New Trend of Environmental Engineering

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New Trend ofEnvironmental Engineering
Dr. Yi-Ching Chen Dept. of Environmental Engineer
ing Dayeh University

• Special Topics on Environmental Engineering (I)

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Global Environmental Trends -Population
Demographers estimate that there were 300 million
humans at the time of Christ. It took until 1804
for the world population to grow to 1 billion.
The UN estimates that there are nearly 6 billion
now, that number is expected to increase to 9
billion by 2050.
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Global Environmental Trends -Energy Use
The US is the greatest oil user at 3.14
tons/year. China, a large and growing country,
has a per capital use of only 0.23 tons/year.
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Global Environmental Trends - Energy Use
Oil prices have fluctuated over the years This
chart shows the equivalent -2004 per barrel and
selected events, including oil discoveries and
world wars. 
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Global Environmental Trends -Atmospheric CO2
Trends
CO2 has been increasing as a result of fossil
fuels. This  page presents an Excel based CO2
trend chart and monthly cycle chart of monthly
CO2 data from  Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii.
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Global Environmental Trends -CO2 Emissions By
Country
The Excel based dot plot below compares the
population, CO2 emissions and CO2 emission per
capita for the USA, Europe, china, India and the
rest of the world (ROW) for the year 2000.
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Global Environmental Trends -Global Temperature
Trend
This Excel based chart, using NASA's Goddard
Institute for Space Studies (GISS) data, shows
the annual global temperature anomalies for the
period 1880 - 2006. GISS uses the 1951-1980
period mean to establish the baseline value and
calculates  individual year anomalies by
subtracting the baseline value from the year's
mean temperature.
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Global Environmental Trends -Sea Level Changes
The United nations Environment Programme reports
that mean sea levels have risen 10 to 25 cm over
the past 100 years. This sea level increase is
caused by thermal expansion of warmer water,
retreat of glaciers and ice caps and a net
positive contribution from the huge ice sheets of
Greenland and Antarctica.
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A Vision for the Future (1/6)

• Environmental Engineering is defined as that
  portion of the science of environmental control
  in which engineering is used to conserve and
  develop worlds resources for the general
  well-being of man as measured by such indices as
  the absence of disease, comfort, convenience and
  productivity.
• Professor E. J. Kilcawley Dr. R. Burden,
• Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 1955

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A Vision for the Future (2/6)

• a number of compelling needs
• The need to establish linkages between public
  health, natural resource conservation, and
  ecology.
• The need for a coordinated approach to mitigate
  the adverse impact of human actions on various
  environmental media.
• The need to react to the ability to detect
  contaminants at very low levels.
• The need to address growing public awareness and
  concern about the environment.

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A Vision for the Future (3/6)

• Matter, Energy, and Waste
• 1) to make the waste more valuable, 2) to
  make it more useful, and 3) to make it easier to
  deal with environmentally.
• Global Water Needs
• Global Communications, Open Information
• Biotechnology
• Nanotechnology
• Toxicity and Very Low Level Detection Methods
• Membrane Separation Technology ( in
  Biotechnology )

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A Vision for the Future (4/6)

• Summary Statements
• In the future, environmental engineers must
  regard our responsibility as conservators of
  resources both energy and matter. Additionally,
  we must see waste as matter and energy that is
  not used beneficially. Our job is to modify the
  form that waste takes, and to distribute the
  impacts so as to minimize adverse effects.
• Environmental engineers will be obliged to
  address the shifting requirements of water
  quality and quantity for all essential uses,
  especially agriculture. Water reuse and treatment
  for contaminant removal will be issues of
  increasing concern, and use of desalting
  technology will increase.

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A Vision for the Future (5/6)

• A key task of environmental engineers in the
  future will be to learn how to plan and use a
  growing array of communication and computational
  tools. The Internet will continue to be a vital
  link for professionals in the field.
• Great advances in biotechnology are anticipated
  in the near-term and long-term future.
  Environmental engineers have an advantage of a
  sound base of prior knowledge, but must be alert
  to the rapid strides being made in new tools and
  techniques that will result in breakthroughs in
  innovative technologies.
• Emerging nanotechnology developments must be
  studied carefully to understand fully their
  potential and dangers.

