Group items tagged

This article discusses the environmental and human health costs of power plants. These type of costs would be considered negative externalities of production, because they are harmful effects that do not effect the firm producing the power, but rather a third party, society as a whole. When producers are making the power, they value the cost as the private costs to their firms, but as outlined by this article, there are many social costs which they do not consider, and this leads to over-production, which means the market is failing, as the resources are not being allocated efficiently. An interesting aspect is that they are able to put a true "cost" on environmental and health effects, which can be quite hard to determine.

By 2030, more than half the world's population will live in high-risk areas By Geoffrey Lean, Environment Editor Humanity is facing "water bankruptcy" as a result of a crisis even greater than the financial meltdown now destabilising the global economy, two authoritative new reports show.

This seems like a big issue that will unfold during our generation. In Canada, we have one of the world's largest fresh water supplies, and that will be an important resource for our country moving into the future. But even with such a large supply, it is still a very scarce resource. Last year I visited a museum exhibit on the world's water supply, and it demonstrated the amount of water usage per capita in places around the world... In North America, we were using around ten times more water per day than people in Africa. This demonstrated the availability around the world affecting people's usage, but even in places where water is abundant, if we use too much it can still run out, so we need to be careful in everything we do.

This article shows the real-life application to the new ideas we've been discussing in terms of the Republic of Cyprus. "Cyprus has so far been an energy island -an isolated energy system- and has till recently been almost totally dependent on imports of oil which burden the current account balance. A bright horizon of peace, cooperation and economic growth will then open up for the area of the Eastern Mediterranean, to the benefit not only of the countries and peoples of the area but also of our wider European family." I have included the conclusion to the article as well, which wraps up this sustainability-conscious article."In shaping the world of today and tomorrow through their decisions on energy issues, visionary leaders will aim at improving the prospects of both the current and future generations in terms of economic and social development and of sustainability, and certainly in terms of establishing and strengthening peaceful and hence productive international relations."

This article from New York is about air quality. New York recently failed an air quality standard test, from a company that has according to the paper a monopoly in their market, and whether it is right that this is the case.

This article describes the vast amounts of subsidies that are available to companies providing renewable energy sources in the United States. The government decided to provide subsidies for these projects because it felt that they were necessary for the environmental health of the country, however some people believe that the government provided too much unnecessary money in this situation.

This article discusses how the government is trying to deal with the greenhouse gasses that are having a negative impact on our environment. The governent is taking steps to promote the use of biofuel over ethonol by using tax subsidies....

This article talks about how supply-side policies are implemented and how it affects the price of gasoline. This is mainly because of the global crude oil prices decreasing. On top of that, there is an increase in supply from the Middle East supplemented by a decrease in demand. "If there are any problems on the supply side, as in Iran, Libya or Nigeria, then prices will be right back up," said Michael C. Lynch, president of Strategic Energy and Economic Research.

This article outlines how dependent energy sources are on water. The wants and needs for water resources are increasing worldwide, and this could become a problem to power plants, hydroelectric facilities, and other major sources of global water supply.

Aha! Scarcity of water supply, and it's a need. It is really important for us, human beings to know the importance of preserving the environment!

This article adresses the issue regarding freshwater. We do not have an immediate shortage of water, but many countries do not have access to clean freshwater, and the countries that do are wasting it... By misusing water we are not only harming the environment, but we are also putting the future generations at risk of sever shortages.