Ecological principles,biodiversity, and the electric utility industry

The synthetic field of conservation biology uses principles derived from many different disciplines to address biodiversity issues. Many of these principles have come from ecology, and two simple ones that seem to relate to many issues involving the utility industry are: (1) Everything is interconnected (and should usually stay that way), and (2) We can never do merely one thing. The first principle can be applied to both the biotic and physical environments that are impacted by industrial activities. Habitat fragmentation and the loss of physical and biotic connectedness that results are frequently associated with transmission rights-of-way. These problems can be reduced—or even turned into conservation benefits—by careful planning and creative management. The second principle applies to the utility industry's programs to deal with carbon released by burning fossil fuels. Ecological knowledge can allow these programs to contribute to the preservation of biodiversity in addition to addressing a pollution problem. Without careful ecological analyses, industry could easily create new problems while implementing solutions to old ones.     

Aquatic biodiversity and the electric utility industry

/ Results from a 1995 survey of utility company biologists indicate that aquatic biodiversity is an emerging and poorly understood issue. As a result, there is some confusion about what aquatic biodiversity actually is, and how we can best conserve it. Only one fourth (24%) of the respondents said their company has a stated environmental policy that addresses biodiversity. Many respondents indicate that over the years they have not specifically managed for biodiversity, but have been doing that through their efforts to assure balanced indigenous populations. While regulations are still the major driver for biological work, an increasing number of companies are involved in voluntary partnerships in managing water resources. Of these voluntary partnerships, 70% have biodiversity as a goal. Biodiversity is becoming an increasingly common subject of study, and a vast majority (75%) of the respondents suggested it should be a goal for utility resource management. Conservation of aquatic biodiversity is a complex task, and to date most aquatic efforts have been directed toward fish and macroinvertebrates. Ecological research and technological development performed by the utility industry have resulted in a number of successful biopreservation and biorestoration success stories. A common theme to preserving or enhancing aquatic biodiversity is preserving aquatic habitat. Increasingly, ecosystem management is touted as the most likely approach to achieve success in preserving aquatic biodiversity. Several utilities are conducting progressive work in implementing ecosystem management. This paper presents the potential interactions between power plants and biodiversity, an overview of aquatic biodiversity preservation efforts within the electric utility industry, more detail on the results of the survey, and recent initiatives in ecosystem management.KEY WORDS: Biodiversity; Ecosystem management; Watershed management; Utilities; Aquatic; Adaptive management     

Aquatic biodiversity and the electric utility industry

Results from a 1995 survey of utility company biologists indicate that aquatic biodiversity is an emerging and poorly understood issue. As a result, there is some confusion about what aquatic biodiversity actually is, and how we can best conserve it. Only one fourth (24%) of the respondents said their company has a stated environmental policy that addresses biodiversity. Many respondents indicate that over the years they have not specifically managed for biodiversity, but have been doing that through their efforts to assure balanced indigenous populations. While regulations are still the major driver for biological work, an increasing number of companies are involved in voluntary partnerships in managing water resources. Of these voluntary partnerships, 70% have biodiversity as a goal. Biodiversity is becoming an increasingly common subject of study, and a vast majority (75%) of the respondents suggested it should be a goal for utility resource management. Conservation of aquatic biodiversity is a complex task, and to date most aquatic efforts have been directed toward fish and macroinvertebrates. Ecological research and technological development performed by the utility industry have resulted in a number of successful biopreservation and biorestoration success stories. A common theme to preserving or enhancing aquatic biodiversity is preserving aquatic habitat. Increasingly, ecosystem management is touted as the most likely approach to achieve success in preserving aquatic biodiversity. Several utilities are conducting progressive work in implementing ecosystem management. This paper presents the potential interactions between power plants and biodiversity, an overview of aquatic biodiversity preservation efforts within the electric utility industry, more detail on the results of the survey, and recent initiatives in ecosystem management.     

