Showing papers on "Non-renewable resource published in 2012"
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the relationship between renewable and non-renewable energy consumption and economic growth for 80 countries within a multivariate panel framework over the period 1990-2007.
661 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the long-run and causal relationships between renewable and non-renewable energy consumption and economic growth by using classical and augmented production functions, and making a comparison between renewable energy sources in order to determine which type of energy consumption is more important for economic growth in G7 countries for 1980-2009 period.
541 citations
Book•
29 Jan 2012
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors evaluate the economic and environmental consequences of increasing bio-fuel production as a result of the Renewable Fuels Standard, as amended by EISA (RFS2).
Abstract: In the United States, we have come to depend on plentiful and inexpensive energy to support our economy and lifestyles. In recent years, many questions have been raised regarding the sustainability of our current pattern of high consumption of nonrenewable energy and its environmental consequences. Further, because the United States imports about 55 percent of the nation's consumption of crude oil, there are additional concerns about the security of supply. Hence, efforts are being made to find alternatives to our current pathway, including greater energy efficiency and use of energy sources that could lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions such as nuclear and renewable sources, including solar, wind, geothermal, and biofuels. The United States has a long history with biofuels and the nation is on a course charted to achieve a substantial increase in biofuels. Renewable Fuel Standard evaluates the economic and environmental consequences of increasing biofuels production as a result of Renewable Fuels Standard, as amended by EISA (RFS2). The report describes biofuels produced in 2010 and those projected to be produced and consumed by 2022, reviews model projections and other estimates of the relative impact on the prices of land, and discusses the potential environmental harm and benefits of biofuels production and the barriers to achieving the RFS2 consumption mandate. Policy makers, investors, leaders in the transportation sector, and others with concerns for the environment, economy, and energy security can rely on the recommendations provided in this report.
181 citations
TL;DR: The status of nuclear energy today and its potential evolution during the next 10-20 years is discussed in this paper, where the authors discuss the difficulties that nuclear plants cannot provide power according to needs, but have to be operated at full power also during times of low demand.
111 citations
Posted Content•
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss and reconcile two diametrically opposed views concerning the future of world oil production and prices, and present a nonlinear econometric model of the world oil market that encompasses both views.
Abstract: We discuss and reconcile two diametrically opposed views concerning the future of world oil production and prices. The geological view expects that physical constraints will dominate the future evolution of oil output and prices. It is supported by the fact that world oil production has plateaued since 2005 despite historically high prices, and that spare capacity has been near historic lows. The technological view of oil expects that higher oil prices must eventually have a decisive effect on oil output, by encouraging technological solutions. It is supported by the fact that high prices have, since 2003, led to upward revisions in production forecasts based on a purely geological view. We present a nonlinear econometric model of the world oil market that encompasses both views. The model performs far better than existing empirical models in forecasting oil prices and oil output out of sample. Its point forecast is for a near doubling of the real price of oil over the coming decade. The error bands are wide, and reflect sharply differing judgments on ultimately recoverable reserves, and on future price elasticities of oil demand and supply.
105 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors consider an Italian dataset with an annual frequency from 1861 to 2000 and implement Granger non-causality tests between energy consumption and output contrasting methods allowing for structural change with those imposing parameter stability throughout the sample.
83 citations
TL;DR: It is found that poor input substitution need not be detrimental for sustainable growth; on the contrary, combined with resource depletion it fosters structural change, which helps to sustain research investments.
51 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors study the long-run growth in a multi-sector economy with non-renewable resource use and endogenous innovations and find that poor input substitution need not be detrimental for sustainable growth; on the contrary, combined with resource depletion it fosters structural change, which helps to sustain research investments.
37 citations
01 Jan 2012
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the concept of energy and the primary and secondary types of energies, where primary energy is extracted or captured directly from the environment, while the secondary energy is converted from the primary energy in the form of electricity or fuel.
