Metrics,decisions, and strategies: Environmental performance measurement in the electric utility industry

The twin challenges of increased competition and environmental consciousness are causing companies in the utility industry to re-examine their methods for measuring environmental performance. A new paradigm is emerging which has already appeared in other industries—treating environmental quality as a potential source of profitability and competitive advantage. This article discusses how utilities and industrial companies can develop an environmental performance measurement framework, integrate it into their strategic and operating business practices, and use it for evaluation of alternative environmental strategies.     

Comparative analysis of air pollution emissions by electric utilities: Public policy implications

One of the objectives of US environmental regulations was to reduce industrial air pollution emissions, especially from the electric utility industry, the major industrial air polluter. In this study, a comparative analysis of air pollution emissions from fossil-fuel-burning electric utility plants is conducted. The analysis focuses on a 12-yr period from 1975 to 1987 for three air pollutants: particulates, surfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides. The results indicate that particulate emissions have been significantly reduced but that sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are still major problems for a number of plants. Furthermore, the disparity in the performance by plants indicates that by using current technology, the industry as a whole could greatly reduce these emissions. These results have policy implication for future environmental legislation.     

Case studies of ISO 14001: A new business guide for global environmental protection

The intention of this article is to clarify the current status of ISO 14001, the internationally accepted voluntary environmental management system (EMS) standard, which is an effective means to generate continuous environmental performance improvement in an organization as well as significant financial benefits such as operational efficiency improvements (e.g., energy and water savings), reduction in environmental risks and liability expenses, protection of corporate asset value, and public image improvements. The number of “ISO 14001” companies in Europe and the Pacific Rim is steadily increasing with customer and governmental pressure as the driving forces. In the United States, ISO 14001 implementation has lagged behind due to the fact that, so far, the EPA has not supported ISO 14001 as being sufficient for guaranteeing a reliable environmental performance record. Most ISO 14001 certified companies in the United States have been driven by overseas demand, particularly in the microelectronics industry because customers in this industry, especially those in Europe, will simply not do business in the future with companies that are not registered to ISO 14001. It is expected that European demand will continue to push ISO 14001 certification in the United States. Six ISO 14001 case studies in the U.S. chemical, electronics, and plastics industries, along with EPA's attitude toward ISO 14001 are described in this article. The case studies contain the reasons, steps taken, costs, benefits, problems, and future trends of ISO 14001 implementation and certification.     

中国环境服务业的SCP范式分析

环境服务业在环保产业中占据重要位置,环境服务业健康有序发展是"十三五"工作的重点之一。应用SCP范式,从市场结构、市场行为和市场绩效等层面分析环境服务业发展现状,总结环境服务业特点及问题,主要包括:企业普遍规模偏小,盈利水平不高,市场集中度较低;产品差异化程度低,技术和产品还具有较大的提升空间;政策、贸易等存在壁垒,产业发展受到一定制约等。最终根据分析结果及存在的问题,从制度、市场、模式、贸易等层面提出环境服务业优化建议。     

Assessment of Compliance Performance of Environmental Regulations of Industries in Tuzla (Istanbul,Turkey)

Although environmental management in Turkey is evolving, its performance needs to be assessed in terms of the extent to which polluters and dischargers are complying with their legal obligations. In spite of this necessity, however, not a single study evaluating the effectiveness of command-and-control strategy of environmental management has been conducted. It is for this reason that it was decided to conduct an analysis of the impact of environmental legislation on a major industrial area in Turkey. Accordingly, Turkish environmental legislation was analyzed, and all relevant obligations and responsibilities of industry are identified. Based upon this appraisal, a questionnaire was prepared and used to conduct interviews in Tuzla, Istanbul. From the results, it can be concluded that environmental compliance performance of industry is low. The total of 92 parameters has been questioned. Fifty-three parameters have been found as satisfactory compliance, whereas 26 parameters have been classified as partial compliance and 13 as unsatisfactory compliance. The most important reason for inadequate performance is the lack of an effective national and local environmental compliance management system. The other leading reasons are found to be low-level environmental consciousness of the people, absence of environmental management system at the sites, inadequacies in environmental subsidies, and insufficiencies in public environmental infrastructure. Four recommendations are made to increase the effectiveness of compliance management: establishing an effective environmental compliance management system, accelerating public investment for environmental infrastructure, developing financial subsidies and incentive schemes for environmental investments, and encouraging voluntary initiatives.     

The exuberant planet: A global look at the role of utilities in protecting biodiversity

Biodiversity is a critical environmental issue. Biodiverse species as a source of unique genetic information, for example, continues to provide society with lifesaving drugs and important industrial chemicals. Since US utilities are substantial landholders and virtually every aspect of utility operations are in some way tied to environmental/biodiversity issues, it is important and essential that the utility industry step forward as a leader. This paper details the past, present, and future role that utilities have played and need to play in the very important arena of biodiversity.     

