Non-renewable Use Research Articles

How should the use of nonrenewables be taxed under a public budget constraint?

Most developed countries will be facing severe public budget constraints. We examine how extraction or use of nonrenewable resources should be taxed when governments need to collect commodity tax revenues. Moreover, we show how our results can be directly used to indicate how carbon taxation of nonrenewable energy sources should be increased in the presence of public-revenue needs. The obtained tax formula is an augmented, dynamic version of the standard Ramsey taxation rule. It distorts developed reserves, which are reduced, and their depletion, which is slowed down, going further in the direction prescribed for the resolution of the climate externality. We present a simple calibrated application of our results to illustrate how carbon taxation of oil should be strongly augmented, and the incidence of this adjustment on oil use and tax revenues.

The Choice between Renewables and Non-renewables: Evidence from Electricity Generation in 29 Countries

We examine how per capita income and relative fossil fuel prices influence the use of non-renewables (oil, coal and natural gas), nuclear, hydroelectric, and other renewables in electricity generation. Panel regressions are estimated using the fully modified ordinary least squares method and data across 29 countries (1985-2017).We include both developed and developing economies whose classification status is allowed to vary during the sample period depending on per capita income.Results suggest that oil prices play a dominant role in boosting the use of renewables, while gas serves as a transition fuel. For developing nations, income is a significant constraint in the use of renewables, while coal and gas prices do not significantly influence the use of hydro and nuclear. This finding supports a shift away from the exclusive use of pricing mechanisms towards set targets linked to per capita income to encourage the use of renewables in developing economies.

Regional sustainability assessment using emergy accounting approach: The case of Nepal in South Asia

Emergy accounting is an environmental assessment tool that accounts for all the energy pathways in production systems. In this regard, the System Thinking Experimental Learning Laboratory Animation (STELLA) with emergy model are used for a retrospective and prospective assessments. Nepal, a country having a relatively small economy but with faster recent growth as well as its geographical position and potentially high vulnerability to climate change was analyzed as a case study using data for 1998–2015 (retrospective) and 2015–2040 (prospective). As per our results, the rising use of non-renewable resources and decreasing use of locally extracted materials caused higher environmental load and reduced emergy sustainability scores. In addition, the effect of natural disasters, such as the Gorkha earthquake, on environmental performance of Nepal was analyzed by emergy accounting. Futuristic emergy analysis for 2015–2040 showed that total and non-renewable emergy would rise considerably, and the emergy sustainability index could further decrease by 33%. Based on these findings, small yet rapidly growing economies, such as Nepal, could improve their environmental management by reducing the material trade deficit (i.e., by increasing domestic material extraction and reducing imports of non-renewable resources), minimizing the use of non-renewables, improving soil fertility, and promoting renewable resource consumption.

How Should We Tax the Use of Nonrenewables Under a Public Budget Constraint?

Most developed countries will be facing severe public budget constraints. We derive a formula for how extraction or use of nonrenewable resources should be taxed when governments need to collect commodity tax revenues. Moreover, we show how it can be directly used to indicate how carbon taxation should be increased in the presence of public-revenue needs. The obtained tax is an augmented, dynamic version of the standard Ramsey taxation rule. It distorts developed reserves, which are reduced, and their depletion, which is slowed down, going further in the direction prescribed for the resolution of the climate externality. We present a simple calibrated application of our results to illustrate how the carbon taxation of oil should be augmented, and the incidence on oil use and tax revenues.

THE IMPACTS OF RURAL POPULATION GROWTH, ENERGY USE AND ECONOMIC GROWTH ON CO2 EMISSIONS

Air pollution can have a repercussion on human health. Economic activity and non-renewable use can lead to pollution. CO2 emissions are widely used by previous studies as a proxy for environmental degradation. CO2 emissions exhibit upward trends in most countries including developing countries. The environmental issue has set alarm bells ringing; thus, this study embarks on an investigation into the impacts of energy use, economic growth and rural population growth on CO2 emissions. The novelty of this study is to explore the impact of rural population growth on CO2 emissions. The panel ARDL method is employed to analyze data from 1990 to 2015 in 9 selected developing countries with different geographical regions. The results disclose that in the long run, higher energy use and economic growth can increase CO2 emissions while rural population growth does not cause any change in CO2 emissions. Rural population growth does not also influence CO2 emissions in the short run. However, energy consumption and economic growth can be detrimental to the environment in the short run. Therefore, these findings are important for policymakers to formulate policies. More renewable energy sources, such as hydro and biofuel, should be used instead of non-renewable energy sources, such as oil and coal. This can reduce CO2 emissions.Keywords: Energy use, Population, Economic Growth, CO2 emissionsJEL Classifications: O11, Q43, Q53, Q56DOI: https://doi.org/10.32479/ijeep.11566

