Economic benefits tied to ecodesign

This paper reports results of an empirical study conducted to assess the profitability of ecodesigned products. Indeed, the advantages related to ecodesign are numerous according to the literature on the subject. Not only is it considered to be an efficient environmental approach, it is also said to carry a number of economic advantages for the firms adopting it. Among these advantages, the potential reduction of costs and an increase in revenues are the most important drivers. Nevertheless, the economic benefits have not been demonstrated, only indicated as a potential outcome. The main purpose of the study was to assess the economic impact of ecodesigned products and to compare the results of French companies with those of Quebec.Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 firms on their related ecodesign experience (15 in France, 15 in Quebec), the subsequent results were reached pertaining to the economic benefits tied to such an approach. In 24 cases, firms increased their profits with ecodesigned products. In three cases, profits are equivalent and in the three remaining cases, it is not obvious that the increased revenues compensate for the reduction of margin. French companies were found to be more profitable than the Quebec cases; this can be explained by the fact that French companies have a more systemic approach and therefore manage to make cost savings at several stages in the product life-cycle. We can conclude that the most important aspects to consider when getting involved in an ecodesign project is to focus on increased functionality of the product and to seek environmental and economic improvement on as many life-cycle stages as possible.     

Fostering pollution prevention in small businesses: the Enviroclub initiative

The Enviroclub initiative was developed by three federal government agencies (Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions, Environment Canada and the National Research Council Canada) to assist small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in improving their profitability and competitiveness through enhanced environmental performance. An Enviroclub consists of a group of 10–15 SMEs, each of which carries out one profitable pollution prevention project. To support this practical experience, business participants attend 4 days of workshops on various themes related to environmental performance, spread out over a period of about 6 months. Enviroclubs have been undertaken in several regions of Quebec, and are delivered by not-for-profit organisations, mainly Enviro-Access and the Centre québécois de développement durable. Projects implemented in seven Enviroclubs brought annual savings of CAD$5.1 million and multiple environmental benefits including annual reductions in resource use, such as water (536,000 m³), petroleum products (225,000 litres), wood (11,300 m³) and emissions, such as greenhouse gases (17,100 tonnes equivalent CO₂), hazardous wastes (708 tonnes) and toxic substances (53 tonnes).     

Quantifying and comparing a P2 program's benefits: pollution prevention technical assistance in Nebraska

Past clients who were provided pollution prevention technical assistance were reassessed to quantify program impact in terms of implementation, money saved and waste reduced. Although the most complex and in-depth projects resulted in the largest savings and waste reduction on a per client basis, small business clients realized similar monetary and solid waste savings as larger industrial clients when normalized by the technical assistance time applied. Clients who were referred by project partners had similar implementation and higher savings than those who were ‘cold called’. This program's monetary savings and implementation rates were compared to other pollution prevention assistance provider's results. This comparison identified some difficulties in conducting multi-program comparisons.     

Trophallaxis in filled-crop honeybees (Apis mellifera L.): food-loading time affects unloading behaviour

 Honeybees ingested 50% w/w (1.8 M) sucrose solution at a rate feeder offering either 16.5, 32.5 or 65 μl/min. While the time spent ingesting solution at the feeder decreased significantly with increasing flow of solution, bees attained maximum crop loads with this range of flows. Different parameters related to mouth-to-mouth food exchange (trophallaxis) showed important modulations as the offered flow of solution was incremented. Trophallactic transfer rate, i.e. the speed at which liquid food is transferred from donor to recipient bee, was found to increase along with increasing profitability at the rate feeder. In the present case, food source profitability could have been evaluated by foragers either by measuring the time invested in ingesting the solution, or by direct assessment of the flow rate of the feeder. Thus it seems that perception of profitability conditions at the food sourcesuffices for later representation in the hive through trophallactic contacts, independently of crop-filling state. Received: 10 March 2000 / Accepted in revised form: 19 April 2000     

