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Full-Text Articles in Law
Using Sustainability Criteria For Biomass, Evgenia Pavlovskaia
Using Sustainability Criteria For Biomass, Evgenia Pavlovskaia
Evgenia Pavlovskaia
This article explores the use of sustainability criteria for biomass as a tool to promote and safeguard sustainability of this product. Much attention is paid to the issues that sustainability criteria for biomass should consider. Among them the priority for food supply and food security, the emission reduction of green house gases (GHG) through the whole production chain, the preservation of areas of high ecological value, the protection of soil and water quality, and the requirements to the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are highlighted. In general, different issues relevant for sustainable biomass can be outlined and promoted. Their …
Using Sustainability Criteria For Biofuels In A Legal Context - An Analysis Based On The Eu Policy For Transport Biofuels, Evgenia Pavlovskaia
Using Sustainability Criteria For Biofuels In A Legal Context - An Analysis Based On The Eu Policy For Transport Biofuels, Evgenia Pavlovskaia
Evgenia Pavlovskaia
Sustainable quality of biofuels and their production methods should be seen as a part of the wider concept “sustainability”. Sustainability of biofuels should be measured in relation to resources and possibilities that the Earth can supply us with. This presentation focuses on sustainability criteria in their function to promote sustainability in a legal context, followed by the analysis of the binding EU regulations for transport biofuels as an example. Two main issues are examined: - the concept of sustainability criteria, special features of their use in law and aspects relevant for their practical implementation, and - the issue of control …
Building-Related Renewable Energy And The Case Of 360 State Street, Sara Bronin
Building-Related Renewable Energy And The Case Of 360 State Street, Sara Bronin
Sara C. Bronin
This Article argues that a well-conceived policy approach to building-related renewable energy (“BRRE”) — that is, renewable energy incorporated into inhabited structures and used by those structures’ occupants — could transform the way we produce and consume energy by maximizing efficiency while simultaneously minimizing energy sprawl. The vast majority of Americans favor renewable energy, at least in concept. Yet private property owners still face significant obstacles in trying to incorporate renewable energy into their projects. This Article analyzes barriers faced by the project team for 360 State Street, an award-winning, mixed-use LEED® Platinum building in downtown New Haven, Connecticut. Among …
Ch 21. 'Future Perspectives On Solar Fuels', Thomas A. Faunce
Ch 21. 'Future Perspectives On Solar Fuels', Thomas A. Faunce
Thomas A Faunce
This chapter opens by examining whether the research and development of molecular solar fuels will be characterized in future by its promotion of fundamental societal virtues such as equality and environmental sustainability. As a thought experiment, it presents a vision of some important elements of such a future world—one where energy is primarily not only a matter of global artificial photosynthesis (GAP), but of such virtues. Central to the future perspective presented here is nanotechnological construction with enhanced efficiency of each aspect of the natural photosynthetic process into units capable of inexpensive mass production for domestic use. This involves a …
Governing Planetary Nanomedicine: Environmental Sustainability And A Unesco Universal Declaration On The Bioethics And Human Rights Of Natural And Artificial Photosynthesis (Global Solar Fuels And Foods)., Thomas A. Faunce
Thomas A Faunce
Environmental and public health-focused sciences are increasingly characterised as constituting an emerging discipline—planetary medicine. From a governance perspective, the ethical components of that discipline may usefully be viewed as bestowing upon our ailing natural environment the symbolic moral status of a patient. Such components emphasise, for example, the origins and content of professional and social virtues and related ethical principles needed to promote global governance systems and policies that reduce ecological stresses and pathologies derived from human overpopulation, selfishness and greed— such as pollution, loss of biodiversity, deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as provide necessary energy, water and …
Federal Energy Efficiency And Conservation Laws, John Dernbach, Marianne Tyrrell
Federal Energy Efficiency And Conservation Laws, John Dernbach, Marianne Tyrrell
John C. Dernbach
This paper provides an overview of U.S. law and policy concerning energy efficiency and conservation. The United States appears torn between two narratives - one expressing the abundant demonstrated opportunities provided by energy savings and the other based on a fear of deprivation from using less energy. Rather than choosing between the two, U.S. law and policy splits the difference - embracing efficiency and conservation more or less halfheartedly. Energy efficiency and conservation policy thus has a Groundhog Day aspect, in which the same or similar arguments are made year after year, decade after decade, and often (it appears) to …
Curbing Energy Sprawl With Microgrids, Sara Bronin
Curbing Energy Sprawl With Microgrids, Sara Bronin
Sara C. Bronin
Energy sprawl - the phenomenon of ever-increasing consumption of land, particularly in rural areas, required to site energy generation facilities - is a real and growing problem. Over the next twenty years, at least sixty-seven million acres of land will have been developed for energy projects, destroying wildlife habitats and fragmenting landscapes. According to one influential report, even renewable energy projects - especially large-scale projects that require large-scale transmission and distribution infrastructure - contribute to energy sprawl. This Article does not aim to stop large-scale renewable energy projects or even argue that policymakers focus solely on land use in determining …