This book addresses the emerging trend of smart grids in power systems. It discusses the advent of smart grids and selected technical implications; further, by combining the perspectives of researchers from Europe and South America, the book captures the status quo of and approaches to smart grids in a wide range of countries. It describes the basic concepts, enabling readers to understand the theoretical aspects behind smart grid formation, while also examining current challenges and philosophical discussions. Like the industrial revolution and the birth of the Internet, smart grids are certain to change the way people use electricity. In this regard, a new term - the "prosumer" - is used to describe consumers who may sometimes also be energy producers. This is particularly appealing if we bear in mind that most of the distributed power generation in smart grids does not involve carbon emissions. At first glance, the option of generating their own power could move consumers to leave their current energy provider. Yet the authors argue that doing so is not a wise choice: utilities will play a central role in this new scenario and should not be ignored.

This book presents an authoritative and comprehensive overview of the production and use of microalgal biomass and bioproducts for energy generation. It also offers extensive information on engineering approaches to energy production, such as process integration and process intensification in harnessing energy from microalgae. Issues related to the environment, food, chemicals and energy supply pose serious threats to nations' success and stability. The challenge to provide for a rapidly growing global population has made it imperative to find new technological routes to increase the production of consumables while also bearing in mind the biosphere's ability to regenerate resources. Microbial biomass is a bioresource that provides effective solutions to these challenges. Divided into eight parts, the book explores microalgal production systems, life cycle assessment and the bio-economy of biofuels from microalgae, process integration and process intensification applied to microalgal biofuels production. In addition, it discusses the main fuel products obtained from microalgae, summarizing a range of useful energy products derived from algae-based systems, and outlines future developments. Given the book's breadth of coverage and extensive bibliography, it offers an essential resource for researchers and industry professionals working in renewable energy.

Infrastructure resources are the subject of many contentious public policy debates, including what to do about crumbling roads and bridges, whether and how to protect our natural environment, energy policy, even patent law reform, universal health care, network neutrality regulation and the future of the Internet. Each of these involves a battle to control infrastructure resources, to establish the terms and conditions under which the public receives access, and to determine how the infrastructure and various dependent systems evolve over time. Infrastructure: The Social Value of Shared Resources devotes much needed attention to understanding how society benefits from infrastructure resources and how management decisions affect a wide variety of interests. The book links infrastructure, a particular set of resources defined in terms of the manner in which they create value, with commons, a resource management principle by which a resource is shared within a community. The infrastructure commons ideas have broad implications for scholarship and public policy across many fields ranging from traditional infrastructure like roads to environmental economics to intellectual property to Internet policy. Economics has become the methodology of choice for many scholars and policymakers in these areas. The book offers a rigorous economic challenge to the prevailing wisdom, which focuses primarily on problems associated with ensuring adequate supply. The author explores a set of questions that, once asked, seem obvious: what drives the demand side of the equation, and how should demand-side drivers affect public policy? Demand for infrastructure resources involves a range of important considerations that bear on the optimal design of a regime for infrastructure management. The book identifies resource valuation and attendant management problems that recur across many different fields and many different resource types, and it develops a functional economic approach to understanding and analyzing these problems and potential solutions.

This book presents a cutting-edge analysis of the economic effects and challenges of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, with a special focus on EU sanctions on Russian energy and Ukraine's political relationship with the European Union in a global context. Welfens outlines key macroeconomic perspectives on the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, highlighting in particular how sanctions posed by the international community will have a wider economic impact than what has so far been envisaged. The book discusses the effects of Russian gas supply boycotts against Western countries as well as global effects of an EU energy import boycott on Russia, especially for China and the Asian continent. An innovative proposal to cut electricity prices is presented. It also explores the challenges to relations between the EU, China and Russia caused by the invasion, the effects of the unfolding refugee crisis (within a post-Brexit EU), military and humanitarian aid pledges to Ukraine, and the risks of reduced multilateralism within the world economy as a direct result of the war. The book also analyses the risks and benefits of potential enlargement of the EU to integrate Ukraine as a member state. The topics covered by the book are all set within a long-run view of diplomatic and economic relations between the West, Russia and Ukraine. The factors analysed here provide a new, broader picture of the international effects of the conflict, as well as its potential implications for policy design as we enter a new global order marked by the Russo-Ukrainian war. The book will be of interest to researchers and policy-makers working in international economics, new political economy, European politics and integration, and macroeconomics more broadly.