Conservation agriculture, a selective model based on emergy analysis for sustainable production of shallot as a medicinal-industrial plant

In addition to achieving of food security in the long-run, the identification and introduction of sustainable ecosystems is associated with the protection of natural resources and the provision of environmental services that flow from those resources. A paradigm for the production of shallots has arisen in the agroecosystems of Iran to prevent the extinction of the shallot plant, on one hand, and to meet the market demand for this valuable medicinal-industrial product, on the other. This study aimed to identify the most sustainable shallot production system by comparing mechanized, traditional, and conservation shallot production systems with the growth of this plant in its natural habitat in Selseleh County, Iran, during 2018–2019. The analysis was done by calculating net emergy of each system and by reviewing 14 different emergy indices. Soil conservation is very important in the sustainability of agroecosystems. In this regard, a positive evaluation of the energy input structures in a conservation system is based on the soil stability of that system. The results showed that the status of a protected system is optimal based on the values of the Unit Emergy Value (UEV = 6.62E+05 sej J −1 ), Specific emergy (SE = 7.05E+09 sej g −1 ), Inverse emergy exchange ratio (IEER = 0.942), and Emergy index of product safety (EIPS = 1) indices and, to some extent, on Renewable emergy ratio (R%), Modified version of the environmental sustainability index (ESI∗), Modified version of the environmental loading ratio (ELR∗), and Emergy invested per $ net profit (EINPR). As a result, the most optimal system was found by increasing the amount of the free environmental renewable input flow (R). The optimal EINPR, Economic emergy efficiency (EEE) and IEER values of the natural habitat indicate the risk of overharvesting shallots from this system, which necessitates paying more attention to protecting the ecosystem and preventing overharvesting. Although a number of indices showed the advantage of the mechanized shallot production system over the other two agroecosystems. However, since an important part of the desirability of a mode of production implied by these indices is related to the share of free environmental inputs that are used in a renewable manner, modes of production that rely heavily on the non-renewable use of free environmental flows and result in soil instability are not preferred, thus a mechanized system is not recommended as the first choice for shallot production. The equality of the EIPS index both in conservation and in natural systems showed the high quality of the crop in the conservation system among the studied crop systems.

European commitment to COP21 and the role of energy consumption, FDI, trade and economic complexity in sustaining economic growth

The nexus between economic growth and energy consumption has been exhaustively explored, yet the empirical evidence and the theoretical points of view remain at odds. This study contextualises and capitalises on this discrepancy and examines the connection between non-renewable and renewable energy consumption and economic growth, considering the moderating impact of economic complexity, trade openness, FDI and institutional quality. We use a panel quantile regression model and data from 32 European countries in the period 1995–2014. Our key results show that economic complexity, renewable energy consumption, trade openness, FDI and institutional quality enhance economic growth. The results for non-renewable energy consumption showed both a positive and a negative impact in different quantiles, indicating that the consumption of renewable energy is in fact more effective for economic growth than the use of non-renewables. Our findings have far-reaching implications for stakeholders and policymakers working on sustainable economic growth and energy policy with a view to meeting the commitments made under the Paris Agreement (COP21).

