ecolog Articles

Industrial ecology and ecological economics

The editors of this journal initiated a discussion on the relationship between industrial ecology and ecological economics, to which the current article is intended to contribute. It consists of overviews of ecological economics and industrial ecology, followed by an analysis of the links between them. Judging from their theoretical background and historical development, the extent of cross ...

Jan. 1, 2006

By Inderscience Publishers
Grounding the ecological economics paradigm with ten core principles

To date, attempts at determining what ecological economics is have focused on what is required to ensure a correct balance between ecology and economics; that is, on ensuring ecological economics is not too much of one and not too little of the other. This has led to the emergence of process-oriented definitions of ecological economics. While such definitions are useful, they are informative only ...

Jan. 30, 2004

By Inderscience Publishers
Ecological purchase behaviour: insights from a Middle Eastern country

This study examined the influence of attitude towards environment and subjective norms on the ecological purchase intentions of Iranian consumers. The study subsequently investigated the influence of ecological purchase intentions on actual purchase behaviour of consumers and explored the key factors resulting in the lack of tendency for purchasing ecological products by Iranian consumers. Out of ...

Jul. 11, 2012

By Inderscience Publishers
Reconciling the policy goals of full employment and ecological sustainability

Ecological economists believe that the growth in real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is ecologically unsustainable. They have subsequently called for a transitional shift to a steady-state economy. The dilemma that ecological economists face in trying to promote ecological sustainability is its potential employment implications. This paper outlines some policy initiatives to reconcile the conflict ...

Nov. 15, 2004

By Inderscience Publishers
Using Ecological Footprint accounts: from analysis to applications

It is argued in this paper that sustainability has specific, definable requirements, including the need to avoid ecological overshoot – that is, a level of resource demand that exceeds ecological carrying capacity. This paper demonstrates how ecological overshoot can be measured. Our evidence suggests that humanity is already in overshoot. Indeed, most industrialised countries run significant ...

Sep. 1, 2004

By Inderscience Publishers
Thermo-ecological performance optimisation of two stage irreversible refrigerators

The present study investigates the optimal performance of two stage refrigeration system based on thermo-ecological performance criterion. To maximise the ecological performance function, the working fluid temperatures are optimised. The optimal conditions such as cooling load, entropy generation rate and Coefficient of Performance (COP) are arrived analytically. The derived solution provides a ...

Mar. 23, 2009

By Inderscience Publishers
Editorial article: on the theoretical dimensions of industrial ecology

This editorial article for the double special issue of Progress in Industrial Ecology, 'Theoretical dimensions of industrial ecology', reviews the ten accepted contributions. We find four themes that we perceive as challenges for the theory of industrial ecology in terms of its contribution to sustainability science and sustainable development: 1) development of the science of industrial ecology; ...

Jan. 1, 2006

By Inderscience Publishers
Whither ecological economics?

This paper examines the nature of ecological economics, arguing that it comprises two aspects, the qualitative framework within which it operates and the quantitative techniques which it uses to measure sustainability, evaluate policies and assist decision-making. The former is distinct to ecological economics, whereas the latter is largely shared with environmental economics. Although these have ...

Jan. 26, 2004

By Inderscience Publishers
Achieving ecological sustainability with the introduction of a 'Sustainability Guarantee'

For nearly a decade, a small number of economists have been promoting a Job Guarantee to achieve full employment (Mitchell and Watts, 1997; Wray, 1998). As an ecological economist, I have also been a recent supporter of the Job Guarantee on the basis that: (a) the macroeconomics of the Job Guarantee appear to be sound; (b) unemployment is an inequitable outcome that should not be tolerated; and ...

Aug. 21, 2007

By Inderscience Publishers
Ecological modernisation, environmental policy and innovation: priorities for the Asia-Pacific region

This paper explores various dimensions of ecological modernisation in the context of developments in environmental policy and technological innovation in the Asia-Pacific region. It argues that models of ecological modernisation emerging in the region will differ from those developed elsewhere, particularly in Europe. Nonetheless, ecological modernisation theory can help to inform decisions ...