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A Vision for the Future (6/6)

• Study of the fate and effects of contaminants is
  expected to continue, aided by increasingly
  sophisticated modeling techniques. Risk
  management will become recognized more as it is
  apparent that priorities need to be established
  in the face of limited financial resources.
• There was a strong consensus among attendees that
  membrane separation technology will be an
  important treatment method in the future,
  including use in desalting technology to produce
  water in arid regions.
• Process safety and environmental facility
  security are expected to become increasingly
  important to environmental engineers.

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From an after-the-event, 'react and treat'
approach
To a forward-looking, 'anticipate and prevent
approach
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Innovation Not a Linear Process
Technology developments
Changes in the external environment
Market knowledge
Company strategies
Knowledge of customer needs
Scientific advances
IDEAS
OPPORTUNITY IDENTIFICATION
MARKET PENETRATION AND DEVELOPMENT
CONCEPT/ TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT
SCREENING AND BUSINESS ANALYSIS
DEVELOPMENT AND COMMERCIALIZATION
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Innovation Not a Linear Process
Technology developments
Changes in the external environment
Market knowledge
Company strategies
Knowledge of customer needs
Technology Intelligence
Scientific advances
IDEAS
OPPORTUNITY IDENTIFICATION
Technology Valuation and Creation of Benefits
MARKET PENETRATION AND DEVELOPMENT
CONCEPT/ TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT
SCREENING AND BUSINESS ANALYSIS
DEVELOPMENT AND COMMERCIALIZATION
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Innovation Not a Linear Process
Technology developments
Changes in the external environment
Market knowledge
Company strategies
Creativity Idea Generation Breakthroughs
Knowledge of customer needs
Scientific advances
IDEAS
OPPORTUNITY IDENTIFICATION
MARKET PENETRATION AND DEVELOPMENT
Quality of the research
CONCEPT/ TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT
Knowledge Management important throughout the
entire process- critical in the recycle loops
SCREENING AND BUSINESS ANALYSIS
DEVELOPMENT AND COMMERCIALIZATION
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• Environmental Consideration Reduction in
• Toxics (TRI) (toxicity weighted index)
• Carcinogens???- (specific chemicals removed from
  environment)
• Endocrine Disrupters????? - (Specific chemicals
  removed)
• Persistent materials?????? - (quantity of
  specific chemicals)
• Greenhouse gases- (CO2, Nitrous oxide, methane,)
• Total waste generated- (total pounds), reduction
  of resources
• Damage to the eco-system- (specific materials)

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Evolution of Environmental Management (EM)
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What is Green Engineering (1/4)

• Green Engineering is the design,
  commerciali-zation, and use of processes and
  products, which are feasible and economical while
  minimizing
• 1) generation of pollution at the source and
• 2) risk to human health and the environment. 
• Green supply chain is a concept in which
  suppliers integrate the spirit of environmental
  friendliness into their manufacturing management
  so that their products are produced in line with
  environmental awareness.

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What is Green Engineering (2/4)

• Principles of Green Engineering (USEPA)
• Engineer processes and products holistically, use
  systems analysis, and integrate environmental
  impact assessment tools.
• Conserve and improve natural ecosystems while
  protecting human health and well-being.
• Use life-cycle thinking in all engineering
  activities.
• Ensure that all material and energy inputs and
  outputs are as inherently safe and benign as
  possible.
• Minimize depletion of natural resources.
• Strive to prevent waste.
• Develop and apply engineering solutions, while
  being cognizant of local geography, aspirations,
  and cultures.
• Create engineering solutions beyond current or
  dominant technologies improve, innovate, and
  invent (technologies) to achieve sustainability.
• Actively engage communities and stakeholders in
  development of engineering solutions.

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What is Green Engineering (3/4)

• The 12 Principles of Green Engineering (Anastas,
  2003)
• PRINCIPLE 1 - Designers need to strive to ensure
  that all material and energy inputs and outputs
  are as inherently non-hazardous as possible.
• PRINCIPLE 2 - It is better to prevent waste than
  to treat or clean up waste after it is formed.
• PRINCIPLE 3 -Separation and purification
  operations should be a component of the design
  framework.
• PRINCIPLE 4 - System components should be
  designed to maximize mass, energy and temporal
  efficiency.
• PRINCIPLE 5 - System components should be output
  pulled rather than input pushed through the use
  of energy and materials.
• PRINCIPLE 6 - Embedded entropy and complexity
  must be viewed as an investment when making
  design choices on recycle, reuse or beneficial
  disposition.
• PRINCIPLE 7 - Targeted durability, not
  immortality, should be a design goal.

