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Environmental programs and policies essay
Environmental policy problems
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Environmental policy is often regarded as one of the main drivers of environmental innovation (Porter and van der Linde, 1995b). The adverse effects of most environmental problems resulted in environmental innovation being less market-driven and more regulatory motivated. Porter and van der Linde (1995b) advocate that environmental regulation may result in a win-win situation: pollution being reduced and profits increased. This argument is famously termed the Porter Hypothesis and is largely based on evolutionary innovation theory (Nelson and Winter, 1982). Nelson and Winter (1982) postulate that a firm’s innovative behaviour is hardly an optimisation process; rather it often follows rules of thumb and routines, due to the large uncertainties related to the success of innovation. Following Nelson and Winter (1982) Porter and van der Linde (1995b) assert that this argument is largely applicable to environmental innovation where firms are “… still inexperienced in dealing creatively with environmental issues.”(Porter and van der Linde, 1995b). Therefore, environmentally and economically favourable innovations are often unrealised due to inadequate information, organizational and coordination problems (Porter van der Linde 1995b). Therefore, in such a scenario, environmental regulation plays a critical role by forcing firms to bring about “economically benign environmental innovation” (Horbach, 2008). For example, the Catalytic Converter was developed following regulations to protect local air quality, and resulted in significant reduction in emissions of pollutants such as NOx and SOx from vehicles (Kemp and Foxon, 2007). Indeed, Porter and van der Linde (1995b) call for countries to adopt “innovation-forcing regulations” for envi...
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...ug and Sørensen, 2009).indeed, Moe (2006), exploring the Norwegian construction industry, has noted that there are no established standards for measuring the energy efficiency nor the environmental soundness of buildings. Therefore, developers who want to pursue a sustainable solution are free to choose what criteria they want to apply, resulting in sustainability, including energy efficiency, being shaped by local interpretations, priorities and interest (Moe, 2006). Moe (2006) also highlight that energy technologies are often selected based on how strongly they symbolise energy efficiency, rather than being selected based on actual calculations of their energy performance. An example of that are heat pumps which are selected for their iconic status as sustainable technologies, even though other technologies may have provided greater energy efficiency (Moe, 2006).
LEED, or Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design, is a certification program for green buildings with stringent requirements for building energy efficient and environmentally responsible structures. Some requirements of this program include specific building materials, smart grid capable, gray water reclamation systems, green space minimums, high levels of insulation and low thermal transfer glass (US Green Building Council). Green buildings are a must if we are to sustain our current level of growth. Despite the higher initial cost of these buildings, the long term energy savings make these buildings a smarter choice for
Although Maniates labels the “A” in IWAC as “meaningful consumption Alternatives,” his thoughts on the matter refer more to the institutional influences on product development. In Woodhouse’s words, “The public’s failure to embrace sustainable technologies has more to do with institutional structures that restrict the aggressive development and wide dissemination of sustainable technologies than with errant consumer choice” (48). Instead of attributing the lack of environmentally friendly products to happenstance, Maniates claims that there are production-side structural aspects which hinder the development of green products. Woodhouse mirrors Maniates in this aspect by recognizing the influences on engineers to overlook environmental concerns. “Neither law nor professional norms make [sustainable] design tasks a required aspect of most engineers’ responsibilities, and most employers place substantial obstacles in the way of engineers taking those design elements farther than law and market competition require” (27). By and large, companies are driven by the desire to maximize profit above all else, and from the perspective of employers, adding in environmental concerns is merely an additional constraint on potential profit margins. If engineering ethics and government regulations are sufficiently detailed on sustainability, then employers
The U.S. has approximately 119,000 companies involved in the environmental technologies and services industry, which is a $782 billion market. Also, firms must offset new or additional emissions with emission reductions by a 5-to-1 ratio. This means any firm who increases their emissions output in one area by one ton must reduce their emissions output in another area by 5 tons (McKee, 1991). Finally, new emissions producing companies will have to start up with state-of-the-art equipment.
The environment and the health of the surrounding population go hand in hand. The Environmental Protection Agency takes on this ever so important mission of protecting them both. The mission statement of the EPA states, “The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Small Business Programs is to support the protection of human health and the environment by advocating and advancing the business, regulatory, and environmental compliance concerns of small and socio-economically disadvantaged businesses, and minority academic institutions (US Enviromental Protection Agency, 2010).” The impact of its mission can be defined clearly as it examines the impact of contamination in the air, the water, and the land on human health.
This case focuses on corporate obstacles to pollution prevention. Pollution prevention can complex especially for large corporations. There are many different forms of pollution prevention including emissions control devices and incremental changes in existing technology. The author reviews the impact of emissions controlled devices, however the focus of the case study is on incremental changes in existing technology. Incremental changes include substituting one or two steps in a production process or relationship changes between production steps. One example of incremental changes that was provided by the author was eliminating chlorofluorocarbons and saving energy by replacing a refrigeration process with a heath exchanger that can exploit waste cooling from another part of the process. There are three critical decision-making stages for incremental changes; identifying a pollution prevention opportunity, finding a solution appropriate to that opportunity, and implementing that solution. The author discusses the three aspects of an organization (culture, ability to process information, and its politics) and how they impact the decision-making stages.