Abstract: Energy has far reaching impact in everyday life, industrial development, and understanding the various processes and natural phenomena. Energy is the capacity to do work. Total energy is the sum of all forms of the energy a system possesses. In the absence of magnetic, electrical, and surface tension effects, the total energy of a system consists of the kinetic, potential, and internal energies. This chapter discusses the concept of energy and the primary and secondary types of energies. Primary energy is extracted or captured directly from the environment, while the secondary energy is converted from the primary energy in the form of electricity or fuel. Primary energies are nonrenewable energy (fossil fuels), renewable energy, and waste. Nonrenewable energy resources are coal, petroleum, natural gas, and nuclear, while renewable energy resources are solar, bioenergy, wind, and geothermal. Energy density and the impact of fossil fuels on the global warming are also discussed briefly. There are nine solved examples within the text and 56 practice problems at end of the chapter.
30 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors study how environmental regulation in the form of a cap on aggregate emissions from a fossil fuel (e.g., coal) interacts with the arrival of a clean substitute, and show that optimal energy prices may initially increase because of pollution regulation, but fall due to learning, and rise again because of scarcity of the resource, finally falling after transition to the clean substitute.
30 citations
01 Jan 2012
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors define non-renewable groundwater as water present in aquifers in which the rate of recharge is insignificant within the framework of the current water budget of the aquifer.
Abstract: Perhaps no other water policy issue has greater philosophic disagreement than the exploitation of non-renewable groundwater. Non-renewable groundwater is water present in aquifers in which the rate of recharge is insignificant within the framework of the current water budget of the aquifer. Extracted groundwater is produced primarily (if not entirely) from storage. Use of non-renewable groundwater is thus inherently unsustainable under strict definitions of the term.
TL;DR: In this article, conditions for optimal use of multiple sources of a renewable resource and characterize the resulting extraction sequence, resource scarcity values, and (single) efficiency price path for two groundwater aquifers and an abundant alternative resource.
TL;DR: In this paper, an optimal control framework for the extraction and recycling of phosphates is presented. But the model is restricted to the case when both technological progress and a geological stock effect drive the supply of P. The authors focus on the non-substitutability and essentiality of the resource.
Abstract: Phosphorus (P) is a macronutrient necessary for life. In the form of phosphates it presents a mineral resource that we depend on, having no substitute for its fertilizer use. These limited reserves of P are depleting globally, and maintaining or improving food security will require careful long-term use of the resource. We study here the extraction and recycling of P with an optimal control framework, and develop a resource-specific model. We determine time-paths for extraction and recycling when both technological progress and a geological stock effect drive the supply of P. Demand is described by a hyperbolic function with a strictly positive lower bound reflecting the key properties of the resource, its non-substitutability and its essentiality. We obtain three insights: (i) Although essential and non-substitutable, P resources will be depleted due to a strict minimum consumption level. Recycling could postpone depletion costs and maintain a minimum consumption forever but at rising marginal costs. (ii) Although extraction depletes the resource and increases its scarcity over time, we observe that on an optimal path the price can fall, which will increase extraction. This underlines that market prices cannot serve as reliable scarcity indicator and fail to support resource augmenting technologies. (iii) If the shadow price is used as scarcity indicator, it would provide incentives for recycling even under declining primary resource prices.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors consider the transition of an economy from non-renewable to renewable energy, and study when a transition can take place, and if it takes place before non-rewardable energy is exhausted.
Abstract: The paper considers the transition of an economy from non-renewable to renewable energy. The Hotelling theorem suggests to extract a non-renewable resource in an optimal way such that the resource tends to be depleted when optimally extracted. Yet, it might not be reasonable to deplete non-renewable energy sources that create externalities such as CO2 emission and global warming. The resource theorem of Hotelling would imply too high a CO2 emission. The paper sets up a canonical growth model with damages in the household's welfare function and two energy sources -- non-renewable and renewable energy. We study when a transition to renewable energy can take place, and if it takes place before non-renewable energy is exhausted. A socially optimal solution is considered that takes into account the negative externality from the non-renewable energy. We also study of how the optimal solution can be mimicked in a market economy by policies using tax rates and subsidies. To solve the model version where preferences show a multiplicative effect of consumption and damages from CO2 emission, we use dynamic programming. For a simplified version, with additive arguments in preferences, we use Nonlinear Model Predictive Control to solve the model and study the transition to renewable energy.
