Skip to main content
Advanced Search

Filters: Tags: Sustainable development (X)

19 results (142ms)   

Filters
Date Range
Extensions (Less)
Types (Less)
Contacts (Less)
Categories (Less)
Tag Types
Tag Schemes
View Results as: JSON ATOM CSV
The paper investigates whether the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) under the Kyoto Protocol has played a significant role in the development of rural communities, specifically investigating uptake of small-scale renewable energy projects. The investigation involved an assessment of 500 registered small-scale CDM projects under the Kyoto Protocol in terms of their potential impact on the envisaged sustainable development goals for rural communities. Five case studies from the Indian subcontinent were also examined. The paper concludes that the CDM in its current state and design has typically failed to deliver the promised benefits with regard to development objectives in rural areas. Successful projects were found...
The European Union in its energy and climate change policy has decided to set up binding target of 20% renewables in gross final energy demand, to reduce greenhouse gases emissions by 20% and to increase the energy efficiency by 20% by 2020. It is in the process of deciding to decarbonize its power sector by 2050. A significant technology shift will be necessary to fulfill such goals, but it is already clear that technologies that will be used are available, mainly in the area of renewable electricity and heat generation, biofuels and electricity for transport, energy efficiency, especially in buildings and transportation, cogeneration, nuclear energy in those countries in which it is politically acceptable, which...
This study utilizes the Johansen cointegration technique, the Granger non-causality test of Toda and Yamamoto (1995), the generalized impulse response function, and the generalized forecast error variance decomposition to examine the dynamic interrelationship among nuclear energy consumption, real oil price, oil consumption, and real income in six highly industrialized countries for the period 1965–2008. Our empirical results indicate that the relationships between nuclear energy consumption and oil are as substitutes in the U.S. and Canada, while they are complementary in France, Japan, and the U.K. Second, the long-run income elasticity of nuclear energy is larger than one, indicating that nuclear energy is a...
Tens of millions of people in the Bengal Basin region of Bangladesh and India drink groundwater containing unsafe concentrations of arsenic. This high-arsenic groundwater is produced from shallow (<100 m) depths by domestic and irrigation wells in the Bengal Basin aquifer system. The government of Bangladesh has begun to install wells to depths of >150 m where groundwater arsenic concentrations are nearly uniformly low, and many more wells are needed, however, the sustainability of deep, arsenic-safe groundwater has not been previously assessed. Deeper pumping could induce downward migration of dissolved arsenic, permanently destroying the deep resource. Here, it is shown, through quantitative, large-scale hydrogeologic...
Two field studies revealed large differences among various subgroups in the population of car drivers. Private drivers, commuters, and business drivers differed strongly with respect to current decisions and behaviour which affect CO2 emissions, and with respect to their sensitivity to various policy instruments. Several promising policy targets were identified" combinations of user groups and behaviours where substantial CO2 reduction may be achieved. The sensitivity of different car user groups to various policy measures showed whether and how desired behavioral changes may be realised.
In the beginning of this new century, the rational use of energy becomes a keyword for the world sustainable development both in developed and developing countries. Geothermal resources have the potential of contributing significantly to sustainable energy use in many parts of the world. Geothermal energy has been used commercially for about one century and its large-scale utilization (hundreds of MW) started about 40 years ago, both for electricity generation and for direct application as space heating and combined with heat pumps. The technology, reliability, economics, and environmental acceptability of direct use of geothermal energy have been demonstrated throughout the world. The aim of the present article...
This paper gives some examples of the application of systems analysis (the examination of the elements and linkages in an interacting group of items forming a unified whole) to the issue of human development and environmental change. The various examples, taken from a report submitted to the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), deal with four basic human needs (food, water, energy and waste assimilation) and illustrate that: (1) it is possible to formulate holistic conceptual models of the socio-ecological system in which we live; (2) systems analysis can help us understand the constraints we face in terms of population growth, natural resources, and the assimilative capacity of the...
This paper gives some examples of the application of systems analysis (the examination of the elements and linkages in an interacting group of items forming a unified whole) to the issue of human development and environmental change. The various examples, taken from a report submitted to the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), deal with four basic human needs (food, water, energy and waste assimilation) and illustrate that: (1) it is possible to formulate holistic conceptual models of the socio-ecological system in which we live; (2) systems analysis can help us understand the constraints we face in terms of population growth, natural resources, and the assimilative capacity of the...
This paper gives some examples of the application of systems analysis (the examination of the elements and linkages in an interacting group of items forming a unified whole) to the issue of human development and environmental change. The various examples, taken from a report submitted to the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), deal with four basic human needs (food, water, energy and waste assimilation) and illustrate that: (1) it is possible to formulate holistic conceptual models of the socio-ecological system in which we live; (2) systems analysis can help us understand the constraints we face in terms of population growth, natural resources, and the assimilative capacity of the...
This article challenges the notion that energy efficiency and ‘clean’ energy technologies can deliver sufficient degrees of climate change mitigation. By six arguments not widely recognized in the climate policy arena, we argue that unrealistic technology optimism exists in current climate change mitigation assessments, and, consequently, world energy and climate policy. The overarching theme of the arguments is that incomplete knowledge of indirect effects, and neglect of interactions between parts of physical and social sub-systems, systematically leads to overly optimistic assessments. Society must likely seek deeper changes in social and economic structures to preserve the climatic conditions to which the human...