An empirical analysis of energy efficiency measures applicable to cities,regions, and local governments,based on the case of South Korea’s local energy saving program

As highlighted in the outcome of the Paris Agreement at the 21st Conference of Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change there has been a recent push for the stronger mitigation actions of cities, regions, and local governments. Energy efficiency is a tool that can be leveraged by not only industry or national governments but also cities, regions, and local governments for mitigation purposes. However, studies on energy efficiency as a mitigation tool thus far have focused on the national or transnational scale, and on certain sectors of industry. The purpose of this paper is to find the most cost-efficient energy efficiency measures (EEMs) at the city, region, and local government level. To that end, this paper examines the yearly energy savings and greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction intensity, as well as energy savings and GHG reduction efficiency, in the case of EEMs conducted by South Korean local governments. Yearly energy savings intensity and GHG reduction intensity are estimated to be in the range of 0.094～0.375 tonne of oil equivalent (TOE)/M-KRW (million Korean won) and 0.287～1.180 tCO2e/M-KRW. Results show that inverter installation at water and sewage treatment plants and improvement of pump efficiency are the most cost-efficient EEMs. Moreover, energy savings efficiency and GHG reduction efficiency are within the range of 18.29～45.31 %, at an average of 30.5 % GHG reduction potential. If this reduction potential is applied to the buildings and facilities regulated and run by cities/local governments, there is a worldwide reduction potential of 1.023 billion tCO₂ compared to 2020 business as usual levels.     

中国长江三角洲地区电力行业SO2排放控制的经济分析

总结了中国SO2排放总量控制与排放权交易政策研究与实施3个阶段的主要内容与成果。使用YRDEGS线性规划优化模型对在长江三角洲地区电力行业实施SO2排放权交易所能产生的SO2控制费用的节省、安装FGD装机容量的变化、可引起的脱硫变动成本的节约、SO2排放许可的市场需求、不同交易方式所引起的脱硫费用变化进行分析,得到以下主要结论：若发电量保持在2000年的水平,实现SO2减排20％的目标,采用排污交易脱硫费用将会节省38％,可以少安装FGD的机组装机容量达6．3GW;随着发电量的增加,对SO2排放许可指标的市场需求呈增长趋势,发电量的改变比逐步严格的SO2减排要求更会增加区域SO2减排的负担;当SO2排放削减率为20％时,在不实施排污交易时脱硫费用约为30亿～45亿元;实施跨省排污交易以电厂为交易单位时费用最低,约为6亿～28．5亿元,脱硫费用可以节省16．5亿～24亿元。     

Unilateral Clean Development Mechanism – An approach for a least developed country?: The case of Yemen

Decision parameters prevailing in the market lead to a slim expression of interest of foreign investors for Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects in a bi- or multilateral design in Yemen. The Designated National Authority Secretariat in Yemen experiences the preference of Annex I entities of merely buying Certified Emission Reductions rather than investing in projects. Yemen's ability, like many least developed countries, to carry out unilateral CDM projects is moderate. Domestic project developers perceive difficulties in procuring underlying finance as key barrier in materializing CDM project activities in a unilateral design. The country remains trapped in a “catch 22 situation”. International assistance through low interest loans and capacity building for domestic financial institutions tailored to CDM project activities may trigger the market. Aggravation can be assisted by amending the policies of Annex I countries, in consequence to allocate a substantial share of their procurement activities to Certified Emission Reductions from least developed countries. Acquisition programmes may give preference to projects from host countries not traditionally represented in the pool of attractive CDM destinations.     