Book•
01 Jan 2012
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss the challenges in assessing the life cycle assessment in the Minerals and Metals Sector: A Chance to Improve Raw Materials Efficiency and Secondary Raw Material Sources for Precious and Special Metals.
Abstract: 1. Introduction 2. Stretching the Availability of Non-Renewable Resources 3. Raw Materials Initiative: A Contribution to the European Minerals Policy Framework 4. Certified Trading Chains in Mineral Production -- A Way to Improve Responsibility in Mining 5. Is Depletion Likely to Create Significant Scarcities of Future Petroleum Resources? 6. Coal: An Energy Source for Future World Needs 7. Uranium and Thorium: The Extreme Diversity of the Resources of the World's Energy Minerals 8. Evaluating Supply Risk Patterns and Supply and Demand Trends for Mineral Raw Materials: Assessment of the Zinc Market 9. Issues and Challenges in Life Cycle Assessment in the Minerals and Metals Sector: A Chance to Improve Raw Materials Efficiency 10. Secondary Raw Material Sources for Precious and Special Metals 11. The Principal Rare Earth Elements Deposits of the United States -- A Summary of Domestic Deposits and a Global Perpective 12. Discovery and Sustainability Index
TL;DR: A review of estimates of ultimately recoverable resources (URR) of non-renewable energy sources: coal, conventional and unconventional oil, conventional-and unconventional gas, and uranium for nuclear fission is given in this paper.
01 Jan 2012
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the challenges in assessing the life cycle assessment in the Minerals and Metals Sector: A Chance to Improve Raw Materials Efficiency and Secondary Raw Material Sources for Precious and Special Metals.
Abstract: 1. Introduction 2. Stretching the Availability of Non-Renewable Resources 3. Raw Materials Initiative: A Contribution to the European Minerals Policy Framework 4. Certified Trading Chains in Mineral Production -- A Way to Improve Responsibility in Mining 5. Is Depletion Likely to Create Significant Scarcities of Future Petroleum Resources? 6. Coal: An Energy Source for Future World Needs 7. Uranium and Thorium: The Extreme Diversity of the Resources of the World's Energy Minerals 8. Evaluating Supply Risk Patterns and Supply and Demand Trends for Mineral Raw Materials: Assessment of the Zinc Market 9. Issues and Challenges in Life Cycle Assessment in the Minerals and Metals Sector: A Chance to Improve Raw Materials Efficiency 10. Secondary Raw Material Sources for Precious and Special Metals 11. The Principal Rare Earth Elements Deposits of the United States -- A Summary of Domestic Deposits and a Global Perpective 12. Discovery and Sustainability Index
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that a hybrid system allows governments to collect a minimum return to the non-renewable resource through the ad valorem royalty and a share of the rent from higher-profit projects through the rent-based tax.
Abstract: In July 2010, the Australian Government announced that, effective from 1 July 2012, the petroleum resource rent tax will apply to all offshore and onshore oil and gas projects (including liquefied natural gas and coal seam gas projects), and a minerals resource rent tax will apply to coal and iron ore projects. State/territory governments mainly apply ad valorem royalties to oil and gas, coal and iron ore projects; these royalty payments will be creditable under the Australian Government’s resource rent taxes. This paper argues that a hybrid system allows governments to collect a minimum return to the non-renewable resource through the ad valorem royalty and a share of the rent from higher-profit projects through the rent-based tax. This paper also provides updated and expanded estimates of the potential shortfall in resource taxation revenue over the period 1992–1993 to 2009–2010 by comparing actual revenue with revenue under a range of hypothetical Brown taxes.
TL;DR: In this article, the use of energy natural resource funds in Alaska and Alberta and their characteristics for further implementation in resource-rich countries are analyzed and the role of public dividend policy is highlighted as a way to bypass corrupted institutions and to enhance quality of life for poorest people.
TL;DR: In this article, a multimode resource-constrained project scheduling problem with finish-to-start precedence relations among project activities, considering renewable and non-renewable resource costs is introduced.