Technology assessment has changed in nature over the last four decades from an analytical tool for technology evaluation, which depends heavily on quantitative and qualitative modelling methodologies, into a strategic planning tool for policy making concerning acceptable new technologies, which depends on participative policy problem analysis. The goal of technology assessment today is to generate policy options for solutions of organizational and societal problems, which, at the operational level, utilize new technologies that are publicly acceptable, that is, viable policy options. This study focuses on the development of a framework that incorporates a technology assessment approach, namely, system dynamics,...
The possible impacts of a climatic change associated with an increase in CO2 on the hydrology of forests is evaluated by applying sensitivity analysis and a climatic scenario to a one-dimensional model. Water consumption of forests is affected by changes in plant physiology and meteorological environment. Changes in species composition are not taken into account. Increase in CO2 leads to a decrease of stomatal conductance, resulting in a decrease in transpiration of 10-30%. The evaporation of rainfall interception by the canopy is increased due to a higher leaf area index and higher temperatures. Application of a wet scenario shows an increase in total interception, but the ratio between interception and precipitation...
This paper examines the minerals industry's response to sustainable development in the area of waste disposal and argues that leadership and guidance are still needed to forge collective agreement on norms and standards of practise. To encourage further debate, the paper develops a set of sustainable development principles for the disposal of mining and mineral processing wastes, and discusses the implications for current and future practise. In practise, the principles can guide waste disposal decisions through the consideration of what risk and magnitude, in any given local context, a particular management solution poses to their application. The sustainability challenge in the management of tailings and waste...
The paper investigates whether the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) under the Kyoto Protocol has played a significant role in the development of rural communities, specifically investigating uptake of small-scale renewable energy projects. The investigation involved an assessment of 500 registered small-scale CDM projects under the Kyoto Protocol in terms of their potential impact on the envisaged sustainable development goals for rural communities. Five case studies from the Indian subcontinent were also examined. The paper concludes that the CDM in its current state and design has typically failed to deliver the promised benefits with regard to development objectives in rural areas. Successful projects were found...
In many ways, the mountain west (Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming) is an energy colony for the rest of the United States: it is rich in energy resources that are extracted to fuel economic growth in the wealthier and more populous coastal regions. Federal agencies and global corporations often behave as if the mountain west is a place to be exploited or managed for the benefit of customers and consumers elsewhere. Yet, the area. is not vast empty space with a limitless supply of natural resources, but rather a fast-growing region with a diverse economic base dependent on a limited supply of water. New decision processes and collaborations are slowly changing this situation,...
Amphibians and reptiles are experiencing severe habitat loss throughout North America; however, this threat to biodiversity can be mitigated by identifying and managing areas that serve a disproportionate role in sustaining herpetofauna. Identification of such areas must take into consideration the dynamic nature of habitat suitability. As climate rapidly changes it is possible that areas currently deemed suitable may no longer be so in the future. To address these needs, we are proposing to generate spatially-explicit data that will (1) identify Priority Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Areas (PARCAs) – those discrete areas most vital to maintaining reptile and amphibian diversity, (2) project regions of current...
Categories: Data, Project; Tags: 2011, AMPHIBIANS, Academics & scientific researchers, Applications and Tools, Applications and Tools, All tags...
photosynthesis). It is about a factor of 18 more than that of advanced agricultural man and 300 more than that of hunting man. It has been estimated that a 5-lo-fold increase in economic activity is required over the next 50 years to meet the needs of an increased world population as well as to begin to reduce mass poverty. Assuming that this increase in economica ctivity implies a correspondingin creasei n energy consumption,i t is consideredt o be impossiblew ithout catastrophice nvironmental consequencesM. ankind is now the principal geochemicaal gent on the planet. It follows that environmental problemsa re on a global scale.E ach of the principal componentso n which mankind dependsa, ir, water and soil, is...
The reduction of the energy consumptions of a Telecommunication Power System represents one of the critical factors of the telecommunication technologies, both to allow a sizeable saving of economic resources and to realize “sustainable” development actions. The consumption of about one hundred base stations for mobile phones were monitored for a total of over one thousand days, in order to study the energy consumption in relation to the environmental, electric and logistics parameters of the stations themselves. It was possible to survey, then, the role of the mobile communication systems in the general national energy framework and to plot the best areas of intervention for saving energy and improving the environmental...
Solar power plants positioned in space for terrestrial electricity use have been proposed due to the ever-rising world energy consumption and its environmental impacts. This idea is analysed here in the context of sustainability of such power generation. To that end we have performed some new economic, environmental and social effects analysis of electricity generation by solar space power plants of both photovoltaic and solar thermal types power using the best currently available technology. The plants in the analysis were assumed to be in different Earth orbits, or on the Moon built by a robotised factory. One of our results is that both economically and environmentally the best scenario may be to launch a thermal...