Product-related environmental information to guide consumer purchases – a review and analysis of research on perceptions,understanding and use among Nordic consumers

Informed product choices are a prerequisite for the greening of consumption. Nordic consumers are subject to an ever-growing amount of product-related environmental information that is available in a number of formats. The degree to which they use information is disputed. This paper reviews Nordic research on consumer perceptions, understanding and use of product-related environmental information. The majority of the publications point to a great number of consumers, who recognise, know and possess sufficient confidence in the main eco-labels and should therefore, be able to use them. However, this is not always the case. How the product-related environmental information works in the market place is dependent upon many determinants related to the purchasing moment. Therefore, in contrast to the majority of research on the topic, studies of the use of product-related environmental information suggests that the focus should be on the purchasing decision and take into account the dynamic context of the diverse purchasing situations.     

Public policy as a part of transforming energy systems: framing bioenergy in Finnish energy policy

Government interventions have been identified as important for energy systems change, because they can either facilitate or hinder transitions toward more sustainable energy systems. This article analyses how bioenergy options have been framed in Finnish policy strategies and how the framing has changed over time. The empirical material includes the content of 15 government programmes and nine national energy/climate strategies. On the basis of this assessment, both the link between bioenergy framings in strategies and the actual transformation of Finnish bioenergy systems are explored.On the basis of bioenergy framings, the development of energy policy can be divided into three phases: support for domestic energy sources in 1979-1991, support for wood- and industry-based bioenergy in 1992-1998, and diversified bioenergy in the context of climate change in 1999-2010. For two decades, primarily wood-based bioenergy was supported despite alternative technological developments occurring elsewhere. After the turn of the millennium, the importance of climate policy increased and alternative bioenergy sources were raised on the government policy agenda, also resulting in some new policy instruments. Rather than adopting a visionary outlook to guide system transformation, climate and energy policy has strengthened those technological options that have been selected elsewhere. If public policies are to enhance the shift toward low-carbon, sustainable energy systems, they would need to be more comprehensive, be more consistent over time, and emphasise energy use more.     

Promoting factors and early indicators of a successful product panel

Product panels are presented as a promising method to find solutions for environmental problems arising from specific product groups. These panels consist of representatives of manufacturers, retail, research, environmental and consumer administration, recycling, and various other stakeholders who work together in the panel to draft plans of action aiming at improvements in the environmental characteristics of products and services, and promotion for environmentally sound products and services in the various markets.The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that promote successful panel work as based on the experiences from the Danish and Finnish product panels. In addition, we aim at finding several indicators in panel work that can help lead to successful results already in the early phase and, on the other hand, help to recognize panels that will be ineffective from the viewpoint of environmental policy. We also describe how the findings from the Danish and Finnish textile panels were applied to a new product panel in Finland dealing with furniture and how this panel has started its work.The paper is based on existing material about the three panels, including reports and websites of the Danish product panels and the Finnish Furniture panel. In addition, unpublished memos of the meetings of the three panels have been studied. An evaluation report of the Danish panels was very useful for the discussion of the findings. The authors have also participated in the furniture panel as a member and a secretary.Experiences from the Danish textile panel and some early results of the Finnish furniture panel indicate that, under the right conditions, gathering stakeholders from the whole product chain and administration into a panel can be an efficient way to promote the market for greener products and thus, can serve as a tool for integrated product policy. Key success factors include the basic idea, committed people and openness of the product panels. It is also important that the initiator give some guidance in the form of schedule, action plan and some preset objectives.     