Abstract: We introduce a multimode resource-constrained project scheduling problem with finish-to-start precedence relations among project activities, considering renewable and nonrenewable resource costs. We assume that renewable resources are rented and are not available in all periods of time of the project. In other words, there is a mandated ready date as well as a due date for each renewable resource type so that no resource is used before its ready date. However, the resources are permitted to be used after their due dates by paying penalty costs. The objective is to minimize the total costs of both renewable and nonrenewable resource usage. This problem is called multimode resource-constrained project scheduling problem with minimization of total weighted resource tardiness penalty cost (MRCPSP-TWRTPC), where, for each activity, both renewable and nonrenewable resource requirements depend on activity mode. For this problem, we present a metaheuristic algorithm based on a modified Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) approach introduced by Tchomte and Gourgand which uses a modified rule for the displacement of particles. We present a prioritization rule for activities and several improvement and local search methods. Experimental results reveal the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed algorithm for the problem in question.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present empirical facts on oil exploitation and a model that can replicate some of these facts, and show that the time path of the oil price and the extraction rate seem to follow a U-shaped and an inverted U-shape relationship, respectively.
Abstract: In this paper we present empirical facts on oil exploitation and a model that can replicate some of these facts. In particular, we show that the time path of the oil price, on the one hand, and the extraction rate, on the other hand, seem to follow a U-shaped and an inverted U-shaped relationship, respectively, which is confirmed by simple non-parametric estimations. Next, we present a theoretical model where a monopolistic resource owner maximizes inter-temporal profits from exploiting a non-renewable resource where the price of the resource depends on the extraction rate and on cumulated past extraction. The resource is finite and only a part of the resource is known while the rest has not yet been discovered. The analysis of that model demonstrates that the extraction rate and the price of the resource show the empirically observed pattern if the stock of the initially known resource is small.
TL;DR: In this article, the scope of industrial ecology is reviewed and the authors argue that the discipline could embrace a more proactive, interventionist stance in the form of renewable eco-industrial development.
Abstract: This article reviews the scope of the discipline of industrial ecology and, in the context of an urgent requirement for substantial and rapid change in the face of global sustainability challenges, argues that the discipline could embrace a more proactive, interventionist stance in the form of renewable eco-industrial development. Existing eco-industrialism is presented as flawed, with many cases premised on the use of nonrenewable resources. Renewable eco-industrial development, while still nascent, has the potential both to resolve some sustainability challenges and to offer a new area of endeavor for industrial ecology, albeit one with its own unique difficulties, such as conflict with food production. Renewable eco-industrial development is further argued to bring industrial ecology into a more socially critical stance as it concerns the future allocation of scarce resources.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors assess the impact of being able to substitute an unlimited but costly energy substitute (like wind, solar) for a non-renewable resource (like oil, coal) in a model of sustainable growth.
22 Oct 2012
TL;DR: The results show the hybrid renewable energy system proposed will help the BellAliant Company to provide uninterrupted power for their sites in remote areas of Labrador and is cost effective.
Abstract: The renewable energy based hybrid energy system is one of better solutions to reduce the environment pollution. Renewable energy offers power supply for locations that are remotely located and also allows economical way of producing power for small power applications. The objective of this paper is to optimize and compare a non-renewable energy system with a renewable energy system for a remotely located telecommunication site in Mulligan, Labrador in Canada. The current system is operated using a diesel generator and batteries and the proposed system expects to integrate a hybrid wind and solar energy system into the existing diesel generator and batteries. Hybrid Optimization Model for Electric Renewable (HOMER) software is used to obtain the most feasible configuration of a hybrid renewable energy system. The results show the hybrid renewable energy system is cost effective. The proposed system significantly reduces the running time of diesel generator and this helps to reduce the emission level. Moreover, it is expected that the proposed system will help the BellAliant Company to provide uninterrupted power for their sites in remote areas of Labrador.
11 Jul 2012
TL;DR: In this article, the authors highlight the necessity of multi-criteria decision analysis to select energy sources which are not only efficient in terms of GHG emissions reduction, but also will have minimal adverse effects on other sectors and resources.