Feb. 24, 2004

By Inderscience Publishers
Re-writing the ecological metaphor: Part 1

Biological, evolutionary or ecological metaphors underpin much of theorisation in the social sciences in general, and the themes of inter-firm competition and technological change in particular. The argument advanced in this paper is that the use of ecological metaphors has been partial and selective. In key areas of theorisation such as industrial ecology the selective use of ecological ...

Jan. 1, 2006

By Inderscience Publishers
Ecological modernisation and nature conservation

Although ecological modernisation has a prominent position in contemporary environmental sociology, efforts to use ecological modernisation concepts in the specific case of nature conservation are remarkably absent. This article explores the potentials of applying ecological modernisation as a discourse and as a theory to issues of nature management. It is argued that ecological modernisation ...

Feb. 24, 2004

By Inderscience Publishers
How far are developing countries from the call of ecological tax reform? A review of environmental fiscal policy for Kenya

The main objective of this paper is to determine whether the ecological tax reform paradigm that hitherto is employed by a section of industrialised countries as an instrument of environmental management has potential applications in developing countries. The paper focuses on a case study of environmental management policy in Kenya and reveals that there is strong evidence of global environmental ...

Dec. 21, 2006

By Inderscience Publishers
Ecologically-oriented enterprises in Hungary

In this paper, we describe how we conducted in-depth empirical research about the value-background and coping strategies of ecologically-oriented enterprises in Hungary. It is a common belief that companies that have an ecological orientation are at a disadvantage on competitive markets because ethical and environmentally-friendly behaviour can generate costs and lessen competitive advantages. ...

Dec. 2, 2013

By Inderscience Publishers
May spirituality lead to reduced ecological footprint? Conceptual framework and empirical analysis

Living a happy and satisfied life while staying within ecological limits of Earth is a challenge humanity must face during this century. As spirituality impacts our lives in both material and non-material ways, we may reasonably suppose that spiritual beliefs also have an impact on how one thinks about environmental degradation, how likely individuals will behave in a pro-environmental way and ...

Dec. 2, 2013

By Inderscience Publishers
The ontologies of industrial ecology?

Industrial ecology is one of a number of new fields of study, such as 'green chemistry' or 'ecological economics', that have deliberately reached across different disciplines in both name and substance. This raises a number of issues for the practitioner, including difficult questions of boundary and field content (when is something 'industrial ecology' and when is it a part of another ...

Jan. 1, 2006

By Inderscience Publishers
A comment on the independence of allocation, distribution and scale

There has been considerable debate about the independence of the three policy goals of allocative efficiency, distributional equity, and ecological sustainability since Daly's (1992) paper on the subject (Prakash and Gupta, 1994; Daly, 1994; Stewen, 1998; Daly, 1999; Stewen, 1999). I would like to weigh in here, if I may, because I think it is a key policy issue requiring further discussion. ...

Feb. 7, 2005

By Inderscience Publishers
Industrial ecology as mediator and negotiator between ecology and industrial sustainability

This article discusses hybrid theory development efforts within industrial ecology. The framework is Latour's (1988) Prince metaphor, which he expanded to describe machines and machinations, technology and society. Technology including industrial ecology is regarded here as mediator between nature and society. Aspects on standard ecology and principles for ecosystem thinking as background for our ...

Jan. 1, 2006

By Inderscience Publishers
Importance of aquatic plants and algae in a lake’s ecosystem

Aquatic plants fulfill various ecological roles; they are a natural part of every lake and their surroundings, and they interact with a wide range of organisms. When restoring a lake’s ecosystem, it is crucial to assess its aquatic vegetation ...

Apr. 12, 2021

By LG Sonic
Performance investigations under maximum ecological and maximum economic conditions of a complex Brayton cycle

A complex Brayton cycle is investigated under maximum economic and maximum ecological conditions. The economic function defined as the power output divided by the total cost, while the ecological function defined as the power output divided by the entropy generation rate, is optimised with respect to the cycle temperatures, reheat and intercooling pressure ratios for a typical set of operating ...

Dec. 4, 2006

By Inderscience Publishers

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