More than 48% of the raw material fiber used for paper production (chemical pulp or mechanical pulp) in the United States in 2002 was recovered or reclaimed, with recovered paper contributing 37.7% and wood residues 10.6%. The total has been more or less constant, with the percentage of recovered paper increasing and that of wood residues declining recently due to their increased use in oriented strand board and composite panels. Primary fibers are a renewable, domestic resource, much of which is currently supplied by tree plantations. Short-rotation forestry can be used to further increase the productivity of these plantations. (more…)
Most discussions of energy use in paper production and papermaking are confusing because of a failure to define exactly what is mea ...
Agricultural and forestry residues provide the largest proportion of biomass used for the production of biomas bioenergy. Some esti ...
The evidence on the environmental Kuznets curve indicates that national environmental policies differ between high-income and low-i ...
Another large source of renewable carbon supplies is waste biomass. It consists of a wide range of materials and includes munic ...
Another large source of renewable carbon supplies is waste biomass. It consists of a wide range of materials and includes munic ...
In this new century, there is considerable pressure on the top six automakers to reduce their environmental and ecological footprint calculation. The automaker that wins the race to build and sell the superior car will shape consumer preferences, thereby boosting sales and profits. The winning firm will fashion a corporate strategy that drives automobile emissions to near zero while simultaneously providing high levels of performance, safety, and comfort. (more…)
Corporate environmental strategy (CES) involves the tools, management programs, processes, and product development choices that all ...
In the pursuit of superior cars, electronic products, and computing, several leading multinational corporations began in the last q ...
Although it is significant that many of the above four imperatives are qualitative, not quantitative, such new efforts have begun t ...
This latter form of new car taxes can actually serve as an impediment to higher fuel economy to the extent that increased energ ...
There are several options that, ultimately, must be integrated when attempting to realize a change in corporate culture: the legal ...
Although it is significant that many of the above four imperatives are qualitative, not quantitative, such new efforts have begun to add an elevated level of urgency to corporate environmental strategy. Whereas the Bhopal and Valdez tragedies may have precipitated the birth of Corporate Environmental Strategy, global environmental concerns, such as water shortages in China, the energy crisis and electricity grid problems in the northeastern United States, and especially the complexities surrounding the economic impacts and costs of climate change, have begun to add a new turn-of the-century urgency to the debates over Corporate Environmental Strategy. (more…)
Corporate environmental strategy (CES) involves the tools, management programs, processes, and product development choices that all ...
In the pursuit of superior cars, electronic products, and computing, several leading multinational corporations began in the last q ...
There are several options that, ultimately, must be integrated when attempting to realize a change in corporate culture: the legal ...
In this new century, there is considerable pressure on the top six automakers to reduce their environmental and ecological footprin ...
As energy prices increase, industries are more and more aware that energy is an expensive commodity that has to be used effic ...
In the pursuit of superior cars, electronic products, and computing, several leading multinational corporations began in the last quarter of the 20th century to tie Corporate Environmental Strategy to their product strategy. Leaders such as Toyota and Honda are classic examples in the automotive industry, as are Shell and BP in the petroleum sector.
Those firms that had successfully integrated Corporate Environmental Strategy into their normal business functions by the new century shared a common set of attributes. These attributes are described below as ‘‘generic’’ elements of allowing Corporate Environmental Strategy to be elevated within a corporate setting, as they often depend on organizational dynamics or a unique set of executive interests and needs. (more…)
Corporate environmental strategy (CES) involves the tools, management programs, processes, and product development choices that all ...
Although it is significant that many of the above four imperatives are qualitative, not quantitative, such new efforts have begun t ...
There are several options that, ultimately, must be integrated when attempting to realize a change in corporate culture: the legal ...
In this new century, there is considerable pressure on the top six automakers to reduce their environmental and ecological footprin ...
As energy prices increase, industries are more and more aware that energy is an expensive commodity that has to be used effic ...
Although some scientists and critics still dispute that human caused greenhouse gases are causing climate change, the majority of scientists and climate experts assert that global warming is a serious problem that could have devastating consequences unless action is taken to reduce fossil fuel emissions. In 2007, for example, the Nobel Prize–winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a scientific body charged by the United Nations with summarizing the best climate science, concludes that evidence of the warming of our climate is “unequivocal.” (more…)
Still hotly debated by some, human-induced global warming is now accepted in the scientific community. Earth’s average yearly tempe ...
Since the early 1960s, climate change and air quality have become major and often controversial issues in many countries and am ...
Addressing global warming, however, is a highly complex and daunting endeavor. Many climate experts have urged the world to stabili ...
Earth’s climate is a complex system of interacting natural components. These components include the atmosphere, the ocean, and the ...
Options for dealing with the threats of climate change include both adaptation to inevitable changes and mitigation, or lessening, ...
