| Offshoring Energy and Emissions - Coming back from Developing to Developed Countries |
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| Policy - Policy |
| Friday, 01 February 2008 05:15 |
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A recent study in the journal in Environmental Science and Technology discusses the "embodied carbon" in global trade. The concept of embodied effects in global trade has been noted by scientists and engineers by estimating such aspects as the energy embodied in a product when it is made in one place and shipped to another. Somewhat by definition, making a product in China (say a Barbie doll) and shipping it to the United States takes more energy than making it in the United States and keeping it here. Just think of the energy used to create the infrastructure (tankers) and fuel the cargo ships (low grade petroleum used in ships). You don"t need these if you don"t travel the globe, but both systems require intra-continental infrastructure. As peak oil and gas come on, businesses will be forced (albeit in some views "rightly so") to better account for the energy used to make a particular product or provide a particular service. Products from China don"t cost less in the U.S. because it actually costs less to make from an engineering sense; it just costs less based upon how much you value a person"s time and labor. Essentially the time of farmer converted to factory worker in China has less value than the average Joe/Jane in the U.S. The 100s of millions of workers in China available to work cheap is the main reason why products have gotten cheaper in the U.S. Essentially, the CO2 being shipped from abroad to the U.S. (and generally from developing to developed countries) is a proxy measure for energy. As suggested in the synopsis (linked above), the solution is likely to factor the cost into the consumer of the product and not necessarily its producer. And we should quit shipping electronic "waste" to China, as someday we"ll likely wish we kept it to make use of it via recycling, but that"s another story ... |
The net energy cliff Charles Hall, the father of the energy return on investment (EROI) concept, once told me that our current society would probably not be able to function if the EROI for the entire society slipped below five.What does that mean? First,... Read more Policy | | Sunday, 14 September 2008 |
Steve Rayner: Dear Mr. President, Deal with Climate ChangeSteve Rayner, climate policy expert and lead author of The Wrong Trousers: Radically Rethinking Climate Policy (PDF), is featured in this month"s Wired Magazine. He"s on the "2008 Smart List: 15 People the Next President Should Listen To" (no matter... Read more Policy | | Wednesday, 1 October 2008 |
Time Scales and Quality of Life: How they define our FutureSince before Roe vs. Wade (1973) … the United States populace has been divided on how to treat the current/potential “quality of life” of the unborn who are not capable of expressing will of their own. For the past 20... Read more Policy | | Thursday, 22 November 2007 |
Deregulated vs. Regulated Energy PricesIn Texas in 1999, Senate Bill 7 created a deregulated electricity market within the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). Some areas opted not to join into the fun of a deregulated market, where consumers could choose their retail electricity... Read more Policy | | TUSEDAY, 4 December 2007 |
Review: Lester Brown's Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization You may want to read this book by starting with Part II. Either that or make sure all the knives are locked away so you won't slit your wrists during Part I.Lester Brown has his facts straight and uses them liberally,... Read more Policy | John | Sunday, 31 August 2008 |
Alternative fuels taxes may be scrappedAustralianFriday 18/7/2008 Page: 4NEW taxes on alternative fuels including LPG could be delayed or scrapped by the Rudd Government under a compensation deal to balance the inflationary impact of its carbon trading scheme. In a separate measure, Treasurer Wayne Swan... Read more Policy | | Augustonday, 11 August 2008 |
Landmark study reports breakdown in biotech patent system - scientists call for overhaul of IP laws worldwide The world"s intellectual property (IP) system is broken. It"s stopping lifesaving technologies from reaching the people who need them most in developed and developing countries, according to the authors of a landmark report released in Ottawa today by an international... Read more Policy | | TUSEDAY, 9 September 2008 |
Some elements of a proper energy policyA proper Energy Policy in the United States would promote (1) clarity of purpose, (2) diversification of use of energy resources, and (3) more transparent and accurate pricing of energy such that the market (consumers and energy companies) can properly... Read more Policy | John | Thursday, 22 November 2007 |
Climate protestors threaten to shut down London’s carbon marketwww.environmental-finance.comLondon, 5 February:After attracting thousands of climate protestors to the Kingsnorth power station and Heathrow airport, the Camp for Climate Action has turned its sights on leading carbon trading platform, the European Climate Exchange (ECX).The campaign group has called for... Read more Policy | | Sunday, 8 February 2009 |
New Energy BillThe US Congress passed an energy bill yesterday and Bush signed it into law. It is both a step backward and forward for energy policy. See this CS Monitor article for a synopsis.Creating a higher CAFE standard to get to... Read more Policy | | Thursday, 20 December 2007 |
The information society and its limitsThe breathtaking expansion of the Internet and the sources of information now available on it have served to conjure a cybernetic vision of unlimited growth--growth that can never be slowed for long by lack of physical resources because it is... Read more Policy | | Sunday, 8 February 2009 |
PM's carbon target plans face rethinkSummaries - Australian Financial ReviewMonday 21/7/2008 Page: 1A proposal to give parliament the task of annually setting carbon reduction targets in an emissions trading scheme (ETS) looks set to be scrapped by the Rudd Government. The proposal is part of... Read more Policy | | Thursday, 14 August 2008 |
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