Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Non-renewable resources'

Includes any ores or minerals that are being removed at or below the surface of the Earth, processed into a usable form, used, then burned for energy or placed in areas of disposal after use. Coal would typically begood example. Mineral resources are considered non-renewable because their production by earth forces on a geologic timescale cannot keep up with their consumption by humans on a human timescale. When you are citing the document, use the following link http://essuir.sumdu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/33826

The global energy system is dominated by the use of fossil fuels. This system suffers from several problems, such as different environmental issues, while the long-term energy security is sometimes questioned. As an alternative to this situation, a transition to a global energy system based on renewable energy technologies, to a large extent solar and wind energy, is commonly proposed. Constructing the technology needed for such a transition requires resources and how fast this could happen is somewhat disputed. This thesis explores methods to assess the potential constraints for realizing such a transition by looking at potential technology growth rates and outlooks of production of the required natural resources. The thesis is based on three papers presenting case studies that look at growth rates of wind energy as well as future production outlooks of lithium and phosphate rock. Using different types of growth patterns reaching proposed installed capacities of wind power, annual commissioning requirements are investigated, taking account for the limited life expectancy oftechnology. Potential outlooks of mineral production are explored using resource constrained curve-fitting models on global lithium production. A more disaggregated model looking at individual countries are used on phosphate rock production to investigate new perspectives on production outlooks. It is concluded that the growth rates of individual energy technologies affect the resource requirements and prospective constraints on energy transitions. Resource constrained modelling of resource production can provide spans of potential outlooks for future production of resources required for anenergy transition. A higher disaggregation of the modelling can provide new perspectives of potential constraints on future production. These aspects should be further investigated when proposing alternative future energy systems.

There is increasing concern for scarcity of natural resources and deterioration of the environment due to economic activity. Although theoretically the Hotelling rule not only provides an optimal extraction for the resource owner's profit maximization problem but also provides the optimal solution for society as a whole, the rule fails to fit the facts and only applies to the idealised world for which it was constructed. In particularly, when the resource firm realises it can affect its price depending on extraction, shareholders will disagree on the extraction rate. Thus, how to deal with the shareholders' interests and make decisions for resource firms is of central importance. Endogenizing firms' objectives through shareholder voting via majority rule is considered as the solution. This thesis analyzes the behaviour of resources firms in shareholder voting equilibrium when the firms' decisions are taken through shareholder voting. Firstly, theoretical models are formulated for the extraction rate and pollution intensity of resources firms respectively. We show that the share ownership owned by the largest shareholder is an important determinant of extraction rate and pollution intensity. Moreover empirical studies using panel data are conducted to test the hypothesis. We find strong evidence supporting our theoretical implications. As for the extraction rate in resource firms, the results indicate a significant and negative relation between extraction rate and the share owned by the largest shareholder. However, a significantly positive relation is found using oil fields level data. As for the pollution emissions in firms, we find the firm where the largest shareholder holds a larger share will have lower pollution intensity.

It is increasingly being recognised that global natural resource consumption levels exceed planetary limits and that the present trajectory of industrial development is not sustainable. To achieve a more viable existence necessitates a fundamental shift in priorities from the prevailing economic growth-centred, consumer driven philosophy to one that marries aspirations for economic growth with long-term environmental and social considerations. This shift in priorities requires significant contributions and action at the global, national and local levels by the primary 'wheels' of sustainability: government, corporations and civil society. Over the past 100 years, corporations have become the most powerful institution on the planet with both the financial resources and institutional capacity to take the lead role in shaping a sustainable future for humankind. Yet, within and between industry sectors and across geographic locations there has been great diversity in the extent and level of corporate commitment and engagement in societal efforts relating to planetary sustainability. Hence, greater understanding of what drives corporate interest and involvement in ecological sustainability will become increasingly critical to promoting corporate engagement in processes and practices to secure a long-term future for humanity. However, there has been limited explanatory research oriented upon developing an understanding of the processes and factors associated with corporate 'eco-change'. In recognition of this shortcoming in the literature, the present study utilised the case of the non-renewable resource extractive sector of Australia to examine corporate engagement with processes and practices for planetary sustainability. Specifically, it sought to construct and evidence an explanation of the external and internal factors that have promoted and/or retarded corporate engagement with planetary sustainability in the non-renewable resource extractive sector (NRRES) of Australia. Guided by grounded theory methodology, an instrumental case study of the NRRES in Australia was undertaken. The NRRES was chosen as this sector's profile, visibility and activities over the past twenty years have meant it has come under mounting pressure to incorporate the concept and principles of planetary sustainability into its ethos and operations. As such, the sector represents the opportunity to study this phenomenon within a dynamic context of sectoral and corporate responses to evolving societal expectations. The research was undertaken in three phases and the principal research method was in-depth key informant interviews with purposively sampled members of the sector's stakeholder groups. Each NRRES corporation is situated at the centre of a web of interconnected interests or 'stakes' necessitating efforts to balance the various stakeholder interests to maintain the institution's license-to-operate and secure a long-term existence. The thesis constructs an explanation of the societal drivers of NRRES corporate engagement with planetary sustainability, organised as the three categories of government, civil society and the corporate sector. These three groupings of stakeholders have been clustered into the broad category or theme of Activating Engagement, which recognises their collective role as the stimuli for NRRES corporation engagement in processes and practices for planetary sustainability. While the theme of Activating Engagement emphasises the importance and interrelatedness of the roles and actions within and between the three primary wheels of sustainability, of particular note is the evident rise of civil society as a more active societal stakeholder and more salient driver of corporate uptake of social and environmental issues. As the identified external drivers play a critical role in motivating NRRES corporation engagement, it is a corporation's particular characteristics that ultimately determine the extent and level of uptake of strategies to demonstrate corporate social responsibility. The thesis develops an explanation of the internal factors mediating NRRES corporate engagement comprising the factors of leadership, resources, structures, culture and understanding. These factors are conceptualised as the theme of Capacity for Engagement, which identifies their collective importance in a NRRES corporation's preparedness, impetus and capability relating to interest and participation in planetary sustainability. While all of the five factors are seen as essential to meaningful NRRES corporate engagement, the thesis identifies leadership as the most critical factor in Capacity for Engagement. Based on the findings of the research, several explanatory frameworks are developed. These frameworks aid in deepening our understanding of the NRRES corporate engagement process, in particular, the interconnections between the factors impeding and facilitating corporate interest and engagement with processes and practices for planetary sustainability. As such, these frameworks will make a substantial contribution to building our understanding of how the various factors and their components or 'pieces of the puzzle' interact and interrelate with each other to generate corporate engagement. The frameworks are the culmination of the research and, coupled with the more detailed explanations of their constituent factors, enhance our knowledge and understanding of the dynamics of NRRES corporation engagement with planetary sustainability. This enhanced understanding is significant and could be of considerable value in informing and targeting efforts to advance the depth and breadth of NRRES corporation engagement with processes and practices for planetary sustainability. To advance the standing of the study's findings, a series of case studies could be undertaken targeting the investigation of NRRES corporate engagement in other geographic locations and within different industry sectors.

It is increasingly being recognised that global natural resource consumption levels exceed planetary limits and that the present trajectory of industrial development is not sustainable. To achieve a more viable existence necessitates a fundamental shift in priorities from the prevailing economic growth-centred, consumer driven philosophy to one that marries aspirations for economic growth with long-term environmental and social considerations. This shift in priorities requires significant contributions and action at the global, national and local levels by the primary 'wheels' of sustainability: government, corporations and civil society. Over the past 100 years, corporations have become the most powerful institution on the planet with both the financial resources and institutional capacity to take the lead role in shaping a sustainable future for humankind. Yet, within and between industry sectors and across geographic locations there has been great diversity in the extent and level of corporate commitment and engagement in societal efforts relating to planetary sustainability. Hence, greater understanding of what drives corporate interest and involvement in ecological sustainability will become increasingly critical to promoting corporate engagement in processes and practices to secure a long-term future for humanity. However, there has been limited explanatory research oriented upon developing an understanding of the processes and factors associated with corporate 'eco-change'. In recognition of this shortcoming in the literature, the present study utilised the case of the non-renewable resource extractive sector of Australia to examine corporate engagement with processes and practices for planetary sustainability. Specifically, it sought to construct and evidence an explanation of the external and internal factors that have promoted and/or retarded corporate engagement with planetary sustainability in the non-renewable resource extractive sector (NRRES) of Australia. Guided by grounded theory methodology, an instrumental case study of the NRRES in Australia was undertaken. The NRRES was chosen as this sector's profile, visibility and activities over the past twenty years have meant it has come under mounting pressure to incorporate the concept and principles of planetary sustainability into its ethos and operations. As such, the sector represents the opportunity to study this phenomenon within a dynamic context of sectoral and corporate responses to evolving societal expectations. The research was undertaken in three phases and the principal research method was in-depth key informant interviews with purposively sampled members of the sector's stakeholder groups. Each NRRES corporation is situated at the centre of a web of interconnected interests or 'stakes' necessitating efforts to balance the various stakeholder interests to maintain the institution's license-to-operate and secure a long-term existence. The thesis constructs an explanation of the societal drivers of NRRES corporate engagement with planetary sustainability, organised as the three categories of government, civil society and the corporate sector. These three groupings of stakeholders have been clustered into the broad category or theme of Activating Engagement, which recognises their collective role as the stimuli for NRRES corporation engagement in processes and practices for planetary sustainability. While the theme of Activating Engagement emphasises the importance and interrelatedness of the roles and actions within and between the three primary wheels of sustainability, of particular note is the evident rise of civil society as a more active societal stakeholder and more salient driver of corporate uptake of social and environmental issues. As the identified external drivers play a critical role in motivating NRRES corporation engagement, it is a corporation's particular characteristics that ultimately determine the extent and level of uptake of strategies to demonstrate corporate social responsibility. The thesis develops an explanation of the internal factors mediating NRRES corporate engagement comprising the factors of leadership, resources, structures, culture and understanding. These factors are conceptualised as the theme of Capacity for Engagement, which identifies their collective importance in a NRRES corporation's preparedness, impetus and capability relating to interest and participation in planetary sustainability. While all of the five factors are seen as essential to meaningful NRRES corporate engagement, the thesis identifies leadership as the most critical factor in Capacity for Engagement. Based on the findings of the research, several explanatory frameworks are developed. These frameworks aid in deepening our understanding of the NRRES corporate engagement process, in particular, the interconnections between the factors impeding and facilitating corporate interest and engagement with processes and practices for planetary sustainability. As such, these frameworks will make a substantial contribution to building our understanding of how the various factors and their components or 'pieces of the puzzle' interact and interrelate with each other to generate corporate engagement. The frameworks are the culmination of the research and, coupled with the more detailed explanations of their constituent factors, enhance our knowledge and understanding of the dynamics of NRRES corporation engagement with planetary sustainability. This enhanced understanding is significant and could be of considerable value in informing and targeting efforts to advance the depth and breadth of NRRES corporation engagement with processes and practices for planetary sustainability. To advance the standing of the study's findings, a series of case studies could be undertaken targeting the investigation of NRRES corporate engagement in other geographic locations and within different industry sectors.
Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Australian School of Environmental Studies
Full Text