There are several options that, ultimately, must be integrated when attempting to realize a change in corporate culture: the legal remedy, which is necessary to spur on the slow movers; the money remedy, which does not mean blindly throwing money at an environmental problem, but instead taking a more strategic approach; and finally, the regulatory remedy, which moves beyond simple regulatory compliance to a level of strategy that allows a company to stay ahead. (more…)
Corporate environmental strategy (CES) involves the tools, management programs, processes, and product development choices that all ...
In the pursuit of superior cars, electronic products, and computing, several leading multinational corporations began in the last q ...
Although it is significant that many of the above four imperatives are qualitative, not quantitative, such new efforts have begun t ...
In this new century, there is considerable pressure on the top six automakers to reduce their environmental and ecological footprin ...
As energy prices increase, industries are more and more aware that energy is an expensive commodity that has to be used effic ...
Earth’s climate is a complex system of interacting natural components. These components include the atmosphere, the ocean, and the continental ice sheets. Living things on earth—or, the biosphere—also constitute an important component of the climate trends system.
Numerous factors influence Earth’s climate system, some of them natural. For example, the slow drift of continents that takes place over millions of years, a process known as plate tectonics, influences the composition of the atmosphere through its impact on volcanic activity and surface erosion. (more…)
Scientists study Earth’s climate not just from observation but also from a theoretical perspective. Modern-day climate models succe ...
Since preindustrial times, ambient concentrations of the greenhouse gases have exhibited substantial increases, inter alia CO2 ...
Still hotly debated by some, human-induced global warming is now accepted in the scientific community. Earth’s average yearly tempe ...
Options for dealing with the threats of climate change include both adaptation to inevitable changes and mitigation, or lessening, ...
Since the early 1960s, climate change and air quality have become major and often controversial issues in many countries and am ...
The evidence on the environmental Kuznets curve indicates that national environmental policies differ between high-income and low-income countries, and that as a result of income growth pollution in the Northern hemisphere may be reduced over time at the cost of increasing pollution in the Southern hemisphere. There have been concerns that this process is reinforced by international trade of goods and by foreign direct investment between North and South. More stringent environmental policies in the North force pollution-intensive industries located in the North to raise their prices relative to the prices charged by firms in the South. (more…)
Statistics on national production levels and indicators of environmental pressure have been collected during the past few decad ...
The EU has a set of common rules on industries environmental permissions for industrial installations, which extend also to cover f ...
In terms of aggregate health effects, household solid fuel use is currently the most important source of indoor air pollution i ...
Lack of access to cleaner energy and the negative outwardnesses associated with energy consumption tend to cycle of poverty for ...
Geographers researching the development of nuclear power have shifted emphasis from commercialization, cost, risk, public acceptanc ...
Historically, mining companies have extracted the earth’s resources wherever economics made it feasible, secure in their knowledge that their products were essential to society. Prior to the passage of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act in 1977, 1.1 million acres (445,000 ha) of coal-mined land in the United States was left un-reclaimed and over 10,500 miles (16,900 km) of streams and rivers were adversely affected in the Appalachian region alone. Coal mining operations today are designed to comply with environmental regulations and to minimize adverse environmental impacts; exceptions exist, however, and serve to inspire environmental activists and conservation groups to resist and reject mining wherever it is proposed. This societal tension serves as a backdrop to the dynamics of issuing or rejecting mining permit applications. (more…)
Although underground coal mines operations are not as visible as surface mining, their overall environmental impact can be greater ...
Currently, site reclamation is planned for during the permitting process and is incorporated into the mining operation. However, th ...
Before the passage of regulations dictating mined land reclamation and mine water discharge standards, streams and rivers down-grad ...
Anyone who wants to save money on gas should be interested in the process of underground coal gasification, or UCG. It is an al ...
Coal is an important energy source and energy consumption in United States as well as worldwide. It will remain so for many yea ...
Reductions in carbon intensity, C/E, the carbon emitted per unit of energy generated, reflect the degree to which societies decarbonize their energy sources. The long-term trend has been a shift from coal to oil to natural gas––hydrocarbons with decreasing C/H ratios emitting progressively less CO2 per joule. However, the increasing use of clean low-carbon fuels is not sustainable without somehow disposing of excess carbon because it opposes the trend in the abundance of fossil fuels, with coal resources being the most abundant followed by oil and gas. (more…)
The global cycling of carbon involves both biological and physical processes. Only the biological components are discussed here. Pl ...
The flux of carbon among terrestrial, aquatic, and atmospheric pools is at least partially controlled by photosynthetic process ...
It is of interest to examine potential sources of greenhouse gases sources or atmospheric CO2 by analysis of the global distrib ...
Climate change caused by the enhanced greenhouse effect is one of the most significant global environmental issues. Increased emiss ...
The global carbon cycle involves both biological and physical processes. Only the biological components are discussed here. Pla ...