Canadian manufacturing: The impacts of natural resource price increases on input demands and costs

The separate effects of 50% increases in the prices of energy, renewable and nonrenewable natural resource inputs on factor demands and production costs are simulated for Canadian total manufacturing and six two-digit industries. Both renewable and nonrenewable natural resource price increases have a substantially greater effect upon the demands for other factors and upon production costs than a parallel energy price increase. These results are important from a policy perspective and justify the further disaggregation of inputs in this and in other models of input demand.     

Project appraisal and planning for overdeveloped countries: II. Shadow pricing under uncertainty

In the uncertainty that surrounds the future availability of nonrenewable natural resources and the efficacy of technological advance, the economic costing of resources should be undertaken probabilistically. While optimistic assumptions entail little change from the costing procedures used in conventional cost-benefit analysis, even moderately pessimistic assumptions lead to a much increased cost for nonrenewable resources. These lead in turn to a reappraisal of the value of investment and of the cost ascribed to other factors of production. Even when optimistic assumptions are deemed the more plausible, a utility-maximizing evaluation may still give more emphasis to pessimism.     

A quantitative integrated evaluation of sustainable development of mineral resources of a mining city: a case study of Huangshi,Eastern China

It is generally considered that the non-renewable nature of mineral resources will make them gradually depleted over time. However, in the perspective of development availability of mineral resources in a long-term depends not only on their currently available amounts but also on future potential mineral resources (e.g. those undiscovered and low-grade ores) and substitutive renewable resources. In addition, it is influenced by factors like technology and capital. These factors interact with each other. As a result, it is possible to make the sustainable development of mineral resources by appropriate coordination between these factors. A new concept of Degree of Sustainable Development of Mineral Resources (DSDMR) and its conceptual model are proposed in this paper in the viewpoints of system science and sustainable development to evaluate the ability of sustainable development of mineral resources for a mining city. DSDMR refers to the ability of meeting needs of present and future generations for mineral resources by their logical distribution and substitution. An indicator system and a fuzzy integrated judgment model, which involve factors of resources, economy, society, environments and intelligence, are presented. They are used to evaluate DSDMR of Huangshi city, which is the most ancient and yet one of the most important mining cities producing iron and copper in China.     

基于能值分析的城市生态效率研究——以南京市为例

本文采用能值分析和数据包络分析方法,构建了城市物质代谢生态效率的度量模型,从代谢流量和生态效率两个角度评价了南京市生态经济系统1990～2010年间的可持续发展情况。结果表明：（1）21年来,南京地区的能值产出率和可持续指标不断降低,环境负载率呈持续增长趋势;（2）南京城市系统生态效率总体呈波动上升趋势,1990～2006年间资源生态效率一直低于环境生态效率,2006年后开始有所提升。虽然南京市生态效率有所提高,但未来的发展面临快速增长的环境压力等阻碍。为此,南京应优化进口能值组成,加大可更新资源开发力度,提高不可更新资源利用率,实现废弃物资源化等。     

Green jobs,livelihoods and the post-carbon economy in African cities

This article examines the potential contribution of household scale off-grid renewable energy generation to the post-carbon economy. The large-scale focus of the green jobs agenda in high-income countries obscures how small-scale technologies can be a transformative source of employment in developing economies. Debates about what constitutes a green job and their value leaves out the everyday practice of green livelihoods carried out by the urban poor across the African continent in unfavourable institutional contexts where nonrenewable fuel is subsidised and renewable energy inputs are heavily taxed. The article presents experiences from field work in several countries, including Egypt, Nigeria and Kenya to provide practical examples of communities pursuing strategies of income generation, community empowerment and environmental preservation. We argue that scholars and practitioners concerned with both social justice and environmental preservation should embrace a definition of green jobs that is bottom-up or people-centred. The grassroots experiences highlighted illustrate the important role of non-governmental organisations in supporting transformative, locally sustainable green employment and livelihoods by piloting demonstration projects, fostering innovation, conducting research, forming coalitions and engaging in advocacy when local institutions and market conditions make both consumers and providers risk averse to off-grid renewable energy adoption.     