A green building (also referred to as sustainable building or green construction) is a structure that employs an approach that is responsible for the environment besides being efficient in regard to resources all through its life cycle: This is from selecting the site to designing it, constructing, operating, maintaining, renovating and demolishing it. To achieve this, the client, the engineers, the architects and the entire design team closely cooperate at all stages of a project (Yan and Paliniotis, 2006). Practicing Green Building complements and expands the conventional building design areas of comfort, durability, utility and economy.
The beginnings of today's green revolution can be traced back to the environmental awareness of the 1960s and European design. New construction techniques have lead to the development of innovative materials and design concepts. Green buildings are designed, constructed and commissioned to ensure they are healthy for their occupants. Successfully designed green projects can involve an extensive array of factors, ranging from the resourceful use of materials, to careful consideration of function, climate, and location.
The European Union’s environmental policy is vast and complicated. It applies to every country under the Union’s domain and its criteria must be met for any state wishing to seek membership. The European Union was not the original forerunner in environmental politics; in fact, the United States “took on a leadership role in preparations for the 1972 United Nations (UN) Conference on the Human Environment” (Kelemen 2009). However, in the 1970s (1973 to be specific) as the US pulled away from being the environmental leader the EU emerged with it’s seven ‘Environmental Action Plans’ (EAP) (Pearce 1998). The original aim of environmental policy was very traditional, focusing on protecting species and improving the quality of life but today the underlying aim of the policy “is to enhance natural capital, provide a resource-efficient economy and safeguard people’s health” (European Commission 2013). I will first open with a brief history of the environmental policy, followed by its success and failures using concrete examples and conclude with alterations or alternatives to the policy in order to make it more successful across the European Union.
Companies that refuse to accept that they will face a strict and demanding environment. The most talented human capital companies that do work to care for natural resources, the regulation will raise the cost of not using resources properly, consumers will demand products and environmentally friendly. In short, choosing between sustainability and growth is not an option.
What is the socially optimum level of production keeping in mind the environment? How should it be achieved? It is at this point that the great economic minds of out time begin to take up arms. Michael Porter, a Professor of Business at the Harvard Business School claims that environmental regulation of businesses will actually give the businesses a competitive advantage over their counterparts in nations with less stringent regulation because it forces them to innovate. Porter claims that by changing their production processes, the businesses will actually lower their production costs (Porter, 97).
Sustainable design seeks to reduce negative impacts on the environment, the health and comfort of building occupants, thereby improving building performance. The basic objects of sustainability are to reduce consumption of non-renewable resources, minimal waste, and create healthy, productive environments (“Sustainable Design”). Focusing primarily on the sustainable design principles, there are five, including: low-impact materials, energy efficiency, quality and durability, design for reuse and recycling, and renewability. As sustainability appears to become the necessary trend in architecture, the question concerning the cost versus outcome of “going green” really an investment or a waste of time and money comes to mind. With our research provided below, we believe the expenses may truly be with the investment in the end.
However, A typical query proposed that environmental concerns are generally followed by massive upfront investments, which is likely to abate companies’ competitiveness (Mcguire, Sundgren, & Schneeweis, 1988). While in the automotive industry, several cost reduction ways can be brought about by environmental measures to offset, if not exceed, the aforementioned additional investments (Soloman & Hansen, 1985). Descriptive statistics in automotive industry indicated that eco-friendly CSR measures, such as energy-efficient technologies adopted in vehicle-assembly line, innovation for car recycling and dismantling, are believed to be conducive to cost reduction and profitability enhancement (Cortez & Nugroho, 2010). As a case in point, BMW (2014) claimed a cost saving of 15.8 million euros from resource-efficient production. On the other hand, a mounting number of legally binding environmental policies, which may lead to substantial taxation if companies are substandard, have been imposed on the automotive industry. Driven by regulations, automotive companies will tend to proactively improve their environmental performance for tax deductibility to reduce their capital expenditure (Hall, 2010). Despite additional investments required to concretize environmental concerns, these CSR measures can still benefit automotive companies by reducing substantial
A few years ago, Time magazine published a special issue entitled "The Century's Greatest Minds." It was the fourth in a Time series on the 100 most influential people of the century, this particular issue focusing on "Scientists and Thinkers." On the cover, Albert Einstein is pictured on a psychiatrist's couch, hands crossed over his chest, a depressed look cloaking his face. Dr. Sigmund Freud, seated in a chair near the couch, pen and pad in hand, is leaning in toward Einstein, excitedly waiting to perform some bit of psychoanalysis on the saddened scientist. A framed picture of Jonas Salk rests on the side table; a portrait of John Maynard Keynes hangs from a nail in the wall. In the background, resting atop a bookshelf, is a stone bust of Rachel Carson, author of Silent Spring. She finds herself in quite excellent company not only on the cover, but in the interior of the magazine as well.
Bode, H. (2005). The 'Standard'. Sustainable Development and Innovation in the Energy Sector. New York: Amherst International, Inc. Hans, R. (2012).
Efforts to improve the standard of living for humans--through the control of nature and the development of new products--have also resulted in the pollution, or contamination, of the environment. Much of the world's air, water, and land is now partially poisoned by chemical wastes. Some places have become uninhabitable. This pollution exposes people all around the globe to new risks from disease. Many species of plants and animals have become endangered or are now extinct. As a result of these developments, governments have passed laws to limit or reverse the threat of environmental pollution.