Economic growth and patterns of sustainability

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SEEA Revision: Accounting for Sustainability?

The 1993 United Nations System for integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting (SEEA) aimed at measuring the - environmental - sustainability of economic performance and growth in terms of produced and natural capital maintenance. To this end it advanced "greened" economic indicators, notably Environmentally-adjusted net Domestic Product (EDP) and Capital Formation (ECF). A revised (draft) version of the 1993 handbook, entitled "Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting 2003" (IEEA), is now available on the web site of the United Nations Statistics Division. Despite its extensive discussion of sustainable development, the IEEA 2003 fails in measuring overall sustainability as it shuns monetary valuation of environmental impacts in a modular framework for physical, hybrid and - selective - monetary accounts. The revision thus missed an opportunity to bridge the persisting dichotomy between ecological and economic sustainability analysis. Future work should explore and test the capability of material flow and environmentally adjusted economic indicators to capture the elusive notions of strong and weak sustainability of economic activity.environmental accounting, sustainability, capital maintenance, dematerialization, green GDP, valuation

Dematerialization and capital maintenance: Two sides of the sustainability coin

The reductionist trend of equalizing sustainable development with CO2control needs to be reversed - notwithstanding the significance of climate change. Conventional, 'compartmentalized' data systems impede an integrated vision andtreatment of the paradigm. New accounts and balances focus on the interactionbetween environment and economy. 'Greened' national accounts measure economic sustainability in terms of (produced and natural) capital maintenance; balances of material flows assess ecological sustainability as the dematerializationof production and consumption. Both concepts aim to preserve environmentalassets. They differ however with regard to the scope, strength and evaluation ofsustainability. First results for Germany indicate weak sustainability of theeconomy, owing to an increasing capital base. Strong sustainability is not in sight,though, since material throughput has not been reduced sufficiently. An 'Alliancefor Sustainable Development' is proposed to implement and sustain the paradigm. --Dematerialization,capital maintenance,sustainability,environmental accounting,eco-tax,alliance for sustainable development

Sustainable development: Paradigm or paranoia?

Sustainable development is the globally embraced paradigm for integrating environment and development policies. Agreement ends with attempts atoperationalizing the elusive notion of sustainability. A contentious debate among'environmentalists' and 'environmental economists' has brought about a confusingproliferation of indicators and policy advice on sustainable development. Greening the monetary national accounts could moderate the debate by generating conceptsand indicators which translate environmental concerns into the language of widely used economic variables. The implementation of sustainable growth anddevelopment requires more. 'Economic' instruments of environmental costinternalization need to be combined with environmental legislation and regulation.Such reconciliation of environmental and economic policies should be supported by a'social compact' between government and civil society. The sustainedimplementation of sustainable development depends on it. --

Green accounting and material flow analysis: Alternatives or complements?

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Dematerialization and capital maintenance : two sides of the sustainability coin

The reductionist trend of equalizing sustainable development with CO2 control needs to be reversed - notwithstanding the significance of climate change. Conventional, "compartmentalized" data systems impede an integrated vision and treatment of the paradigm. New accounts and balances focus on the interaction between environment and economy. "Greened" national accounts measure economic sustainability in terms of (produced and natural) capital maintenance; balances of material flows assess ecological sustainability as the dematerialization of production and consumption. Both concepts aim to preserve environmental assets. They differ however with regard to the scope, strength and evaluation of sustainability. First results for Germany indicate weak sustainability of the economy, owing to an increasing capital base. Strong sustainability is not in sight, though, since material throughput has not been reduced sufficiently. An "Alliance for Sustainable Development" is proposed to implement and sustain the paradigm

Numerical simulation of time-invariant error and its effect on planetary gearbox dynamics

Planetary gearbox is used in high precision applications such as robotic arm, control system of antenna, positioning and radar tracking systems. Planetary gearbox have high torque-to-weight ratio, high degree of control over the speed range and better efficiency. Most of the literatures assume that the gearbox are free from errors. Errors significantly affect the dynamic characteristics of the gearbox. The major challenge is to model these errors and study its behaviour under dynamic condition. The simulation results of time domain signal when converted to frequency domain signal, it shows the presence of error in the gearbox. Also, simulation result indicates a non-uniform motion of planetary gearbox in the presence of errors

Dealing with the Past in the Present: How and Why?

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