Ethanol fuels: Energy security,economics, and the environment

Problems of fuel ethanol production have been the subject of numerous reports, including this analysis. The conclusions are that ethanol: does not improve U.S. energy security; is uneconomical; is not a renewable energy source; and increases environmental degradation. Ethanol production is wasteful of energy resources and does not increase energy security. Considerably more energy, much of it high- grade fossil fuels, is required to produce ethanol than is available in the energy output. About 72% more energy is used to produce a gallon of ethanol than the energy in a gallon of ethanol. Ethanol production from corn is not renewable energy. Its production uses more non- renewable fossil energy resources in growing the corn and in the fermentation/distillation process than is produced as ethanol energy. Ethanol produced from corn and other food crops is also an unreliable and therefore a non-secure source of energy, because of the likelihood of uncontrollable climatic fluctuations, particularly droughts which reduce crop yields. The expected priority for corn and other food crops would be for food and feed. Increasing ethanol production would increase degradation of agricultural land and water and pollute the environment. In U.S. corn production, soil erodes some 18- times faster than soil is reformed, and, where irrigated, corn production mines water faster than recharge of aquifers. Increasing the cost of food and diverting human food resources to the costly and inefficient production of ethanol fuel raise major ethical questions. These occur at a time when more food is needed to meet the basic needs of a rapidly growing world population.     

Project appraisal and planning for overdeveloped countries: I. The costing of nonrenewable resources

In cost-benefit analysis, natural resources, like other factors of production, should be costed as a mixture of marginal social cost of exploiting additional resources and lost marginal social benefit of forgone alternative uses, according to the way in which extra resources are made available to a project. For a nonrenewable resource, changes in future marginal social cost and marginal social benefit are likely to add significantly to the immediate elements of cost, as successively less tractable resource stocks are exploited. Of the several reasons given for ignoring these future costs, the most plausible is that technological advance justifies a heavy discount on the future. However, neither historical nor logical arguments demonstrate the inevitability of efficacious technological advance.     

A panel study on the relationship between biofuels production and sustainable development

Biomass is one of the renewable energy sources on which policy makers are greatly dependent on since it is a flexible feedstock capable of conversion into electricity, transport liquid fuels and heat by chemical and biological processes on demand. Though numerous publications have examined the relationship of economic growth with renewable energy and other parameters, biomass energy has never been included in these studies. Then, this study examines the causal relationship within a multivariate panel cointegration/error correction framework which combines the cross-section and time series data while allowing for heterogeneity across different provinces. After employing panel data regression model ranging from 2003 through 2012 to examine the relationships of biofuels production with sustainable development in China, the paper concludes that the development of biofuel energy production integrated with the consideration of the improvement of income per capita, and the attraction of more capital investment, does make a significant contribution to economic growth. However, some negative side effects including the increase of greenhouse emissions and the decrease of marginal land still coexist with the economic development. Of course, the importance of these findings lies on their implications and their adoption on strategic policies.     

Conditions for a 100% renewable energy supply system in Japan and South Korea

In the wake of the Fukushima nuclear accident, alternative energy paths have been discussed for Japan, but except for a few studies the assumption is usually made that Japan is too densely populated to be suited for a near-100% sustainable, indigenous energy provision. The studies emphasizing renewable energy have proposed the use of photovoltaic power as the main source of electricity supply, in combination with diurnal battery storage and supplemented by other renewable sources such as wind, hydro, and geothermal power. Here, an alternative approach is explored, with wind and derived hydrogen production as the main energy source, but still using solar energy, biofuels, and hydropower in a resilient combination allowing full satisfaction of demands in all sectors of the economy, i.e., for dedicated electricity, transportation energy as well as heat for processes and comfort. Furthermore, the possible advantage of establishing a regional energy system with energy interchange and coordinated management of the mix of renewable energy resources across a wider region is discussed. As the closest neighbor, the energy system of South Korea is considered, first regarding the possibility of a similar full renewable energy reliance, and then for possible synergetic effects of connecting the Korean and the Japanese energy systems, in order to be able to better cope with the intermittency of renewable energy source flows.     

Environmental Security: A Geographic Information System Analysis Approach—The Case of Kenya

Studies into the relationships between environmental factors and violence or conflicts constitute a very debated research field called environmental security. Several authors think that environmental scarcity, which is scarcity of renewable resources, can contribute to generate violence or social unrest, particularly within states scarcely endowed with technical know-how and social structures, such as developing countries. In this work, we referred to the theoretical model developed by the Environmental Change and Acute Conflict Project. Our goal was to use easily available spatial databases to map the various sources of environmental scarcity through geographic information systems, in order to locate the areas apparently most at risk of suffering negative social effects and their consequences in terms of internal security. The analysis was carried out at a subnational level and applied to the case of Kenya. A first phase of the work included a careful selection of databases relative to renewable resources. Spatial operations among these data allowed us to obtain new information on the availability of renewable resources (cropland, forests, water), on the present and foreseen demographic pressure, as well as on the social and technical ingenuity. The results made it possible to identify areas suffering from scarcity of one or more renewable resources, indicating different levels of gravity. Accounts from Kenya seem to confirm our results, reporting clashes between tribal groups over the access to scarce resources in areas that our work showed to be at high risk.     