Industrial symbiosis and the policy instruments of sustainable consumption and production

Industrial symbioses (ISs) and eco-industrial parks (EIPs) are key concepts of industrial ecology (IE). The aim of ISs and EIPs is to minimise inefficient material and energy use by utilising local by-product and energy flows. Industrial symbioses tend to develop through spontaneous action of economic actors, for gaining of economic benefit, but these systems can be designed and promoted via policy instruments as well. A literature review showed that national programmes for eco-industrial parks can be found in different parts of the world. In the action programmes and other sustainable consumption and production (SCP) policy documents of the EU, on the other hand, industrial symbioses gain less recognition as a path to enhanced sustainable production. In this article, we consider this and also analyse how the evolution and environmental performance of an industrial symbiosis system centred on a Finnish pulp and paper mill have been affected by SCP policy instruments. With regard to the system forming the subject of the case study, and Finnish industrial systems in general, policy instruments have succeeded in reducing emissions but not in systematically encouraging operators toward symbiosis-like activities. All in all, few studies exist on the overall impact of policy instruments promoting design of eco-industrial parks. It is not self-evident that symbiosis-like production systems would be sustainable in every case, as the background assumptions for political promotion of EIPs suggest. We concluded that industrial symbioses should be analysed and developed on a life cycle basis, with documentation of the real environmental benefits due to efficient resource use and decreased emissions in comparison to standalone production. ISs can then bring eco-competitiveness to companies in relation to SCP tools, such as environmental permits, ecolabels, and future product regulation based on the Ecodesign Directive in Europe. Indirect encouragement of symbiosis through land-use regulation and planning, in such a way that material fluxes between companies are possible both in operations and in financial terms, may prove effective. The same holds for waste policies that encourage increased reuse of a company’s waste by other enterprises.     

稻田综合种养土地利用的生态—经济效果——以湖北省稻虾共作为例

关注以稻虾共作为代表的稻田综合种养土地利用新型模式,基于在湖北省潜江市和荆州市的实地调研数据,运用非期望产出的SBM模型和投入导向DEA方法,测算和比较了稻虾共作户和水稻单作户土地利用的生态—经济效果。研究发现：与水稻单作相比,稻虾共作能够改善土地利用的生态—经济效果;但调研区一半以上的共作农户仍然延续着传统粗放的生产模式,生产中存在严重的过量投入,阻碍了其土地利用生态—经济效果的进一步优化。此外,若忽略环境污染,只考虑经济效果,将导致稻虾共作的土地利用效率被高估45.28%。目前,稻虾共作提高土地利用效率的功能未能充分发挥,亟需把环境影响纳入土地利用效率评估中,贯彻“双水双绿”的发展理念,引导农户合理安排各项生产投入,切实优化稻虾共作的生态—经济效果,促进土地可持续利用。     

Re-considering product design: a practical “road-map” for integration of sustainability issues

The proliferation of sustainability assessment principles, strategies, actions, and tools has created confusion about pathways forward for companies. It is unclear how existing approaches are complementary or distinct. How does a company assess current products and materials? How could designers create more sustainable products? What criteria, principles, approaches, and tools should be applied? Why? Is there a practical “road map” to guide product designers and product development managers in integrating sustainability issues into their decision-making processes?This article builds on previous frameworks for understanding the interconnections between various assessment principles, strategies, actions, and tools related to industrial ecology, human and labor rights, and corporate social responsibility [Waage S, Geiser K, Irwin F, Weissman A, Bertolucci M, Fisk P, et al. Fitting together the building blocks for sustainability: a revised model for integrating ecological, social, and financial factors into business decision-making. Journal of Cleaner Production 2005;13(12):1117–206; Robèrt K-H, Schmidt-Bleek B, Aloisi de Larderel J, Basile G, Jansen JL, Kuehr R, et al. Strategic sustainable development—selection, design and synergies of applied tools. Journal of Cleaner Production 2002;10(3):197–214; Robèrt K-H. Tools and concepts for sustainable development, how do they relate to a framework for sustainable development, and to each other? Journal of Cleaner Production 2000;8(3):243–54]. Expanding on past work, this piece suggests a “road map” for application by product designers and product development managers. A four-phase process is offered for integrating systems and sustainability perspectives into product design, manufacturing, and delivery decisions.     

Does the energy labelling system for domestic tumble dryers serve its purpose?

