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Eco-efficiency
As countries and regions around the world began to develop, it slowly became evident that industrialization and economic growth come hand in hand with environmental degradation. Eco-efficiency has been proposed as one of the main tools to promote a transformation from unsustainable development to one of sustainable development. It is based on the concept of creating more goods and services while using fewer resources and creating less waste and pollution. "It is measured as the ratio between the (added) value of what has been produced (e.g. GDP) and the (added) environment impacts of the product or service (e.g. SO2 emissions)." The term was coined by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) in its 1992 publication "Changing Course," and at the 1992 Earth Summit, eco-efficiency was endorsed as a new business concept and means for companies to implement Agenda 21 in the private sector. Ergo the term has become synonymous with a management philosophy geared toward ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eco-costs Value Ratio
The EVR model is a life cycle assessment based method to analyse consumption patterns, business strategies and design options in terms of eco-efficient value creation. Next to this it is used to compare products and service systems (e.g. benchmarking). The eco-costs/value ratio (EVR) is an indicator to reveal sustainable and unsustainable consumption patterns of people. The eco-costs is an indicator for the environmental pollution of the products people buy, the value is the price they pay for it in our free market economy A market economy is an economic system in which the decisions regarding investment, production and distribution to the consumers are guided by the price signals created by the forces of supply and demand, where all suppliers and consumers ar .... Example: When somebody spends 1000 euro per month on housing (in Europe: EVR approx. 0,3) it is less harmful for the environment than when 1000 euro is spent on diesel (in Europe: EVR approx. 1,0). See section 3.1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Durable Goods
In economics, a durable good or a hard good or consumer durable is a good that does not quickly wear out or, more specifically, one that yields utility over time rather than being completely consumed in one use. Items like bricks could be considered perfectly durable goods because they should theoretically never wear out. Highly durable goods such as refrigerators or cars usually continue to be useful for several years of use, so durable goods are typically characterized by long periods between successive purchases. Durable goods are known to form an imperative part of economic production. This can be exemplified from the fact that personal expenditures on durables exceeded the total value of $800 billion in 2000. In the year 2000 itself, durable goods production composed of approximately 60 percent of aggregate production within the manufacturing sector in the United States. Examples of consumer durable goods include bicycles, books, household goods (home appliances, consumer e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World Business Council For Sustainable Development
The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) is a CEO-led organization of over 200 international companies. The Council is also connected to 60 national and regional business councils and partner organizations. Its origins date back to the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit of 1992, when Stephan Schmidheiny, a Swiss business entrepreneur, was appointed chief adviser for business and industry to the secretary general of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). He created a forum called "Business Council for Sustainable Development", which went on to become ''Changing Course'', a book that coined the concept of eco-efficiency. The WBCSD was created in 1995 as a merger of the Business Council for Sustainable Development and the World Industry Council for the Environment and is based at the Maison de la paix in Geneva, Switzerland, with offices in New York and New Delhi. Operations The Council works on a variety of issues related to sustain ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Human Impact On The Environment
Human impact on the environment (or anthropogenic impact) refers to changes to biophysical environments and to ecosystems, biodiversity, and natural resources caused directly or indirectly by humans. Modifying the environment to fit the needs of society is causing severe effects including global warming, environmental degradation (such as ocean acidification), mass extinction and biodiversity loss, ecological crisis, and ecological collapse. Some human activities that cause damage (either directly or indirectly) to the environment on a global scale include population growth, overconsumption, overexploitation, pollution, and deforestation. Some of the problems, including global warming and biodiversity loss, have been proposed as representing catastrophic risks to the survival of the human species. The term ''anthropogenic'' designates an effect or object resulting from human activity. The term was first used in the technical sense by Russian geologist Alexey Pavlov, and it w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Recyclability
Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. The recovery of energy from waste materials is often included in this concept. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the properties it had in its original state. It is an alternative to "conventional" waste disposal that can save material and help lower greenhouse gas emissions. It can also prevent the waste of potentially useful materials and reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reducing energy use, air pollution (from incineration) and water pollution (from landfilling). Recycling is a key component of modern waste reduction and is the third component of the " Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle" waste hierarchy. It promotes environmental sustainability by removing raw material input and redirecting waste output in the economic system. There are some ISO standards related to recycling, such as ISO 15270:2008 for plastics waste and ISO 14001:2015 for env ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Energy Intensity