Cleaner production practices in a medium size gold-plated jewelry company in Brazil: when little changes make the difference

The paper reports the experiences of a medium size gold-plated jewelry company, located in São Paulo – Brazil, in order to reduce waste and pollution. Actions taken for this purpose are described, as well as the key factors affecting progress, the changes that have been introduced, their cost-effectiveness and the additional benefits accomplished. A waste minimization project was carried out to obtain environmental and economic benefits. The first cleaner production (CP) interventions targeting the improvement of the company's environmental performance are also described and related to economic benefits. Local scale performance indicators were employed to evidence the economic and the material savings by kilogram of piece produced. Additionally, savings achieved included 86% reduction in volume of degreasing solution and 36% reduction in electricity consumption. The results are complemented with the use of global scale performance indicators (Material intensity, MIs, and Emergy accounting), which look at upstream impacts and evaluate the environmental performance of the system on the biosphere scale, respectively. Material savings (MIs) account for each matter flow to and from a chain of processes from raw material to the final products, and were calculated in order to estimate the changes avoided in material flows and cycles due to the reduced use of inputs by the company. The total emergy of the savings is used as a quantitative measure of the total environmental support to the flows of energy and matter involved in the process, and is calculated to assess the work of nature spared by the reduced use of materials and energy by the company. Emergy values were converted to currency. Global scale performance indicators have shown that little changes within the company reduce upstream impacts and that benefits to the environment are greater than that observed in the companies neighborhood.     

The importance of assessment tools in promoting cleaner production in the metal finishing industry

Various cleaner production (CP) audits have been conducted in the South African metal finishing industry. These studies have been successful in effecting changes to the general status of the local metal finishing industry. In this paper, the initiatives undertaken by a Danish government sponsored project are detailed. The project included the conducting of in-plant assessments, using a tailor-made tool for CP benchmarking. Details on this tool's operations and typical results are presented. Typical assessments indicated potential water savings of 78%, with chemical savings of approximately 30%. The plant modifications undertaken in order to achieve the CP objectives, are described. The affects of these initiatives on local municipal wastewater treatment works are detailed with specific reference to significant reductions in incoming wastewater-borne heavy metals. The main challenge for companies has been data retrieval for the tool and overcoming social barriers for implementing the improvement options. Recommendations include redesigning the assessment tool.     

Influence of short-term variations on energy-saving opportunities in a pulp mill

Significant opportunities for energy savings have been identified in the hot and warm water system of a kraft pulp mill. The energy-saving opportunities found at the mill studied, 15.7 MW of steam savings and 24.8 MW of usable excess heat, correspond to 18% of the mill's total steam use. Short-term variations in the process have been studied in order to identify and quantify the influence of these variations on the energy-saving opportunities. Daily and 10-min averages of measured data were used as varying input data in the retrofitted heat exchanger network. When the short-term variations were considered, the total energy-saving opportunities fell by 8% when daily averages are used and by 11% when 10-min averages are used. At least 65% of the influence of short-term variations was detected when seasonal variations are considered.     

Biodiversity,profitability, and vegetation structure in a Mexican coffee agroecosystem

We studied the relationships of bird and small mammal species richness, composition, and abundance to vegetation structure and economic profitability across a coffee intensification gradient in central Veracruz, Mexico. We conducted 2 years of point count censuses for summer resident birds, 2 years of Sherman live trapping for small mammals, and gathered vegetation structure data at 147 sampling points distributed over 16 sites spanning a cultivation intensification gradient. We calculated net annual revenue per hectare as an index of profitability from economic and management data collected during interviews with plantation owners/managers. Both the species richness and abundance of forest-affiliated birds were significantly greater in floristically and structurally diverse ‘bajo monte’ coffee and forest compared with commercial polyculture coffee, which was, in turn, significantly richer than statistically indistinguishable specialized shade and sun coffee. Mammal capture rates were extremely low at all but two sites. Forest bird species richness and abundance were explained by multiple linear regression models that included statistically significant effects of shade cover, percent of trees with epiphytes, and canopy height. We found no clear relationship between profitability and biodiversity, with biodiverse bajo monte coffee plantations ranking among the most profitable under all price scenarios. The high profitability of biodiverse bajo monte coffee systems was not dependent on the inclusion of long-term environmental costs or premium pricing systems. Our results demonstrate that high-biodiversity coffee cultivation can be compatible with high profitability, and has significant potential for conserving biodiversity in coffee-growing regions, but only as a substitute for low-biodiversity coffee cultivation, not forest.     