Development of key performance measures for the automobile green supply chain

The main purpose of this study was to develop a set of measures for evaluating the performance of the automobile green supply chain. This study reviewed various literatures on green supply chain performance measurement, environmental management, traditional supply chain performance measurement, and automobile supply chain management. In order to comprehensively and effectively establish the relevant measures, a suitable framework which considered the automobile green supply chain as a two-in-one chain was adopted. This two-in-one chain comprised a forward and backward chain for the automobile industry. Consequently, 10 measures with 49 metrics and 6 measures with 23 metrics were identified and developed for the forward and backward chains, respectively. Sequel to the development of these measures, a survey was conducted using a four-page questionnaire distributed to experts (including academics and practitioners) to establish their importance and applicability. The findings of this study suggested that the importance and applicability of all the developed measures have been substantiated. For the forward chain, the most crucial measure was customer perspective while the most applicable one was traditional supply chain cost. The reverse chain measures were topped by management commitment in terms of both importance and applicability. This study contributed to the advancement of knowledge by pioneering the development of a set of holistic measures for evaluating the performance of the automobile green supply chain. The study was wrapped up with the proposition of directions for further studies.     

公众投诉、环境规制对工业技术创新的影响研究

在碳达峰碳中和背景下,工业如何实现环保、科技与经济的共同进步已成为中国亟待解决的难题。本文基于中国工业2008—2018年的省级面板数据,建立动态面板模型,采用系统广义矩（GMM）估计方法,对现代环境治理体系中公众投诉、环境规制及工业技术创新三者的关系进行了探讨。结果表明：①公众投诉、环境规制成为直接推动工业技术创新产出的重要因素;②环境规制在公众投诉影响工业技术创新产出的过程中发挥着部分中介作用;③产业集聚强化了公众投诉对工业技术创新的促进作用。因此,完善公众投诉制度、提升公众环保意识、加强环境规制强度、优化政策支持及提升产业集聚程度,对于工业实现经济绩效与环境绩效的双赢具有重要意义。     

Environmental Performance Evaluation in the Water Industry of England and Wales

The appropriate means of benchmarking environmental performance within and between companies is a matter of considerable debate and raises issues such as what information to compare and the reliability and consistency of data. Comparing environmental performance through company environment reports is an approach which has been widely used but, as this paper shows, is difficult and has severe limitations. This paper presents a unique analysis, based on the UK water industry, which compares data reported in company environmental reports and data on the same companies reported through the industry regulators. In turn, this is compared with the environmental performance indicators proposed by two other systems, one advanced by the UK water industry itself. The results demonstrate the difficulty of specifying environmental indicators that enable meaningful comparison. The difficulty of comparing environmental performance in a sector with a comprehensive approach to, and long history of, environmental performance reporting presents some hard lessons for other sectors.     

Electricity in the marketplace: Reconfiguring the consumption of essential resources

This paper critically examines how privatisation and liberalisation of electricity provision is reconstructing energy consumption practices. The paper discusses the commercial restructuring of the electricity industry in the UK over the last four years, illustrating how a reconfiguration of production and consumption interests is transforming the utility marketplace: differentiating the value of resource units, distinguishing between infrastructure suppliers and stratifying utility customers. This process is shown to be resulting in differential forms of service provision as utility companies actively engage with more lucrative customers, presenting opportunities for environmental innovation, while disengaging from unprofitable customers and heightening social polarisation.     

车载环境γ能谱测量系统探测器设计及性能研究

车载环境γ能谱测量系统探测器是环境γ能谱测量技术领域研究热点。为提高探测效率,缩短测量时间,针对车载环境γ能谱测量系统设计了双NaI(Tl)晶体探测器,并测试了探测器主要性能指标。研究表明,探测器能量分辨率为6.73%,计数稳定性优于4.2%,可识别238U、232Th、40K等核素,可清晰分辨152Eu各能量峰,温度稳定性优于2.93%。可见,该探测器性能优异,具有较强的能量分辨和稳定性,为车载γ能谱测量系统的设计提供了技术基础,也为大体积探测器的设计提供了实验基础,有望在辐射环境监测等领域推广应用。     

关于推动我国环保产业发展再上新台阶的思考

从狭义和广义两个角度对环保产业内涵进行了梳理,在此基础上,提出环保产业的内涵和外延是随着社会经济和环境保护事业的发展而与时俱进、不断完善的;通过对环保产业发展阶段的历史分析,归纳提出环保产业正在由单元服务时代走向综合化效果服务时代;在对环保产业体系进行总结概括的同时,提出在保持门类齐全的前提下,环保产业分类将会更加细致和全面;研究提出要准确把握环保产业的发展规律,特别是环境服务业比重提高已成为现代环保产业走向成熟的标志;要科学恰当定义环保产业内涵,建立合乎现代环保产业发展特征的行业统计制度;通过内外驱动同时发力促进环保产业发展,推进环保产业再上新台阶。这是当前环保产业发展中必须要认清的问题。     

Sexual Violence and HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa: An Intimate Link

Abstract

This paper critically examines how privatisation and liberalisation of electricity provision is reconstructing energy consumption practices. The paper discusses the commercial restructuring of the electricity industry in the UK over the last four years, illustrating how a reconfiguration of production and consumption interests is transforming the utility marketplace: differentiating the value of resource units, distinguishing between infrastructure suppliers and stratifying utility customers. This process is shown to be resulting in differential forms of service provision as utility companies actively engage with more lucrative customers, presenting opportunities for environmental innovation, while disengaging from unprofitable customers and heightening social polarisation.     