Approximating pollution abatement costs via alternative specifications of a multi-output production technology: a case of the US electric utility industry

Using a panel of observations from the US electric utility industry, we analyze the output set frontiers that are produced by modeling the technology with different functional forms. Our specifications rely on a series of mapping regimes, based on the paths in which the outputs are scaled toward the frontier, and their outcomes are assessed against the general axiomatic framework of the production model. We demonstrate that different parameterization methodologies produce different empirical analogues of the output set and, as a consequence, can generate rather different estimates of the shadow prices of socially undesirable outputs, or 'bads,' as well. We benchmark our results by assessing the shadow price estimates, often interpreted as the opportunity cost of pollution reduction, against the market prices of pollution permits. The outcomes of our analysis suggest that the estimate of the output set boundary varies with the choice of a parameterization technique, which provides a possible explanation for the sizeable differences between the shadow prices of bads reported in the literature. We also demonstrate that among a variety of existing parametric methodologies no single technique is superior to all others.     

Environmental risk: Management strategies in the developing world

This paper describes a heuristic model which helps to relate a developing nation's environmental risk to the level of sophistication appropriate in adjusting management strategy to dealing with environmental hazards. The model takes into account three factors: the degree of risk, the stage of economic growth, and the sophistication of adjustment. The interrelationship of these factors is examined, and the role of international cooperation in establishing strategies is outlined.     

Environmental criteria in industrial facility siting decisions: An analysis

Environmental criteria are increasingly being employed in industrial facility siting, usually in multicriteria decision contexts, together with technical, socioeconomic and other considerations. This paper analyzes the criteria that have appeared in the published literature with the aim to offer guidance for their selection in a particular facility location problem. A number of alternative classification schemes are presented, first based on the most prevalent classification dimensions which are: the economy-environment relationship, purpose of the criterion, complexity, spatial and temporal scale, and level of measurement. The major scheme adopted draws from the economy-environment relationship and assigns environmental critera to one of seven categories: general characterizations of the environment, characteristics of individual environmental components, measures of the magnitude and intensity of the activity, measures of the nature and volume of wastes which are produced, characteristics of impacts on separate environmental media and receptors, general characterizations of environmental quality, and impacts on humans. Within each of these categories the criteria are analyzed in terms of the other classification dimensions. Common characteristics among the various criteria as well as future trends in their development are identified. This paper also discusses the most important factors conditioning the choice of criteria in a particular facility siting context and outlines a systematic procedure for their selection in real-world applications.     

Environmental and community issues and the mining industry

Much has been said and written in recent years about the greatly increased difficulties faced by the mining industry in meeting the expectations of local communities and in adequately protecting the natural environment. The impression is often given that the industry was completely oblivious of such concerns and needs until the present decade, and that it is now struggling to make up for past neglect. Certainly the standards required by society as a whole have risen, and there is more public discussion than in earlier times, but the managements of many major mining companies have long been fully aware of their obligations to the environment and local communities. To argue otherwise would be to misread the history of the industry and to perform a grave disservice to many dedicated managers of the mining projects of former years.     

Environmental management in the pharmaceutical industry: integrating corporate responsibility and business strategy

International pharmaceutical companies are becoming increasingly proactive in their approach to environmental management, and the results so far are impressive. The forces that affect the global pharmaceutical industry will most likely push these companies toward even greater commitments to environmental improvement and, ultimately, sustainability. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

When business and government clash: Environmental crisis management in the carpet industry

In an era of increasing stakeholder scrutiny, virtually any company or industry is vulnerable to exaggerated claims of environmental harm against its products. When these claims are picked up by the media, the company can suddenly have a full‐fledged crisis on its hands. That's exactly the position the carpet industry found itself in a few years ago. But, as this article explains, carpet makers were able to fight back effectively using sound science and diplomacy. The carpet industry's experience offers valuable lessons for the entire business community. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Environmental planning at the local level: The example of local conservation strategies in Victoria,Australia