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What is Green Engineering (4/4)

• The 12 Principles of Green Engineering (Anastas,
  2003)
• PRINCIPLE 8 - Design for unnecessary capacity or
  capability should be considered a design flaw.
  This includes engineering one size fits all
  solutions.
• PRINCIPLE 9 - Multi-component products should
  strive for material unification to promote
  disassembly and value retention. (minimize
  material diversity)
• PRINCIPLE 10 - Design of processes and systems
  must include integration of interconnectivity
  with available energy and materials flows.
• PRINCIPLE 11 - Performance metrics include
  designing for performance in commercial
  after-life.
• PRINCIPLE 12 - Design should be based on
  renewable and readily available inputs throughout
  the life cycle.

Anastas, P. Zimmerman, J. Design through the
Twelve Principles of Green Engineering,
Environmental Science and Technology, 37, 94A
101A, 2003.
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What is Green Supply Chain (1/7)

• A Green Sustainable Supply Chain can be defined
  as "the process of using environmentally friendly
  inputs and transforming these inputs through
  change agents - whose byproducts can improve or
  be recycled within the existing environment. This
  process develops outputs that can be reclaimed
  and re-used at the end of their life-cycle thus,
  creating a sustainable supply chain."

The whole idea of a sustainable supply chain
is to reduce costs while helping the environment.
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What is Green Supply Chain (2/7)

• A four step decision making process approaching
  to implement a Green Supply Chain.
• The first step is to identify environmental costs
  within your process or facility.
• The next step is to determine opportunities which
  would yield significant cost savings and reduce
  environmental impact.
• The third step is to calculate the benefits of
  your proposed alternatives.
• The last step is to decide, implement and monitor
  your improvement solutions.

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The Extended Supply Chain
What is Green Supply Chain (3/7)
Traditional
Extended
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Potential benefits of Green Supply Chain
What is Green Supply Chain (4/7)

• Reduced product life cycle costs ? increased
  profitability. More specifically, effective
  environmental management results in the avoidance
  of the following costs
• Cost avoidance of purchasing hazardous materials
  as inputs, which reflect the internalized costs
  associated with environmental harm.
• Cost avoidance of storing, managing, and
  disposing process waste, particularly as waste
  disposal becomes increasingly expensive.
• Cost avoidance of stigmatization or market
  resistance to environmentally harmful products.
• Cost avoidance of public and regulatory hostility
  towards environmentally harmful organizations.

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Potential benefits of Green Supply Chain
What is Green Supply Chain (5/7)

• Reduced environmental and health risks ? reduced
  liability risks
• Safer, cleaner factories

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What is Green Supply Chain (6/7)
Performance Measures of Extended Supply Chain
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What is Green Supply Chain (7/7)
Performance Measures of Extended Supply Chain
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Green Productivity (?????)

• Green Productivity was launched in 1994 in line
  with the 1992 Earth Summit recommendations that
  both economic development and environmental
  protection would be key strategies for
  sustainable development.
• It is the application of appropriate productivity
  and environmental management tools, techniques
  and technologies to enhance productivity and
  protect the environment.
• The technical definition of productivity is a
  relationship between the quantity of output and
  the quantity of input used to produce the output.
  

Productivity Output1 / Input2 1 Output
includes products and services that can be
represented by sales, value added or physical
quantities. 2 Input includes labor, raw
materials, machinery, energy, capital and so on.
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Cleaner Production (????)

• Cleaner Production (CP) is about changing
  products or production processes to achieve the
  conservation of raw materials, water and energy,
  elimination of toxic and dangerous raw materials,
  and reduction in the quantity and toxicity of all
  emissions and wastes at source.
• CP describes a preventative approach to
  environmental management. It is neither a legal
  nor a scientific definition to be dissected,
  analyzed or subjected to theoretical disputes. It
  is a broad term that encompasses what some
  countries/institutions call eco-efficiency, waste
  minimization, pollution prevention (P2), or green
  productivity (GP).
• Pollution control is an after-the-event, 'react
  and treat' approach. CP is a forward-looking,
  'anticipate and prevent' philosophy.

