Choice free zone : competition and innovation on this site is discouraged under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act [book]

Allan Fels, Urban Taskforce Australia

Uses the situation in Sydney to argue that a more flexible approach to urban planning, which stimulates investment and innovation, is required for Australia's growing urban areas.

Climate Change is not our Number One Problem (article)
By John-Paul Fenwick
from IPA Review Vol 60 No 4 Sept 2008, pp. 42 - 43
"This articles ranks the worlds problems and it is not all about climate change."

Emissions Trading: Towards the Biggest Economic Change in Australian History (article)
By Chris Berg and Alan Moran
from IPA Review Vol 60 No 4 Sept 2008, pp. 35 - 37
"This article discusses the impact of emissions trading on the economy."

Communicating science in social contexts : new models, new practices [book]

Donghong Cheng, & others

Chapters include: Paradigm change for science communication: commercial science needs a critical public, Words and figures of the public: the misunderstanding in scientific communication, The more, the earlier, the better: science communication supports science education, and Science advocacy: challenging task, difficult pathways.

Economic aspects of adaptation to climate change : costs, benefits and policy instruments [online resource]

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

"Provides a critical assessment of adaptation costs and benefits in key climate sensitive sectors, as well as at national and global levels. It also moves the discussion beyond cost estimation to the potential and limits of economic and policy instruments - including insurance and risk sharing, environmental markets and pricing, and public private partnerships - that can be used to motivate adaptation actions." - abstract.

Data Surveys - Australian Innovation Data (journal article)
by Paul H. Jensen and Elizabeth Webster
from The Australian Economic Review, vol. 41, no. 3, pp. 323–9
The absence of an ideal innovation metric does not mean that economists and management scholars should avoid conducting innovation related research. Second-best data sources are increasingly being brought to light. These include: R&D data; new product launches; counts of intellectual property (IP), such as patents and trade marks; and surveys of companies’ innovative activities. However, to effectively use these data, researchers should be cognisant of their relative strengths and weaknesses.

Infrastructure: What Is Needed and How Do We Pay for It? (journal article)
by Michael Keeting
from Australian Economic Review Vol. 41 No. 3, pp. 231 - 238
Claims of an infrastructure crisis lack definition, and fail to provide evidence that investment projects that would generate an economic return, including both private and social benefits, are not being funded.
This paper shows how setting economic prices for energy, water, transport and communications will provide a better guide to the optimal amount of future infrastructure investment than the likely responses by proponents of an alleged infrastructure crisis.

Crude: the incredible journey of oil [DVD]

Presented by Richard Smith

"Consults the leading international scientific experts to join the dots between geology and economy and provide the big-picture view of oil." - cover.

Making the Harder Yards: Environmental Policy Integration in Australia (article)
By Andrew Ross and Stephen Dovers
from Australian Journal of Public Administration Vol 67 No 3 Sept 2008, pp. 245 - 260
"Solutions to environmental problems such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and land and water resource degradation require long term integration of economic, social and environmental policies. This poses challenges to specialised, hierarchical public administration systems. The study reported here examined strategies, structures and processes to enable environmental policy integration in six Australian states and territories, and some federal arrangements. The study found that the most prominent success factors, barriers and gaps that affect environmental policy integration relate to leadership, long term embedding of environmental policy integration and implementation capacity. Factors deserving further research and policy attention include leadership, cultural change and capacity building; embedding sustainability in structures and processes; development of a long term evidence based approach; strengthening decentralised implementation arrangements; and evaluation of policy integration initiatives. "

Troubled waters : confronting the water crisis in Australia's cities [book]

Patrick N. Troy

"Designed to explore the nature of the demand for urban water services and how that has changed over the last century. It discusses how the demand for centralised provision of urban water services might be re-shaped to enable urban areas to better cope with the water supplies that might be expected to change as the cities adjust to climate change." - cover.

Small-scale Wind EnergyPolicy insights and practical guidance
Source: Carbon Trust (UK)
Small-scale wind energy (wind turbines <50kW rated capacity) is receiving increasing interest as one of a number of microgeneration technologies with potential to reduce carbon emissions. Recent years have seen new products being made available on the UK market, which a survey by the British Wind Energy Association (BWEA) suggests is growing quickly.
However, the overall potential of small-scale wind energy to reduce carbon emissions, and the conditions under which maximum carbon reductions can be made, have not been entirely clear. Recognising this, the Carbon Trust commissioned research from the Met Office and Entec to determine: the overall UK carbon prize associated with small-scale wind energy; and how small wind turbines can best be sited to save most carbon.

Biofuel support policies : an economic assessment [online resource]

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

"Shows that the high level of policy support contributes little to reduced greenhouse-gas emissions and other policy objectives, while it adds to a range of factors that raise international prices for food commodities." - abstract.

International trade and climate change : economic, legal, and institutional perspectives [book]
World Bank
"Provides a comprehensive look, from economic, legal, and institutional perspectives, at the intersections and potential synergies between climate change objectives and international trade obligations. ... Identifies the key issues at stake, where they mesh and where they do not, as well as opportunities for aligning development and energy policies in ways that could stimulate production, trade, and investment in cleaner technology options." - cover.

Electric water : the emerging revolution in water and energy [book]

Christopher C. Swan

"Offers a vision of a near future where quality of life is dramatically improved for all without drastic scalebacks. The vision is based on technology - solar energy, water purification, transportation and eco-restoration - that already exists. It is attainable within 20 years and represents thousands of jobs, in urban and rural areas, and economic development globally." - cover.

Biofuel support policies : an economic assessment [online resource]

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

"Shows that the high level of policy support contributes little to reduced greenhouse-gas emissions and other policy objectives, while it adds to a range of factors that raise international prices for food commodities." - abstract.

Start Thinking About Carbon Assets -- Now
By Alex Rau and Robert Toker
From Harvard Business Review Vol. 86 Issue 9 Sept 2008, pp. 28-30
"The article poses and answers questions about carbon assets and mitigation strategy including questions on the value of a carbon credit or financial contract that has been issued to countries that signed the Kyoto Protocol, the reason why the replacement of incandescent lighting with compact fluorescent light bulbs does not qualify as a carbon asset, and the cost of carbon-related projects."