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According to the publisher:

This timely book offers a fresh view on how oceans and coasts are, and should be, managed. The urgency of this issue is increasingly being recognized, as critical limits to the economic exploitation of our oceans and coasts are reached. The authors argue that ecological economics is in a unique position to address this problem given its particular focus on interconnected ecological and economic systems.

Four ‘cornerstones’ of this ecological economics approach to the oceans and coasts are presented; most importantly, sustainability is the overarching policy goal, rather than economic efficiency, as I soften emphasized in mainstream economics. Secondly, recognizing the biophysical limits and thresholds of marine systems is fundamental. Thirdly, a complex systems view is adopted, which has profound implications for managing marine systems in the face of intrinsic uncertainty, irreversibility and interdependent behaviour. Finally, the approach is necessarily methodologically pluralistic, given the complexity and multi-faceted character of marine ecological–economic systems.

Ecological Economics of the Oceans and Coasts is a unique book that will be warmly welcomed by ecological economists, researchers and academics of coastal and marine management and policy as well as natural resource and environmental economists. Policy advisors on oceans and coasts, coastal and marine managers will also find this book of great interest and value.

Contents:
Preface
Part I: Foundational Ecology, Complexity and Science Issues
Part II: Economic and Other Values of the Marine Environment
Part III: Marine Sustainability: Integrating Ecology, Economics and Social Dimensions Part IV: Implementing an Ecological Economics of the Oceans and Coasts

Index
Contributors: C. Batstone, A. Cole, M. Gibbs, B. Glavovic, D. Hardy, S. Liu, G. McDonald, B. McNeil, M. Patterson, K. Probert, M. Ruth, B. Sharp, N. Smith, C. unde, M. Wilson

Commentary:
‘This timely book is enhanced by its provision of diverse fresh perspectives on ways to better manage our deteriorating oceans and coastlines. It will be welcomed by all those who value a holistic approach to environmental policy and who appreciate the need for urgent but well thought out improvements in ocean and coastal management.’
– Clem Tisdell, University of Queensland, Australia

‘This book covers a wide spectrum of issues of practical significance to those concerned about the state of the world’s oceans. Its principal contribution is to bring together an ecological economics perspective to the ocean world. In so doing, it broadens the vision of how we should understand the marine environment and, perhaps, what we can do to mitigate or even resolve these challenges.’
– Quentin Grafton, The Australian National University

Edited by Murray Patterson 1 and Bruce Glavovic 2
1. New Zealand Centre for Ecological Economics, Massey University, Palmerston North
2. School of People, Environment and Planning, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

Edward Elgar Publishing www.e-elgar.com
May 2008; 384 pages hardcover, ISBN: 978 1 84542 319 3
$140.00

As Ed Daley, ICMA President and city manager of Hopewell, Va., put it during an April 22 ICMA hosted- webcast, "Improving the energy efficiency of our own operations is only part of what we, as local government leaders, can do to better our environment and economy, and build sustainable communities. We are in a unique position to lead by example, educate our citizens about the benefits of energy efficiency, and motivate private sector organizations to make energy efficiency improvements."

During the webcast, entitled Leading Your Community and Saving Money, Energy, and the Environment, Susan Scott, Deputy County Manager, Sarasota County, Fla., described energy efficiency programs that the county is implementing as a part of its "Roadmap to Sustainability". These programs include:

* 2006 Change a Light campaign in which 1,037 county employees pledged to save energy, preventing 467,550 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions.
* Partnership with Florida Power & Light for the largest solar array in Florida, a 250 kW solar operation located at Sarasota County’s Rothenbach Park, a former landfill. This solar facility, built to support FPL’s Sunshine Energy green power pricing program, is expected to prevent more than 680,000 pounds of CO2 emissions each year.
* Requirement that all new county construction and renovation must be 50 percent more energy efficient than standard code requirements.

Unfortunately, delaying energy efficiency projects and opportunities can be very expensive. The Cash Flow Opportunity (CFO) Calculator, a tool offered by the US EPA ENERGY STAR, can help quantify the cost of delaying investment in upgrades by addressing three critical questions: how much new energy efficiency equipment can be purchased from the anticipated savings; should this equipment purchase be financed now, or is it better to wait and use cash from a future budget; and is money being lost by waiting for a lower interest rate? The CFO Calculator is designed so that managers who are not financial specialists can use it to make informed decisions, yet it is sophisticated enough to satisfy financial decision-makers. Learn how this tool helps model financing alternatives through sensitivity analysis.

