C. Cement Industry: Lafarge Cement Lafarge practices industrial ecology. It uses alternate sources of energy along with the traditional sources for heating the kiln in the cement manufacturing process. These alternate sources include biomass, scrap tires, coffee husk and other industrial waste and by products. In 2013-2014, out of its total fuel consumption, 20.7% comes from alternate sources of energy. So Lafarge is essentially using waste and by products from other industries and utilizing it as a source of energy in the heating process thus minimizing the use of fossil fuels and other non-renewable sources of energy. Total profits of Lafarge increased by 228 million Euros from 2012 to 2013. D. Electronics Industry: Dell Dell, a global major IT infrastructure provider, has been at the forefront of applying the concepts of Circular Economy to the industry. With improved supply chain management, it has been able to tackle the problem of huge accumulations of e-waste, which comprises metals as well as plastics. A research has revealed that around 50 million tons of e-waste get discarded every year globally, which is a massive burden on the planet. By practicing reverse logistics of takeaways of obsolete computer hardware, Dell is able to release metals like gold, tin, and tungsten into the commodity markets and plastics back into So, there might be short term losses even though it will be profitable in the long term. To overcome this barrier, government support is needed in the form of grants, loans, tax incentives, etc. Institutional barriers – Presently, there are environmental regulations which prevent transport of waste from one company to another or from one region to another. In countries like USA, Germany and Japan, there are laws which prevent inter-firm exchange of wastes, which is absolutely essential for the setting up eco-industrial
For instance The Gorgon Project in Australia shows how energy development and the environment coexist. The project involves development of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) and domestic gas. Barrow Island is a class “A” nature reserve and Chevron has been operating there for more than 45 years while reducing their footprint. Natural gas is the cleanest burning fossil fuel and the plant is equipped wit...
The energy which is lost to the environment is used here to recover a wide application based product.
Even though electronic waste contributes one percent of waste as discussed earlier, it poses a significant threat to the environment. “RCRA does not, however, cover electronic waste except CRTs, nor does it regulate electronic devices donated for educational or charitable reuse.” The RCRA should implement rules to govern e-waste because e-waste not only affects lives in the United States, It affects everyone globally. E-waste typically finds its ways out of the United States and ends up in developing countries like
The e-waste trade is an exploitative industry in which electronics, circuit boards, old TV’s and desktops that are of no more value, get dumped into third world countries such as Ghana, Vietnam, Malaysia, Pakistan, Hong Kong, and many others. The people of these third world countries than burn the electronics in order to collect the remains and scraps of copper and iron that can be sold for money. The smell and burning smolder of plastic from the computers and old TV’s are incredibly toxic, slowly killing the children, women, and men that burn these e-waste remains in order to create a living for themselves. Adam Smith, Karl Marx, and Emile Durkheim all have theories that can be applied and related to this trade of e-waste. Adam Smith’s theory
Our energy needs have significantly changed since the first Industrial Revolution that took place in the period from about 1760 to sometime between 1820 and 1840. Before this time period, our energy needs were modest. For heat, people relied on the energy of the sun, but when it failed them, they burned wood, straw and dried dung. For transportation horses and the power of the wind was used in sails. For agricultural work animals were used to do the jobs that could not be done with man labor. By harnessing the power of steam and wind simple machines could be run to grind our grain and pump our water. The Second Industrial Revolution, also called the Technological Revolution is considered to have begun around the time of the introduction of the Bessemer steel in the 1860s. This technological Revolution is considered as the second phase of the Industrial Revolution that resulted in factory electrification, mass production, the creation of production lines and the development of machine tools. With the appearance of the low cost automobile and the wide spread of electricity our society's energy needs have changed forever. Since the modest beginning of the oil industry in the mid 19th century, petroleum has risen to global dominance leading to mass consumption as the primary fuel to generate electricity, heat, to power our homes, cars and to support economic growth. Unfortunately, as a consequence of industrialization, atmospheric CO2 levels started to rise in proportion to the usage of fossil fuels. This trend raises some concerns about the well being of our environment, and researchers around the world started to look for alternative, cle...
