Robert U. Ayres – författare

Market: Those in economics, especially thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, cybernetics, information theory, resource use, and evolutionary economic behavior. This book presents an innovative and challenging look at evolution on several scales, from the earth and its geology and chemistry to living organisms to social and economic systems. Applying the principles of thermodynamics and the concepts of information gathering and self- organization, the author characterizes the direction of evolution in each case as an accumulation of "distinguishability" information--a type of universal knowledge.

This monograph length report, first published in 1970, originated from a program of research at Resources for the Future that dealt with the management of residuals and of environmental quality. It presents some of the broad concepts that the program was based on and represents the effort to break out of the traditional approach in pollution and policy research, which had treated air, water, and solid waste problems as separate categories. This book will be of interest to students of economics and environmental studies.

This monograph length report, first published in 1970, originated from a program of research at Resources for the Future that dealt with the management of residuals and of environmental quality. It presents some of the broad concepts that the program was based on and represents the effort to break out of the traditional approach in pollution and policy research, which had treated air, water, and solid waste problems as separate categories. This book will be of interest to students of economics and environmental studies.

Achieving the goals and objectives of sustainable development requires better information about the consequences of proposed actions. Partial information accounts for many failed efforts in the past. The financial implications for the proponent of the projects have often been more thoroughly analyzed than the implications for other actors. The impacts on biological diversity, or on the social fabric of local communities, have often been ignored. Decisi- makers may also focus more on the short-term consequences instead of long- term impacts, creating negative unintended consequences. It is clear that better decision-making processes are needed. Making better decisions requires identifying, obtaining, synthesizing and acting on larger and more diverse data sets, including information that has previously been overlooked in development decisions. The good news is that better processes are being developed and are becoming available. If the goal is to reach decisions that are broadly understood and accepted, affected communities need to be consulted. Early public participation in defining problems is a prerequisite to effective decision-making. There is no universal formula or checklist of information applicable to every proposed project. The scope of information required should not be determined from the start by small cadres of experts. It is unlikely that any individual or small group processes all of the expertise to achieve the kind of profound int- disciplinary synthesis that is needed.

What’s in a name? What, in particular, is metals management’ all about? I suspect that my ‘ colleagues assumed that I would have a good answer, given that the endowed Sandoz Chair I occupied from 1992 until my retirement in 2000 was entitled “Environment and Management”, and at INSEAD I created a Center for Management of Environmental Resources (CMER). Metals are a subset of resources, et voila! However, in all honesty, management, as such, was never my core competence (to use another phrase popularized by business schools). Here comes the shocking secret. We used the word management in those titles because INSEAD is a business school where everything has to have an application to business. For my colleagues at INSEAD management is what we supposedly teach. Good management, they (we) think, distinguishes successful enterprises from unsuccessful ones. For some of our graduates, management is what they give professional advice to corporate clients about. For the rest of our graduates it is the umbrella word that describes their choice of career. The implication conveyed by our choice of words is that metals can be regarded as one category of environmental resources, and that resources – including environmental resources – can be managed, in somewhat the same way that a corporation can be managed. It is not even too far-fetched to suggest that long run sustainability might be a management problem.

Industrial ecology is coming of age and this superb book brings together leading scholars to present a state-of-the-art overviews of the subject.Each part of the book comprehensively covers the following issues in a systematic style: the goals and achievements of industrial ecology and the history of the fieldmethodology, covering the main approaches to analysis and assessmenteconomics and industrial ecologyindustrial ecology at the national/regional leveindustrial ecology at the sectoral/materials levelapplications and policy implications.The authors are all experts at the cutting edge of the field and the bibliography alone will prove useful as a comprehensive guide to the literature. This outstanding handbook will be an indispensable reference for students and scholars working in environmental management, industrial ecology and environmental and ecological studies.