Developing long-term strategies to reduce energy use and CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> emissions—analysis of three mitigation scenarios for iron and steel production in China

We perform a scenario analysis of three strategies for long-term energy savings and carbon dioxide (CO₂) emission reductions in iron and steel production in China, using a linear optimization modeling framework industry sector energy efficiency modeling (ISEEM). The modeling includes annual projections for one base scenario representing business-as-usual (BAU) and three additional scenarios representing different strategies to reduce annual energy use and CO₂ emissions from 2010 to 2050. Specifically, the three scenarios for cost-optimization modeling include changing the production share (PS), predefining emission reduction (ER) target, and stipulating carbon emission pricing (CP), respectively. While the three strategies are projected to result in similar annual energy savings by approximately 15 % compared to that of the BAU scenario in year 2050, the carbon emission pricing strategy brings about the highest annual energy savings in the medium term (e.g., 2025). In addition, adopting carbon emission pricing strategy will result in the highest emission reduction from BAU with much higher costs, i.e., by 20 % in 2025 and 41 % in 2050, while adopting either PS or ER strategies will result in a moderate level of emission reduction from BAU, i.e., by approximately 4 % in 2025 and 14 % in 2050. The analysis of China’s national strategies to reduce energy use and emissions provides important implications for global mitigation strategies.     

Economic impact of the integration of alternative vehicle technologies into the New Zealand vehicle fleet

A multi-regional integrated energy systems model is developed to assess the economic impact of hydrogen fuel cell, hydrogen internal combustion, and battery electric technologies on the economy of New Zealand. Base case results suggest that a hydrogen fuel dominant vehicle fleet offers economic savings over a conventional fleet but requires the largest sequestration capacity as 75% of hydrogen fuel production is derived from fossil fuel. When the oil price is varied from US$120 to US$240 per barrel in 2030, and the carbon tax varied from US$30 to US$90 per tonne of CO₂ equivalent, the change in savings ranges from ?65% to +25%.     

Indicative assessment of the feasibility of Ni and Au phytomining in Australia

Phytomining involves the extraction of metals from solid and liquid substrates using specially selected hyperaccumulating plants. Phytomining is commercially motivated, the objective being to produce a viable metal yield, at production costs low enough to compete with traditional mining techniques, e.g. heap leaching. In this work we assess the technical feasibility of nickel and gold phytomining in Australia by identifying possible sites, plant species most suited to these regions and methods of recovering the metals from the plants once sequestered. We then investigate the economic viability using published technical and financial models. In the near term, phytomining appears most viable where there are comparatively high metal concentrations around existing mines and mineral processing plants, e.g. near tailings dams or smelters, and in recovering metals from low grade ores considered unprofitable using conventional techniques. Phytomining has the added advantage of improving the quality of the land following completion of the operation. The indicative profitability for a Ni phytomine in Australia is predicted to be ～11,500 AU$/ha/harvest, using the hyperaccumulator Berkheya coddii on nickel rich serpentine soils and with energy generation from the harvested biomass. For Au, a profit of ～26,000 AU$/ha/harvest is predicted using induced accumulation (with thiocyanate) with a crop of Brassica juncea coupled with energy generation from the harvested biomass. In both cases, profitability is most sensitive to the metal price and the extractable metal content.     