From the Indigenous perspective, sustainability must be understood as a means of survival. In a climate of in-migration, clan and tribal communities have been forced to build sustainable solutions together to protect their sovereignty, recognition and mutual respect. In the midst of a global pandemic that threatens the economic and social well-being of millions of people, this edited collection addresses the social, economic, and environmental sustainability of tribes, clans, and Indigenous cultures across national and global origins. Acknowledging that these peoples around the globe have addressed threats to their survival for millennia, the authors showcase examples of indigenous groups spanning South Africa, Nigeria, Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bolivia and North America. Regional examples also come from Rwanda, Cameroon, Congo, Ethiopia, East Timor, Papua New Guinea, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Easter Island, and Nunavit, Canada. Breaking fresh ground by shining a light on sustainability journeys from outside the global mainstream, this book demonstrates how sustainable recovery and development occurs in respectful collaboration between equals.

This book sheds new light on the relationship between economy and the environment by approaching the issue from evolutionary and institutional economics. Building a framework of theory and empirical analysis, it provides an in-depth perspective on how economic growth and environmental policy interact and historically evolve. Orthodox environmental economics usually understands environmental issues under the rules of market economy, while environmental sciences subordinate economy to physical constraints of the environment. Instead of these hierarchical visions, this book recognizes economy and the environment as co-evolving systems. The theoretical framework is elaborated based on the regulation and post-Keynesian theories combined. An idea of three-dimensional factors-capital, labor, and the environment-leads to conceptual and mathematical models, which will be applicable to wider analyses. Using this framework, Japanese history is analyzed as a typical example of environmental policy development. Historical transformations of environmental policies and growth regimes are explained using indices and econometric analysis. Experiences of strict regulations with positive economic impacts are also identified. These works lead to some interesting implications, which include mechanisms, the possibility, and conditions of "green growth''. This book proposes a new approach by bridging the gap between evolutionary-institutional economics and environmental economics, which should be stimulating to them both and possibly open the door for a new research avenue.

After decades of stability, power systems are currently undergoing a rapid transition - demand patterns are evolving, while supply sources are shifting to renewable energies at an accelerated pace. This book, written by an experienced energy professional, combines the various aspects of supply and demand developments to offer a unified perspective. It highlights the key changes that the world of electric utilities and power systems will face in the coming decade, as well as the major challenges that will emerge as a result. Supplemented by a wealth of global and local data, the book describes the major patterns that affect both supply and demand, and provides a quantified analysis of their impacts on power system grids and markets. Lastly, it explores the new technologies that can enable the success of these transformations.

This book systematically introduces readers to the framework of China's ETS pilots, exploring their design and operating process, the current state of the carbon market, and various barriers encountered. To do so, it deconstructs the Guangdong ETS, which is the largest and most representative of China's seven ETS pilots. The book subsequently describes and evaluates all seven pilots in terms of their efficiency, macro and micro effects, the method involved in the DEA model, the CGE model, and cost-benefit analysis. In turn, in the assessment section it demonstrates how some ETS pilots have failed to control carbon emissions due to inordinately high emissions quotas issued by the local government etc. Further, it argues that ETS should focus on those industries with large emissions and high mitigating potential for the time being, and then gradually expand the scale of its coverage. As China's national ETS is slated for launch on the basis of the lessons learned from the ETS pilots, the book offers a timely and valuable resource for all those who want to understand and forecast the development of China's ETS. It includes a wealth of descriptions and explanations of Chinese government policies involving carbon emissions control, making it a unique resource.

