Improved resource efficiency and cascading utilisation of renewable materials

In light of various environmental problems and challenges concerning resource allocation, the utilisation of renewable resources is increasingly important for the efficient use of raw materials. Therefore, cascading utilisation (i.e., the multiple material utilisations of renewable resources prior to their conversion into energy) and approaches that aim to further increase resource efficiency (e.g., the utilisation of by-products) can be considered guiding principles. This paper therefore introduces the Special Volume “Improved Resource Efficiency and Cascading Utilisation of Renewable Materials”. Because both research aspects, resource efficiency and cascading utilisation, belong to several disciplines, the Special Volume adopts an interdisciplinary perspective and presents 16 articles, which can be divided into four subjects: Innovative Materials based on Renewable Resources and their Impact on Sustainability and Resource Efficiency, Quantitative Models for the Integrated Optimisation of Production and Distribution in Networks for Renewable Resources, Information Technology-based Collaboration in Value Generating Networks for Renewable Resources, and Consumer Behaviour towards Eco-friendly Products. The interdisciplinary perspective allows a comprehensive overview of current research on resource efficiency, which is supplemented with 15 book reviews showing the extent to which textbooks of selected disciplines already refer to resource efficiency. This introductory article highlights the relevance of the four subjects, presents summaries of all papers, and discusses future research directions. The overall contribution of the Special Volume is that it bridges the resource efficiency research of selected disciplines and that it presents several approaches for more environmentally sound production and consumption

Resource Augmenting Technological Progress and Sustainable Development?

This paper constructs a three-sector growth model with non-renewable environmental resource and a resource augmenting technological progress, and investigates the relation between the sustainability of resource use and growth of the nations. When the resource augmenting technological progress arises, it is shown that, if the agent is patient, then resource extraction is reduced. We can also prove that, in the opposite preference case, resource use is promoted. These results present a significant policy implication for environmental conservation.Non-renewable resource, Resource augmenting technological progress, Sustainable development

Learning-by-doing and the Costs of a Backstop for Energy Transition and Sustainability

We assess the impact of being able to substitute an unlimited but costly energy substitute (like wind, solar) for a non-renewable resource (like oil, coal) in a model of sustainable growth. The prospects for sustainability on the optimal path depend crucially on the costs of this substitute.Furthermore, the poorer a country, measured in terms of capital stock at a given point in time, the later it should switch to the renewable substitute, and the more likely it will be unsustainable. Taking learning-by-doing in account, we find that this leads to an earlier switching time but does not guarantee sustainability.backstop technology; non-renewable resource; resource substitution; sustainability; learning-by-doing.

Measuring Technical Progress in Gross and Net Products

On the optimal path of an economy with capital and non-renewable resource inputs, and constant returns output of consumption and investment, the rate of exogenous technical progress in net national product equals the rate of progress in (gross) production, divided by one minus the production elasticity of the resource flow.exogenous technical progress, net national product, non-renewable resources

Harvesting natural resources: management and conflicts

It is reasonable to consider the stock of any renewable resource as a capital stock and treat the exploitation of that resource in much the same way as one would treat accumulation of a capital stock. This has been done to some extent in earlier papers containing a discussion of this point of view. However, the analysis is much simpler than it appears in the literature especially since the interaction between markets and the natural biology dynamics has not been made clear. Moreover renewable resources are commonly analyzed in the context of models where the growth of the renewable resource under consideration is affected by two factors: the size of the resource itself and the rate of harvesting. This specification does not take into account that human activities other than harvesting can have an impact on the growth of the natural resource. Furthermore, natural resource harvesting are not productive factories. Fishery economic literature (based on the foundations of Gordon, 1954; Scott, 1955; and Smith, 1963) suggests particular properties of the ocean fishery which requires tools of analysis beyond those supplied by elementary economic theory. An analysis of the fishery must take into account the biological nature of fundamental capital, the fish and it must recognize the common property feature of the open sea fishery, so it must allow that the fundamental capital is the subject of exploitation. The purpose of this paper is the presentation of renewable resources dynamic models in the form of differential games aiming to extract the optimal equilibrium trajectories of the state and control variables for the optimal control economic problem. We show how methods of infinite horizon optimal control theory may be developed for renewable resources models.Renewable resources; exploitation of natural resources; dynamic optimization; optimal control