Tumble dryers sold on the market today are labelled according to their energy efficiency. This labelling system has primarily two purposes: to guide buyers to a product with low energy use, lower cost and lower environmental impact and to encourage producers to develop even more energy-efficient products. Tumble dryers are optimized for their maximum capacity, which is used as the standard load for determining the energy label. Three different tumble dryers have been tested with different drying loads. Results indicate that all the tested tumble dryers have significantly lower energy efficiency when drying small loads. In order to encourage the development of tumble dryers with high energy efficiency at drying loads used in ordinary households, the standards for the energy labelling system should be revised.     

O3氧化-活性炭吸附在洗衣污水回用中的应用

洗衣污水回用对于中国当前强调发展循环经济、节能降耗的国情来说具有重要现实意义。以广州某洗涤公司采用O3氧化-活性炭吸附工艺对洗涤污水进行回用为例,发现此工艺方案运行稳定,处理后的水质满足洗衣回用水要求,且操作控制简单,处理成本不高,对于中国发达地区城市如何将洗衣污水进行有效回用提供了借鉴参考。     

Integration of ECQFD and LCA for sustainable product design

The purpose of this paper is to report a research carried out for ensuring sustainable product design by the integration of environmentally conscious quality function deployment (ECQFD) and life cycle assessment (LCA) approaches. Sustainability refers to the capability of an organization to maximize resource efficiency for ensuring clean and green atmosphere. The sustainable product development model integrated with ECQFD and LCA has been used for ensuring sustainable product design. The implementation study was carried out by gathering data from a single manufacturing organization. The implementation experiences indicated that methodology of sustainable product design is practically feasible and compatible. The findings and contributions of this research would be useful to the majority of the organizations situated in the world.     

Flood protection and endogenous sorting of households: the role of credit constraints

Human migration is increasingly seen as a promising climate change adaptation and flood risk reduction strategy. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how spatial differences in flood risk, due to differences in flood protection, reduce the mobility of vulnerable households through a credit constraint mechanism. Using an equilibrium model with two households types and endogenous sorting, we show how spatial differences in flood protection lead to clustering of vulnerable households in a risky region, in a real-world setting of common United States (US) flood zones. We find clustering effects of some size for flood zones with return periods of less than 30 years.     

An assessment of greenhouse gas emissions and material flows caused by the Finnish economy using the ENVIMAT model

An environmentally extended input-output (EE-IO) analysis - environmental impacts of material flows caused by the Finnish economy - was carried out in order to improve data on production and consumption in Finland. The study resulted in the ENVIMAT model, which can be used to analyze the relationship between material flows, environmental impacts and the economy. The model is based on monetary and physical input-output tables and an environmental life-cycle impact assessment. This article summarizes the main methodological aspects and findings regarding the material flows and climate impacts caused by the Finnish economy in 2002 and 2005. The Finnish model has relatively detailed input data with 150 industries and 918 products and the data on imports was assessed according to a mixed approach with the help of life-cycle inventory data. The results of the model showed that the Finnish economy uses imported material resources as much as domestic resources. Life-cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by imports were equivalent to 70-80% of domestic emissions. The GHG emissions embodied in imports (emissions abroad) and exports (emissions within Finland) were of the same magnitude. The analysis showed that the service sector accounted for 44% of GHG emissions caused by the domestic final use of products. Analysis of the results also showed that the indicator of total material requirement (TMR) should not be used for environmental impact comparisons of products and services. In the future, the aim is to use the ENVIMAT model for assessing temporal changes in the economy; for monitoring sustainable development; for planning climate change mitigation; and for identifying important factors in the economy and assessing their impacts.     

Sustainability management in product development projects – the ABB experience

This article describes how ABB worked with environmental considerations when they developed their new capacitor. The sustainable development priorities are now integrated within their mainstream product development process model. The fact that ABB started a mandatory use of their GATE Model, including the sustainability considerations, verifies that ABB considers it to be a commercially sound methodology. The studied project resulted in a product with considerably better environmental performance than the traditional technology. One key factor is that the sustainability interest was truly advocated and supported by the management of the project.     