All of the materials used during the webcast are available in the ICMA Resource Center.

For more information on ICMA’s energy program, contact Barbara Yuhas at byuhas@icma.org. For further information on U.S. EPA's ENERGY STAR® Programs visit www.energystar.gov or contact Kudret Utebay at kutebay@cadmusgroup.com.

International City/County Management Association (ICMA) www.icma.org
http://www.icma.org/main/ns.asp?nsid=3780&LGM=1

Global production of solar photovoltaic (PV) cells increased 51 percent in 2007, to 3,733 megawatts, according to the latest Vital Signs Update from the Worldwatch Institute, produced in collaboration with the Prometheus Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

More than 2,935 megawatts (MW) of solar modules were installed in 2007, according to early estimates, bringing cumulative global installations of PVs since 1996 to more than 9,740 MW-enough to meet the annual electricity demand of more than 3 million homes in Europe.

"Thanks to strong, smart policies in countries like Germany and Spain, the PV industry is making great strides in efficiency and cost, bringing solar power closer to price parity with fossil fuels," says Janet Sawin, Worldwatch Senior Researcher and author of the update.

Over the past year, Europe-led by Germany-surpassed Japan to lead the world in solar cell manufacturing, producing an estimated 1,063 MW in 2007. Thanks to government policies that guarantee high payments for solar power fed into the electric grid, Germany remains the world leader in solar PV installations, accounting for almost half the world total in 2007. About 40,000 people are now employed in the PV industry in Germany.

Spain ranked second after Germany for total installations in 2007, but accounts for only an estimated 3 percent of global production. As in Germany, the Spanish market is being driven by a strong guaranteed price for PV electricity.

Despite a dramatic increase in solar cell production in the United States, up 48 percent to 266 MW, the nation's share of global production and installations continued to fall in 2007.

In contrast, China raced past the United States for PV cell manufacturing in 2006 to place third globally, and it now ranks second only to Japan for national production. Over the past two years, China's PV production has increased more than sixfold, to 820 MW in 2007. Despite these impressive numbers, the domestic market remains small and most PV cells made in China are exported to Europe.

"With billions of dollars invested in the solar energy technologies in the last 12 months, the PV sector is primed for accelerating its impact in both centralized and distributed generation at increasingly competitive costs," says Travis Bradford, President of the Prometheus Institute. "As it reaches widespread cost parity in the next few years, demand will flourish in many places around the world simultaneously."

Solar PV prices declined slightly in 2007, with even greater reductions held back by the hot pace of demand and a continued shortage of polysilicon, an essential ingredient for conventional solar cells. Analysts expect much more dramatic price drops-perhaps as much as 50 percent in the next two years-as more polysilicon becomes available, production and installation are further scaled up, manufacturing efficiencies increase, and more advanced technologies are introduced. As a result, solar electricity could soon be a competitive alternative to conventional retail power in many regions, including California and southern Europe.

According to Sawin, "PV and other renewables offer significant potential to meet global energy needs while addressing climate change, enhancing energy security, and creating jobs. Scaling up renewables is primarily a matter of political will and enacting strong, consistent policies that create demand."

Worldwatch Institute www.WorldWatch.org
http://www.worldwatch.org/node/5738

May 15 , 2008

Washington, D.C. -- It's the U.S. energy boom that no one knows about. Energy efficiency may be the farthest-reaching, least-polluting, and fastest-growing energy success story of the last 50 years. But it also is the most invisible, the least understood, and in serious danger of missing out on needed future investments. In the first attempt to quantify the overall impact of the hidden U.S. energy efficiency boom, a major new report from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) shows that U.S. energy consumption (as measured per dollar of economic output) will have been slashed by the end of 2008 to half of what it was in 1970, from 18,000 Btus to about 8,900 Btus.

However, the ACEEE report, The Size of the U.S. Energy Efficiency Market: Generating a More Complete Picture, concludes that "…our nation is not aware of the role that energy efficiency has played in satisfying our growing energy-service demands…the contributions of efficiency often go unrecognized. The contributions of energy efficiency often remain invisible..." The report also notes that although efficiency is a proven resource, it remains underdeveloped. "In short, the evidence suggests that efficiency can make an even larger contribution towards stabilizing energy prices and reducing greenhouse gas emissions – should we choose to fully develop it."