The purpose of this research is to develop methods that reduce energy consumption in a residential building in a hot and humid climate region (Thailand) using efficient architectural building components and renewable energy (solar energy) to produce electricity, domestic hot water, and supplemental cooling by night sky radiation. Improving the architectural building components, including building materials, is an option to reduce energy consumption in a building. Using renewable energy sources is another option to reduce the consumption of non-renewable energy. In residential buildings, solar energy has been utilized for space heating and domestic hot water using active solar collector systems and for generating electricity using photovoltaic (PV) systems. One photovoltaic system, the hybrid photovoltaic-thermal (PV-T) collector system, has been developed by several researchers over the last 20 years. The hybrid photovoltaic-thermal (PV-T) collector system is a combination photovoltaic (for producing electricity) and solar thermal collector (for producing hot water). Theoretical and experimental studies of this collector have highlighted the advantages of the hybrid PV-T collector system over separate systems of PV and solar collector in term of system efficiency and economics. Unfortunately, very little experimental data exists that demonstrates the advantages of a combined system. Therefore, one of the objectives of this study conducted was an experimental study of this system as an auxiliary energy source for a residential building. Night sky radiation has also been studied as a cooling strategy. However, no attempt so far could be found to integrate it to a hybrid PV-T collector system. The night sky radiation strategy could be operated with the hybrid PV/T collector system by using existing resources that are already present in the solar system. The integration of the night sky radiation into the hybrid PV-T collector system should yield more productivity of the system than the operation of the Hybrid PVT system alone. The research methods used in this work included instrumentation of a case-study house in Thailand, an experimental PV-T collector system, and a calibrated building thermal simulation. A typical contemporary Thai residential building was selected as a case-study house. Its energy use and local weather data were measured and analyzed. Published energy use of Thai residential buildings was also analyzed as well to determine average energy consumption. A calibrated computer model of the case-study building was constructed using the DOE-2 program. A field experiment of the thermal PV system was constructed to test its ability to simultaneously produce electricity and hot water in the daytime, and shed heat at night as a cooling strategy (i.e., night sky radiation). The resultant electricity and hot water produced by the hybrid PV-T collector system helped to reduce the use of non-renewable energy. The cooling produced by the night sky radiation also has to potential to reduce the cooling load. The evaluation of the case-study house and results of the field experiment helped to quantify the potential reduction of energy use in Thai residential buildings. This research provided the following benefits: 1) experimental results of a hybrid PV-T solar collector system that demonstrates its performance compared to typical system of separate photovoltaic and solar collector, 2) results of night sky radiation experiments using a photovoltaic panel as a radiator to demonstrate the performance of this new space cooling strategy, and 3) useful data from the case-study house simulation results and guidelines to assist others in transferring the results to other projects.

The general objective has been to empirically analyze how Hotelling’s rule has predicted the crude oil price development over the last 100 years and if the rule can work as a framework to predict future resource prices. Hotelling’s rule has been perceived as both outdated and relevant, during the last decades. A general conclusion from previous research is that resource price-developments are more complex than Hotelling assumed. The analysis has been conducted through tests of variables like interest rates, time spans and extraction costs. The assumption of exponentially increasing resource prices has also been tested. The results obtained show no general support for the Hotelling-rule’s ability to predict future prices. Our results suggest that Hotelling’s rule predicts price paths best when a short time-span is considered. The lack of predictability is due to high volatility in resource prices, something Hotelling’s rule does not account for.
Det övergripande syftet med denna studie har varit att empiriskt analysera hur väl Hotellings-regel har förutspått utvecklingen av oljepriset under de senaste hundra åren och om regeln fungerar som ett bra ramverk för att kunna förutspå framtida resurspriser. Hotellings-regel har uppfattats som både föråldrad samt relevant under de senaste årtiondena. En generell slutsats från tidigare forskning är dock att utvecklingen av icke-förnybara resursers priser är mer komplex än vad Hotelling antog. Analysen har utförts genom tester av olika variabler som räntor, tidsperioder och utvinningskostnader. Antagandet om exponentiellt ökande resurspriser har också testats. De erhållna resultaten ger inget generellt stöd för Hotelling regeln som ett bra ramverk till att förutspå framtida resurspriser. Resultaten tyder dock på att Hotellings-regel förutspår framtida priser bäst när en kortare tidsperiod antas. Modellens avsaknad av förutsägbarhet är sannolikt på grund av volatilitet i resurspriser, något som Hotellings-regel inte tar fullt hänsyn till.

La thèse est consacrée à l'étude de jeux dynamiques dans le domaine climatique. Pour lutter contre l'accumulation de gaz à effet de serre dans l'atmosphère, la mise en place d'une taxe carbone est une solution possible. Toutefois on suppose ici que cette taxe carbone a pour les pays consommateurs d'énergie fossile des motivations qui ne se limitent pas à l'internalisation du dommage environnemental : il s'agit par un comportement stratégique d'essayer de capturer une partie de la rente des producteurs. On aboutit à la possibilité d'une taxe carbone à finalité Pigouvienne mais aussi stratégique. Des jeux dynamiques non coopératifs entre pays producteurs supposés cartellisés et pays consommateurs supposés également cartellisés peuvent être alors être envisagés dans ce contexte. Une littérature de jeux différentiels non coopératifs s'est d'ailleurs développée depuis une vingtaine d'années autour de cette idée d'une taxe carbone à visée stratégique. Dans l'introduction on rappelle le cadre économique de ces jeux, leur cadre analytique (jeux différentiels) et la littérature théorique afférente. On présente trois jeux qui forment le corps de la thèse. Chacun des trois chapitres suivants est consacré à un jeu différentiel original. Le premier jeu est un jeu non coopératif entre un bloc de consommateurs et un bloc de producteurs avec un plafond de pollution comme contrainte environnementale principale. L'existence de ce plafond modifie les conclusions classiques de ce type de jeu. Dans le deuxième jeu il y a également un jeu non coopératif entre un bloc de consommateurs (pays riches) et un bloc de producteurs mais il y a en plus un second bloc de consommateurs (pays pauvres et émergents), qui ne joue pas dans le jeu mais met en place la taxe carbone résultant à chaque instant du jeu en contrepartie d'un transfert de la part du premier bloc de consommateurs. Il apparaît que sous certaines conditions le second bloc a intérêt à ce schéma « taxe carbone contre transfert ». Dans le troisième jeu il y a aussi deux zones de consommation mais elles jouent maintenant un jeu non coopératif entre elles, les producteurs étant passifs. Il y a une taxe carbone par bloc et pas mondiale et pourtant le jeu fait apparaître sous certaines conditions une situation meil1eure pour les blocs de consommation qu'une situation de passivité face aux producteurs. La conclusion d'ensemble de ces trois jeux est que sous certaines conditions les pays consommateurs peuvent avoir intérêt à un comportement stratégique et pas seulement Pigouvien en matière de taxe carbone
The world we are in : dynamic games relative to climate change. In these games the setting up of a carbon tax has Pigouvian grounds (to take into account the damage resulting of the accumulation of Green House Gas in the atmosphere due to the consumption of fossil energy) but it has also other aims that are strategic. For fossil energy consuming countries, indeed, a carbon tax can be a way to "eat" a part of the producing countries' rent. Then the resulting carbon tax has a Pigouvian part but also a strategic part. The literature developed during the last twenty years in this field is all about non cooperative games between an area of cartelized consuming countries and an area of cartelized producing countries. In the introduction, we lay out the economic framework of this type of games, their analytical framework (differential games) and the theoretical literature. Then the three original games that make up the bulk of the present work are introduced. Each of the three following chapters is devoted to one of these three games. The first one is a non-cooperative game between an area of consuming countries and an area of producing countries but with an upper limit of atmospheric carbon concentration as the main environmental constraint. This new type of constraint changes the classical results of this type of game. The second one is also a non-cooperative game between an area of consuming countries (here the old rich countries) and an area of producing countries but there is also another area of consuming countries (poor and emergent countries) that does not play the game while it sets up the tax resulting of the game. The setting up of such a tax in this area is the consequence of a transfer from the other consuming area. The conclusion is that under specific conditions this area (but also the financing area) wins some welfare in this framework versus a passive behavior in front of the producers. In the last game, there are also two consuming areas but now they play a non-cooperative game between themselves, while the producing area is passive. In consequence there is not a worldwide carbon tax but two regional carbon taxes. However, under some specific conditions, this framework is better for the two consuming areas than the passive attitude in front of the producers. The main conclusion of the three games is that in some circumstances the consuming countries can get some extra welfare from a strategic stance when setting up a carbon tax

Sustainable energy sources are urgently required, as traditional non-renewable energy sources are increasing in scarcity and subsequently in cost. Significant innovation and investment is required to incorporate newly developed sustainable energy technologies into the existing energy infrastructure network. This presentation will review how emerging sustainable technologies are interacting with existing energy infrastructure. Specifically it will review the existing electrical grid in Ontario, Canada, and the impact of sustainable technologies such as electric cars and distributed generation. When you are citing the document, use the following link http://essuir.sumdu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/31073

This dissertation provides three models pertaining expropriation and production decisions in the natural resources industries. The first two chapters are intertwined: in these, the government relies on two tools to capture the rents from privately-owned Natural Resources Companies, a corporate income tax and the possibility of expropriating the assets. A real options model is used to assess the effect that progressiveness in taxation has on the political risk of a natural resources project. In the first chapter, we discover that under certain conditions for the underlying commodity: low prices or forward curves in backwardation - the introduction of an equivalent but more progressive tax regime decreases the political risk and the corresponding deadweight loss. However, when initial prices are too high or initial futures curves are in strong contango, the introduction of a progressive tax regime ends up significantly increasing the risks. In the second chapter, producers are able to foresee the risks of expropriation and thus change their behaviour: the results are mixed. As in the previous case, with lower prices and less tendency to expropriate, the scheduling of production allows for gains in the value of the operation for the firms. More progressive tax regimes end up being detrimental to the government, which in some cases can even result in a non-stable equilibrium with the producers and governments trying to outguess each other and end up cycling both the production and the expropriation probability in order to maximise their respective expected value for the operations. This has a detrimental effect for all parties involved. Finally, the third chapter introduces the possibility that a government levies royalties over sales. The development of home-based institutions is going to affect the amount of tax evasion that a government will face and thus determine the appropriate combination of taxes that it must choose. We find that when the host country's tax and technological capacity are too low, a state has no incentives to improve its institutions and becomes trapped in a low tax, low revenue situation: what we call a Royalty Trap. We end up by showing the evolution of tax capture in Chile during the 20th century to illustrate how these concepts might be applied.