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GP ensures profitability and enhances Quality of
Life
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TRIPLE FOCUS OF GP
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Distinguishing Characteristics of GP
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Conventional Versus GP Practices
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Benefits of Implementing GP

• For enterprises
• Reduction of waste through efficient resource
  utilization
• Lower operational and environmental compliance
  costs
• Reduction or elimination of long-term liabilities
  and clean-up costs
• Increase in productivity
• Compliance with government regulations
• Better public image
• Increase in competitive advantage
• Increase in market share and profitability

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Benefits of Implementing GP

• For employees
• Greater workers participation
• Potential increase in employees share of
  value-added
• Improvement in health and safety in the workplace
  
• Better quality of work life
• For consumers
• High quality products and services
• Reasonable pricing
• On time delivery

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What is RoHS?

• In 1998, the European Union (EU) began to turn
  its attention to the large amounts of hazardous
  material being dumped into landfills throughout
  Europe.
• Responding to vocal and continuing calls for
  action, the WEEE (Waste Electrical Electronic
  Equipment) directive was enacted by the EU a
  move that in turn spawned the Restriction of
  Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive.
• RoHS directly regulates the concentration levels
  of substances considered hazardous in electrical
  and electronic equipment. The substances
  regulated include
• Cadmium
• Hexavalent Chromium
• Lead
• Mercury
• Polybrominated Biphenyls (PBBs)
• Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDEs)

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What is ISO 14000? (1/4)

• The International Organization for
  Standardization (ISO) is a non-governmental
  organization established in 1947. The mission of
  ISO is to promote the development of
  standardization and related activities in the
  world with a view to facilitate the international
  exchange of goods and services and to developing
  cooperation in the spheres of intellectual,
  scientific, technological and economic activity.
• ISO 14000 is actually a series of standards that
  cover everything from environmental management
  systems ( The EMS ) to auditor qualifications to
  as yet unwritten standards for such things as
  life cycle assessment.

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What is ISO 14000? (2/4)

• Objectives of ISO 14000
• The objective of ISO 14000 is to improve
  environmental performance of organization and to
  harmonize different national environmental
  management standards in order to facilitate
  international trade.
• ISO 14000 is designed to provide customers with a
  reasonable assurance that the performance claims
  of a company are accurate.

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What is ISO 14000? (3/4)

• Benefits of ISO 14000
• Protection of environment
• Equal competitive basis
• Demonstrated compliance with regulations
• Establishment of effective management system
• Reduced cost
• Reduced injuries
• Improved community relations
• Improved customer trust and satisfaction
• Improved upper management attention
• Provide a world wide focus of Environmental
  Management
• Protections of trade at international level from
  adopting different set of environmental
  principles, regulations etc.
• Adoption of regional and national environmental
  standards that create barriers to international
  trade and add to the costs of certain products.

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What is ISO 14000? (4/4)

• The ISO 14000 Series documentation is comprised
  of five major basic components

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Tools of Environmental Management (EM) (1/8)

• Environmental Management Systems (EMS)
• There are two main Environmental Management
  Systems  -- the ISO's  ISO 14000 and the European
  Union's Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS). 
• The ISO defines an Environmental Management
  System (EMS) as "a systematic approach to dealing
  with the environmental aspects of an
  organization. It is a 'tool' that enables an
  organization of any size or type to control the
  impact of its activities, products or services.
• The EMS is not prescriptive -- it doesn't specify
  how environmental targets should be met -- but
  rather provides a framework in which
  organizations can examine their practices and
  then determine how these can be managed. 

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Tools of Environmental Management (EM) (2/8)

• Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
• LCA provides a systematic approach to measuring
  the use of resources/inputs and the release of
  effluent to the air water and soil during the
  lifetime of a product, from its manufacture to
  its disposal.
• Most LCA measurements are made by summing the
  units of energy consumed in the extraction of raw
  materials, transport, manufacture, distribution
  and final disposal of a product or service.
• According to the ISO 14040 series standards, LCA
  should assess the potential environmental aspects
  and potential aspects associated with a product
  or service by compiling an inventory of
  relevant inputs and outputs, evaluating the
  potential environmental impacts associated with
  those inputs and outputs, interpreting the
  results of the inventory and impact phases in
  relation to the objectives of the study. 