The ACEEE report was prepared with major support from the Civil Society Institute (CSI). Additional support was provided by the Kendall Foundation and the North American Insulation Manufacturers Association.

Key report findings include:

* Given the right choices and investments in the many cost-effective but underutilized energy efficiency technologies, the United States can cost-effectively reduce energy consumption by an additional 25-30% or more over the course of the next 20-25 years.
* Annual investments in energy efficiency technologies currently support 1.6 million U.S. jobs. The $300 billion invested in energy efficiency in 2004 was three times the amount invested in traditional energy infrastructure.
* Investments in energy efficiency technologies are estimated to have generated approximately 1.7 quads of energy savings in 2004 alone – roughly the equivalent of the energy required to operate 40 mid-sized coal-fired or nuclear power plants.
* Since 1970, energy efficiency has met about three-fourths of the demand for new energy-related services while conventional energy supply has covered only one-fourth of this demand.
* Total investments in more energy efficiency technologies could increase the annual energy efficiency market by nearly $400 billion by 2030, resulting in an annual efficiency market of more than $700 billion – and total additional investments over the period 2008-2030 of nearly $7 trillion.

ACEEE Director of Economic Analysis John A. "Skip" Laitner, co-author of the new report, said: "The greatest American success story in dealing with energy in recent decades is also the least understood and the most invisible. This report shows that energy efficiency is among the most cost-effective solutions available to consumers, businesses, policymakers, and investors. Energy efficiency has made great strides, but we need to look at picking up the pace. The energy-related challenges of the 21st century require a dramatic shift in direction – from an emphasis on energy supply to an emphasis on energy efficiency."

Lloyd Jeff Dumas, Professor of Political Economy, Economics and Public Policy at The University of Texas at Dallas, and chair, Civil Society Institute Working Group on the Economy and Global Warming, said: "In effect, energy efficiency is buying the time that America needs to develop new clean energy sources that will reduce the greenhouse gases linked to global warming. This study sends a powerful message that members of the public, elected officials, and corporations need to squeeze out even more of the potential of energy efficiency as part of a comprehensive energy strategy that looks to our future, rather than the past."

Dumas, author of Seeds of Opportunity: Climate Change Challenges and Solutions, noted that study sponsor Civil Society Institute is a co-convener of the Citizens Lead for Energy Action Now (CLEAN) Call to Action (http://www.cleanenergyaction.net) that urges, among other things, a significantly stepped-up focus on more energy efficiency.

Other Key Report Findings

* Energy savings. The report notes: "Investments in energy efficiency technologies are estimated to have generated approximately 1.7 quads of energy savings in 2004 alone. In other words, had the nation maintained the same level of energy productivity as it had achieved in the year 2003, total primary energy use in 2004 would have reached 101.8 to 102.0 quads compared to the actual level of 100.3 quads documented in the databases maintained by the Energy Information Administration.…By the end of 2008, these investments will have saved roughly 6.6 quads of energy on a cumulative basis or the equivalent of at least $77.4 billion (in 2004 dollars)."

* Energy efficiency by industry. The size of energy efficiency investments varies considerably across U.S. sectors. In the buildings sector, investments in energy efficiency totaled about $178 billion, or nearly 60% of total energy efficiency investments in 2004. Of these investments, nearly half (49%) were made in energy-efficient appliances and electronics, while 29% were made in energy-efficient commercial building structures and 22% were made in energy-efficient residential building structures. In the industrial sector, investments reached roughly $75 billion in 2004, representing one quarter of total efficiency investments for the year. In the transportation sector, investments represented approximately 11% of total efficiency investments, or $33 billion in 2004. Interestingly, this pattern of investments does not mirror the patterns of energy use across sectors. While the buildings sector accounts for 39% of total U.S. energy consumption, it received 62% of total efficiency investments. Within the buildings sector, investments in appliances and electronics (48%) far exceeded the proportion of energy consumed by these devices (8%). In the industrial sector, the proportion of investments was lower than the proportion of energy use (25% and 34%, respectively). Notably, the transportation sector also proved to be significantly unbalanced, representing only 11% of efficiency investments but 28% of overall energy use.