Lignin-based resins for kraft paper applications

We investigated miscanthus (MS) and willow (W) lignin-furfural based resins as potential reinforcement agents on softwood and hardwood kraft paper. These resins might be sustainable alternatives to the commercial phenol-formaldehyde (PF) resins. Phenol is a petrochemical product and formaldehyde has been classified as a carcinogen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The lignin used in this study was derived from hot water extraction (160ºC, 2 h) of MS and W biomass, and may be considered sulfur-free. These biorefinery lignins were characterized for their chemical composition and inherent properties via wet chemistry and instrumental techniques. The resin blends (MS-resin and W-resin) were characterized for their molecular weight, thermal behavior, and mechanical properties. Mechanical properties were measured by the resin’s ability to reinforce softwood and hardwood kraft papers. The effect of adding hexamethylenetetramine (HMTA), a curing agent, to the resin was also examined. Mixtures of PF and lignin-based resins were investigated to further explore ways to reduce use of nonrenewables, phenol, and carcinogenic formaldehyde. The results show that lignin-based resins have the potential to replace PF resins in kraft paper applications. For softwood paper, the highest strength was achieved using W-resin, without HMTA (2.5 times greater than PF with HMTA). For hardwood paper, MS-resin with HMTA gave the highest strength (2.3 times higher than PF with HMTA). The lignin-based resins, without HMTA, also yielded mechanical properties comparable to PF with HMTA.

Effect of Particle Size on Biogas Generation from Sugarcane Bagasse and Corn Silage

In this study, the effect of particle size on sugarcane bagasse (SB) and corn silage (CS) with industrial wastewater for biogas production were investigated at a mesophilic temperature of 35 °C. Biogas, a renewable source of energy could serve as an alternative means to replace the use of non-renewables such as coal in South Africa. It has been found that the speed and stability of the anaerobic digestion process depends mainly on the particle size of the input material. Variations in particle sizes for both SB and CS were observed at 2 mm, 1 mm, 0.6 mm and 0.4 mm whiles the hydraulic retention time, the organic loading rate and the pH of the biodigesters were kept constant at 20 d, 0.5 gVS/100 mL and 6.5 - 8.0. 1 L biodigesters controlled in batch mode were used in this study leaving a 200 mL headspace followed by nitrogen purging to create the anaerobic environment. Highest biogas yield of 125 mL/d was observed from CS at a particle size of 0.4 mm. The result showed that smaller particle size distribution favours the biogas production of CS compared to SB.

Imputing missing data in non-renewable empower time series from night-time lights observations

Emergy is an environmental accounting tool, with a specific set of indicators, that proved to be highly informative for sustainability assessment of national economies. The empower, defined as emergy per unit time, is a measure of the overall flow of resources used by a system in order to support its functioning. Continuous time-series of empower are not available for most of the world countries, due to the large amount of data needed for its calculation year by year. In this paper, we aim at filling this gap by means of a model that facilitates reconstruction of continuous time series of the non-renewable component of empower for a set of 57 countries of the world from 1995 to 2012. The reconstruction is based on a 3year global emergy dataset and on the acknowledged relationships between the use of non-renewables, satellite observed artificial lights emitted at night, and Gross Domestic Product. Results show that this method provides accurate estimations of non-renewable empower at the country scale. The estimation model can be extended onward and backward in time and replicated for more countries, also using higher-resolution satellite imageries newly available. Besides representing an important advancement in emergy theory, this information is helpful for monitoring progresses toward Sustainable Development and energy use international goals.

Multicriteria cost–benefit assessment of tannery production: The need for breakthrough process alternatives beyond conventional technology optimization