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Tools of Environmental Management (EM) (3/8)

• Public Environment Reporting (PER)
• PER (also referred to as Corporate Environmental
  Reporting, CER) is the process by which
  businesses, factories, governments and other
  organizations examine their environmental
  performance and publish the information to the
  general public annually.
• A typical PER includes background information
  about the organization, the organization's
  environmental policy, progress made towards
  specific targets established in previous reports,
  and new targets or actions to improve the
  organization's environmental performance in the
  future.
• It will allow society better to understand the
  full implications of corporate activity, thereby
  to design more sustainable local and global
  systems. 

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Tools of Environmental Management (EM) (4/8)

• Environmental Indicators (EI)
• EI allow the measurement of environmental impact
  caused over a defined time period. They are
  essential to determine how well firms and other
  organizations are improving their
  "eco-efficiency".
• EI can be used at the regional, national or
  international level, and are frequently cited in
  state-of-the-environment reports. They are used
  to calculate the impact of human activities -
  over time - on the environment.
• Good indicators have a strong connection from the
  measurement of some environmental condition to
  practical policy options.
• Using indicators to measure environmental
  performance and to help determine whether
  countries are on track towards sustainable
  development

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Tools of Environmental Management (EM) (5/8)

• Environmental Accounting (EA)
• Environmental Accounting involves the
  implementation of accounting systems that take
  into account environmental costs such as waste
  treatment and disposal costs, the costs of a poor
  environmental reputation, and environmental risk
  insurance premiums besides costs of resources
  (such as air, water and energy).
• Frequently, firms do not know the environmental
  costs of their business, because these have been
  too narrowly defined - only as the costs of
  complying with environmental regulations.
• EA is used to find these hidden costs, and
  classify them correctly. EA attempts to help
  management assess true environmental costs, and
  also the costs and benefits of alternative
  actions.

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Tools of Environmental Management (EM) (6/8)

• Industrial EcologyIndustrial Ecology involves
  the incorporation of cleaner production
  principles into the planning of industrial
  developments and other projects to optimize
  environmental protection and cost effectiveness.
• Codes of PracticeCodes of Practice are
  standards, usually developed on a sectoral basis,
  to provide guidance on environmental issues such
  as resource use, emissions, waste disposal, etc.
• Environmental Audits Environmental audits are
  carried out to identify all of the environmental
  impacts made by a firm. They are normally carried
  out before the implementation of cleaner
  production so that changes to practices and
  processes can be identified and assessed.

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Tools of Environmental Management (EM) (7/8)

• Environmental LabelingEnvironmental Labeling
  involves including labels on products which
  inform potential purchasers of the product's
  environmental impact. These labels require a
  standard for comparing products.
• Performance Based Contracting (PBC)PBC has been
  used mainly in the energy sector.  It involves a
  third party contractor taking responsibility for
  running a portion of the business. The contractor
  can get financial rewards for making the business
  more efficient.
• Design for Environment (DFE)
• DFE is the systematic consideration - during
  product design - of issues associated with the
  environment over the entire life cycle of a
  product. This approach attempts to create
  financial and environmental savings by
  redesigning products to reduce environmental
  impact.

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Tools of Environmental Management (EM) (8/8)

• Eco-EfficiencyEco-Efficiency involves increasing
  production while reducing the environmental
  pressure per unit produced.
• Environmental TaxesEnvironmental Taxes involve
  the development of a tax system which increase
  the incentive for industry to adopt cleaner
  production and eco-efficiency.

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Green GDP?????? (1/5)

• Classical economists say more growth in the gross
  domestic product (GDP) or gross national product
  (GNP) means a better, more productive society. Or
  does it? Those economic activities also use up
  natural resources, and some economists now argue
  that the GNP should include the costs of changes
  to the environment.
• In simple terms, green GDP is calculated by
  deducting the cost of depleting natural resources
  and environmental degradation from the
  traditional GDP.
• For environmentalists, well-being provided by
  nature is as important as well-being provided by
  market consumption. Societies should be able to
  see how market consumption affects the
  consumption of public goods like beautiful views,
  clean air, and clean water.

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Green GDP (2/5)

• The capital approach to sustainable development
  to sustainable development is most closely
  associated with the thinking of is most closely
  associated with the thinking of economists on the
  green GDP.
• The green GDP does offer a great deal with the
  does offer a great deal with the measurement
  framework of natural capital and its relationship
  to sustainable development.
• Natural capital comprises three principal
  categories natural resource stocks, land and
  ecosystems.