L'objet d'intérêt dans cette recherche est dirigé à comprendre le rôle de l’Etat propriétaire dans les économies modernes et le point de partie sera l'étude de l’émergence et l'évolution de la propriété de l'Etat (la propieté etatique) et en particulier celle des ressources naturelles non renouvelables (la propriété des hydrocarbures liquides et gazeux est exclue car sont régies par des dispositions différentes et particulières sur le sujet ), les conflits qui aujourd'hui génère son exploitation, pour être confrontés à l’exercice des autres droits touchant la sensibilité des communautés et identifier différentes critères de solution
The object of interest in this research is directed at understanding the role of the owner state in modern economies and the point of part will be the study of the emergence and evolution of state ownership (The ownership of liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons is excluded because they are governed by different and particular provisions on the subject), the conflicts which today generate its exploitation, in order to be confronted with The exercise of other rights affecting the sensitivity of communities and identify different criteria for resolution

This study investigates decision-making processes in respect to the maturation time and the marketed quantities of single malt whisky in a Swedish distillery start-up. At first, the literature regarding decision-making in both start-ups and larger organisations has been reviewed. It can be concluded that decision-making in start-ups, compared to their established counterparts, is more based on heuristics and continuously exposed to several biases. In the following, a general resource exploitation model is presented in the context of deterministic decision-making and adjusted towards whisky casks as deposits of nonrenewable resources. The consecutive case study is conducted in a Swedish distillery start-up. Findings indicate that the start-up is exposed to a high market dynamic and expert-knowledge is of high importance. In the start-up, these experts make decisions regarding the maturation times and the quantities of the marketed whisky. Nevertheless, the optimal exploitation model can be implemented into daily operations and delivers additional data for decisions. Planning can evolve from a mainly cost-based towards a profit-maximising perspective. However, the quality of the model results are expected to be limited, due to the deterministic nature of the model in a highly dynamic environment. This effect may be even amplified by input parameters, which cannot be precisely determined.Therefore, the industry knowledge of the decision-maker appears to be the most important factor for decision-making processes in this industry.

Orientador: Prof. Dr. Sinclair Mallet Guy Guerra
Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal do ABC, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Energia, 2014.
A perspectiva de que o petróleo pode ser o caminho para levar o Brasil ao patamar de desenvolvimento tão sonhado pelos brasileiros pode estar próxima de acontecer. Sem sombra de dúvida, as novas reservas descobertas já colocam o Brasil em outro patamar no mapa geopolítico do petróleo. A camada pré-sal é uma faixa rochosa que se estende por aproximadamente 800 km entre os estados do Espírito Santo e Santa Catarina, a cerca de 300 km da costa, possui de seis a sete mil metros de profundidade e com petróleo e gás abaixo de la. A grandeza dessa descoberta pode colocar o Brasil no cenário nacional e internacional como grande produtor e possível exportador do óleo. Além disso, permitirá usá-lo como matéria-prima de seus inúmeros derivados e subprodutos. No tocante à renda a ser gerada com sua exploração as expectativas são imensas, mesmo com as constantes variações do preço internacional do petróleo. Considerando este um produto essencial e sem substituto próximo, seus elevados preços, assim como a demanda crescente, seria possível afirmar que países detentores de reservas teriam teoricamente enriquecimento rápido e contínuo. Porém, os fatos históricos têm apontado situações diferentes entre países que possuem reservas e exportam. A indústria brasileira do petróleo é bastante jovem comparada com o resto do mundo, mas nem por isso menos importante e eficiente. Com tantas possibilidades em vista, pesquisadores passaram a buscar respostas e traçar cenários do que poderá acontecer ao Brasil, na hipótese de o país se tornar um grande exportador de petróleo. Nesse sentido, nosso governo levou a pauta a um novo marco regulatório, que visa manter maior proteção do estado em relação ao Pré-Sal, haja vista que, desde os anos 90, quando foi aberto seu capital para o setor privado, a produção nacional ficou em parte no poder de grandes companhias que não têm por objetivo canalizar a renda do petróleo em prol da economia brasileira. Atualmente há muitas pesquisas que visam responder questionamentos advindos do Pré-Sal, como exemplo, quais serão os fatores econômicos determinantes e impactos dos mesmos com a exploração do Pré-Sal na economia brasileira? Em realidade não se coloca esse questionamento como um problema, mas sim a força das questões levantadas. A metodologia utilizada neste trabalho é composta por pesquisa bibliográfica e análise de dados com utilização de modelo dos recursos naturais não renováveis (RNNR) para otimizar variáveis que dão origem aos fatores de impulso para a economia brasileira. Os resultados obtidos apontam um preço estimado próximo do preço internacional do petróleo. Também os investimentos, poupança, capital humano e comércio externo serão fatores de impacto para o crescimento e desenvolvimento sócio-econômico do país.
A perspectiva de que o petróleo pode ser o caminho para levar o Brasil ao patamar de desenvolvimento tão sonhado pelos brasileiros pode estar próxima de acontecer. Sem sombra de dúvida, as novas reservas descobertas já colocam o Brasil em outro patamar no mapa geopolítico do petróleo. A camada pré-sal é uma faixa rochosa que se estende por aproximadamente 800 km entre os estados do Espírito Santo e Santa Catarina, a cerca de 300 km da costa, possui de seis a sete mil metros de profundidade e com petróleo e gás abaixo de la. A grandeza dessa descoberta pode colocar o Brasil no cenário nacional e internacional como grande produtor e possível exportador do óleo. Além disso, permitirá usá-lo como matéria-prima de seus inúmeros derivados e subprodutos. No tocante à renda a ser gerada The prospect that oil may be the way to lead Brazil to the level of development as dreamed by Brazilians can be close to happening. Without a doubt, the new reserves discovered already put Brazil on another level in the geopolitical map of the oil. The pre-salt layer is a rocky track that stretches for about 800 km between the states of Espírito Santo and Santa Catarina and is approximately 300 km from the coast. This layer has six to seven thousand feet deep and below it are oil and gas. The magnitude of this discovery could put Brazil in the national and international scene as a major producer and possible oil exporter. It will also use it as raw material for their derivatives and by-products. Regarding the income that is generated with its exploration expectations are immense, even with the constant changes in international oil prices. Whereas oil is an essential product and no close substitute, their high prices as well as increasing demand, it could be argued that countries holding reserves would theoretically rapid and continuous enrichment. However, the historical facts have shown different situations between countries that have reserves and export. The Brazilian oil industry is quite young compared to the rest of the world, but no less important and efficient. With so many possibilities to view, researchers began to look for answers and plot scenarios of what may happen to Brazil, should the country becoming a major oil exporter. In this sense, the Brazilian government took the agenda for a new regulatory framework, which aims to maintain greater state protection in relation to the pre-salt, given that, since the 90s, when it opened its capital to the private sector, production National was in power in part of large companies which does not aim to channel oil revenues in favor of the Brazilian economy. Currently there are many studies aimed at answering questions from the pre-salt, so they wonder what will be the economic determinants and impacts of these factors with the pre-salt exploration in the Brazilian economy? Actually this question does not arise as a problem, but the force of the issues raised. The methodology used in this study consists of literature search and data analysis with the use of model of exhaustible natural resources (RNNR) to optimize variables that give rise to boost factors for the Brazilian economy. The results show an estimated price near the international price of oil. Like, investments, savings, human capital and foreign trade will impact for growth and economic and social development factors.

This thesis addresses three themes relating to climate change. The first is which types of fossil fuel to leave in the ground when they can differ in both their extraction cost and emissions rate. The analysis shows that without resource constraints there will always be use of at least one fossil fuel in the steady-state. With exhaustion constraints, any fossil fuel that has a lower extraction cost than the marginal cost of the backstop will be extracted in finite time regardless of the emissions rate. The only environmental consideration is the timing of extraction rather than leaving fossil fuel stock in the ground forever. The second theme is how altruistic concern of individuals for the well-being of others influences the socially optimal consumption levels and optimal emissions tax in a global context. If individuals have altruistic concern but believe that their consumption is negligible, they will not change their behaviour. However, non-cooperative governments maximising domestic welfare will internalise some of the damage inflicted on other countries depending on the level of altruistic concern individuals have and the cooperative optimum also changes as altruism leads individuals to effectively experience damage in other countries as well as the direct damage to them. Still, for behaviour to change, individuals need to make their decisions in a different way. The third chapter develops a new theory of moral behaviour whereby individuals balance the cost of not acting in their own self-interest against the hypothetical moral value of adopting a Kantian form of behaviour, asking what would happen if everyone else acted in the same way as they did. If individuals behave this way, then altruism matters and it may induce individuals to cut back their consumption. But nevertheless the optimal environmental tax is exactly the same as the standard Pigovian tax.

The principles which guide non-renewable resource use are based partly on theoretical investigations of the consequences and the merits of use, which are both uncertain. Existing economic approaches to uncertainty do not correctly reflect a decision-maker's position in time. The power to determine future decisions is overstated, and a limited range of objectives can be investigated. These problems are addressed by developing a new approach to choice over long time periods. The approach is recursive: each of a sequence of decision-makers decides on the immediate action to take, given the expected consequences, among which are the future actions. Each decision- maker forecasts how future decisions will be made by forecasting what the future decision-makers' objectives and options will be. The resulting forecast actions are consistent: there is no foreseen reason why they will later need revision. Virtually any sequence of objectives can be investigated with the approach. Applying it to non-renewable resource use over three periods reveals that the optimal initial use: changes if future decision-makers use discount rates different from the first; changes if the future discount rates become uncertain; changes with a change in the time at which future technological improvements become known.

Dramatic changes in U.S. coal prices during the 1970's and 1980's have brought into question the ability of currently available forecasting models to predict non-renewable resource prices. This thesis compares two types of forecasting models used to predict non-renewable resource prices. Each model is assessed based upon theoretical and practical considerations. The models evaluated are a conventional time series model and an optimization model. The thesis finds each model to have inherent advantages and disadvantages within the areas of comparison. The conventional time series model is assessed as relatively simple to develop and easy to use for rough approximations of future prices, but lacking in its reflection of the current body of economic theory on non-renewable resources. The optimization model is evaluated as more thoroughly embracing some of the advances made in the theory, but requiring an extensive commitment of resources for its development.
Master of Arts

A large body of literature finds a negative relationship between natural resource abundance and economic efficiency. With few notable exceptions, this literature does not account for variations in the ownership and control of the resources. Through an analytical interpretation of results from a game-theoretic political economy model, this study examines how economic rents, the opportunity cost of firms, potential cost or market access advantages of the private sector and time preferences of politicians combine to affect a politician’s preferences for ownership and control of a non-renewable resource. I find that the resulting choice of ownership type, public or private, is context-specific and that no generalisations can be made: among other factors politicians will consider the size of the resource, expected price paths, whether the private sector has a cost or market access advantage over the state when making its decision, prices and the degree to which the government holds a non-controlling equity stake in the firm. With respect to the efficiency of public versus private ownership, I find that either model can be efficient and that the result is driven mainly by: (i) the differences in time preferences between politicians, the private sector and the social optimum; and (ii) the degree to which the private sector holds a non-appropriable competitive advantage over the government. The model provides a rich and nuanced interpretation of the incentives governments face in making ownership decisions over non-renewable resources. The results act as a reminder to advisers to take into consideration country specifics when making recommendations to governments about which forms of ownership and control lead to a more efficient outcome. Results are corroborated by observations in empirical literature and the model’s explanatory power is highlighted through a range of country case studies.