The conventional utility-based approach to microeconomics is now nearly a century old and although frequently criticised, it has yet to be replaced. On the Reappraisal of Microeconomics offers an alternative approach that overcomes most of the objections to orthodox theory, whilst offering some unique additional advantages.The authors present a new approach to non-equilibrium microeconomics that applies equally to production, trade and consumption, and that is also consistent with the laws of thermodynamics. This new theory is not limited to equilibrium or near-equilibrium conditions. The core of the theory is proof that, for each agent (firm or individual), there exists an unique function of goods and money (denoted Z) that can be interpreted as subjective wealth for an individual or the owners of a firm. Exchanges may occur only when both parties enjoy an increase in subjective wealth as a consequence. On average, this Z-function will increase over time if, and only if, the agent obeys a simple decision rule in all economic transactions: namely to 'avoid avoidable losses', or AAL, it being understood that some losses are unavoidable. Dynamic equations describing growth (or decline) can be derived simply by calculating time derivatives of a wealth function, without the need for constrained maximization of an integral of utility (or some surrogate) BM_1_over time. The Z-function also has a number of other interesting properties that can be used for multi-agent and multi-sectoral simulation models to explore a variety of economic situations that cannot be addressed so easily using conventional methods.This is a stimulating, provocative and highly original book that will appeal to informed academics, researchers and other professionals with an interest in the fundamentals of neoclassical economics and its applications to business, finance, growth and the environment.

The historic link between output (GDP) growth and employment has weakened. Since there is no quantitively verifiable economic theory to explain past growth, this unique book explores the fundamental relationship between thermodynamics (physical work) and economics. The authors take a realistic approach to explaining the relationship between technological progress, thermodynamic efficiency and economic growth. Their findings are a step toward the integration of neo-classical and evolutionary perspectives on endogenous economic growth, concluding in a fundamental explanation of endogenous growth that is both quantifiable and consistent with the laws of thermodynamics. For two centuries fossil and other sources of energy (work) have been replacing human and animal muscles. Now our civilization is truly addicted to fossil energy availability at ever low prices. Can increasing efficiency compensate for coming scarcity? This is the crucial question. The most important implication of this is that future economic growth is not guaranteed because the efficiency gains that have driven growth in the past may not continue in the future.Exploring the theory of growth with an emphasis on the role of energy, useful work and technological change, this book will be of great interest to academics and students focussing on growth theory, energy and ecological economics. It will also prove insightful to those concerned with policy making or responding to changes in policy related to the energy-growth nexus.

Industrial Ecology is perhaps the first serious attempt to go beyond general statements regarding the desirability of 'clean technology' and to assess realistically and quantitatively the range of practicable possibilities for reducing materials extraction, consumption and waste.This major new book examines strategic options for reducing wastes and pollution and increasing the productivity of materials. Using an industrial ecology perspective, the authors analyse thirteen generic cases of material, beginning with four families of metals (aluminium, chromium, copper and zinc), several families of chemicals (phosphates and fluorine; suphur-based, nitrogen-based and chlorine-based), silicon and several different types of waste. Opportunities for creating 'industrial ecosystems' by deliberate design are discussed as well as the use of low-value by-products as feed stocks for useful products. In addition to surveying the technological possibilities, the authors also consider the public interest, institutional barriers and the range of possible alternatives that might be applicable. Environmental scientists, economists, practitioners and policy makers will welcome Industrial Ecology's integrated approach and the emphasis which it places on resource productivity, materials cycle optimization and waste minimization.

