Economic system natural capital

Industrial ecology A systems-oriented subject that seeks to optimize resources, energy, and capital through the study of industrial and economic systems and their interactions with the natural ecosystems. Graedel and Allenby, 2003... 

The Enlightenment and the Rise of Capitalism Marx used the metaphor of the dissolution of feudalism to dramatize the contrast between the seamless web of feudalism and the patchwork cloth of capitalism. In feudalism, the economic, social, political and personal realms were integrated into a hierarchical unity, in which the individual was constituted by a web of relations to nature, society and God. This ideological apparatus served to stabilize an economic system based on a clear and overt division between necessary and surplus labour, between the labour-time needed to meet the... 

To sustain Earth and its natural capital for future generations, economic systems must evolve in the future such that they provide adequate and satisfying standards of living while increasing well-being, productivity, wealth, and capital and at the same time reducing waste, consumption of... 

Engineers play a central role as designers, bnilders, and operators in energy systems. As they extend their expertise in electrical, mechanical and chemical fields from fossil fuel-based systems to RE systems, sustainability has become one of the key criteria engineers ostensibly apply in their work. The question is, how may engineering cultures and practices affect the realization of sustainability and SJ via technological systans Nowadays, economic and environmental sustainability as expressed in concepts like eco-effkiency (World Business Council for Sustainable Development 2000) or natural capitalism (Hawken et al. 1999) have been the dominant policy narratives. 

A basic scheme of the configuration of the existing PV-diesel autonomous power system is presented in Figure 5.2. The main power components of this system are PV panels, diesel generating set, batteries and a converter. To simulate this system and perform a techno-economic analysis individual costs (capital cost, replacement cost, operation and maintenance cost) have to be identified for each component. The identification of these costs was mainly based on the RETScreen database developed in Canada (Natural Resources Canada, 1998). 

Refrigeration systems are extensively used in the chemical industries in low temperature processes such as liquefaction of natural gas, ethylene purification and cryogenic air separation. In these kinds of low temperature systems, heat is rejected from the process by refrigeration to heat sinks being other process streams or refrigeration systems at the expense of mechanical work. The refrigeration systems employed are complex, and energy and capital intensive, and therefore, play a critical role in the overall plant economics. 

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