Summary While there is a burgeoning literature on national approaches to environmental policy and programmes, much less interest thus far has been shown in the role of local government. However, the State of Victoria in Australia, in the period 1988–1990, took a world lead in encouraging local municipalities to formulate Local Conservation Strategies (LCSs) with a high level of citizen input. The paper places this programme initiative in context and reports on the results of consultations and workshops with local Municipal Conservation Officers who have been in the front line in terms of developing and implementing LCSs in that State. In particular, the paper explores the process of LCS formulation and highlights some of the benefits and problems with the programme so far.Dr David Mercer is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Geography and Environmental Science at Monash University, Melbourne. His major research interest is Australian environmental policy. Dr Meg Keen's research interests are in environmental education and management.     

Environmental management and firm performance: a case study

This study has as its aim to help to clarify the relationship between environmental management and economic performance by integrating it into a wider framework that includes the relationship between environmental strategy and firm performance, the latter being understood as the combination of environmental performance, competitive advantage and economic performance. A case study of the COATO farming cooperative showed us that its environmental management, focused on prevention logic, has had a positive net effect on its environmental performance. Besides, the order in which these practices were adopted favoured the development of new organisational capabilities that have contributed to the appearance of advantages derived from the greater accumulated experience of employees in creating new projects that are designed to reduce residues and pollution. COATO has also obtained a competitive advantage in differentiation thanks to an improved brand image and to its increased credibility in business relationships. Finally, a positive correlation exists between the pioneering proactive strategy adopted by this cooperative and the improvement of its firm performance with respect to the other firms in its sector.     

建设生态工业园区推进环保产业发展——在南海国家生态工业示范园区暨华南环保科技产业园建设规划论证会上的讲话

论述了建设生态工业园区是实现区域可持续发展、经济和环境双赢的重要举措。     

Environmental strategy and performance in small firms: a resource-based perspective

In spite of the widespread recognition of the important roles that small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) play in most economies, limited research has focused on their impacts on the natural environment and the strategies such enterprises adopt to reduce these impacts. It is usually assumed that SMEs lack the resources to implement proactive environmental strategies that go beyond minimum regulatory compliance. In this study of 108 SMEs in the automotive repair sector in Southern Spain, we found that SMEs undertake a range of environmental strategies from reactive regulatory compliance to proactive pollution prevention and environmental leadership. These strategies are associated with three organizational capabilities: shared vision, stakeholder management, and strategic proactivity, hypothesized based on the unique strategic characteristics of SMEs--shorter lines of communication and closer interaction within the SMEs, the presence of a founder's vision, flexibility in managing external relationships, and an entrepreneurial orientation. We also found that firms with the most proactive practices exhibited a significantly positive financial performance.     

Environmental performance of urban roadside traders in Jos,Nigeria

In the last ten years official location policy in Nigeria for urban roadside traders, an enterprising group of urban poor operating at the lowest level of the informal sector of the economy has been very negative. Government believes that they should be removed from the streets and tucked away in obscure locations because of their tendency to deface the streets with litter and for causing vehicular and pedestrian traffic congestion. This paper identifies and assesses the magnitude of pollution created by the traders as a prelude to evolving a planning policy and strategy for regulating and formally accommodating street traders in good locations while still ensuring good environmental quality.     

Environmental regulation, productive efficiency and cost of pollution abatement: a case study of the sugar industry in India

In this paper the input distance function is estimated for the Indian Sugar industry under alternative assumptions of weak and strong disposability of bad outputs. The estimated distance function is used to make the estimates of environmental efficiency, Malmquist productivity index and shadow prices of pollutants. The technical efficiency measure estimated under the assumption of weak disposability of bad outputs is utilized to test the Porter hypothesis. Marginal costs of pollution abatement functions are estimated for different pollutants of water. Pollutant specific taxes are computed using the tax-standards method.