use across all sectors. Natural gas is the second most used energy source in industry, trailing
Caterpillar’s Chairman and CEO, Doug Oberhelman is a member of the Board of Directors of the WRI. The WRI is an environmental group that uses research to find applied ways to safeguard the earth and improve people’s existence (“Sustainability Report,” 2012). Remanufacturing is one of the processes that Caterpillar utilizes to create sustainability throughout the world. Remanufacturing avoids waste through its salvage of materials and the associated resource savings. Sustainability organizations need to forge sustainability strategies which distribute them with cost-effective benefits and social benefits accomplished through environmental accountability. This paper will analyzing different ethical, legal, and economic issues relevant to sustainability as it pertains.
Commercial energy sources are those that are bought and sold, such as coal, oil, and natural gas. Subsistence energy sources are those gathered by individuals for their own immediate needs, such as wood, and animal waste
Electronic waste, or any waste for that matter is an inevitable part of an economic system where the destruction of an ecosystem is the primarily source of resources that are used to create the product. The waste that occurs from this process has to be disposed of in some way and more often than not, it is disposed of carelessly with out consideration to the affect it would have on the environment or the very people that create and let capitalism live on, “The political economy approach also defers progress on environmental issues to a pint after economic ones are solved” (Robbins et al. 2010, 114). And if this continues there may be no place left for the excess waste created by capitalism.
According to French law: The wastes are taken from used fuel from foreign electricity companies are returned to their country of origin after processing
The Macbook Pro Retina is one of the most popular technological products in the current market. The Macbook Pro is marketed as the greenest notebook by Apple but there are elements of the product that are not environmentally sound. This is proven with the study from the process from cradle to grave of the new Macbook Pro Retina. The environmental impact of the Macbook Pro can be measured by the lack of recyclability in the creation stage, the level of emissions in the transportation stage, the facilitation of disposal by Apple and local governments, and the economic viability of the MacBook Pro.
Manufacturing businesses and business leaders need to increase their focus on key success factors such as: innovation, productivity improvement, investment in people & skills, and funding. Innovation is not just about retention and development, or the latest technology. It’s also about practical and efficient problem solving and business transformation. In the manufacturing industry, this can be achieved by: refining or exploring new supply and distribution channels, establishing new business offerings, developing leaner organizational arrangements, improving processes, providing a better customer experience, and accessing green, clean technology – high on the agenda for environmentally conscious customers (Performance, 2011)
In addition to the fact that solar, wind, and hydro power are local resources, they are also emission free resources. Emissions and pollution are a key concern with traditional power sources. The coal-fired plants that dominate U.S. energy production also produce more emissions than any other energy source. “Em...
As seen above, the driving forces (27) are greater than the restraining forces (18). It suggests that the company should look forward to opening an E-waste management facility located in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. The strongest factors which contribute to the driving forces for a e-waste management facility are an increase in customer base, low competition and an existing brand image. The most important element here are customers. As Indore is the financial capital of Madhya Pradesh the customer base is huge, and as this will be the first E-waste management facility in Indore it will attract a lot of companies. It is certain that the plant would not be profitable the first month since its start but gradually as there is awareness amongst the people this facility would be highly profitable. ...
Recycling is such a fantastic way for us to reuse the waste we once throw. Yet, not everything is easy to be done in this world. There many difficulties that face recycling process economically and socially. Usually In order to recycle, waste paper needs to be sorted and treated from any Impurities. Which means that companies will loss finance because there must be someone or something that could sort or treat these papers. Another problem is that to start recycling, companies needs a lot of good recyclable supply to pick it up; after all, they need good economic benefits (Problems with Recycling, 2014). According to the Waste and Resources Action Program, there are some barriers p...