Cette thèse propose une approche transdisciplinaire visant à nourrir les débats suscités par la disponibilité à long terme des matières premières minérales. Elle analyse la plausibilité d’une menace de déplétion de certains métaux clés avant la fin du siècle. Le premier chapitre se focalise sur le fonctionnement du secteur minier et traite de l’offre et de la demande des matériaux fossiles à l’échelle mondiale, en s’appuyant sur l’exemple du cuivre. Nos résultats nous permettent de poser des conditions nécessaires à l’établissement d’un plateau d’extraction plutôt qu’un pic, moyennant une stabilisation de la demande totale en cuivre. Le second chapitre place le secteur minier dans l’économie globale et évalue de manière théorique les conséquences à long terme de la dynamique de ce secteur sur la croissance de la production. Nous montrons que, dans la configuration proposée, l’unique équilibre désirable à long terme est stationnaire. Le troisième chapitre explore les implications induites par la rareté des ressources non renouvelables en matière de coopération et de commerce international. Nous montrons que si les pays membres d’une coalition suivent une stratégie de coopération pour leurs choix d’investissement, d’extraction et d’échange de ressources, alors la meilleure manière d’optimiser leur propre consommation tout en se souciant des générations futures serait de former la coalition la plus large. Cette thèse propose une nouvelle manière de réfléchir au commerce international dans un contexte de ressources finies, et montre qu’une coalition mondiale où les richesses naturelles et productives des pays sont mises en commun peut être à l’avantage de tous
This dissertation offers a transdisciplinary modeling approach to feed the debates raised by the long-run availability of mineral materials. It investigates the plausibility of a depletion threat posed to key metal resources within the current century. The first chapter studies the supply and demand of fossil materials at a global scale and further focuses on the functioning of the copper mining sector. Our work provides conditions under which the extraction of copper can be sustained and lead to a plateau instead of a peak, among which the stabilization of the demand for copper and the significant increase in collecting and recycling rates. The second chapter embeds the extracting sector into the whole global economy and evaluates theoretically the consequences of the mining dynamics on the long-run growth of output. We demonstrate that the unique desirable long-run steady state is stationary. The third chapter explores the implications of natural resource scarcity in terms of global trade and international cooperation. We show that if the countries of a coalition follow a long-term cooperation strategy in terms of extraction, investment, and resource trade, then the best way to optimize their own consumption while caring about future generations is to form a global coalition. This dissertation proposes a new way of considering global trade in the setting of an exhaustible resource and demonstrates that a global coalition where natural and productive wealth is commonly shared is to the advantage of all countries

La littérature théorique portant sur le phosphore considère que le marché de la ressource est parfaitement concurrentiel, alors que son fonctionnement montre, en réalité, qu'il en est autrement. En effet, plusieurs interactions stratégiques existent sur ce marché. L'objectif principal de cette thèse est de reconsidérer ce marché dans un cadre de concurrence imparfaite. Il s'agit, particulièrement, d'analyser l'effet du recyclage sur l'extraction d'une ressource épuisable, sur la dynamique du prix de la ressource, sur sa date d'épuisement et sur la réduction de la pollution aquatique. Cette thèse est organisée autour d'une introduction générale et de cinq chapitres théoriques qui s'intéressent tous à l'économie du phosphore ou des ressources épuisables. Le premier considère un modèle à deux périodes où un pays extracteur et un pays recycleur se concurrencent en quantités. Nous supposons que le phosphore extrait et le phosphore recyclé sont des substituts stratégiques. Nous montrons que l'effet du recyclage sur les quantités extraites par le monopole est très sensible au niveau des réserves qui sont détenues par ce dernier. Le deuxième chapitre est une extension en temps continu du premier à horizon infini. Il analyse l'effet du recyclage du phosphore sur l'extraction du monopole et sur la dynamique du prix de la ressource. Nous utilisons un modèle de contrôle optimal et montrons que le prix de la ressource n'augmente toujours pas au fil du temps. Le troisième chapitre considère que l'extraction et le recyclage peuvent être soit des substituts stratégiques, soit des compléments stratégiques. Il considère un modèle à deux périodes et montre que l'effet du recyclage sur la recette marginale de deuxième période du monopole et sur ses quantités extraites dépend de si les quantités extraites et recyclées sont des substituts ou des compléments stratégiques. Le quatrième chapitre montre que le détenteur de la ressource arbitre entre accepter l'entrée du secteur de recyclage et l'empêcher. La dernière stratégie prend deux formes: soit l'extracteur dissuade l'entrée, soit il la bloque. Nous utilisons un modèle à deux périodes et montrons que la stratégie adoptée par le détenteur de la ressource dépend de la taille des coûts fixes du recycleur et du niveau de rareté de la ressource. Le cinquième chapitre s'intéresse aux problèmes d'épuisement du phosphore et de la pollution aquatique. Nous considérons une firme qui extrait et recycle le phosphore. Nous analysons le rôle de la combinaison d'une taxe et d'une subvention. Nous montrons que la combinaison de ces deux instruments permet de réduire la pollution et de prolonger la durée de vie du phosphore
The theoretical literature that deals with phosphorus considers the market of the resource as being perfectly competitive, whereas the reality of this market suggests otherwise. Indeed, several interactions occur in this market. The main aim of this thesis is to rethink this market in an imperfectly framework. More specifically, we analyze the effect of recycling on the extraction of an exhaustible resource, on the dynamic of the resource price, on its date of depletion and on the reduction of water pollution. This thesis consists in a general introduction and five theoretical chapters all dealing with the economics of phosphorus or of exhaustible resources. Chapter 1 considers a two-period model where an extractor and a recycler compete with quantities. We assume that extracted and recycled phosphorus are strategic substitutes. We show that the effect of recycling on the extracted quantities strongly depends on the level of the stock of phosphorus. Chapter 2 extends the previous chapter in a continuous time framework over an infinite horizon. It investigates the effect of phosphorus recycling on the monopolist's extraction and on the dynamic of its price. We postulate an optimal control model and show that the price of the resource does not necessarily increase through time. Chapter 3 considers that extraction and recycling can be either strategic substitutes or strategic complements. In a two-period model, we show that the effect of recycling on the monopolist's second-period marginal revenue and on its extracted quantities depends on whether extracted and recycled products are strategic substitutes or strategic complements. Chapter 4 considers that the extracting sector chooses between accommodating or preventing the recycler's entry. The entry prevention can take two forms: either deterring or blockading. In a two-period model, we show that the strategy of the extractor depends on the level of the fixed costs incurred by the recycler and on whether the resource is scarce or not. Chapter 5 addresses the problems of phosphorus exhaustion and water pollution. We consider one firm that extracts and recycles phosphorus. We investigate the influence of a tax-subsidy scheme. We show that a combination of these two instruments enables to reduce water pollution and to prolong the lifetime of phosphorus

With the development of modern technology the perception of waste is changing. What was once considered unusable and expensive can be now seen as an useful material with potential to increase revenues of the company. As example can serve energetic industry, which was until recently only able to store its waste produced during combustion of coal. Now energetic companies are able to transform their waste into secondary energetic products (by-products) that can be further used in other industries. The main goal of the thesis is to determine whether there is a potential for the development of the secondary energetic products in the Czech Republic.

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro
Petróleo e gás natural são recursos naturais não renováveis que possuem grande participação na matriz energética mundial e tendência de crescimento na matriz nacional, cujo marco regulatório limita-se a definir critérios técnicos e procedimentais sem incorporar o modelo de sustentabilidade instituído pela Constituição Federal de 1988. A natureza finita dos recursos não renováveis, como o petróleo e o gás natural, exige uma visão do planejamento de sua exploração de longo prazo na definição dos objetivos e metas. Essa perspectiva de longo prazo traduz uma das preocupações do desenvolvimento sustentável: a garantia de direitos para as futuras gerações. Assim, ao procurar fornecer elementos para a tradução do modelo de desenvolvimento sustentável no arcabouço institucional e legal da indústria petrolífera vigente no Brasil, o presente trabalho busca contribuir para o aprimoramento da regulação petrolífera nacional e a qualidade de vida das gerações presentes e futuras. E, mais do que propor a elaboração de um projeto de lei, como modalidade de implantação de uma política pública, queremos contribuir para o fortalecimento das práticas e ações governamentais voltadas para a aplicação do desenvolvimento sustentável, consoante apregoa a Constituição Federal brasileira. Trata-se aqui de demonstrar, através de metodologia quali-quantitativa, a tese de que é possível incorporar o princípio constitucional de desenvolvimento sustentável na atividade de exploração e produção de petróleo e gás natural, formulando uma política pública que incorpore, no regime de propriedade do petróleo, a variável ambiental e o uso intergeracional que já haviam sido e continuam sendo aplicados a algumas fontes renováveis de energia. Inicialmente, identificamos a composição da matriz energética brasileira desde a inserção do petróleo como uma questão de Estado a partir dos anos 50 do século XX. Em seguida, analisamos a concepção legal e doutrinária para propor, então, a conceituação de um modelo de desenvolvimento energético sustentável, estruturante para a proposição de uma política nacional para a indústria petrolífera. Com base nessa conceituação, analisamos o marco regulatório e os procedimentos institucionais praticados atualmente para identificar as lacunas existentes no ordenamento a serem supridas pela política nacional proposta. A partir da análise dos contextos legal e institucional, e das políticas energética e ambiental, propomos a tradução de conceitos, objetivos, princípios e instrumentos num projeto de lei de Política Nacional de Uso Sustentável das Reservas de Petróleo e Gás Natural. Concluímos tecendo considerações gerais e específicas sobre a proposição aqui formulada com vistas ao aprimoramento do modelo nacional de gestão de recursos energéticos e ao fomento das discussões voltadas para a sustentabilidade das políticas públicas e as práticas privadas enraizadas na exploração irracional de recursos não renováveis
Petroleum and natural gas are non renewable natural resources that have a great participation in the global energy matrix and growth trend in the national matrix, whose regulatory framework is restricted to technical and procedural criteria without incorporating the model of sustainability established by the Federal Constitution of 1988. The finite nature of non-renewable resources, such as oil and natural gas, requires a vision of planning for their long-term exploration in the definition of goals and objectives. This long-term prospect represents one of the concerns of sustainable development that of guaranteeing the rights of future generations. So, when seeking to provide elements to translate of the model of sustainable development into the institutional and legal framework of the existing oil industry in Brazil it tries to contribute to the improvement of the national petroleum regulation and the quality of life for present and future generations. And more than proposing drawing up a bill, as a means of implementing a public policy, it aims to contribute to the strengthening of governmental actions and practices directed at implementing sustainable development, as proclaimed by the Brazilian Federal Constitution. Here it is a matter of demonstrating, through qualitative and quantitative methodology, the thesis that it is possible to incorporate the constitutional principle of sustainable development into the activity of exploration and production of oil and natural gas, formulating a public policy that incorporates, in the ownership of oil, the environmental variable and intergenerational use which had been and still are applied to some renewable sources of energy. Initially, we identified the composition of the Brazilian energy matrix since the inclusion of oil as a matter of state in the 1950s. Next, we analysed the legal and doctrinary concept and then proposed the concept of a model of sustainable energy development, a structuring element for the proposition of a national policy for the petroleum industry. Based on this concept, we analysed the regulatory framework and institutional procedures currently in force to identify the existing gaps in planning to be filled by the proposed national policy. Based on the analysis of the legal and institutional contexts, and energy and environmental policies, we propose the transformation of concepts, objectives, principles and instruments into a bill of law of National Policy on Sustainable Use of Reserves of Oil and Natural Gas. We conclude with general and specific considerations on the proposition made here with a view to improving the national model of management of energy resources and the fostering of discussions focused on the sustainability of public policies and private practices rooted in the irrational exploration of non-renewable resources.

