ignoring this irreversible draining of the planet's finite resources through externalizing cost is intergenerational betrayal at its basest.
“Most environmental and natural resource problems arise because of market failure, therefore solving these problems could be easily achieved through the appropriate extension of markets.” Critically evaluate this statement with reference to specific examples of pollution, natural resources and environmental public goods.
concern is one of the key issues that the policy makers and MNCUs should set a
Tietenberg, Thomas. Environmental and Natural Resource Economics. Addison Wesley: New York, 2003. pp. 561. ISBN 0-201-77027-X, pp. 7-11.
Energy is what makes the world go around. All of our technologies are designed and developed based on readily available resources, most common of which are fossil fuels. What happens when we run out? The technologies we so heavily rely on for generating food, shelter, and transportation will cease to function. Throughout this article, I will elucidate the importance of developing and implementing alternative energy sources, specifically those that are renewable, into everyday technologies, and the resulting positive and negative consequences that could follow .
Organizations around the world, aim to create a plan that will both benefit the economy and preserve the environment. One of the action taken was the Earth Summit of 1992, where more than 100 state leaders gathered to learn and adopt the “Agenda 21” that aims to integrated environmental issues in developing policies (Virola, De Perio & Angeles, 2000, p.1). This lead to the creation of a framework that will analyse both economic and environmental issues. The framework is known as Environmental and Natural Resources Accounting Framework or Environmental Accounting. It refers to environment-related data compiled into an accounting framework which aims to include the cost of using the environment in the traditional measurement of
All biological lives need a supply of external energy. Most Plants are capable of photosynthesis, some bacteria employ natural sources of chemical energy. Many other organisms require different types of energy to grow. Beyond this biological need of humanity, technologically advance societies have increasingly weaken in their dependence on external energy for production of many manufactured goods. Where this technological advancement is a wonderful convenience of modern life in particular, there it allows people to live under a diverse condition of climate, in general. Increasing levels of human comforts result in increased dependence on external energy. Conversely, this increased dependence on external energy sources goad to such means of energy sources, which are harmful for the environment. It is therefore why there has been the introduction of pay for ecosystem services (PES) for economic management of the environment (Arocena-Francisco, 2003, p. 5-8). The aim of this paper is to assess the strength and the weaknesses of pay for ecosystem services (PES) for economic management of the environment
Energy is the basic necessity of daily life. Nowadays, dependence on fossil fuels for energy needs becoming lower in numerous countries due to the potential of renewable energy to supply sustainable energy to the huge populations in many developing countries who are short of clean and continues energy. Generally, renewable energy can be defined as energy that is derived from natural resources which are constantly replenished and theoretically inexhaustible. Fossil fuels on the other hand can be described as energy that cannot be renewed and will eventually diminish. Thus, in many developing countries renewable energy is the alternative energy to replace non-renewable energy or commonly known as fossil fuels. In addition, according to Sorensen (2004), there is a greater demand for renewable energy sources nowadays due to the uncertainty of fuel price rise in living expenses. Commonly, there are many types of renewable energy available in our world such as wind power, biomass energy, solar energy, hydroelectric power and geothermal energy. However, the main three example of renewable energy are hydroelectric power, solar and biomass energy (Refer to Figure 1 in Appendix 1).
Environmental law primarily aims to internalise an externality, by forcing or incentivizing the polluter to take into account the pollution it is causing in its decision making process. Hence, environmental law and economic principles are deeply intertwined in order to better tackle environmental problems in a cost effective way. In fact, environmental law is viewed through the lens of economic efficiency by many economists and legislation-making bodies. Important economic principles apply to environmental law which shall be briefly discussed in this article.
Environmental science refers to the study of the effects that occur through natural and unnatural processes. The study involves the interactions of the Earth’s physical components that take place on the environment. Notably, the natural environment consists of all existing and non-existing things that exist on the planet. Full ecological systems that operate as natural practices without requiring the intervention of human beings are also included in the environment. Furthermore, physical units such as animals, vegetation, rocks, microorganisms, natural phenomena, and atmosphere usually occur within the boundaries of the environment (Altman and Wohlwill 113). Although the environment embraces natural resources and physical phenomena that need clear limits, it is worth noting that renewable and non-renewable energy resource is an environmental science topic that should receive top priority next year due to various reasons.