This book examines the interplay between trade and the environment, with a focus on the Indian textile sector. While it is often claimed that developed countries' non-tariff trade measures adversely affect the trade prospects of developing countries, establishing that claim systematically is a challenging task. This book examines the dilemma on the basis of various approaches, including a primary survey of different stakeholders and the large-scale modelling of the economy-environment inter-linkages. The interplay between the costs involved in meeting environmental regulations and the potential price-premiums that the cleaner products would get in the international market is analysed in order to assess the future trade prospects for Indian textiles. In addition, the book provides a comprehensive overview of the present scenario of the Indian textile sector. Accordingly, it will be of great interest to researchers, policy makers and graduate students specializing in environmental economics, development economics and international economics.

This book investigates the existing and possible links between the concept of a Carbon Club and the Paris Agreement. In doing so the book defines those criteria that may lead to an effective establishment of a Carbon Club acting within the mandate of the Paris Agreement and identifies the key questions that such an option may help to tackle: Which low-carbon pathways are compatible with the new temperature targets set by the Paris Agreement? Can new entities like the Carbon Club have a decisive role in guaranteeing the alignment of the aggregate mitigating actions with the global objectives identified within the Paris Agreement? What role will be played by market and non-market approaches within the proposed framework? How can economic, social, and environmental sustainability be ensured during the implementation of the Agreement? How can justice and equity be encouraged between the Parties and all the involved actors as required by the Agreement? Which instruments can be designed and adopted to provide the expected degree of transparency for the new system? To respond to these questions the book adopts a holistic approach, able to emphasize the strong interrelations. The book discusses the opportunity to develop a Carbon Club within the Article 6 framework, and provides a feasible roadmap for its means of implementation, rules and governance structure. The final result is a feasible policy proposal that takes into account all the key issues introduced by the questions, and draws a roadmap towards a 'low-carbon Bretton Woods'.

Since the 1960s the resource-poor countries have grown much faster that the resource-rich ones. This reflects basic differences in the speed of industrialization and the nature of the political state that are rooted in the natural resource endowment. Most resource-rich countries experienced a growth collapse in the 1960s and 1970s. This book shows how policies for economic recovery must be adapted to reflect differences in the natural resource base and type of political state.

Macroeconomics of Climate Change in a Dualistic Economy: A Regional General Equilibrium Analysis generates significant, genuinely novel insights about dual economies and sustainable economic growth. These insights are generalize-able and applicable worldwide. The authors overcome existing limitations in general equilibrium modeling. By concentrating on tensions between green growth and dualism, they consider the global efforts against climate change and opposition by specific countries based on economic development needs. Using Turkey as their primary example, they address these two most discussed and difficult issues related to policy setting, blazing a path for those seeking an applied economic research framework to study such economic considerations.

When taxes are introduced on carbon and energy, and the revenue is used to reduce other taxes, will a positive effect be achieved both for the environment and for the economy? In 1990 Finland was the first country to introduce a tax on CO2. Later, Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Slovenia, Germany and the UK followed suit with tax reforms that shifted taxation from labour to carbon and energy. Over the years, CO {2} and energy taxes have gradually been raised, so that in Europe taxes of more than 25 billion Euros a year have been shifted.
This book examines carbon-energy taxation in detail and looks at tax shifting programmes for lowering other taxes. It offers extensive analysis on the basis of historical data and seeks to answer important questions for policy-making, such as: What was the impact of tax shifting for economic performance and competitiveness? By how much were emissions of CO {2} reduced? Could energy-intensive industries cut further down on their fuel demand or did they loose market shares? To what extent was there "leakage" from Europe, so that production and CO {2} emissions were shifted to other countries or regions without CO {2} -abatement policy? The use of unique and original data, including sector-specific energy prices and taxes, as well as the use of advanced statistical techniques, such as co-integration analysis and panel-regression techniques along with the time-series estimated macro-economic model E3ME, make this a truly comprehensive volume.
On the basis of the lessons learned in Europe, this volume indicates how carbon-energy taxation could usefully be combined with emissions trading, and discusses implications for future international climate policy, including how the IPCC recommendations for a gradual escalation in carbon price could be accomplished while preventing carbon leakage.

This book focuses on the applications of optimal control theory to operations strategy and supply chain management. It emphasizes the importance of optimal control theory as a tool to analyze and understand fundamental issues in the respective fields. Delving deeper, the book also elaborates on how optimal control theory provides managerial and economic insights, enabling readers to comprehend the dynamic activities and interactions in operations. Given that optimal control theory is not a dominant approach to studying operations management in the current literature, this book fills that gap by showing its effectiveness as a tool to supplement other methodologies in operations.