The integration of dispatchable renewable energies like biomass, geothermal and reservoir hydro technologies into an electrical network present no greater challenge than the integration of conventional power technologies for which are well understood by Eskom engineers. However, renewable energies that are based on resources that fluctuate throughout the day and from season to season, like wind and solar, introduce a number of challenges that Eskom engineers have not dealt with before. It is current practice for Eskom‟s generation to follow the load in order to balance the demand and supply. Through Eskom‟s load dispatching desk at National Control, generator outputs are adjusted on an hourly basis with balancing reserves making up only a small fraction of the total generation. Through the Integrated Resource Plan for Electricity of 2010, the Department of Energy has set some targets towards integrating renewable energy, including wind and solar generation, into the South African electricity market consequently introducing variability on the supply side. With demand that varies continually, maintaining a steady balance between supply and demand is already a challenging task. When the supply also becomes variable and less certain with the introduction of non-dispatchable renewable energy, the task becomes even more challenging. The aim of this research study is to determine whether the resources that previously helped to balance the variability in demand will still be adequate to balance variability in both demand and supply. The study will only concentrate on variable or non-dispatchable renewable energies as will be added to the South African electrical network according to the first two rounds of the Department of Energy‟s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme. This research study only looks into the balancing challenge and does not go into an analysis of voltage stability or network adequacy, both of which warrant in depth analysis.
Thesis (MIng (Development and Management Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

Cette thèse étudie les mécanismes économiques concernant la transition vers des technologies propres et examine les approches politiques pour atteindre le sentier de transition socialement optimale. Elle examine les politiques économiques visant à faire face au changement climatique, telles que l'adaptation et la taxation des ressources non-renouvelables. En outre, elle examine les politiques économiques visant à accroître l'utilisation de technologies efficaces et identifie les cas pour lesquels la politique atteint ses objectifs ou non. Elle analyse également l'impact des inégalités de richesse sur le soutien politique aux taxes environnementales. Le premier chapitre étudie la transition énergétique en utilisant un modèle de croissance optimale dans lequel les ressources non-renouvelables et renouvelables sont des substituts imparfaits. Le deuxième chapitre étudie le rôle de la politique d'adaptation sur la transition vers une économie propre. Il intègre la politique d'adaptation dans le problème de l'extraction optimale des ressources non-renouvelables avec des externalités de pollution, en mettant l'accent sur la politique d'adaptation en étant une variable de stock. Le troisième chapitre se concentre sur le problème de l'adoption des nouvelles technologies dans un cadre micro-économique. Il regarde le comportement des entreprises qui font face à une décision d'investir : soit dans une capacité de production bon marché mais inefficace, soit dans une capacité plus chère mais efficace, lorsqu'on prend en compte la présence d'une contrainte financière. Le quatrième et dernier chapitre examine les effets distributifs d'une taxe sur la pollution en considérant une société dans laquelle la richesse est répartie de manière hétérogène entre les ménages
This dissertation investigates the economic mechanisms underlying the transition to clean technologies and examines policy approaches to achieve the socially optimal path. It studies various policy measures aiming to deal with climate change, such as adaptation and taxation of non-renewable resources. Furthermore, it examines the policy instruments that target increasing the use of efficient technologies and identifies cases in which the policy reaches its objectives or not. It also analyzes the role of heterogeneity in society on agents' willingness to support a pollution tax. The first chapter studies the energy transition by using an optimal growth model in which non-renewable and renewable natural resources are imperfect substitutes in providing energy services necessary for production. The second chapter studies the role of adaptation policy on the transition to a low­ carbon economy. lt incorporates adaptation policy into the problem of optimal non-renewable resource extraction with pollution externalities, by focusing on the capital nature of adaptation measures. The third chapter focuses on the problem of adopting new technologies in a micro-economic framework. lt studies the behavior of firms when they face a decision to invest either in a cheap but inefficient production capacity or in an expensive but efficient one, by taking into account the presence of a financial constraint. The fourth and last chapter investigates the distributional impacts of a pollution tax by considering a society in which wealth is distributed heterogeneously among households

Governments across the globe are experiencing enormous budget deficits. The governments of South Africa and Australia felt that taxes on mining have not been reflecting a ‘willing buyer-willing seller’ relationship. This in essence means that mining companies in these two countries were not paying an arm’s length value to governments for extracting the resources. In Australia the authorities introduced the Resources Super Profits Tax to be charged at 40% of assessable profits. Mining companies still have to assess how to deal with this new tax when it is enacted on 1 July 2012. However, a change advantageous for the companies is the reduction in the corporate tax rate from 30% to 28% by the 2014/15 tax year. This Resources Super Profits Tax will also be deductible from the calculation of taxable income. South Africa enacted the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Royalty Acton 1 March 2010. Mining companies would now pay royalties based on a charging formula specifically for refined and unrefined minerals. The minimum royalty charging formula is 0.5% of gross sales regardless of whether the mining company incurs losses. This royalty charging formula is capped at 5% for refined minerals and 7% for unrefined minerals. However, any existing arrangement between mining companies and land owners for special royalties payable is not replaced by the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Royalty Act. A mining company such as Kumba Resources Limited never paid royalties in 2009, but were paying royalties in 2010 at 5.61% of accounting earnings before interest and taxes and 5.51% in 2011. Despite the additional royalties mining companies still invest in South Africa. The main drive for investment is managing risks and investing in projects that yield positive net present values. Typical risks to be managed are taxation laws, political uncertainty and social issues. These risks should be kept under control as the likelihood of mining companies walking away from investments is high when these risks spiral out of control. AFRIKAANS : Regerings dwarsoor die wêreld ondervind wesenlike begrotingstekorte. Die regerings van Suid Afrika en Australië glo dat die belasting op mynbou-maatskappye nie die ‘gewillige koper-gewillige verkoper’ verhouding weerspieël nie. In beginsel beteken dit dat die mynbou-maatskappye in die twee lande nie armlengte-waarde betaal aan regerings vir die ontginning van minerale nie. In Australië het owerhede die Minerale Super Winste Belasting gepromulgeer wat 40% heffings van berekende winste vereis. Mynbou-maatskappye is steeds in die donker oor hoe om hierdie nuwe belasting te hanteer wanneer dit op 1 Julie 2012 in werking tree.Die verlaging van die korporatiewe belastingkoers van 30% na 28% oor ’n tydperk tot en met die 2014/15 belastingjaaris egter ’n verandering wat voordelig is vir die maatskappye. Hierdie Minerale Super Winste Belasting sal ook van belasbare inkomste van mynbou-maatskappye aftrekbaar wees. Suid Afrika het die Minerale en Petroleum Reserwes Tantieme Wet op 1 Maart 2010 gepromulgeer. Mynbou-maatskappye sal in die vervolg tantieme betaal wat gebaseer word op ’n heffingsformule spesifiek ontwerp vir verwerkte en onverwerkte minerale. Die minimum tantieme heffingsformule is 0.5% van bruto verkope ongeag of die mynbou-maatskappy verliese ly. Hierdie tantieme heffingsformule word wel beperk tot 5% vir verwerkte minerale en 7% vir onverwerkte minerale. Enige huidige ooreenkoms met grondeienaars vir die betaling van spesiale tantieme word ongelukkig nie oorskryf deur die Minerale en Petroleum Reserwes Tantieme Wet nie. ’n Mynbou-maatskappy soos Kumba Resources Beperk het geen tantieme in 2009 betaal nie. In 2010 was Kumba Resources Beperk se tantieme 5.61% van rekeningkundige wins voor rente en belasting en in 2011 was dit 5.51%. Ondanks hierdie addisionele tantieme belê mynbou-maatskappye steeds in Suid Afrika. Die hoof-dryfveer vir beleggings is die bestuur van risiko en belegging in projekte wat positiewe netto huidige waardes lewer. Tipiese risiko’s wat bestuur moet word, is belastingwette, politieke onsekerheid en sosiale kwessies. Hierdie risiko’s moet te alle tye onder beheer gehou word omrede mynbou- maatskappye heel waarskynlik van beleggings kan onttrek indien die risiko’s buite beheer raak. Copyright
Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2013.
Taxation
unrestricted

碩士
東吳大學
微生物學系
100
Purple non-sulfur bacteria are a group of extraordinary metabolic diverse bacteria, therefore may widely exist in the environment. The study the diversity of freshwater environment of the purple non-sulfur bacteria have been many reported, however, the diversity of the hemophilic purple non-sulfur bacteria are less studied. So this study target separation of pure strains of purple non-sulfur bacteria in different environments of Taiwan western coast, and the use of molecular biological methods for classification, differences strains caused by different environmental , isolated producing hydrogen and Polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) capacity assessment. Experimental screening out 34 purple non-sulfur bacteria, of which three for halotolerant of purple non-sulfur bacteria, others were all the halophilic of purple non-sulfur bacteria. These bacteria using 16S rDNA sequences sequencing, they were all Rhodovulum sulfidphilum. Strain differences in colony size and bacteria liquid on the color rendering. Use 16S-23S ITS RFLP, 16S rDNA sequence similarity and relationship between phylogenetic tree, 16S-23S ITS (ribosomal intergenic spacer;ITS) sequence similarity and genetic relationship between trees and multi locus sequence typing (the Multiocus sequence type) trying to categorize strains do,but it can do no further grouping. Hydrogen parts, first detected using PCR method screening while nifD and nifH gene of strains, and gas production test, found under the strains of malic acid as carbon sources capable of producing gas. For gas analysis, recognizing the hydrogen gas generated, then selection two strains one was hydrogen yield the highest R. sulfidphilum SSa7, another was gas yield the higher then others R. sulfidphilum SSa3. Maximize hydrogen production efficiency of 6.31ml/h/L and 2.72/ml/h/L, respectively. PHB production parts, strain detected phaC gene using PCR method and then quantitative PHB. Isolated PHB yield were 6~15 (mg/g fresh wet) with a known PHB production ability of Alcaligenes latus 61.60 (mg/g fresh wet) comparative ability is poor. Wastewater section, since waste water usually family livelihood is a fresh water environment. Using halotolerant strains R. sulfidphilum SSa7 to test whether reduce the total organic carbon and to produce hydrogen and producing PHB. It could reduce total organic carbon and produced PHB without hydrogen in wastewater. The future can expect R. Sulfidphilum whole genome sequencing, we are convenient to classification this strain. PHB production and hydrogen-producing part trying to find the most suitable conditions to increase the yield. Strains are using in food or a leather factory, to test if it is capable of producing hydrogen and producing PHB.

