Impure Public Technologies and Environmental Policy

Analyses of public goods regularly address the case of pure public goods. However, a large number of (international) public goods exhibit characteristics of different degrees of publicness, i.e. they are impure public goods. In our analysis of transfers helping to overcome the inefficient provision of such goods, we therefore apply the Lancastrian characteristics approach. In contrast to the existing literature, we consider the case of a continuum of impure public goods. We employ the example of international conditional transfers targeting to overcome suboptimal low climate protection efforts by influencing the abatement technology choice of countries.Impure Public Goods, Lancastrian Characteristics Approach, Conditional Transfers, Ancillary Benefits of Climate Policy

CURRENT TECHNOLOGIES APPLIED TO URBAN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

The present work organizes information in a systematized way, on environmental technologies applied to each of the tasks and activities that are performed in the cities, urban planning and development. These technologies are an updated part of all the technologies that can be applied, therefore, it is the state-of-the-art of new technologies applied to urban sustainable development which mostly are processes, instruments of measurement, simulators, equipment, materials, Software and Hardware that are of great help for urbanism designers and promoters of urbanism in the cities development. These technologies, which are described in the present article, have been selected on the basis of their up-to-dateness and application in the main sectors or fields of development and it is important to mention that only the most recent and influential on urban development and environmental technology have been chosen. The main objective is to provide an overview of the state-of-the art of these environmental technologies, and how we, designers, architects and promoters of urban development, can apply and use a number of technologies in urban planning with an environmental approach.sustainable urbanism, new technologies, development, tools.

End-of-Pipe or Cleaner Production? An Empirical Comparison of Environmental Innovation Decisions Across OECD Countries

While both fundamental types of abatement measures mitigate the adverse environmental impacts of production, cleaner production technologies are frequently more advantageous than end-of-pipe technologies for environmental and economic reasons. This paper analyzes a variety of factors that might enhance firms? propensity to implement cleaner products and production technologies instead of end-of-pipe technologies. On the basis of a unique facility-level data set derived from a recent OECD survey, we find a clear dominance of cleaner production in seven OECD countries: Surprisingly, 76.8% of the facilities report that they invest predominantly in cleaner production technologies. With regard to environmental product innovations, the large majority of facilities reports that the measures they have undertaken to reduce environmental impacts were geared at production processes and not so much at products. Our estimation results are based on multinomial logit models which indicate that regulatory measures and the stringency of environmental policies are positively correlated with end-of-pipe technologies, while cost savings, general management systems, and specific environmental management tools tend to favor clean production. We conclude that improvements towards cleaner products and production may be reached by the continuous development and wider diffusion of these management tools. Improvements may also be stimulated by widening the cost gap between the two types of technologies, for instance, by additionally charging for waste and energy use. --Cleaner production,end-of-pipe-technologies,technological innovation,technological change,government policy,discrete choice models

Structural change and performance of the German environmental sector

"The so-called Environmental Sector produces technologies, products and services that prevent or reduce environmental damages. On the background of growing environmental problems such as climate protection this sector seems to be more and more important. Contrary to that, a theoretical model shows that this hypothesis may not be true for all sections of the environmental sector. End-of-pipe solutions that operate independently from production processes are mostly driven by environmental regulation so that the demand for these products reacts rather inelastic. This may not be the case for cleaner technologies that are in most cases an integrated part of the production process. Cost-savings are a major motivation to introduce these technologies and products. Unfortunately, the statistical recording of cleaner technologies is very problematic because these technologies or products can not easily be identified separately. This is also the case for our empirical analysis using data from the establishment panel of the Institute for Employment Research. Our analysis of structural change shows a drastic decline of the number of firms and employment in environmental sectors dominated by end-of-pipe but there are positive employment developments and expectations for those cleaner technologies that are captured by our data. This observation is confirmed by an econometric analysis explaining the driving forces of the market shares of firms in the environmental sector." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))IAB-Betriebspanel, Umweltschutzindustrie, Umweltverträglichkeit, Produktionstechnik, Klimaschutz, Wirtschaftsstrukturwandel, Marktanteil - Determinanten, Unternehmensentwicklung, Beschäftigungsentwicklung, Umsatzentwicklung, Nachfrageentwicklung, Umweltverschmutzung, Wasser, Gewässerschutz, Luft, Luftreinhaltung, Recycling, Abfallbeseitigung, Umweltforschung