This innovative book presents new research on the increasingly important need to account for the use of resources, and the dispersion of waste materials. It considers resource accounting both at the process level and at the materials level, and in addition offers policy suggestions for waste and resource accounting.The book opens with an introduction to industrial metabolism and its various implications. It then goes on to examine resource accounting at the national and sectoral level, through the systematic application of the mass-balance principle to estimate materials losses at different stages of the production process. It then examines one cluster of industries (related to chlorine) in greater detail. At the process level the use of chemical process simulation software in the estimation of waste emissions is examined, specifically focusing on cases where emissions data is unavailable or unreliable. Finally it introduces, for the first time, a common single measure for evaluating and comparing process or sectoral resource and waste flows between time periods, between sectors and between regions and nations. This measure is known as exergy, and although not new in itself, it has never before been used systematically for these purposes. In conclusion the author summarizes the main problems of resource and waste accounting and offers some policy recommendations for the implementation of accounting for resources.Accounting for Resources, 1 will be welcomed by environmental managers and scientists, economists, practitioners and government policymakers.

This two volume collection of pioneering material includes landmarks and significant contributions to the subjects of global environmental issues. The editors have prepared a new introduction for this authoritative collection.This collection enables the reader, whether an economist or environmentalist, to have access to material published in a wide range of journals, many of which are relatively unavailable. It will be of considerable value to researchers and teachers in all of the disciplines, including: theoretical ecology; resource and environmental economics; industrial ecology and environmental science.

This companion to Accounting for Resources, 1 tracks the life cycle of specific elements, such as chlorine and heavy metals, in order to estimate the generation and dissipative losses of material wastes.The book begins with a succinct review of the life-cycle analysis methodology and evaluates some of its weaknesses in estimating the generation of waste. The authors propose a new quantitative measure of the potential for environmental harm of waste materials. They include case studies to add weight to their proposal. Four horizontal life-cycle case studies are included; one for chlorine and chlorine chemicals; one for mercury; one for arsenic and cadmium; and the other for copper, lead and zinc. The book also includes a longitudinal study of heavy metals use and dissipation, during the period 1880-1980 with reference to the Hudson-Raritan basin. The book concludes with an overview, including some recommendations for future research and for policy changes with respect to governmental statistical data collection and organization.

In this volume, a group of distinguished international scholars provides a fresh investigation of the most fundamental issues involved in our dependence on natural resources. In Scarcity and Growth (RFF, 1963) and Scarcity and Growth Reconsidered (RFF, 1979), researchers considered the long-term implications of resource scarcity for economic growth and human well-being. Scarcity and Growth Revisited examines these implications with 25 years of new learning and experience. It finds that concerns about resource scarcity have changed in essential ways. In contrast with the earlier preoccupation with the adequacy of fuel, mineral, and agricultural resources and the efficiency by which they are allocated, the greatest concern today is about the Earth‘s limited capacity to handle the environmental consequences of resource extraction and use. Opinion among scholars is divided on the ability of technological innovation to ameliorate this 'new scarcity.' However, even the book‘s more optimistic authors agree that the problems will not be successfully overcome without significant advances in the legal, financial, and other social institutions that protect the environment and support technical innovation. Scarcity and Growth Revisited incorporates expert perspectives from the physical and life sciences, as well as economics. It includes issues confronting the developing world as well as industrialized societies. The book begins with a review of the debate about scarcity and economic growth and a review of current assessments of natural resource availability and consumption. The twelve chapters that follow provide an accessible, lively, and authoritative update to an enduring-but changing-debate.

In this volume, a group of distinguished international scholars provides a fresh investigation of the most fundamental issues involved in our dependence on natural resources. In Scarcity and Growth (RFF, 1963) and Scarcity and Growth Reconsidered (RFF, 1979), researchers considered the long-term implications of resource scarcity for economic growth and human well-being. Scarcity and Growth Revisited examines these implications with 25 years of new learning and experience. It finds that concerns about resource scarcity have changed in essential ways. In contrast with the earlier preoccupation with the adequacy of fuel, mineral, and agricultural resources and the efficiency by which they are allocated, the greatest concern today is about the Earth‘s limited capacity to handle the environmental consequences of resource extraction and use. Opinion among scholars is divided on the ability of technological innovation to ameliorate this 'new scarcity.' However, even the book‘s more optimistic authors agree that the problems will not be successfully overcome without significant advances in the legal, financial, and other social institutions that protect the environment and support technical innovation. Scarcity and Growth Revisited incorporates expert perspectives from the physical and life sciences, as well as economics. It includes issues confronting the developing world as well as industrialized societies. The book begins with a review of the debate about scarcity and economic growth and a review of current assessments of natural resource availability and consumption. The twelve chapters that follow provide an accessible, lively, and authoritative update to an enduring-but changing-debate.