There are different views about the availability of non-renewable resources in the long run. Hotelling’s (1931) seminal model of exhaustible resources greatly influenced subsequent studies. Hotelling’s and related fixed-stock models imply decreasing availability and increasing real prices of non-renewable resources in the long run. However, most of the empirical evidence does not support the prediction of higher real price trends. Hotelling’s model has been criticised for ignoring certain factors relevant to the discovery and innovation-driven creation of additional non-renewable reserves. Contrary to Hotelling’s fixed-stock assumption, this may expand the total stock of non-renewable resources available for profitable extraction. The main research objective of this study is to address this problem by identifying a broader range of factors to be used when constructing models of the availability of non-renewable resources. This was done by means of an extensive literature survey of both historic and more contemporary thought in this regard. This study shows the evolution of thinking and reasons behind the diversity of views on the availability of non-renewable resources. Thirty core facts were identified and a broad research framework formulated, including policies and methods to mitigate resource depletion and ensure availability both at national and global levels. A key finding is that improvements in various productivity-enhancing technologies have, thus far, delayed the onset of decreased availability and higher real price trends implied by Hotelling’s and other fixed-stock models.
Economics
M. Com. (Economics)

The theoretical part of the diploma thesis describes a general summary of information about individual power plants that are part of the South Bohemian region. For completeness, the work is complemented by missing representatives not included in the South Bohemian region, power plants from other parts of the Czech Republic. The next part of the work is dedicated to specific representatives, their description and closer presentation, which are connected to the context of the original theoretical part. The following part of the work deals with the comparison of specific data and together with the theoretical part the work is also suitable for teaching and consolidating the knowledge of the Czech energy sector. In the last part of the work you can find a list of possible excursions to several South Bohemian power plants. These excursions can be used as part of school trips at all levels of education.

Nowadays environmental problems, climate changes, limited fossil resources and their price fluctuation, associated with industrial activity (often ecologically unsound) are the strong driving forces for governments, companies and scientists to find alternatives to the fossil-based materials. In this scenario 2,5- furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA), a renewable platform chemical has emerged as the most promising substitute to terephtalic acid for the synthesis of several materials, particularly polyesters, which possess similar thermal and mechanical proprieties. These materials could be applied to current applications and, could even be applied in new, innovative and high value applications. In this context, the development of sustainable FDCA-based polymers and materials is timely and quite relevant. Precisely, the main objective of this thesis is the development of more sustainable polymers and composites based on FDCA and a wide panoply of aliphatic compounds selected for their renewable origin (PART B) and/or the improved thermal and mechanical properties they can impart the ensuing materials. Furthermore, the potential of a new FDCA-based ester monomer as plasticiser for partial replacement of the non-renewable di(2- ethylhexyl) terephthalate on PVC formulations was also evaluated (PART C). In the first study, a partially renewable polyester based on FDCA and 1,4- cyclohexanediol, namely poly(1,4-cyclohexylene 2,5-furandicarboxylate) (PCdF) was prepared aiming at preparing a new material with enhanced thermal properties. Its synthesis was performed by two distinct approaches, namely via solution polycondensation and bulk polytransesterification. For comparative purposes, poly(1,4-cyclohexanedimethylene 2,5-furandicarboxylate) (PCF) homopolyester was also synthesised, due to their related structural resemblance. Homopolyesters with different molecular weights (Mn and Ð values ranging between 4 300-14 100 g/mol and 1.2-1.7, respectively) were obtained, depending on the synthesis approach and catalyst used. The resulting materials revealed to possess semi-crystalline character with high glass transition temperatures (Tg values of 175 and 105 ºC for PCdF and PCF, respectively), and thermal stablility up to 377 ºC. It was also found that, the absence of the methylene group on PCdF homopolyester, lead to a more rigid polymer chain backbone, and accordingly to a highest Tg. Other studies, focused on the development of copolyesters enterelly based on renewable-based monomers, namely those based on FDCA, 1,4-butanediol and poly(propylene oxide) or diglycolic acid were performed. In a second study, several poly(1,4-butylene 2,5-furandicarboxylate)-copoly( poly(propylene oxide) 2,5-furandicarboxylate) (PBF-co-PPOF) poly(esterether) s copolymers were synthesised using dimethyl 2,5-furandicarboxylate and different molar ratios of 1,4-butanediol and poly(propylene oxide). The ensuing copolyesters presented either semi-crystalline character when using higher PBF feed amounts, or completely amorphous viscous liquid was obtained instead when using a PBF/PPOF ratio equal to 1 . Moreover, these materials presented high thermal stability (maximum degradation temperatures between 340-365 ºC), and low Tgs (values ranging from -42.3 to -32.6 ºC), facilitating their processability at lower temperatures. Further, in a third stud, comprised the preparation of a series of FDCA-based nanocomposites were prepared using poly(1,4-butylene 2,5-furandicarboxylate)- co-poly(1,4-butylene diglycolate) (PBF-co-PBDG) copolyesters and acetylated bacterial cellulose (Ac-BC). In a first step, PBF-co-PBDG (co)polyesters were synthesised; followed, in a second step, by the preparation of nanocomposites films obtained by solvent-casting approach. Interestingly, for higher incorporation of BDG moieties, these reinforced materials showed an increased stiffness (Young’s modulus up to 1239 MPa) and reasonable elasticity (elongation at break values between 0.6 to 25.0 %) compared to their neat (co)polyester counterparts. Furthermore, similar values of oxygen permeability of nanocomposites and (co)polyesters were observed, expanding the exploitation of these materials for packaging applications. Finnaly, a fourth study, addressed the possibility of using a furanic ester as an additive for poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC). A combination of di(2-ethylhexyl) 2,5- furandicarboxylate (DEHF) and di(2-ethylhexyl) terephthalate (DEHT) plasticisers was performed into an attempt to increase the ‘green content’ of PVC formulations. These materials have shown to possess higher compatibility with the PVC matrix compared with DEHF as single plasticizer, confirmed by FTIR spectroscopy. Furthermore, they displayed thermal features comparable to those prepared with DEHT as single plasticizer (Tg’s between 19.2 to 23.8 ºC), and increased elongation at break (up to 330%). Moreover, migration tests revealed very low weight loss percentages, not exceeding ca. 0.3 and 0.2%, for water and PBS solution, respectively. More important, preliminary results of in vitro cell viability tests (concentrations up to 500 μM for a maximum of 72 h) revealed a non-toxic profile (around 100 %) for both DEHF and DEHT plasticisers. All FDCA-based materials and chemicals prepared under the scope of this dissertation are an important contribute for the increasing demand for new renewable-based products, within a sustainable approach. Further, these materials and chemicals, presented similar or improved properties to those prepared from petroleum-based resources.
Nos dias de hoje, os problemas ambientais, as mudanças climáticas, os recursos fósseis limitados e sua flutuação de preço, associados à atividade industrial (muitas vezes muito pouco ecológicas) são as forças motrizes para governos, empresas e cientistas encontrarem alternativas para os materiais preparados a partir de recursos fosséis. Neste cenário, o ácido 2,5- furandicarboxílico (FDCA), em produto químico de origem renovável, surgiu como o substituto mais promissor do ácido tereftálico na síntese de diversos materiais, particularmente poliésteres, que possuem propriedades térmicas e mecânicas semelhantes. Estes materiais podem ser utilizados nas aplicações existentes, e em outras novas aplicações, inovadoras e de alto valor. Neste contexto, o desenvolvimento de polímeros e materiais sustentáveis a partir dos furanos é oportuno e bastante relevante. Precisamente, esta tese tem como principal objetivo o desenvolvimento polímeros e materiais compósitos mais sustentáveis a partir do FDCA e uma panóplia de compostos alifáticos selecionados pela sua origem renovável. Posteriormente, foi ainda avaliado o potencial de um novo monómero éster preparado a partir do FDCA como plastificante para a substituição parcial do não renovável tereftalato de di(2- etilhexilo) em formulações de cloreto de polivínilo (PVC). No primeiro estudo, foi preparado um poliéster parcialmente renovável a partir do FDCA e do 1,4-ciclohexanodiol, nomeadamente o poli(2,5- furanodicarboxilato de 1,4-ciclohexileno) (PCdF) com o objectivo de se obter um novo material com propriedades térmicas melhoradas. A sua síntese foi efetuada a partir de duas abordagens distintas, nomeadamente via policondensação em solução e politransesterificação em estado sólido. Por motivos comparativos, foi ainda sintetizado o homopolímero poli(2,5- furandicarboxilato de 1,4-ciclohexanodimetileno) (PCF), devido à semelhança estrutural entre ambos. Homopolímeros com pesos moleculares diferentes foram obtidos de acordo com a abordagem de síntese e catalisadores utilizados (valores de Mn e Ð variando entre 4 300-14 100 g/mol e 1.2-1.7, respetivamente). Os materiais resultantes revelaram possuir carácter semi-cristalino com elevadas temperaturas de transição vítrea (valores de Tg de 175 e 105 ºC, para o PCdF e PCF, respetivamente) e estabilidade térmica até aos 377 ºC. Verificouse ainda que, a ausência do grupo metileno no homopolímero PCdF, deu origem a um material com estrutura de cadeia polimérica mais rígida, e consequentemente um valor de Tg mais elevado. Num segundo estudo, vários copolímeros do poli(2,5-furanodicarboxilato de 1,4- butileno)-co-poli(2,5-furanodicarboxilato de poli(óxido de propileno)) (PBF-co- PPOF) poli(éster-éter)s foram sintetizados a partir do 2,5-furanodicarboxilato de dimetilo e diferentes rácios molares do 1,4-butanodiol e do poli(óxido de propileno. Os copolímeros resultantes apresentaram caráter semi-cristalino quando quantidades superiores de PBF foram usadas, líquidos viscosos completamente amorfos quando o rácio PBF/PPOF usado foi igual a 1. Mais ainda, estes materiais apresentaram elevada estabilidade térmica (temperaturas de degradação máxima entre 340-365 ºC, e baixas Tg´s (valores a variar entre os - 42.3 a -32.6 ºC), facilitando desta forma o seu processamento a mais baixas temperaturas. Adicionalmente, num terceiro estudo, abrangendo a preparação de uma série de nanocompósitos à base de FDCA, preparados usando os copolímeros poli(2,5-furanodicarboxilato de 1,4-butileno)-co-poli(diglicolato de 1,4-butileno) (PBF-co-PBGD e celulose bacteriana acetilada (Ac-BC). Numa primeira etapa, os copolímeros foram sintetizados; seguida da preparação de filmes de nanocompósitos, obtidos através da abordagem de evaporação de solvente. Curiosamente, para uma maior incorporação de unidades de BDG, estes materiais reforçados demonstraram um aumento de rigidez (módulo de Young até 1239 MPa) e elasticidade aceitável (valores alongamento até à ruptura entre 0.6 até 25.0 %) quando comparados com os seus (co)polímeros homólogos puros. Além disso, foram observados valores similares para as permeabilidade ao oxigénio dos nanocompósitos e (co)polímeros, expandindo a exploração destes materiais para aplicações como embalagens. Finalmente, um quarto estudo, abordou a possibilidade de usar um éster furânico como aditivo para formulações de poli(cloreto de vinilo) (PVC) (Capítulo VI). A combinação dos plastificantes 2,5-furanodicarboxilato de di(2-etilhexilo) (DEHF) com o tereftalato de di(2-etilhexilo) (DEHT) foi efetuada de forma a aumentar o ‘conteúdo verde’ das formulações de PVC. Estes materiais demostraram possuir maior compatibilidade com a matriz do PVC comparativamente com os preparados apenas com o DEHF. Mais ainda, apresentaram características térmicas comparáveis aos preparados apenas com o DEHT (Tg’s entre 19.2 e 23.8 ºC) e um aumento do alongamento até à rutura (até 330%). Além disso, os testes de migração revelaram muito baixas percentagens de perda de massa, não excedendo os 0.3% e os 0.2%, respetivamente, para a água e para a solução PBS. Mais importante, resultados preliminares em testes de viabilidade celular in vitro (concentrações até 500 μM e máximo de 72 h) revelaram um perfil não-tóxico para ambos os plastificantes, DEHF e DEHT. Todos os materiais e químicos preparados a partir do FDCA dentro do âmbito desta dissertação são uma importante contribuição para a crescente procura por novos materiais de origem renovável, dentro de uma abordagem sustentável. Mais, estes materiais e químicos apresentaaram propriedades semelhantes ou melhoradas às dos preparados a partir de recursos petrolíferos.
Programa Doutoral em Química Sustentável