Evaluating the prospects for sustainable energy development in a sample of Chinese villages

This paper describes the methods used to evaluate the potential for achieving sustainable energy development in six Chinese villages included in the Sustainable Users' Concepts for China Engaging Scientific Scenarios (SUCCESS) Project by examining energy efficiency potential and local renewable energy prospects. The approaches needed to obtain and analyse information on possible energy efficiency measures and renewable energy resources are summarised. Results are presented in terms of cumulative net savings in primary energy consumption, as an indicator of energy resource depletion, and associated carbon dioxide emissions, as an indicator of global climate change. Options for sustainable energy development are ranked in order of likely implementation and practical actions which could be considered in each village are identified.     

An investigation of renewable resources and renewable technology applications in Bulgaria

A preliminary assessment of renewable energy resources in Bulgaria shows that these resources are significant on a national level. Terminology for total, accessible, and reserve resources is provided, and preliminary estimates for solar, wind, biomass, hydroelectric, and geothermal resources are given. The process used to make a first-level selection of renewable energy technologies for further evaluation is described and an initial ranking of technologies for electricity generation, industry, and buildings is provided.     

Environmental and Ecological Aspects in the Overall Assessment of Bioeconomy

Bioeconomy solutions potentially reduce the utilization demand of natural resources, and therefore, represent steps towards circular economy, but are not per se equivalent to sustainability. Thus, production may remain to be achieved against losses in natural resources or at other environmental costs, and materials produced by bioeconomy are not necessarily biodegradable. As a consequence, the assumption that emerging bioeconomy by itself provides an environmentally sustainable economy is not justified, as technologies do not necessarily become sustainable merely through their conversion to using renewable resources for their production. A source of the above assumption is that the utility of bioeconomy is mostly assessed in interaction between technology developers and economists, resulting in biased assessment with private commercial technology benefits being included, but environmental costs, especially longer term ones, not being sufficiently considered in the economic models. A possible solution to this conceptual contradiction may come from bioethics, as a strong concept in environmental ethics is that no technological intervention can be imposed on nature beyond its receptive capacity. To achieve a better balanced analysis of bioeconomy, environmental and ecological, as well as non-economic social aspects, need to be included in the overall assessment.     

Renewable Resources and the Idea of Nature – What Has Biotechnology Got to Do With It?

The notion that the idea of nature isnot quite the unbiased rule to designsustainable futures is obvious. But,nevertheless, questions about nature, how itfunctions and what it might aim at, is leadingthe controversial debates about bothsustainability and biotechnology. These tworesearch areas hardly have the same theorybackground. Whereas in the first concept, theidea of eternal cyclical processes is basic,the latter focuses on optimization. However,both concepts can work together, but only undera narrow range of public acceptance in Europe.The plausibility of arguments for usingbiotechnology within sustainable technologiesvaries according to the assumed part natureitself plays for reaching optimized states. Theculture related vision of nature's functionshas impact on agricultural biotechnology,dealing not only with food crops but also withnon-food plants like renewable resources thatare used for energy or fiber production. Theseplants are grown to reach sustainabledevelopment. However, there is a fundamentaldifference between regarding biofuels as``renewable' and ``regenerative,' due to thetension between the concepts of ``the natural'and ``the sustainable.' Arguments ofoptimization, efficiency, and efficacy arecritically discussed in order to take thepresent need for sustainable technologies forserious.     

Fuzzy pricing for urban water resources: model construction and application

A rational water price system plays a crucial role in the optimal allocation of water resources. In this paper, a fuzzy pricing model for urban water resources is presented, which consists of a multi-criteria fuzzy evaluation model and a water resources price (WRP) computation model. Various factors affecting WRP are comprehensively evaluated with multiple levels and objectives in the multi-criteria fuzzy evaluation model, while the price vectors of water resources are constructed in the WRP computation model according to the definition of the bearing water price index, and then WRP is calculated. With the incorporation of an operator's knowledge, it considers iterative weights and subjective preference of operators for weight-assessment. The weights determined are more rational and the evaluation results are more realistic. Particularly, dual water supply is considered in the study. Different prices being fixed for water resources with different qualities conforms to the law of water resources value (WRV) itself. A high-quality groundwater price computation model is also proposed to provide optimal water allocation and to meet higher living standards. The developed model is applied in Jinan for evaluating its validity. The method presented in this paper offers some new directions in the research of WRP.     

