An empirical analysis of air pollution emissions policy for the U.K. residential sector

In this paper an analysis of the U.K. government's air pollution emissions policy for the residential sector is undertaken. The analysis covers emissions arising from water and space heating, electric appliances and cooking appliances. Using an integrated economic-engineering model, the effects of the Energy Savings Trust and the imposition of Value Added Tax on residential fuel will be evaluated in terms of energy consumption and pollution emissions. It is found that the initial proposed policy was not sufficiently stringent to meet the government's environmental objectives, and that subsequent events have undermined the government's programme even further. Unless alternative policies are introduced, emissions from the residential sector will play an important role in jeopardizing the ability of the U.K. government to meet its international obligations.     

我国热电联产的新发展

概述了我国热电联产的发展现状,集中分析了热电联产的发展趋势。以北京市为例,叙述了热电联产在改善环境方面的作用。指出发展热电联产应是今后实施"优化发展煤电"的重点方向,展示了热电联产与分布式能源市场的广大前景。     

Seeing the forest for the trees: tourism and the International Year of Forests

The year 2011 is the United Nations International Year of Forests. In addition to performing extremely significant environmental, economic, and social services, forests are also important tourism attractions in their own right and locations for recreation and tourism activities. The limited statistical data available suggest that there are billions of tourism and recreational visits to forests each year. This paper provides a global overview of biodiversity conservation, protected areas, recreational access, and management objectives in forests before outlining some of the main themes in the relationship between tourism and forests. It concludes that there is a need for a research effort on tourism and forests in order to provide greater recognition for the economic and environmental contributions of tourism in forest areas as well as the overall value of forests for health and wellbeing.     

Agriculture and economic growth in Ethiopia: growth multipliers from a four-sector simulation model

Agriculture accounts for over half of Ethiopian GDP, yet 'he case for agriculture as a focus of economic growth strategies must rely on identifying a set of intersectoral linkages through which agricultural growth contributes to the growth of nonagriculture in the Ethiopian economy. This article develops a four-sector numerical simulation model of economic growth in Ethiopia which permits the calculation of macroeconomic growth multipliers resulting from income shocks to agriculture, services, modern industry, and traditional industry. The resulting growth multipliers are 1.54 for agriculture. 1.80 for services, 1.34 for modern industry, and 1.22 for traditional industry. These results depict an economy in which intersectoral linkages operate on a highly uneven basis. These limits are reflected in the wide disparity between sectoral growth multipliers and by substantial differences in the patterns ol their decomposition. The policy relevance of these findings relate, in part, to the distributional implications of growth in particular sectors. Poverty in Ethiopia is disproportionately rural. An income shock to agriculture is clearly the most progressive choice, indicating the need to highlight agricultural development in growth strategies for Ethiopia. Yet, the simulation results further indicate that doing so imposes relatively little trade off against total benefit. While a $1 service sector income shock generates $0.80 in indirect benefits, a $1 agricultural income shock still generates $0.54 in indirect gains-a somewhat smaller benelit, but one likely to make the greatest possible impact on poverty reduction.     

Constructing landscapes of value: Capitalist investment for the acquisition of marginal or unused land—The case of Tanzania

The current global wave of land acquisition – variously debated as land grabbing or investment in land – is promoted by the World Bank and the FAO as creating win–win-situations for local populations and investors alike. Common policy recommendations suggest expanding the production of export crops, by making use of marginal or unused land. Considerable potentials for such an expansion are assumed. Taking Tanzania as a case study, the evidence for such types of land is assessed by using a broad range of statistics. We will argue firstly, that the terms marginal and unused land serve as a manipulative terminology for the benefit of attempts to commercially valorize and commodify African landscapes, from biofuel to large-scale food production and tourism. However, they relate to different rationalities of domination. Unused land refers to a state-bureaucratic narrative, which excludes user groups deemed irrelevant for national development, while marginal land refers to a capitalist-economic narrative that excludes what is not profitable. Secondly, the terms are analyzed as categories central for state simplification of social relations attached to land. Modelling of these land use categories based on remote sensing is an attempt to compensate weak state capacities to enhance the legibility of the landscape by constructing it as a landscape of commercial value.     

The allocative efficiency and conservation potential of water laws encouraging investments in on-farm irrigation technology

Agricultural water conservation statutes are emerging in the West encouraging private irrigators to improve on‐farm irrigation efficiency as a basinwide conservation measure. We investigate whether private improvements promote the economic efficiency and conservation of water use basinwide under a wide variety of hydroeconomic circumstances. The standard of efficiency is how an irrigation district manager should optimally invest in improving the irrigation efficiencies of individual farms located along a stream while internalizing intrabasin allocative externalities of these investments. The results indicate that the popular Oregon legislative model may be the least effective in conserving water and promoting economically efficient water allocation.     

我国石化企业绿色竞争力的评价研究--以某石化企业为例

文章根据石化行业的特点,从生态环保、节能减排、盈利、持续发展四个维度构建了我国石化企业绿色竞争力的评价指标体系和评价模型,并以某石化企业为例进行了实证性研究。结果显示：案例企业绿色竞争能力从2005年到2013年总体上呈现出增强的趋势,年均增长率为5.8%;但这四个因素的影响作用有较大差距,生态环保能力最大为42.16%,其次是节能减排能力为29.32%,盈利能力与发展能力影响作用相对较小,分别为17.31%与11.20%。最后为有效提升石化企业的绿色竞争力,文章提出了四个方面的政策建议：一是需要着力提升持续发展的能力;二是需要着力扭转盈利能力的下降趋势;三是需要进一步提高节能降耗能力;四是需要进一步提高技术创新能力的投入。     

传统村落的公共空间保护与更新思路探讨——以红河州建水县苍台村为例

村落公共空间作为承载村落民俗、节庆、歌舞等传统技艺、传统文化的场所,是村落中的重要节点,本文将从红河州建水县团山村公共空间保护更新的经验入手,以此作为范例,借鉴其在传统村落中如何从整体格局和尺度考虑来构建真正适应于村民生产生活的场所,同时结合建水县官厅镇苍台村公共空间现状情况分析,比较得出适合于苍台村的公共空间保护与更新策略,为下一步苍台村空间格局的整体保护与发展提供参考价值。