Airports serve an essential role in domestic and international travel, facilitating the origination, termination, and connections of air flights. Airport services enhance regional, national, and global connections, increasing the mobility of people worldwide and enhancing local and regional economies. Although there is a large amount of literature that examines airline costs and productivity, consumer welfare from air travel, and the influence of economic regulation of airline services, there is much less literature that examines airports. This is important, as airport operations play a critical role in influencing airline travel. This volume examines the role that airports play in economic development and land values, the regulation and economic efficiency of airports, airport pricing and competition, and the role played by airports in influencing airline operations and networks.

This book provides a synthesis of research findings, in terms of strategic knowledge outcomes regarding emergence of recent regional climate signals, implications for impacts assessment, and mitigation and adaptation response, relevant in the Indian context. The first part discusses evidence of climate change and its underlying scientific processes across India, chiefly focusing on impacts that are already visible and attributable to anthropogenic activities. The latter part deals with the responses to climate change, highlighting the mitigation and adaptation strategies in various sectors and communities. The book presents a concise interpretation, distilling practical recommendations and policy prescriptions at national and sub-national levels. It serves as a reference point for understanding scientific advances and persisting uncertainty, future vulnerability and response capacity of interlinked human and natural systems, pertaining to India. It is an excellent resource for policy makers and industry watchers in addition to the research fraternity.

This book showcases vital lessons learned from research, field projects and best practice examples with regard to climate change adaptation in countries throughout the Pacific region, a part of the planet that is particularly vulnerable to and affected by climate change.The book's primary goals are to document the wealth of experiences in the region available today, to encourage cross-sector interactions among the various stakeholders in the region, and to help transfer results to other countries and regions. Accordingly, it gathers a set of papers presented at a symposium on climate change adaptation held in Fiji in July 2016, focusing on "Fostering Resilience and Improving the Quality of Life". In these contributions, local and international experts present a variety of initiatives showing how Pacific countries are coping with the many problems associated with climate change, including initiatives in education and awareness work taking place across the region, operational aspects and their implications for policy-making, and challenges in urban and rural areas.

This book is a volume of essays celebrating the life and work of Yoshiro Higano, professor of Environmental Policy, Doctoral Program in Sustainable Environmental Studies, Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Japan. Prof. Higano's research strongly focuses on the comprehensive evaluation of resources and research content for decision science and engineering, including simulation modeling for environmental quality control, the evaluation of environmental remediation technologies, integrated river (lake) basin management, and synthesized environmental policy. Yoshiro Higano is the past president of the Regional Science Association International (RSAI) and the current president of the Japan Section of the RSAI (JSRSAI). He also served as executive secretary for the Pacific Regional Science Conference Organizations (PRSCO). This edited volume covers a wide range of regional science approaches, theory, policy, evaluation, modeling, simulation, and practice. It is a valuable reference work for researchers, scholars, policy makers, and students in the field of regional science. The volume celebrates Prof. Higano's contributions to the JSRSAI, PRSCO, and RSAI. Essay contributors include his former students and a wide array of regional scientists, each with a personal connection to Prof. Higano.

Contemporary development debates in Latin America are marked by the pursuit of economic growth, technological improvement and poverty reduction, and are overshadowed by growing concerns about the preservation of the environment and human rights. This collection's multidisciplinary perspective links local, national, regional and transnational levels of inquiry into the interaction of state and non-state actors involved in promoting or opposing natural resource development. Taking this approach allows the book to contemplate the complex panorama of competing visions, concepts and interests grounded in the mutual influences and interdependencies which shape the contemporary arena of social-environmental conflicts in the region.

The book discusses how to establish a land-use system for small and medium-sized cities in order to promote low carbon economic development and to ensure sustainable development. It also presents the objectives and requirements of urban green development: The first objective is to establish a green city with ecological harmony. The second is the establishment of a people-oriented harmonious city, which is important for the green development of city. Drawing on past experience and combining this with the current situation in China's cities, it argues that the construction of people-oriented harmonious cities should be a priority. The third objective is to build multi-functional organic cities in which the urban function is relatively independent. Lastly, the fourth objective is to establish a city with unique charm, applying historical ways of thinking to today's world.

