Economics and Ecology

The savage deforestation which at one time menaced all the woods in the world was the result of the fact that the prices were right. And it was not brought to a halt by the price mechanisms, but only by the introduction of some quantitative restrictive rules. 

And if the cheetah is now an endangered species, it is because the price of a cheetah pelt is just right for some people to hunt one animal after the other (p. 17). 

The case of sustainable development or, as some prefer, the development toward sustainability is illustrative for the general observation that there is a conflict between short-term and long-term values. To quote the famous sociobiologist Wilson [17], 

To select values for the near future of one s area of responsibility is relatively easy to select values for the distant future of the whole planet is relatively easy too—in theory at least. To combine the two visions to create a universal environmental ethic is very difficult. But combine them, we must (pp. 65-75). 

One cannot help but reflect man s position in nature. Up to a certain period in the past, man fitted nicely in nature s cycles and did not disturb its course. Then man stepped out of the prevailing cycles and, while entering the Industrial Revolution, may have started to disturb this course. Is it naive to conclude for the moment that the only way to repair this situation is to become part again of nature s cycles  

---

Some of the economic hurdles and process cost centers of this conventional carbohydrate fermentation process, schematically shown in Eigure 1, are in the complex separation steps which are needed to recover and purify the product from the cmde fermentation broths. Eurthermore, approximately a ton of gypsum, CaSO, by-product is produced and needs to be disposed of for every ton of lactic acid produced by the conventional fermentation and recovery process (30). These factors have made large-scale production by this conventional route economically and ecologically unattractive. 

Another important parameter for describing a secondary electrochemical cell is the achievable number of cycles or the lifetime. For economic and ecological reasons, systems with a high cycle life are preferred. The number of cycles indicates how often a secondary battery can be charged and discharged repeatedly before a lower limit (defined as a failure) of the capacity is reached. This value is often set at 80 percent of the nominal capacity. To compare different battery systems, besides the number of cycles, the depth of discharge must be quoted. 

The properties and behavior of the bromine storing polybromide complexes will now be treated in detail from the fundamental and technological viewpoints, including economic and ecological (safety risks, recyclability, disposal, etc.) aspects. 

This chapter attempts to give a comparative overview of the process and to illustrate the economic and ecological advantages. 

From both economic and ecological points of view, substances derived from esters of monocarboxylic acids sulfonated in the a position form an interesting class of surfactants [1]. The general formula of these a-sulfomonocarboxylic esters, also called a-sulfo fatty acid esters or, in short, a-ester sulfonates, is Rj-CH(S03Me)-C00-R2 (with Rj and R2 = alkyl groups, Me = alkali metal). 

Economic and ecological aspects of chemical recycling are examined, and the application of such processes to the recovery of monomers and intermediates from PETP, polyamides, polyurethanes, polycarbonates, unsaturated polyesters, polyacetals, PMMA and PS is discussed. 17 refs. SNIA... 

There are two main scientific areas in which economic valuation takes place, environmental economics and ecological economics. The main difference between the two areas is whether or not the general description of how the economy functions is accepted or not. Environmental economists do basically accept the way the market functions and homo economicus (Sect. 2). Ecological economists... 

In the scope of this case study, alternative storage options for surplus wind electricity production in the region of north-western Germany are analysed. One assumption is that today s limited grid capacity could be extended only by a certain amount. The comparison of the storage option is based on economic and ecological criteria. 

A new industrial process based on the reaction of sodium monochloroacetate with aqueous alkyl polyglycoside (without additional solvents) enables the manufacturing of this product in an economically and ecologically favorable way (Fig. 4.16). 

Drzyzga et al. [411] conducted experiments to evaluate the levels of incorporation and transformation of TNT and metabolites into the organic soil matrix of anaerobic and sequential anaerobic-aerobic treated soil/molasses mixtures. They proposed a two-step treatment process (i.e., anaerobic-aerobic bioremediation process) with some special procedures during the anaerobic and the aerobic treatment phases. The transformation of TNT at the end of the experiments was above 95% and 97% after anaerobic and sequential anaerobic-aerobic treatment, respectively. This technique is considered the most promising method for effective, economic, and ecologically acceptable disposal of TNT from contaminated soils by means of immobilization (e.g., humification) of this xenobiotic. 

Streck has discussed economic and ecological aspects of the industrial application of this reaction [749]. A thorough discussion of the subject is to be found in a monograph by Ivin and Mol [750]. 

The activation of C—H bonds and C—C bonds has attracted much attention in both academic and industrial laboratories because of their potential economic and ecological advantages. In the field of asymmetric synthesis, enantioselective catalytic C—X bond formation via the activation of C—H bonds and/or C—C bonds should have a great impact on asymmetric synthesis in both theory and practice. In theory, it is interesting to see how these very unreactive bonds can react preferentially in the presence of more reactive bonds with asymmetric control. In a practical sense, such C—H and C—C bonds are equivalent to the C M bonds in organometaUic reactions and would turn the corresponding stoichiometric amounts of metal into catalytic amounts. Conceptually, there are two fundamental ways to... 

---