* Jobs by industry. The largest share of related jobs is found in the buildings sector, which generated approximately two-thirds of all efficiency-related jobs (more than one million). Within the buildings category, investments in the appliance and electronics sector generated the most jobs (more than 380,000), followed by efficiency-related jobs in residential construction and renovation (348,000) and commercial construction and renovation (332,000). Other significant levels of employment are associated with investments in the industrial sector, which generated an estimated 416,000 jobs. Investments in energy efficiency in transport were lower, generating an estimated 151,000 jobs in 2004.

ACEEE Research Associate Karen Ehrhardt-Martinez, lead author of the report, said: "While these figures indicate that, as a nation, we are clearly making positive strides toward increasing our energy productivity and reducing our carbon footprint, we have only begun to scratch the surface of the potential savings that additional investments in energy efficiency technologies could provide. While current investments in energy efficiency are having an important impact on our economy, efficiency remains under-funded, and the potential benefits of efficiency remain unrealized."

The Size of the U.S. Energy Efficiency Market: Generating a More Complete Picture can be downloaded for free at http://aceee.org/pubs/e083.htm or purchased for $30 plus $5 postage and handling from ACEEE Publications, 1001 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Suite 801, Washington, D.C. 20036-5525, phone: 202-429-0063, fax: 202-429-0193, e-mail: aceee_publications@aceee.org.

A list of comments from experts about the ACEEE report is available at http://www.aceee.org/pubs/e083.htm.

A streaming audio replay news event will be available on the Web at http://www.aceee.org as of 6 p.m. EDT on May 15, 2008.

American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy www.aceee.org
http://aceee.org/press/e083pr.htm

...Los Angeles plans to begin using heavily cleansed sewage to increase drinking water supplies, joining a growing number of cities considering similar measures.

Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa, who opposed such a plan a decade ago over safety concerns, announced the proposal ... as part of a package of initiatives to put the city, ... on a stricter water budget. The other plans include increasing fines for watering lawns during restricted times, tapping into and cleaning more groundwater, and encouraging businesses and residents to use more efficient sprinklers and plumbing fixtures.

The move comes as California braces for the possibility of the most severe water shortages in decades.

Snowfall in the Sierra Nevada, which supplies about a third of Los Angeles’s water, is short of expectations. At the same time, the Western drought has lowered supplies in reservoirs, while legal rulings to protect endangered species will curtail water deliveries from Northern California.

[In addition], Los Angeles is expected to add 500,000 people by 2030
...
San Diego and South Florida are also considering or planning to test the idea, and Orange County, Calif., opened a $481 million plant in January, without much community resistance, that is believed to be the world’s largest such facility.
...
It will cost about $1 billion to retool the water works to treat the sewage, capture more rainfall and make other improvements. The money ... will come in part from state grants and fees on polluters, though they have not ruled out increases in water bills ....

By Randal C. Archibold
FOR FULL STORY GO TO:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/16/us/16water.html?th&emc=th
The New York Times www.NYTimes.com
Published: May 16, 2008

The concept of "irreversibility" plays a large role in the theory and practice of environmental protection. Indeed, the concept is explicit in some statements of the Precautionary Principle. But the idea of irreversibility remains poorly defined. Because time is linear, any loss is, in a sense, irreversible. On one approach, drawn from environmental economics, irreversibility might be understood as a reference to the value associated with taking precautionary steps that maintain flexibility for an uncertain future ("option value"). On another approach, drawn from environmental ethics, irreversibility might be understood to refer to the qualitatively distinctive nature of certain environmental harms – a point that raises a claim about incommensurability. The two conceptions fit different problems. For example, the idea of option value best fits the problem of climate change; the idea of qualitatively distinctive harms best fits the problem of extinction of endangered species. These ideas can be applied to a wide assortment of environmental problems.

by Cass R. Sunstein

http://www.reg-markets.org/admin/authorpdfs/page.php?id=1464
The AEI Center for Regulatory and Market Studies, The "Reg-Markets Center" www.reg-markets.org
The Center was founded by Bob Hahn in 2008 as the successor to the AEI-Brookings Joint Center. A primary aim of the Reg-Markets Center is to gain a deeper understanding of how markets, laws and regulation contribute to economic well-being. The Center will be an independent voice in policy debates.
min/authorpdfs/page.php?id=1464
Working Paper 08-16; May 2008