This book discusses the regulatory and trade challenges facing the global adoption of biotechnological products and offers strategies for overcoming these obstacles and moving towards greater global food security. The first section of the book establishes the context of the conflict, discussing the challenges of global governance, international trade, and the history of regulation of genetically modified (GM) crops. In this section, the authors emphasize the shift from exclusively science-based regulation to the more socio-economically focused framework established by the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, which was adopted in 2000. The second section of the book provides a snapshot of the current state of international GM crop adoption and regulation, highlighting the US, Canada, and the EU. The final section of the book identifies options for breaking the gridlock of regulation and trade that presently exist. This book adds to the current literature by providing new information about innovative agricultural technologies and encouraging debate by providing an alternative to the narratives espoused by environmental non-governmental organizations. This book will appeal to students of economics, political science, and policy analysis, as well as members of regulatory agencies and agricultural industry firms.

The New Energy Paradigm provides an overview of the current energy policy debate, contextualized by the oil shock from 2000, and considers how the trends in international energy markets impact on security of supply and climate change. It includes a discussion of market design, looks at carbon and oil markets, and considers best practice for effective policy design.

The goal of sustainable development is to meet the socio-economic and environmental objectives without comprising the needs of future generations. Since the Rio Summit of 1992, the concept of sustainability has captured our imaginations and aspirations and efforts to develop its indicators have increased. A range of sustainability indicators have been developed within various socio-economic, environmental and cultural contexts- including biodiversity, economy, energy, water, land use and transport. Sustainability indicators are widespread in international development arena. They have become popularized among governments, non-governmental organizations, private sector and the wider public. Based on multiple cases across the world, this book explores opportunities and challenges associated with the practical application of sustainability indicators. The book reflects diversity of professionals of inter-disciplinary backgrounds covering contemporary issues within different socio-economic and environmental contexts. Each chapter presents practical examples of the merits and challenges of using sustainability indicators and draws conclusions and lessons learned. The book targets a range of audience from students, academics to development practitioners and policy-makers. The two editors of this book: Dr. Agnieszka Ewa Latawiec and Dr. Dorice Agol are inter-disciplinary scientists who both have experience in research at the environmental conservation and development nexus.

Why aren't we investing more in disaster resilience, despite the rising costs of disaster events? This book argues that decision-makers in governments, businesses, households, and development agencies tend to focus on avoiding losses from disasters, and perceive the return on investment as uncertain - only realised if a somewhat unlikely disaster event actually happens. This book develops a new business case for investment based on the multiple dividends of resilience. This looks beyond only avoided losses (the first dividend) to the wider benefits gained independently of whether or not the disaster event occurs. These include unleashing entrepreneurial activities and productive investments by lowering the looming threat of losses from disasters and enabling businesses, farmers and homeowners to take positive risks (the second dividend); and co-benefits of resilience measures beyond just disaster risk (the third dividend), such as flood embankments in Bangladesh that double as roads, or wetlands in Colombo that reduce urban heat extremes.

Energy poverty, one of the major challenges facing the global energy system, has drawn wide attention from the international community and academia. As the largest developing country in the world, China faces a number of challenges in understanding and resolving the problem of energy poverty. Energy Economics: Understanding and Interpreting Energy Poverty in China presents a succinct overview of research on China's Energy Poverty as studied by the Center for Energy & Environmental Policy Research (CEEP), Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT). Based on the analytical framework of energy economics, the book summarizes and refines international energy assessment methods, builds China's energy poverty measurement and comprehensive evaluation criteria, and evaluates China's energy poverty from the perspective of time and space. It goes on to analyze the impact of solid fuel use on urban and rural residents' health, and review the relationship between energy poverty and economic development, clean energy development and energy poverty, as well as climate change and energy availability. Finally, it summarizes policies and actions to eliminate energy poverty. This book will provide essential scientific support for researchers and policy makers dealing with energy poverty.