An assessment of environmental impacts of cassava starch extraction technologies

The environmental impacts of the transformation of cassava roots into starch were assessed for three contrasting technologies at small and large scale (1-2 and 100-200t starch per day), using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology. The objective was to assess impacts for each unit operation, so as to identify impacts hotspots as well as sustainable practices, with a view to uncover opportunities for improving the environmental performance of cassava starch production. The system boundaries were defined as the unit operations used to transform fresh cassava roots delivered at factory gate into loose, dry cassava starch. Inventory data indicated wide variations in energy and water consumption. The large scale technology required 702kWh/t starch, mainly (75%) from fuel oil used for the drying operation, but was most efficient in terms of water use (10m3/t starch) due to water recycling between unit operations. The two small scale technologies were similar in terms of electricity use (59kWh/t starch), and relied on solar energy for drying. In contrast, their water consumption varied from 20 to 60m3/t starch due to differences in the design of the rasping and starch recovery (extraction) operations. The LCA characterizations, using the ReCiPe method, indicated that the main impact contributions were at the drying operation for the large scale technology, and at the extraction operation for the small scale technologies, mainly because of energy use, as well as water use in the case of the most water-intensive technology. Hence strategies to reduce the impacts of cassava starch production could focus on: Increasing the energy efficiency of the drying operation or replacing fossil energy with a renewable source (biogas), which can be produced from the factory wastewater; Improving the design of some unit operations with regards to water and energy efficiency; and Promoting the transfer and adoption of water recycling practices. (Texte intégral

Current, emerging and future technologies for sensing the environment

This paper reviews current technologies that are used for environmental monitoring, and presents emerging technologies that will dramatically improve our ability to obtain spatially distributed, real-time data about key indicators of environmental quality at specific locations. Futuristic approaches to environmental monitoring that employ fundamental breakthroughs in materials science to revolutionise the way we monitor our environment will also be considered. In particular, approaches employing biomimetic and 'adaptive'/'stimuli-responsive' materials will be highlighted, as these could play an important role in the realization of small, low power, low cost, autonomous sensing and communications platforms that could form the building blocks of the much vaunted environmental 'sensor web'

Identifying the Burdens and Opportunities for Tribes and Communities in Federal Facility Cleanup Activities: Environmental Remediation Technology Assessment Matrix For Tribal and Community Decision-Makers

The cleanup of this country's federal facilities can affect a wide range of tribal and community interests and concerns. The technologies now in use, or being proposed by the Department of Energy, Department of Defense and other federal agencies can affect tribal treaty protected fishing, hunting and other rights, affect air and water quality thereby requiring the tribe to bear the burden of increased environmental regulation. The International Institute for Indigenous Resource Management developed a tribal and community decision-maker's Environmental Remediation Technology Assessment Matrix that will permit tribes and communities to array technical information about environmental remediation technologies against a backdrop of tribal and community environmental, health and safety, cultural, religious, treaty and other concerns and interests. Ultimately, the matrix will allow tribes and communities to assess the impact of proposed technologies on the wide range of tribal and community interests and will promote more informed participation in federal facility cleanup activities

Adoption of Clean Leather-Tanning Technologies in Mexico

In many developing countries, a host of financial, institutional, and political factors hamstring conventional environmental regulation. Given these constraints, a promising strategy for controlling pollution is to promote the voluntary adoption of clean technologies. Although this strategy has received considerable attention in policy circles, empirical research on the adoption of clean technologies in developing countries is limited. This paper presents historical background and original survey data on the adoption of five clean tanning technologies by a sample of 137 leather tanneries in León, Guanajuato, Mexico, a city where tanneries have serious environmental impacts and conventional environmental regulation has repeatedly failed to mitigate the problem. The analysis suggest that rather than top-down public-sector pressure and technical assistance, the key factor driving the adoption of clean tanning technologies in León is the bottom-up dissemination of information about the cost and quality benefits of the technologies.clean technology, leather tanning, developing country, Mexico

AKTive Food: Semantic Web based knowledge conduits for the Organic Food Industry

We present a vision and a proposal for using Semantic Web technologies in the organic food industry. This is a very knowledge intensive industry at every step from the producer, to the caterer or restauranteur, through to the consumer. There is a crucial need for a concept of environmental audit which would allow the various stake holders to know the full environmental impact of their economic choices. This is a different and parallel form of knowledge to that of price. Semantic Web technologies can be used effectively for the calculation and transfer of this type of knowledge (together with other forms of multimedia data) which could contribute considerably to the commercial and educational impact of the organic food industry. We outline how this could be achieved as our essential objective is to show how advanced technologies could be used to both reduce ecological impact and increase public awareness