A dynamic model of renewable resource harvesting with Bertrand competition

In this paper a dierential game model of renewable resource ex- ploitation is considered in which rms compete in exploiting a com- mon resource in a Bertrand price-setting game. The model character- izes a situation in which rms extract a common renewable resource which after harvesting may be considered a dierentiated product. Firms then choose prices rather than harvest quantities. Quantities extracted are determined by consumer demand. Optimal price and harvest policies are determined in a linear state dierential game for whichr open-loop and feedback strategies are known to be equuiva- lent. Furthermore, the case of search costs and capacity constraints is analysed and the role they play in determining the dynamics of the resource stock is considered. The results are compared to those of Cournot competition which has been analysed extensively in the literature. Previous studies of dierential games applied to renewable resource harvesting have concentrated on quantity competition (see for example [12]) and the case of price competition has been largely ignored. the exceptions to this have been in the more empirical litera- ture where evidence for price competition versus quantity competition for renewable resources such as sheries is mounting [1]. Consequently the results presented here are not only new, but possibly of greater empirical relevance than existing results on quantity competition.linear-state differential game, Bertrand competition, renewable resources, fisheries

Growth and convergence in a model with renewable and non-renewable resources: existence, transitional dynamics, and empirical evidence

This paper studies an optimal endogenous growth model using physical capital, labor and two kinds of natural resources in the final goods sector and employing labor to accumulate knowledge. Based on results in calculus of variations, a direct proof of existence of optimal solution is provided. Analytical solutions for the planner case and the balanced growth paths are found for a specific CRRA utility and Cobb-Douglas production function. Transitional dynamics to the steady state from the theoretical model are used to derive three convergence equations of output intensity growth rate, exhaustible resource growth rate and renewable growth rate, which are tested based on data on production and energy consumption in 27 OECD countries.Optimal growth, existence of equilibrium, transitional dynamics, energy, renewable resource, non-renewable resource.

Depletion of Non-Renewable Resources and Endogenous Technical Change

Non-renewable resources are an obstacle for positive long run growth if they are essential for production, households solve an intertemporal Ramsey problem and population is growing. Modern growth models predict that growth is positively related to growth in production factors. Hence, there are opposing forces at work if labor as one factor is growing and the use of the non-renewable resource as another factor is shrinking. The paper develops a semi-endogenous growth model with one labor and one resource using sector and derives conditions for stable positive long run growth in per capita production and consumption.Non-renewable resources, semi-endogenous growth

Ratcheting in Renewable Resources Contracting

Real life implies that public procurement contracting of renewable resources results in repeated interaction between a principal and the agents. The present paper analyses ratchet effects in contracting of renewable resources and how the presence of a resource constraint alters the “standard” ratchet effect result. We use a linear reward scheme to influence the incentives of the agents. It is shown that for some renewable resources we might end up both with more or with less pooling in the first-period compared to a situation without a resource constraint. The reason is that the resource constraint implies a smaller performance de-pendent bonus, which reduces the first-period cost from concealing information but at the same time the resource constraint may also imply that second-period benefits from this concealment for the efficient agent are reduced. In situations with high likelihood of first-period pooling, the appropriateness of applying lin-ear incentive schemes can be questioned.Political support function, political economy, environmental regula-tion, lobbyism, rent-seeking, taxation, auction, grandfathering, emission trad-ing, European Union, interest groups, industry, consumers, environmentalists

Sustainability, resource substitution in energy inputs and learning

We assess the impact of the existence of a costly energy substitute (like wind, solar) for a non-renewable resource (like oil, coal) on the sustainability of consumption. The prospects for sustainability depend crucially on the costs of this substitute. If one can reduce the costs of the resource substitute via learning-by-using then we find that still this does not guarantee sustainability. Also, the poorer a country the less it will take the learning-by-using effect into account and the more likely it will be unsustainable.Renewable resource, non-renewable resource, substitution, sustainability, learningby- using.