黄山市酒店服务业环境绩效评价模型研究

随着黄山市旅游业的快速发展,酒店、宾馆等服务业产生的环境污染已越来越不容忽视。如何评价酒店服务业产生的环境影响,并提出有意义的改善措施,是目前亟待解决的问题。很多酒店在进行环境绩效考核时往往从定性的角度去评价,在很大程度上不是很客观。针对酒店服务业的现状,建立了一套较为简单可行的环境绩效评价体系,构建了基于层次分析法(AHP)的模糊综合评判模型。实证研究表明,该模型评价结果能较客观地反映酒店的环境绩效现状。     

Environmental auditing and continuous improvement at lockheed

Continuous Improvement can be applied to every business function, including environmental auditing. The benefits of customer focus and performance measurement are realized in a more efficient business system and a higher level of environmental compliance. Lockheed has successfully used Continuous Improvement principles in the development and implementation of its environmental auditing program, which are described in this article.     

环境综合实践教学系统建设与应用

在分析和总结传统教学方法和当代教学方法在环境类专业教学中存在的不足与弊端的基础上,探讨了环境综合实践教学系统的特点、建设和应用。环境综合实践教学系统以就业为导向,建设了符合课程学习要求,能够真正运行的污水处理工艺系统、大气污染控制系统等实践教学情境。该实践教学系统在实际教学中效果良好,能够满足环境类专业教学要求,有很好的应用前景。     

世界石油天然气工业HSE管理的新进展

健康、安全与环境管理体系已在石油天然气工业界得到广泛实施。在广泛吸纳国内外一些大型油气公司实践经验的基础上,针对世界石油天然气工业HSE管理的一些新发展作了简单介绍,其中包括质量、安全、健康与环境一体化管理体系的建立,环境管理体系认证的HSE管理体系的建立及HSE表现年度报告的外部验证。     

环境规制、技术创新与企业绩效——基于石化行业VOCs排污收费政策的准自然实验

文章以2015—2019年中国石化行业337家上市公司为研究样本,运用双重差分模型验证了当期环境规制对后一期企业绩效的正向影响。进一步的中介效应检验发现,环境规制主要通过技术创新促进企业绩效的提高,从而验证了中国石化行业“波特假说”的存在。此外文章还发现环境规制影响企业绩效的效果及作用机制存在显著的区域差异,东、中部地区表现出显著正向影响,均支持“波特假说”,西部地区则影响不明显。基于上述研究,文章认为促进石化行业的绿色低碳发展,需进一步加大石化行业生态环境保护的政策实施力度、促进石化行业企业的科技投入并注重区域差异。     

Engaging Economic Development Agencies in Environmental Protection: the case for embedded autonomy

This article examines the role of economic development agencies in strengthening the environmental performance of industry within rapidly industrialising East Asian economies. Three case-study examples are considered, namely, the role of the Industrial Development Board in reducing industrial pollution in Taiwan, pollution control in the palm oil industry in Malaysia, and the role of the Economic Development Board in influencing environmental performance of industry in Singapore. The concept of embedded autonomy is developed to consider the ways in which agencies of economic development can work with firms and industries while simultaneously remaining autonomous from these firms with respect to setting and enforcing performance standards. The three cases suggest that a form of policy integration that more directly integrates economic and environmental goals within agencies of economic development may be feasible, but only where there exists a strong autonomous government bureaucracy and where there is strong societal commitment to improving the environmental performance of industry.     

Engaging Economic Development Agencies in Environmental Protection: The case for embedded autonomy

This article examines the role of economic development agencies in strengthening the environmental performance of industry within rapidly industrialising East Asian economies. Three case-study examples are considered, namely, the role of the Industrial Development Board in reducing industrial pollution in Taiwan, pollution control in the palm oil industry in Malaysia, and the role of the Economic Development Board in influencing environmental performance of industry in Singapore. The concept of embedded autonomy is developed to consider the ways in which agencies of economic development can work with firms and industries while simultaneously remaining autonomous from these firms with respect to setting and enforcing performance standards. The three cases suggest that a form of policy integration that more directly integrates economic and environmental goals within agencies of economic development may be feasible, but only where there exists a strong autonomous government bureaucracy and where there is strong societal commitment to improving the environmental performance of industry.