真实储蓄率与可持续发展研究

随着全球经济高速发展,地球上的环境却持续恶化,由于经济与环境相互牵制又相互促进,如何实现经济不断增长并能有效保护环境,即实现“可持续发展”成为目前大家普遍关注的问题,本文分析了真实储蓄概念的提出,认为真实储蓄率是基于传统国民经济核算以上两方面的缺陷而提出的。并进一步解释了真实储蓄率的概念,绿色GDP和真实储蓄的关系,及真实储蓄,可持续收入（SI）及生态国民生产净值（EDP）,可持续经济福利指标（ISEW）和真实发展指数（GPI）几种货币化的可持续发展指标的相互关系,认为真实储蓄是一种比较实用的衡量可持续发展的综合指标。     

Carbon accounting of material substitution with biomass: Case studies for Austria investigated with IPCC default and alternative approaches

There is evidence that the replacement of carbon-intensive products with bio-based substitutes (‘material substitution with biomass’) can be highly efficient in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Based on two case studies (CS1/2) for Austria, potential benefits of material substitution in comparison to fuel substitution are analysed. GHG savings are calculated according to default IPCC approaches (Tier 2 method assuming first-order decay) and with more realistic approaches based on distribution functions. In CS1, high savings are achieved by using wood residues for the production of insulating boards instead of energy. The superiority of material substitution is due to the establishment of a long-term carbon storage, the high emission factor of wood in comparison to natural gas and higher efficiencies of gas-fired facilities.The biomass feedstock in CS2 is lignocellulosic ethanol being used for bio-ethylene production (material substitution) or replacing gasoline (fuel substitution). GHG savings are mainly due to lower production emissions of bio-ethylene in comparison to conventional ethylene and significantly lower than in CS1 (per unit of biomass consumed). While CS1 is highly robust to parameter variation, the long-term projections in CS2 are quite speculative.To create adequate incentives for including material substitution in national climate strategies, shortcomings of current default accounting methods must be addressed. Under current methods the GHG savings in both case studies would not (fully) materialize in the national GHG inventory. The main reason is that accounting of wood products is confined to the proportion derived from domestic harvest, whereas imported biomass used for energy is treated as carbon-neutral. Further inadequacies of IPCC default accounting methods include the assumption of exponential decay and the disregard of advanced bio-based products.     

Ecological footprint — a tool for assessing sustainable energy supplies

This article introduces a modified calculation model of the ecological footprint for energy planning. The original footprint model can only evaluate energy savings, but not the substitution of fossil through renewable energy carriers. With the modified calculation model, energy savings as well as substitution potentials can be described. The examination of case studies where this model has been applied in energy planning led to the identification of strengths and weaknesses of the modified calculation model which are discussed subsequently. Hence it follows that the modified calculation model is suitable for energy planning processes from analysis to decision making. Used as a communication tool the model shows whether the principles of sustainable development are being realized on different levels of energy planning.     

Incentive Aspects of Joint Implementation of Greenhouse Gas Reduction

The costs of a national climate policy instruments can be reduced if a reduction of greenhouse gas emission achieved abroad can be credited to a national target. Reductions carried through by agents of one country in another country are called Joint Implementation and have been a major topic in the negotiations on the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The First Conference of the parties in Berlin decided that the concept shall be tested in a pilot phase without crediting. To induce private investments in Joint Implementation projects, primary instruments such as emission taxes, subsidies, tradeable emission rights or regulation are a necessary condition. Tax concessions, subsidies, additional emission rights or relaxation of regulation act as incentives. These must be proportional to the emission reduction achieved through the projects. Tax concessions and subsidies are preferable to other instruments for efficiency reasons.     

Preliminary study of coupled oxidation-reduction reactions of included ions in growing ice crystals

Cloud chamber studies have demonstrated coupled oxidation-reduction reactions of included ions in free-falling ice crystals growing in a supercooled liquid water cloud. These reactions are hypothesized to occur as a consequence of preferential ion separations which take place at the interface between growing ice and the liquid layer at the growing crystal surfaces, followed by electron transfers to establish system neutrality. Oxidations of sulfide ion to sulfate ion and of halide ions to higher valence species have been documented. Reductions of silver ion to metallic silver and of sulfate ion to lower valence species have also been documented in systems of appropriate ion compositions. Similar reactions have been reported to occur during the freezing of bulk dilute solutions of ammonium and/or halide salts.