Greening the Brazil,Russia, India,China and South Africa (BRICS) economies: Assessing the impact of electricity consumption,natural resources,and renewable energy on environmental footprint

Electricity consumption is a crucial factor in the environmental pollution process, and therefore, its impact needs to be carefully considered by policymakers. This study investigates the relationship between energy consumption, electricity generation, natural resource utilization, and environmental pollution in BRICS nations, which have a substantial share in global resource consumption. To this end, we employed a novel methodology, namely the Method of Moment Quantile Regression (MMQR), for the time period between 1990 and 2018, within the framework of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) theory. The study's outcome shows that natural resources and renewable energy are efficacious and significant in curbing environmental degradation among the sample countries. The investigation reveals a positive correlation between electricity consumption and environmental degradation, thereby highlighting this vital resource's role in exacerbating the BRICS nations’ ecological footprint. The findings from this research can provide crucial insights for policymakers to achieve sustainable development and carbon neutrality in these countries.     

Natural resources assessment in the Okavango Delta, Botswana: Case studies of some key resources

This article makes an assessment of the following key natural resources in the Okavango Delta: arable land, basket-making resources, fish stocks, and river reeds. Non-data-intensive socio-economic indicators (as opposed to conventional data-intensive indicators) of trends in resource prices, trends in labour time for resource extraction, substitution of less preferred commodities, maximum sustainable yield and perceived scarcity were utilized to assess the scarcity of the resources. The study reveals that basket-weaving resources, land for flood recession arable (molapo) agriculture, and river reeds are increasingly becoming scarce in the harvesting areas, whereas fish stocks are still abundant. It is recommended that appropriate policies should be introduced for the management of natural resources. Property rights could be granted to communities to manage natural resources such as fish and veld products in line with the wildlife model for community based natural resources management (CBNRM). In addition, the authors suggest that the Government of Botswana should take the responsibility for allocating land for molapo arable farming in order to make it more accessible.     

Agriculture in North Africa: Sociocultural aspects

This article documents, in the cases of Libya and Egypt, situations that occur in many other nations: conversion of farmlands to nonagricultural uses, exhaustion of nonrenewable water resources, irrigation leading to waterlogging and salinization of agricultural lands, development that does not benefit people in the regions being developed, etc. It is suggested that use of natural resources should be in accord with nationally determined priorities and should occur in a sustainable manner.     

Participatory and multi-level governance: applications to Aboriginal renewable energy projects

As provinces across Canada seek to diversify their domestic electricity supply and cope with the accelerating effects of anthropogenic climate change, new models of sustainability-focused economic development are being pursued. One critically important emerging paradigm involves First Nation (a Canadian term for indigenous) collaboration and leadership in renewable energy projects. In this comparative case study analysis, we consider two different governance approaches pursued in distinct renewable energy project contexts: the clean energy projects of the Ojibway Pic River First Nation band in northwestern Ontario and the NaiKun Offshore Wind Project proposed in the ocean territory of the Haida Nation off the coast of British Columbia (BC). Focusing on themes of participation and multi-level governance, the case studies highlight the importance of authority and control in decision processes, the primacy of ensuring that scale and quality of design are carefully scoped, and the shaping role of inclusiveness in planning for wholly sustainable energy futures. Taken together, these cases illustrate that fluid governance arrangements which exploit the particular capacities of each actor may give rise to trust that ultimately forms the foundation of a co-produced model of renewable energy governance. We argue that while collaboration might aim to be inclusive of all interested actors, it is important to consider the extent to which a project design might sufficiently incorporate a community's long-term vision. We conclude that truly sustainable renewable energy development requires a project design that reflects community values, incorporates community control, and incentivises indigenous ownership.     

Resource diplomacy in a Canadian perspective

Concern for the supply of resources—renewable and nonrenewable—has been evident during the 1970s. All countries seek to increase the economic and social returns from the exploration, processing and distribution of minerals so as to improve the quality of life of their people. Proper resource management is imperative because of the interdependence of the mineral sector with other leading sectors of the economy and also because of the importance of minerals in the web of international economics. This paper emphasises the significance of recent international events as they affect the mineral industry and the Canadian position in the ever changing world of resource diplomacy.