论我国的自然资源利用与经济的可持续发展

可持续发展是我国当前和２１世纪经济发展的主题和方向,也是指导充分合理开发利用自然资源的理论基础。它的提出具有科学和历史的必然性。深入研究可持续发展的客观规律性,有助于人们自觉地走可持续发展经济的道路,全面发挥社会主义市场经济合理配置资源的作用,并指导人们更深一步地进行我国的经济改革。最终在充分合理开发利用我国有限自然资源的基础上,促进经济的持续、快速、健康发展。     

Attitudes to conservation and water consumption

Sydney's water supply is under great pressure as the demand continues to rise. Demand mitigation strategies have had some success, but domestic consumption remains high. This paper discusses the attitudes of households to their water consumption in a search for ways in which domestic demand for water may be reduced. Evidence on attitudes of households in different kinds of housing was obtained using a telephone interview survey supplemented by information derived from focus groups drawn from households in the same areas. The information was collected in a period when strong water use restrictions were in place and major arguments were being mounted in favour of water pricing as a way of moderating demand. The paper argues that the complexity of the forces shaping demand needs to be understood in the context of the socio-demographic composition of households in different kinds of dwellings, as well as the cultural, behavioural and institutional aspects of consumption, if public policy is to be successful in reducing consumption and/or providing alternative domestic supplies of potable water.     

论生态城市与滨海型生态城市的建设

生态城市是实现可持续发展的重要基础。20世纪90年代以来，随着我国城市化进程的加快，生态城市开始成为人们聚焦的一个热点。本文就如何科学把握生态城市的内涵，如何正确设计和评价生态城市建设，以及滨海型生态城市建设目标等方面进行了探讨和研究。     

旅游地农户生计资本评估与生计策略选择——以海螺沟景区为例

旅游地可持续发展需要重点关注当地居民生计的可持续。以海螺沟景区为案例地,基于可持续生计框架构建了适用的生计资本评估指标体系,量化识别了景区农户可持续的生计方式,明确了影响两类脆弱性农户生计策略选择的主要因素。结果表明：在研究区六种生计方式中,采用均衡兼收型和旅游主营型策略的农户其生计资本水平最高,而传统务农型和务工型农户生计资本水平最低。不同生计策略类型的农户在空间上集聚分布。缺乏金融资本是影响传统务农型和务工型农户选择均衡兼收型生计策略的主要因素,而物质资本和社会资本的缺乏则对他们选择旅游主营型生计策略有显著的影响。此外,海拔、距公路和核心景点的距离也对农户生计策略的选择有重要影响。     

Consuming technologies – developing routines

Routines in daily life are crucial for consumption of energy and water in households and therefore, knowledge of how routines develop and change is extremely relevant from a sustainable consumption perspective. Routines emerge, develop and change in close relation with different kinds of everyday technologies. In this article, these processes are investigated from three different perspectives: an historical perspective of how new technologies have entered homes, a consumer perspective of how both houses and new technologies are purchased and finally, as the primary part of the article, a user perspective of how routines develop while these technologies are being used. In the conclusion these insights are discussed in relation to possible ways of influencing routines.     

黄淮海平原农区不同类型农户的土地利用方式选择及其环境影响——以河北省曲周县为例

以农户调查为基础,采用农户分类和方差分析等方法,对农户土地利用方式选择行为及其环境影响进行对比分析。受其兼业性、收入水平、文化素质和生产规模影响,不同类型的农户在地块尺度的土地利用方式选择存在差异:纯农业户、低收入农户的土地利用方式选择具有多元化的特征,兼业户、高收入农户、文化水平高的农户往往选择经济效益高、耗时少的土地利用方式。不同类型农户由于其土地利用方式及其肥料投入、水资源利用和秸秆处理等的不同,对土地质量和环境变化产生不同的影响。     

危险废物交易信息化体系建设初探

分析了我国目前实施危险废物交易的意义和必要性及危险废物交易现状,提出在危险废物交易还处于市场化运行的初级阶段,引入信息化技术,为危险废物交易同时提供监管和市场化平台,建立健全配套的管理制度和办法,是实现危险废物的循环利用和经济可持续发展的有效途径之一。