Abstract: Despite humans' acknowledgement of the main drivers of global warming, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are still increasing dramatically worldwide. GHG emissions in the U.S. have increased by 17% during the 1990-2009 period and are expected to increase even more with the economic growth after the current recession. Although current dominant policy for combating global warming relies on substitution of fossil energy sources with the renewable ones, we argue that such a general policy may be inefficient. In fact, such a policy is only a short-fix solution to the problem and may be associated with unintended consequences or secondary effects on other sectors and valuable natural resources. This paper highlights the necessity of multi-criteria decision analysis to select energy sources which are not only efficient in terms of GHG emissions reduction, but also will have minimal adverse effects on other sectors and resources. By simultaneous consideration of performances of energy sources under different sustainability criteria, it is discussed why some renewable energy sources may be even less promising than some nonrenewable energy sources in reducing GHG emissions without affecting other resources and violating the sustainability rationales. The three considered sustainability criteria in this study include carbon footprint, water footprint, and cost, reflecting the environmental efficiency, water use efficiency, and economic efficiency, respectively. The performances of a range of non-renewable and renewable energy sources are considered under the three sustainability criteria to rank the energy sources based on different social choice rules with respect to the uncertainty involved in estimating the performances.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors consider the way freshwater resources are perceived in an era of climate change and suggest that in many parts of the world water is moving from being a renewable resource or continuous natural resource to a potentially renewable resource (PRR).
Abstract: This paper considers the way freshwater resources are perceived in an era of climate change. It is suggested that in many parts of the world water is moving from being a renewable resource (or continuous natural resource) to a potentially renewable resource (PRR). In some areas water is moving from being a PRR to a nonrenewable resource. Selected water problems from three continents are investigated in the context of this theoretical construct. Recent experience in the United Kingdom is then also investigated as a case study of these changes before brief conclusions are drawn.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyze the exhaustion of oil resources and the subsequent transition to a backstop technology as a strategic game between consumers and producers of oil, which they refer to simply as ''OECD'' and ''OPEC'' respectively.
Abstract: This paper analyzes how fossil fuel-producing countries can counteract climate policy. We
analyze the exhaustion of oil resources and the subsequent transition to a backstop technology as a
strategic game between the consumers and producers of oil, which we refer to simply as ―OECD‖ and
―OPEC,‖ respectively. The consumers, OECD, derive benefits from oil, but worry about climate effects
from carbon dioxide emissions. OECD has two instruments to manage this: it can tax fuel consumption
and decide when to switch to a carbon-neutral backstop technology. The tax reduces climate damage and
also appropriates some of the resource rent. OPEC retaliates by choosing a strategy of price
discrimination, subsidizing oil in its domestic markets. The results show that price discrimination enables
OPEC to avoid some of the adverse consequences of OECD’s fuel tax and its switch to the backstop
technology by consuming a larger share of the oil in its own domestic markets. Our results suggest that
persuading fossil exporters to stop subsidizing domestic consumption will be difficult.
TL;DR: In this article, an endogenous growth model with an essential non-renewable resource is proposed, where economic growth enables firms to invest in innovation in the extraction technology and to allocate more capital to resource extraction.
Abstract: This paper proposes an endogenous growth model with an essential non-renewable resource, where economic growth enables firms to invest in innovation in the extraction technology and to allocate more capital to resource extraction. Innovation in the extraction technology offsets the deterioration of ore qualities and keeps the production costs of the non-renewable resource constant. Aggregate output as well as production and use of the non-renewable resource increase exponentially. Our model explains the long-run trends of non-renewable resource prices and world production over more than 200 years. If historical trends in technological progress and in the deterioration of ore qualities continue, it is in the realm of possibility that non-renewable resources are de facto inexhaustible. Our results suggest that the industrialization in China and other emerging economies contributes to keeping non-renewable resource prices constant in the long run.
01 Jan 2012
TL;DR: In this article, the determinants of switching from non-renewable natural resource inputs to renewable resource inputs in energy production were studied and the optimal switching time depends not only on the uncertainty parameters, but also on energy demand, costs, and the relative productivity of the resources.