Energy intensity is a measure of the energy inefficiency of an economy. It is calculated as units of energy per unit of GDP. * High energy intensities indicate a high price or cost of converting energy into GDP. * Low energy intensity indicates a lower price or cost of converting energy into GDP. High energy intensity means high industrial output as portion of GDP. Countries with low energy intensity signifies labor intensive economy. Overview Many factors influence an economy's overall energy intensity. It may reflect requirements for general standards of living and weather conditions in an economy. It is not atypical for particularly cold or hot climates to require greater energy consumption in homes and workplaces for heating (furnaces, or electric heaters) or cooling (air conditioning, fans, refrigeration). A country with an advanced standard of living is more likely to have a wider prevalence of such consumer goods and thereby be impacted in its energy intensity than on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Competitive Advantage
In business, a competitive advantage is an attribute that allows an organization to outperform its competitors. A competitive advantage may include access to natural resources, such as high-grade ores or a low-cost power source, highly skilled labor, geographic location, high entry barriers, and access to new technology and to proprietary information. Overview The term ''competitive advantage'' refers to the ability gained through attributes and resources to perform at a higher level than others in the same industry or market (Christensen and Fahey 1984, Kay 1994, Porter 1980 cited by Chacarbaghi and Lynch 1999, p. 45). The study of this advantage has attracted profound research interest due to contemporary issues regarding superior performance levels of firms in today's competitive market. "A firm is said to have a competitive advantage when it is implementing a value creating strategy not simultaneously being implemented by any current or potential player" (Barney 1991 cited b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Resource Productivity
Resource productivity is the quantity of good or service (outcome) that is obtained through the expenditure of unit resource.Weizsäcker, E, and Jesinghaus, J. 1992. ''Ecological Tax Reform, Chapter 2: Increasing the Productivity of Natural Resources and Energy''. Zed, London/ref> This can be expressed in monetary terms as the monetary yield per unit resource. For example, when applied to crop irrigation it is the yield of crop obtained through use of a given volume of irrigation water, the “crop per drop”, which could also be expressed as monetary return from product per use of unit irrigation water. Resource productivity and resource intensity are key concepts used in sustainability measurement as they attempt to decouple the direct connection between resource use and environmental degradation. Their strength is that they can be used as a metric for both economic and environmental cost. Although these concepts are two sides of the same coin, in practice they involve very diffe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Life-cycle Assessment
Life cycle assessment or LCA (also known as life cycle analysis) is a methodology for assessing environmental impacts associated with all the stages of the Product lifecycle, life cycle of a commercial product, Process lifecycle, process, or service. For instance, in the case of a manufactured product, Environmental issues, environmental impacts are assessed from raw material extraction and processing (cradle), through the product's manufacture, distribution and use, to the recycling or final disposal of the materials composing it (grave). An LCA study involves a thorough inventory of the energy and Material, materials that are required across the industry value chain of the product, process or service, and calculates the corresponding emissions to the environment. LCA thus assesses cumulative potential environmental impacts. The aim is to document and improve the overall environmental profile of the product. Widely recognized procedures for conducting LCAs are included in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cost-effectiveness
Cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) is a form of economic analysis that compares the relative costs and outcomes (effects) of different courses of action. Cost-effectiveness analysis is distinct from cost–benefit analysis, which assigns a monetary value to the measure of effect. Cost-effectiveness analysis is often used in the field of health services, where it may be inappropriate to monetize health effect. Typically the CEA is expressed in terms of a ratio where the denominator is a gain in health from a measure (years of life, premature births averted, sight-years gained) and the numerator is the cost associated with the health gain. The most commonly used outcome measure is quality-adjusted life years (QALY). Cost–utility analysis is similar to cost-effectiveness analysis. Cost-effectiveness analyses are often visualized on a plane consisting of four quadrants, the cost represented on one axis and the effectiveness on the other axis. Cost-effectiveness analysis focuses on m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ratios
In mathematics, a ratio shows how many times one number contains another. For example, if there are eight oranges and six lemons in a bowl of fruit, then the ratio of oranges to lemons is eight to six (that is, 8:6, which is equivalent to the ratio 4:3). Similarly, the ratio of lemons to oranges is 6:8 (or 3:4) and the ratio of oranges to the total amount of fruit is 8:14 (or 4:7). The numbers in a ratio may be quantities of any kind, such as counts of people or objects, or such as measurements of lengths, weights, time, etc. In most contexts, both numbers are restricted to be positive. A ratio may be specified either by giving both constituting numbers, written as "''a'' to ''b''" or "''a'':''b''", or by giving just the value of their quotient Equal quotients correspond to equal ratios. Consequently, a ratio may be considered as an ordered pair of numbers, a fraction with the first number in the numerator and the second in the denominator, or as the value denoted by this fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carrying Capacity
The carrying capacity of an environment is the maximum population size of a biological species that can be sustained by that specific environment, given the food, habitat, water, and other resources available. The carrying capacity is defined as the environment's maximal load, which in population ecology corresponds to the population equilibrium, when the number of deaths in a population equals the number of births (as well as immigration and emigration). The effect of carrying capacity on population dynamics is modelled with a logistic function. Carrying capacity is applied to the maximum population an environment can support in ecology, agriculture and fisheries. The term carrying capacity has been applied to a few different processes in the past before finally being applied to population limits in the 1950s. The notion of carrying capacity for humans is covered by the notion of sustainable population. At the global scale, scientific data indicates that humans are living beyon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
