[PDF] Storage And Scarcity eBook

Author : Giorgio Osti
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 259 pages
File Size : 44,50 MB
Release : 2016-06-10
Category : Science
ISBN : 1317076532

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In an era of abundance, at least part of humanity has stopped thinking about the future provision of basic vital resources such water, energy and food. Storage actions, with all their variants whether real or imagined, are sources of innovation in the provision and treatment of crucial resources. This book deals with cases of water, food, energy and biodiversity storage as a response to a new era of scarcity. Examining multilevel storage policies, consumers’ practices and local organisations, author Giorgio Osti explores a variety of examples such as the need to stock agriculture produce, the industry and practices of food conservation, the role of artificial water basins in controlling floods and droughts and the development of batteries able to compensate for the intermittence of renewable energy sources. Storage and self-sufficiency can be achieved in many technical ways, at different territorial levels and according to different policies or philosophies. Being more a grasshopper or an ant - the two extreme positions - depends not only on the technologies available but also on different analyses of the environment and different attitudes to the future. This book offers an environmentalist perspective that uncovers hidden or absent activities of ultramodern societies that will be useful to students of environmental sociology as well as those researching and studying at the interface of environmental studies and geography.

Author : William Owen Smith
Publisher :
Page : pages
File Size : 22,32 MB
Release : 2013
Category :
ISBN :

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For most of the 20th century commodity prices fell in real terms. Prices of metals, energy and food became so low that they were almost irrelevant to developed world consumers. Since 2003 prices have risen sharply, and have become so high they have been blamed for recessions, civil unrest and even revolutions. Although increased speculation in commodity markets has probably played a role, the fundamental factors of supply and demand continue to form the most important determinant of commodity prices. Price rises have been caused by 'scarcity' caused by rapid demand growth from newly affluent consumers in the developing world, meeting a supply that has struggled to respond. Understanding current and future scarcity in commodities therefore helps us predict and warn of further price spikes. This thesis studies all three major commodity groups, examining existing ways to measure scarcity and proposing new ones. Firstly we study the base (industrial) metals. We examine the 'theory of storage', which explains price and price volatility in terms of the quantity stored in inventory, a key measure of scarcity. Secondly we study energy markets. Electricity cannot be stored, so the 'theory of storage' cannot be applied. We note an alternative measure of scarcity which allows us to apply a modified theory of storage to electricity. We also examine its applicability to another key energy commodity, crude oil. Finally we examine scarcity in the agricultural products. Here we have inventory data, providing short-term scarcity information, but unlike for energy and metals, we have no concept of reserves, being that resource known but remaining in the ground, which provides longer-term scarcity information. Instead, we propose and examine several other ways to measure scarcity.

Author : Giorgio Osti
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 221 pages
File Size : 29,76 MB
Release : 2016-06-10
Category : Science
ISBN : 1317076540

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In an era of abundance, at least part of humanity has stopped thinking about the future provision of basic vital resources such water, energy and food. Storage actions, with all their variants whether real or imagined, are sources of innovation in the provision and treatment of crucial resources. This book deals with cases of water, food, energy and biodiversity storage as a response to a new era of scarcity. Examining multilevel storage policies, consumers’ practices and local organisations, author Giorgio Osti explores a variety of examples such as the need to stock agriculture produce, the industry and practices of food conservation, the role of artificial water basins in controlling floods and droughts and the development of batteries able to compensate for the intermittence of renewable energy sources. Storage and self-sufficiency can be achieved in many technical ways, at different territorial levels and according to different policies or philosophies. Being more a grasshopper or an ant - the two extreme positions - depends not only on the technologies available but also on different analyses of the environment and different attitudes to the future. This book offers an environmentalist perspective that uncovers hidden or absent activities of ultramodern societies that will be useful to students of environmental sociology as well as those researching and studying at the interface of environmental studies and geography.

Author : Andrew A. Keller
Publisher : IWMI
Page : 24 pages
File Size : 29,24 MB
Release : 2000
Category : Dams
ISBN : 9290903996

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Of the four major ways of storing water –in the soil profile, in underground aquifers, in small reservoirs, and in large reservoirs behind dams–the first is possible only for relatively short periods of time. In this paper, the authors concentrate on the three kinds of long-term technologies, and compare the hydrological, operational, economic and environmental aspects of each.

Author : A. Keller
Publisher :
Page : 16 pages
File Size : 19,85 MB
Release : 2000
Category :
ISBN :

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By 2025, one-third of the population of the development world will face severe water shortages (Seckler et al. 1998). Yet, even in many water-acarce regions, large amounts of water annually flood out to the sea. Some of this floodwater is is committed flow to flush salt and other harmful products out of the system and to maintain the ecological aspects of estuaries and coastal areas (Molden 1997). However, in many cases, the floodwater is not fully utilized; and, of course, the floods themselves can do a great deal of harm.

Author : Sendhil Mullainathan
Publisher : Macmillan
Page : 303 pages
File Size : 29,17 MB
Release : 2013-09-03
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 0805092641

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A surprising and intriguing examination of how scarcity—and our flawed responses to it—shapes our lives, our society, and our culture

Author : Lyla Mehta
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 288 pages
File Size : 38,58 MB
Release : 2013-05-13
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 1136538933

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Scarcity is considered a ubiquitous feature of the human condition. It underpins much of modern economics and is widely used as an explanation for social organisation, social conflict and the resource crunch confronting humanity's survival on the planet. It is made out to be an all-pervasive fact of our lives - be it of housing, food, water or oil. But has the conception of scarcity been politicized, naturalized, and universalized in academic and policy debates? Has overhasty recourse to scarcity evoked a standard set of market, institutional and technological solutions which have blocked out political contestations, overlooking access as a legitimate focus for academic debates as well as policies and interventions? Theoretical and empirical chapters by leading academics and scholar-activists grapple with these issues by questioning scarcity's taken-for-granted nature. They examine scarcity debates across three of the most important resources - food, water and energy - and their implications for theory, institutional arrangements, policy responses and innovation systems. The book looks at how scarcity has emerged as a totalizing discourse in both the North and South. The 'scare' of scarcity has led to scarcity emerging as a political strategy for powerful groups. Aggregate numbers and physical quantities are trusted, while local knowledges and experiences of scarcity that identify problems more accurately and specifically are ignored. Science and technology are expected to provide 'solutions', but such expectations embody a multitude of unexamined assumptions about the nature of the 'problem', about the technologies and about the institutional arrangements put forward as a 'fix.' Through this examination the authors demonstrate that scarcity is not a natural condition: the problem lies in how we see scarcity and the ways in which it is socially generated.

Author : Saeid Eslamian
Publisher : CRC Press
Page : 856 pages
File Size : 46,23 MB
Release : 2017-09-01
Category : Science
ISBN : 1351851136

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This volume includes over 30 chapters, written by experts from around the world. It examines numerous management strategies for dealing with drought and scarcity. These strategies include management approaches for different regions, such as coastal, urban, rural, and agricultural areas. It offers multiple strategies for monitoring, assessing, and forcasting drought through the use of remote sensing and GIS tools. It also presents drought mitigation management strategies, such as groundwater management, rainwater harvesting, conservations practices, and more.

Author : Josefina Maestu
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 378 pages
File Size : 47,1 MB
Release : 2013
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 0415638216

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Water scarcity is an increasing problem in many parts of the world, yet conventional supply-side economics and management are insufficient to deal with it. One of the key water management options for water demand is water trading. This book explores the role of water trading, as an instrument of integrated water resources management.