It is true that economic growth has accelerated in recent centuries, and it is true that billions of people have been lifted from poverty.

It is true that economic growth has accelerated in recent centuries, and it is true that billions of people have been lifted from poverty.

Eminent physicist and economist, Robert Ayres, examines the history of technology as a change agent in society, focusing on societal roots rather than technology as an autonomous, self-perpetuating phenomenon. It evolved from a need to pump water out of coal mines, driven by a need to burn coal instead of firewood, in turn due to deforestation.

Eminent physicist and economist, Robert Ayres, examines the history of technology as a change agent in society, focusing on societal roots rather than technology as an autonomous, self-perpetuating phenomenon. It evolved from a need to pump water out of coal mines, driven by a need to burn coal instead of firewood, in turn due to deforestation.

But in reality, biological systems and human social systems are dissipative cycles, far from both thermodynamic equilibrium, and economic equilibrium, yet stable and capable of evolution, driven by the solar exergy flux.

But in reality, biological systems and human social systems are dissipative cycles, far from both thermodynamic equilibrium, and economic equilibrium, yet stable and capable of evolution, driven by the solar exergy flux.

Achieving the goals and objectives of sustainable development requires better information about the consequences of proposed actions. Partial information accounts for many failed efforts in the past. The financial implications for the proponent of the projects have often been more thoroughly analyzed than the implications for other actors. The impacts on biological diversity, or on the social fabric of local communities, have often been ignored. Decisi- makers may also focus more on the short-term consequences instead of long- term impacts, creating negative unintended consequences. It is clear that better decision-making processes are needed. Making better decisions requires identifying, obtaining, synthesizing and acting on larger and more diverse data sets, including information that has previously been overlooked in development decisions. The good news is that better processes are being developed and are becoming available. If the goal is to reach decisions that are broadly understood and accepted, affected communities need to be consulted. Early public participation in defining problems is a prerequisite to effective decision-making. There is no universal formula or checklist of information applicable to every proposed project. The scope of information required should not be determined from the start by small cadres of experts. It is unlikely that any individual or small group processes all of the expertise to achieve the kind of profound int- disciplinary synthesis that is needed.

What’s in a name? What, in particular, is metals management’ all about? I suspect that my ‘ colleagues assumed that I would have a good answer, given that the endowed Sandoz Chair I occupied from 1992 until my retirement in 2000 was entitled “Environment and Management”, and at INSEAD I created a Center for Management of Environmental Resources (CMER). Metals are a subset of resources, et voila! However, in all honesty, management, as such, was never my core competence (to use another phrase popularized by business schools). Here comes the shocking secret. We used the word management in those titles because INSEAD is a business school where everything has to have an application to business. For my colleagues at INSEAD management is what we supposedly teach. Good management, they (we) think, distinguishes successful enterprises from unsuccessful ones. For some of our graduates, management is what they give professional advice to corporate clients about. For the rest of our graduates it is the umbrella word that describes their choice of career. The implication conveyed by our choice of words is that metals can be regarded as one category of environmental resources, and that resources – including environmental resources – can be managed, in somewhat the same way that a corporation can be managed. It is not even too far-fetched to suggest that long run sustainability might be a management problem.

If the first industrial revolution was the substitution of steam power for human and animal muscles, the present revolution is the substitution of electronic sensors for human eyes and ears, and computers for human brains, at least in a certain category of routine 'on-line' manufacturing operations.