The worldwide use of chromium-based processes in tanneries generates increased concerns about their related environmental burdens. Cleaner production alternatives for leather production are being proposed, based on the optimization of specific aspects or criteria, for instance, reducing demand for specific materials and energy, or reducing local toxicological emissions. While improvement on individual characteristics of the process is certainly to be favored, a more comprehensive evaluation of alternatives is also needed to prevent the risk of shifting the burden to increase global load while addressing one specific critical factor of production. This work aims to discuss the importance of a multicriteria, multiscale approach to address cleaner production strategy costs and benefits. For this, materials balance, an economic approach, and emergy (with an “m”) accounting methods are applied to selected unhairing/liming, pickling/tanning and wastewater treatment steps in a tannery process, which was chosen as a case study. Results show that the assessed recycling cleaner production strategies assessed allow the manufacturer to reduce by one half the amount of water used and the demand for chemicals up to 4% with respect to the business-as-usual process, at the expense of increasing electricity demand by 10%. Economic cost-to-benefit ratio was 25$ benefits per 1$ invested, as well as an emergy-based cost-to-benefit of 33Em$ per 1Em$ invested, of course these improvements were limited to the three investigated process steps. The improvement in cost/benefit ratios indicates that converting scenario #0 into #1 is favorable under economic and emergy views. However, when the two scenarios are investigated from the point of view of the imbalance in local and renewable resource use versus imported and nonrenewable use, the emergy method shows a small overall increase in renewability (from 3.51% to 3.85%), a low, but expected, emergy yield ratio equal to 1, and a high environmental loading ratio (24.95 and 27.47). While the environmental cost–benefit ratio shows that recycling is a favorable option, the emergy performance indicators highlight that the efficiency of recycling is still insufficient and improvements in the tanning processes are needed to ensure renewability and sustainability. A number of process chemicals were involved in the investigated tannery operations, which required emergy evaluations. As a side result of this study, the Unit Emergy Values (UEVs) of SO2, H2SO4 Na2SO4, HCL, Na2S, NaOH, CaO, Ca(OH)2, Cr2O3, MnSO4, and Al(OH)3, were also calculated thus adding to the emergy database about chemicals.

Spatial analysis of residential fuelwood supply and demand patterns in Mexico using the WISDOM approach

Abstract A WISDOM analysis was conducted in Mexico in order to: (1) identify fuelwood (FW) hot spots in terms of residential FW use and availability of FW resources for the year 2000, and (2) estimate net CO2 emissions from the non-renewable use of FW. WISDOM (woodfuel integrated supply/demand overview mapping) is a spatially explicit method, based on geographic information system (GIS) technology, which ranks a set of spatial units according to a group of indicators, in order to identify woodfuel priority areas or woodfuel hot spots. A comprehensive analysis was conducted, integrating full coverage national data on land cover classes, land cover change maps (1993–2000), geo-referenced population censuses (1990 and 2000), and a meticulous review of the international literature and Mexican case studies. Following a spatial multi-criteria analysis, 2395 counties (out of a country total of 2424 in year 2000) were ranked based on the number, density and annual growth rate of FW users; the percentage of households that use FW; the resilience of FW consumption, and the magnitude and likely trends of FW forest resources. The WISDOM analysis allowed the identification of 304 high priority counties (HPC), which showed a spatially aggregated pattern into 16 clusters. HPC cover 4% of Mexican territory and represent 27% of total FW consumption. We estimated that 1.3 Tg CO 2 y - 1 are released to the atmosphere by non-renewable FW burning, a value that represents less than 1% of Mexican total annual CO2 emissions in 2002. The results of the analysis show that WISDOM is a useful tool for both focusing resources to critical areas where action is more needed and to obtain more accurate estimates of the impacts associated to FW use.

The limits of technological solutions to sustainable development

Sustainable development has been defined by political and corporate leaders as the combination of environmental protection and economic growth. As a result, the concept of eco-efficiency has been promoted as the primary tool for achieving industrial sustainability. However, there are at least four reasons why technological improvements in eco-efficiency alone will be insufficient to bring about a transition to sustainability. First, considering that the very foundations of western industrial societies are based on the exploitation of non-renewable minerals and fuels, it will be extremely difficult to switch to an industrial and economic system based solely on renewable resources. Clearly, the continuing use of non-renewables is inherently unsustainable because of finite material supplies and the fact that 100% recycling is impossible. Second, given the limited supply of non-renewable fuels, long-term sustainability can only be guaranteed if all energy is derived directly or indirectly from the sun. However, if the current U.S. energy demand would have to be supplied solely from solar sources, a wide range of serious and unavoidable negative environmental impacts are likely to result. Third, even the best of human ingenuity and the greatest technological optimism are bounded by the second law of thermodynamics, which dictates that all industrial and economic activities have unavoidable negative environmental consequences. Finally, improvements in eco-efficiency alone will not guarantee a reduction in the total environmental impact if economic growth is allowed to continue. Unless growth in both population and consumption is restrained, these technological improvements only delay the onset of negative consequences that, as a result, will have increased in severity, thereby reducing our freedom to choose satisfying solutions.