Currently the gold mining industry is taxed differently to other industries. It is taxed on a two-tier system. The nature of the gold mining tax formula encourages the mining of marginal gold ores. Firms that are involved in the mining of gold are subjected to a "tax tunnel", which is a tax free revenue portion. This is against the equity principle of taxation because it separates companies on the basis of what they produce and not on the basis of income generated. The South African government is in the process of implementing a revenue-based royalty system. The majority of firms in the gold mining industry feel that for the benefit of economic growth the government must consider implementing a profit-based royalty system. This study analyses the gold mining tax formula in comparison to the flat rate tax. It also analyses the reasons for the differential treatment of the gold mining industry.
Economics
M.Comm.

This thesis focuses on legislation governing the use and protection of natural resources. In each chapter this thesis undertakes a comparison of Czech and Slovak legislation which governs the use and protection of natural resources. This thesis is divided into five main chapters. The first chapter contains a general introduction of the role of natural resources in the society. The next chapter is focused on the regulation of the use and protection of natural resources through legislation, including international, EU law and national law. The third chapter deals with non renewables with an accent on the use and protection of mineral resources. Part of the third chapter is also focused on the use and protection of soil and water. The fourth chapter discusses renewables and specifically deals with the use and protection of flora, forests, fauna and renewable sources of energy. The final chapter contains a short excursion into the field of legal regulation of France.The use and protection of natural resources also has significance beyond national borders, so it is necessary to regulate the matter through instruments of international law and EU law. The basic framework for the use and protection of natural resources is determined by the constitutional order which lays down basic rights and duties generally...

Three essays in this dissertation revolve around the area of energy and environmental economics, with particular focus on the impact of macroeconomic variables on carbon emissions in the South and Southeast Asian economies. Essay 1 examines the effects of deforestation, economic growth, and urbanization on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions levels in the South and Southeast Asian (SSEA) regions for the 1990–2014 periods. Our results suggest that deforestation and urbanization can aggravate environmental pollution in these regions and can further affect sustainable development in the long run. Moreover, the most appropriate and cost-effective method to minimize CO2 emissions is found to be through the improvement of forest activities. Essay 2 estimates the effect of ICT, trade, economic growth, financial development, and energy consumption on carbon emissions within the South and Southeast Asian regions for the period of 1990-2014. Cluster analysis was used to identify two groups (potential and advanced countries, based on their social development score). Results revealed that the use of financial development and ICT deteriorated the environment quality in the SSEA region. The increasing use of standby mode and Wi-Fi assistive devices require the rapid implementation of legislation regulating these technologies to make them more efficient. Essay 3 examines the role of economic growth, renewable energy consumption, non-renewable energy, and natural resources in carbon emissions over the period of 1990-2014. The outcomes show that nonrenewable and renewable energy consumption increase economic activities. Furthermore, natural resources impede the economic growth in the SSEA regions. Additionally, the results demonstrated that nonrenewable energy and economic growth increase CO2 emissions, whereas renewable energy consumption lessens the carbon emissions. However, natural resources also contributed to CO2 emissions in the case of South Asian and full countries panels while improving the environmental quality in the Southeast Asian region. Findings suggest that the better use of natural resources, governments’ special attention to education and curbin gun lawful activities improve the economic growth in the selected studied areas.
Esta tese é composta por três ensaios enquadrados na área da Economia da Energia e do Ambiente, com foco particular no impacto das variáveis macroeconómicas nas emissões de dióxido de carbono (CO2) nas economias do Sul e do Sudeste Asiático (SSEA). O ensaio 1 estuda os efeitos da desflorestação, crescimento económico e urbanização nos níveis de emissões de CO2 nas regiões do SSEA no período 1990–2014. Os resultados sugerem que a desflorestação e a urbanização podem agravar a poluição ambiental nessas regiões e afetar ainda mais o desenvolvimento sustentável a longo prazo. Além disso, o método mais adequado e eficiente para minimizar as emissões de CO2 é o aprimoramento das atividades florestais. O ensaio 2 estima o efeito das Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação (TIC), do comércio, do crescimento económico, do desenvolvimento financeiro e do consumo de energia nas emissões de carbono nas regiões SSEA para o período de 1990 a 2014. A Análise de Clusters foi usada para identificar dois grupos (países potenciais e países avançados, com base no seu nível de desenvolvimento social). Os resultados revelam que o uso do desenvolvimento financeiro e das TIC deteriora a qualidade do ambiente na região do SSEA. Pelo uso crescente do “standby mode” e dos dispositivos auxiliares de Wi-Fi, recomenda-se a rápida implementação da legislação que regule essas tecnologias para torná-las mais eficientes. O ensaio 3 examina o papel do crescimento económico, consumo de energia renovável, energia não renovável e recursos naturais nas emissões de dióxido de carbono no período de 1990 a 2014. Os resultados mostram que o consumo de energia não renovável e renovável impulsiona as atividades económicas. Além disso, os recursos naturais impedem o crescimento económico nas regiões da SSEA. Mas por outro lado, os resultados demonstram que o crescimento económico e a energia não renovável aumentam as emissões de CO2, enquanto o consumo de energia renovável diminui as emissões de carbono. No entanto, os recursos naturais também contribuem para as emissões de CO2 no caso dos painéis do sul da Ásia e do painel completo, além de melhorar a qualidade ambiental na região do sudeste asiático. Os resultados sugerem que um melhor uso dos recursos naturais, a atenção especial do governo à educação e a redução de atividades ilegais melhoram o crescimento económico nas áreas estudadas.
III Quadro Comunitário de Apoio
Programa Doutoral em Ciências Económicas e Empresariais

South Africa‟s current energy sector places undue reliance on fossil fuels to fulfil the country‟s energy requirements. The use of these non-renewable energy resources are unsustainable, as millions of tonnes of harmful emissions are released and estimates are made that these resources will be depleted within the next 100 years. Therefore the country has to source alternative energy resources. Renewable energy resources (for example solar energy) are considered to release little or no harmful by-products and have an infinite supply. Therefore the South African government has to promote the use of renewable energy as part of its commitments to address climate change and to ensure sustainable energy resources. Some of the most popular regulatory tools that a state uses to control human behaviour, is through command-and-control instruments and fiscal instruments. The latter promotes behavioural changes by rewarding desired behaviour which ultimately advances the user‟s own best interest. Because of the nature of renewable energy governance, energy users can not be forced or compelled through commandand- control instruments to use renewable energy. They should rather be encouraged or persuaded to use this form of energy through market-based instruments. This is also the central hypothesis of this dissertation. The purpose of this study is to determine the extent to which the South African legal regime makes provision to promote the use of renewable energy resources through fiscal instruments. Therefore the various energy-related white papers, policy papers and legislation will be analysed. This study found that South Africa‟s legal regime only partly makes provision to promote the use of renewable energy resources through fiscal instruments. The policy part of the legal regime is fairly well developed, but the statutory regime lacks detail and in its current form, environmental/energyrelated legislation does not fully correspond with the lofty objectives of the policy framework.
LLM (Environmental Law and Governance), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

This thesis is comprised of three independent but thematically related papers. All three papers focus on how macro (economic and non-economic) uncertainties affect the financial dynamics of renewable and non-renewable resource companies from across the world. ||||| The first paper focuses on how macro uncertainties induce overinvestment across resource companies across 32 countries in the G20 area. Three analyses are conducted. The first analysis examines the pattern of overinvestment and finds that internal firm factors significantly determine firms' investment behaviour. Firms in the forestry and paper sector are found to overinvest during the sample period, while alternative energy firms tend to underinvest. Further testing also shows significant different firm investments before and after the 2007/8 financial crisis, confirming that a structural break happened during the crisis. This is particularly true for non-renewable firms. Macro uncertainties are found to be significant in explaining firm investment behaviour and inducing overinvestment of the sample firms. Lastly, the first paper finds that overinvesting has a positive influence on firms' future performance. ||||| The second paper focuses on how macro uncertainties influence financing behaviour of resource companies in 75 countries across the world. The analysis conducts testing of three prominent capital structure theories: (1) Static Trade-Off; (2) Pecking Order; and (3) Market Timing. The overall results show that there is no single theory prevails, although the pecking order and market timing theories have certain explanatory power on sample firms' financing behaviour. There are four analyses conducted. The first analysis tests the static trade-off theory and finds this theory cannot explain the sample firms' financing behaviour. The second analysis implements the leverage target adjustment framework and finds the pecking order as the leading theory. The third analysis finds a downward cyclical trend of the pecking order coefficients, with the lowest point being around the 2007/8 global financial crisis. The downward pattern of the pecking order coefficients shows that the pecking order theory holds strong only during the early period of the sample. The second paper's last analysis tests the market timing theory and finds that the theory holds strong, as indicated by the significance of macro condition (uncertainties) variables in determining sample firms' capital structure, although the main proxies of the cost of debt are not statistically significant. ||||| The third paper focuses on how macro uncertainties influence conditional capital shortfall across resource companies in 61 countries across the world. The paper examines the dynamics of capital surplus and shortfall of sample firms' conditional on an extreme economic event strike. Two extreme events are considered: (1) stock market crash; and (2) commodity price crash. The systemic risk (SRISK) index from Brownlees and Engle (2017) is adopted and modified for this purpose. The results show both events share a resemblance in influencing firm capital surplus and shortfall. The patterns also show that sample firms tend to have a capital shortfall trend before 2000, which turned to capital surplus trends. This change of pattern is owing to the commodity boom and careful capital structure adopted by the firms. This finding is particularly true for resource firms from developed countries, which dominate the sample in this study. Furthermore, the analysis also shows the vital role of commodity price, geopolitical and economic policy uncertainties in inducing capital shortfall. These uncertainties also significantly increase firms' failure probability. Lastly, the results show that the potential capital shortfall has a significantly positive relationship with market performance, indicating a high-risk high-return trade-off in the resource sector.

