Max Greenblatt
Media Annotation: Journal For Cleaner Production
EEVP Fall 2011
Nate Fisk
Energy transition towards economic and environmental sustainability: feasible paths and policy
implications
1. Citation:
D'Alessandro, Simone, Tommaso Luz Morronizati, and Mario Morroni.
"Energy transition towards economic and environmental sustainability:
feasible paths and policy implications." Journal of Cleaner Production .
18.6 (2010): 529 -539. Web. 26 Oct. 2011.
<http://www.sciencedirect.com.libproxy.rpi.edu/science/article/pii/S09
59652610000715>.
2.
This journal article deals with quantifying through the implementation
of mathematics and equations the thresholds of our growth both
through the limits of the economy as well as the environment. The
‘nuts and bolts’ so to say of the articl e are hard to conceptualize and
the math is quite complex, but in simple terms, the authors are setting
up a framework for being able to realize the tradeoffs between fossil
fuel use and investment in renewable resources and what those
tradeoffs imply for how long we can sustain a growing economy and how
long our environment can deal with such growth. Furthermore, the
article explores the implications that different increments of investment
in renewable energy would have on the longevity of our global grow ing
economy.
3.
Sustainability issues that come about because of the arguments posed in the journal
issue are vast but there is a definitive focus on the economic modeling side.
Through the application of the equations formulated and the extrapolation of da ta
with the applied equations, many political implications arose as well. For example,
taxes as a source of investment in renewable energy were discussed, and policies to
slow economic growth as well as policies that would speed sustainable growth were
also discussed. Ecologically speaking, the concluding analysis put forth by the
authors that discussed the environmental impacts of economic boom and bust cycles
was deliberately focused on growth feasibility and our ability as a citizenry to alter
our habits for the better of the environment.
4.
I found myself most convinced throughout the article by the argument put forth
stating that investment by such powers using fossil fuels for their activities and
operations in renewable energy sources would not only b e profitable but also ensure
long term stability and success for that power’s operations. By investing in the
future now, we can attain such a future in a more accelerated manner.
5.
The portion of the article that was least convincing was the fact that mos t of the
modeling for simplicity purposes was done with a constant population in mind. I
take issue with this because with an exponentially increasing population, there is an
Max Greenblatt
Media Annotation: Journal For Cleaner Production
EEVP Fall 2011
Nate Fisk
exponentially increasing energy and sustainability problem and by not including this
in the calculations and arguments put forth by the authors I feel that it greatly
detracts from the value of the argument and moreover the impact and emotional
power of the argument. I think that this issue leads to an understatement of the very
issues at hand being critiqued by the authors.
6.
This resource best addresses a target audience that would generally have an
intermediate to advanced understanding of calculus and higher -level mathematics.
Many of the equations and models presented by the auth ors are extremely central to
the argument however without a serious mathematical understanding of what is being
illustrated there are many connections that would not be made between the material
being presented and the analysis the authors put forth. I, for one, had to consult
mathematics major here at the university to gain a more insightful understanding of
the topic and quite honestly make sense of the math.
7.
The article was very in depth for the level of analysis presented and for this reason
do not see any immediate areas of improvement. However, in my opinion I believe
that a simpler version could be translated and presented to a wider spectrum of
people for better effect.
8.
The corrective actions presented by the authors included two options: raisi ng capital
from stakeholders in the marketplace for investment in renewable resources, and
taxing stakeholders for investment in renewable resources. I believe that a mix of
the two would be best with perhaps different taxes for different environmentally
harmful activities. I believe that providing incentives for companies in order to
motivate investment in renewable resources would be best as well because the
sooner a change is made, less negative effects on the environment will continue to
take place.
9.
J.E. Stiglitz, Growth with exhaustible natural resources. Review of Economic
Studies, 41 (1974), pp. 123–137.
Y. Tsur and A. Zemel, Optimal transition to backstop substitutes for non-renewable
resources. Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, 27 (2003), pp. 551–572.
S. D'Alessandro, Non-linear dynamics of population and natural resources: the
emergence of different patterns of development. Ecological Economics, 62 3 (2007), pp.
473–481.
O. Tahvonen and S. Salo, Economic growth and transition between renewable and
nonrenewable energy resources. European Economic Review, 45 (2001), pp. 1379–
1398.
Max Greenblatt
Media Annotation: Journal For Cleaner Production
EEVP Fall 2011
Nate Fisk