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Green GDP (3/5)

• Natural capital may fall into one of three groups
  of functions groups of functions
• Resource function covers natural resources drawn
  into the economy to be converted into goods and
  services for the benefit of mankind the benefit
  of mankind
• Sink function absorbs the unwanted by-products of
  production and consumption
• Service function provides the habitat for all
  living beings including mankind.

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Green GDP (4/5)
The example for Green GDP
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Green GDP (5/5)

• In 2004, China announced that the green GDP index
  would replace the Chinese GDP index itself as a
  performance measure for government and party
  officials at the highest levels.
• As an experiment in national accounting, the
  Green GDP effort collapsed in failure in 2007,
  when it became clear that the adjustment for
  environmental damage had reduced the growth rate
  to politically unacceptable levels, nearly zero
  in some provinces. In the face of mounting
  evidence that environmental damage and resource
  depletion was far more costly than anticipated,
  the government withdrew its support for the green
  GDP methodology and suppressed the 2005 report,
  which had been due out in March, 2007.

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Green Energy (1/7)

• Green energy is a term describing what is thought
  to be environmentally friendly sources of power
  and energy. Typically, this refers to renewable
  and non-polluting energy sources.

A solar trough array
Hydropower wheel
Wind turbine
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Green Energy (2/7)

• Green energy includes natural energetic processes
  that can be harnessed with little pollution.
  Anaerobic digestion????(??methane) , geothermal
  power, wind power, small-scale hydropower, solar
  power, biomass power, tidal power and wave power
  fall under such a category. Some versions may
  also include power derived from the incineration
  of waste.

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Green Energy (3/7)

• Green power is considered a subset of renewable
  energy (Graph 1) and represents those renewable
  energy sources with the highest environmental
  benefit.
• Currently, renewable energy accounts for roughly
  2.3
• of the United States energy supply.

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Green Energy (4/7)

• Sometimes, organizations find the total value
  created from a green power purchase to be greater
  than its cost. Benefits produced from a green
  power purchase can include
• Producing no net increases in (anthropogenic -
  human caused) greenhouse gas emissions
• Reducing air pollution
• Meeting organizational environmental objectives
• Creating positive publicity and increasing public
  image
• Displaying civic leadership
• Producing customer, investor, or stakeholder
  loyalty, and employee pride
• Providing a hedge against future electricity
  price instability
• Differentiating your organizations brand in the
  marketplace
• Stimulating local economies
• Increasing domestic security through a more
  diverse fuel mix
• Encouraging long-term cost reductions for
  renewable energy
• Reducing the vulnerability of our nations energy
  infrastructure

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Green Energy (5/7)

• Biomass is a collective term for all plant and
  animal material. A number of different forms of
  biomass can be burned or digested to produce
  energy. Examples include wood, straw, poultry
  litter and energy crops such as willow and poplar
  grown on short rotation coppice and miscanthus.
• Biomass is a very versatile material and can be
  used to produce heat (for space and water
  heating), electricity and a combination of heat
  and power (electricity).

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Green Energy (6/7)

• Burning biomass releases about the same amount of
  carbon dioxide as burning fossil fuels. However,
  fossil fuels release carbon dioxide captured by
  photosynthesis millions of years agoan
  essentially "new" greenhouse gas. Biomass, on the
  other hand, releases carbon dioxide that is
  largely balanced by the carbon dioxide captured
  in its own growth.
• The use of biomass can reduce dependence on
  foreign oil because biofuels are the only
  renewable liquid transportation fuels available.
• Biomass energy supports agricultural and
  forest-product industries.

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Green Energy (7/7)

• Biomass is the only renewable energy source that
  can be converted directly into liquid fuels -
  biofuels - for transportation needs (cars,
  trucks, buses, airplanes, and trains). The two
  most common types of biofuels are ethanol and
  biodiesel.
• Ethanol is an alcohol, the same found in beer and
  wine. It is made by fermenting any biomass high
  in carbohydrates (e.g. sugar cane, maize and
  corn) through a process similar to brewing beer.
• Biodiesel, however, is not an alcohol but is an
  ester, which is similar to vinegar. Many
  vegetable oils, animal fats, algae, or even
  recycled cooking greases are used to produce
  biodiesel.