M.Phil. (Mineral Economics)
This work is an attempt to discover whether or not South Africa's gold reserves have been properly exploited - has the wealth that has been removed been used to the best advantage. It became apparent to the author whilst conducting feasibility studies on both projected and operating mines that scant attention is paid to the determination of an optimal time path of depletion for a mineral deposit by the planners. The main, if not sole, criterion is the maximising of returns on the capital invested. The thesis proposes a methodology to describe the actual depletion paths achieved by a selection of South African gold mines. The work of mineral economists, especially Harold Hotelling, is used to provide a theoretical base for the. proposals. The mines were selected to cover as wide a range of the exploitation cycle as possible from the planning stage to final abandonment.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Engineering. March 2019
Depleting fossil fuels and the increasing energy demand has necessitated the move to alternative renewable forms of energy. Lignocellulosic biomass is a renewable and sustainable source for highly valuable bio-based chemicals and material production in a biorefinery system. The effective fractionation of the main components of lignocellulosic biomass (cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin) into usable forms is a crucial step in unlocking an economically viable, high-value product producing biorefinery. The main concern associated with the conversion of lignocellulose is overcoming biomass recalcitrance using pretreatment while still maintaining a green, cost-effective and energy efficient process. Over the last decade, molten hydrate salts have been used for isolated cellulose dissolution, however very few studies have been done to check their ability in lignocellulosic biomass pretreatment. The aim of the study was to compare seven molten hydrate salt solvent systems including unary, binary and ternary mixtures of ZnCl2.4H2O, LiClO4.3H2O and Urea for the effective pretreatment of corncob in terms of physicochemical properties and pretreatment efficiencies and to optimise these efficiencies. The molten salt hydrate pretreatment systems used in this study are aimed at fractionating the corn cobs biomass into a solid fraction which mostly contains cellulose and lignin as the major components, while the liquid fraction contains hemicellulose as the main component. The pretreatment experiments were carried out at 70 for 60 minutes at a biomass: solvent ratio of 1:10. Physicochemical change after pretreatment was checked by FTIR, XRD and SEM. The most efficient solvent mixture was identified by gravimetric analysis for its ability to fractionate the biomass into a cellulose and lignin rich solid fraction and a hemicelluloserich liquid fraction. The effect of solvent pretreatment operating variables (temperature, time and solvent concentration) was investigated to maximize cellulose recovery, hemicellulose recovery in the liquid fraction and lignin recovery from the biomass by response surface methodology (RSM) approach using a central composite design (CCD). Physicochemical analysis showed a decrease in crystallinity and an increase in surface area after the pretreatment in all the MHS solvents tested. This work has successfully shown the use of ZnCl2.4H2O/ Urea, to pre-treat and fractionate corn cob with high recovery of cellulose (100%), low recovery of hemicellulose (42%) and lignin (44%) when compared to the other proposed systems. Through the RSM approach, optimum pretreatment conditions obtained Abstract were: 90 min, 120 oC and concentration of 71.32%/28.68 (w/w) ZnCl2.4H2O/ Urea. At these conditions, the predicted recovery for cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin 99.03%, 27.18% and 72.43% respectively with a desirability of 0.902. The actual recovery was 91%, 29% and 68% for cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin respectively at the same conditions. For a better understanding of the dissolution kinetics and thermodynamics of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin dissolution in ZnCl2.4H2O/ Urea solvent system, a kinetic study was carried out. The results reveal the dissolution to be a 1st order kinetics and the obtained activation energy for cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin dissolution were 14.10 kJ.mol-1, 11.29 kJ.mol-1 and 7.606 kJ.mol-1 ,respectively. that the dissolution process for all three components are endothermic and endergonic. The -0.190; -0.195 kJ.mol-1) showed that the process of dissolution of hemicellulose occurred more rapidly and produced more stable products. It was concluded that ZnCl2.4H2O/ Urea pretreatment provided a potential way to fractionate lignocellulosic biomass which can improve the effective utilization of all feedstock fractions.
E.K. 2020

碩士
元智大學
工業工程與管理學系
93
In this thesis, we investigate and propose a two-stage method to solve the multi-mode resource-constrained project scheduling problem (MM-RCPSP) with the objective to minimize the project completion time. The feasibility problem of MM-RCPSP is NP-complete when nonrenewable resource types are considered and the optimization problem of MM-RCPSP given a feasible mode assignment (satisfying the nonrenewable constraints) is also NP-hard. In the first stage of our proposed method, branch and bound (B&B) method is employed to find a set of feasible mode assignments. Then a subset of these mode assignments is selected based on smaller critical path values with respect to the project networks resulting from the disjunctive arcs concept. The second stage deals with single-mode RCPSP without nonrenewable resource constraints and two methods, ant colony optimization (ACO) and simulated annealing (SA), are used to find a near-optimal project schedule with respect to each selected feasible mode assignment. In ACO, ants generate schedules by one of the following three methods: forward serial list scheduling (FSLS) method, backward serial list scheduling (BSLS) method, and forward parallel method with MLFT priority rule. In SA, only FSLS and BSLS are used to generate schedules. Both ACO and SA employ two-direction insertion method and backward-forward method (BF) to improve schedules. The proposed method has two superior advantages. First, it always produces a feasible schedule as long as a given MM-RCPSP instance is feasible. Second, it is capable of finding an optimal or near-optimal solution in acceptably computational time for small and medium size problems. The performance of the two-stage method is evaluated using the standard sets of instances in PSPLIB. Computational results based on 5000 schedules show that this method is competitive among the algorithms currently published.

There is a growing need to better understand environmental decision making in the context of climate change and limited renewable resources. This dissertation deepens our understanding of such decision making by focusing on strategic green decisions, which can be defined as the individual and collaborative green decisions within or between organizations that help organizations improve their operating position, adapt to changes in their external institutional environments, and simultaneously generate environmental benefits. The particular focus is on decisions related to energy in the North American context. The research draws on and contributes to organizational theory with the aim of better understanding those factors that motivate and/or facilitate green decisions by organizations, especially social economy organizations—an area of only limited research to date. Two complementary empirical studies address the overarching research goal. The first study focuses on understanding the nature and extent of the association between organizational attributes and those factors that motivate and/or facilitate a green energy decision. Insights are based on a bi-national survey of 212 organizations that voluntarily began to purchase green electricity between 1999 and 2008. Findings indicate that important influences are similar across organizational types. Survey results highlight the importance of organizational culture and internal champions—both individually and in combination—in making the initial decision to purchase green electricity, despite its relatively higher price. These two factors, as well as strategic benefits, emerge as the dominant explanations for why organizations expand their green energy purchases. The relative importance and particular roles of these factors vary across organizational and decision types. The second empirical study extends our understanding of how organizations adapt to external changes while maintaining the capacity to innovate in order to address their core objectives. The focus is on the residential energy services market, and is based on 12 interviews with the executive directors of non-profit environmental service organizations (ESOs) that are part of a national network called Green Communities Canada. These organizations survived a funding shock by creating new services and diversifying funding sources with actions that collectively can be referred to as ‘green collaborative entrepreneurship’; collaborative because it was facilitated by strategic partnerships with businesses and local governments, as well as the cross-national social capital network connecting the ESOs. The important motivating factors of green collaborative entrepreneurship were the green values and objectives that drive these organizations. The facilitating factors of green collaborative entrepreneurship included human capital, social capital and strategic partnerships, which acted as dynamic capabilities because of their flexibility to help increase the level of entrepreneurship when necessary for organizational survival, and yet, scale-up and deliver core programs during stable funding periods. The dissertation provides important insights into broad questions related to green decisions, especially for organizations that are affected by political policy cycles. The findings highlight that organizations are able to be more environmentally sustainable while also improving their own strategic performance by making green decisions that either provide the capacity to adapt to exogenous change for survival, or to create endogenous change for competitive advantage. The research contributes to our understanding of societal transitions to sustainable development by highlighting two green decisions that are occurring in the social economy. The dissertation contributes to organizational theory and in particular the traditional corporate literature by including multiple organizational types. Sustainability researchers should focus on green decisions that both enhance organizational stability and ecological sustainability if they wish to better understand creative green solutions from organizations.

Economic performance is closely related with energy consumption, the major part of which still comes from non-renewable sources. While endeavoring to promote renewable energy, policy makers are interested in technological change that also increases energy efficiency. However, both growth models of directed technological change and microeconomic theories regarding innovation suggest that technological change is not necessarily biased towards energy, which calls for the support of empirical evidence. Previous studies on the topic mostly focus on a certain country/region using data at province/sector level. My dissertation applies Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) as its main econometrical method and investigates the situation of technological progress involving energy as input and output. The findings may serve as reference for policy considerations related to innovation, energy pricing, firm operation, etc. Macro-level findings show that technological change is biased towards energy; micro-level findings show that technological change is biased the most towards labor; technological change has favored fuel over electricity in general. We infer that the market size effect is likely to overwhelm others in deciding the direction of technological change. Thus, policy should include tools in addition to energy prices in inducing technological change. We conclude that productive technical efficiency is positively affected by higher capital input relative to labor input, as well as higher average hourly wage and lower average working hours. Evidence also suggests that the liberalization in the Portuguese electricity market starting from the 2000s was successful in the sense that there is a trend of improvement in technical efficiency through time.
O desempenho econômico está intimamente relacionado ao consumo de energia, a maior parte da qual ainda vem de fontes não renováveis. Ao mesmo tempo que se esforçam para promover a energia renovável, os formuladores de políticas estão interessados em mudanças tecnológicas que também aumentem a eficiência energética. No entanto, tanto os modelos de crescimento da mudança tecnológica direcionada quanto as teorias microeconômicas sobre a inovação sugerem que a mudança tecnológica não é necessariamente enviesada para a energia, o que exige o apoio de evidências empíricas. Estudos anteriores sobre o tópico focam principalmente em um determinado país / região usando dados em nível de província / setor. Minha dissertação aplica a Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) como seu principal método econométrico e investiga a situação do progresso tecnológico envolvendo energia como entrada e saída. As descobertas podem servir como referência para considerações de política relacionadas à inovação, preços de energia, operação de empresas, etc. As descobertas de nível macro mostram que a mudança tecnológica é tendenciosa para a energia; descobertas em nível micro mostram que a mudança tecnológica é mais tendenciosa para o trabalho; a mudança tecnológica tem favorecido o combustível em relação à eletricidade em geral. Inferimos que o efeito do tamanho do mercado provavelmente sobrecarregará os outros na decisão da direção da mudança tecnológica. Assim, a política deve incluir ferramentas além dos preços da energia na indução de mudanças tecnológicas. Concluímos que a eficiência técnica produtiva é positivamente afetada por maior entrada de capital em relação à entrada de trabalho, bem como maior salário-hora médio e menor média de horas de trabalho. Evidências também sugerem que a liberalização do mercado elétrico português a partir dos anos 2000 foi bem-sucedida no sentido de que há uma tendência de melhoria da eficiência técnica ao longo do tempo.