Dear colleagues of the Industrial Ecology mailing list,
The Journal of Industrial Ecology has recently published a
special issue on Priorities for Environmental Product Policy. The
issue provides rigorous and comprehensive insight into the life-cycle
impacts of consumption -- what we buy and what we use -- on the
environment. The articles identify high-impact product categories at the
level of city (Cardiff), country (Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark,
Norway and the Netherlands), and continent (the European Union).
A review article from the special issue is available on the web at
<
www.mitpressjournals.org/toc/jiec/10/3
> for free download. The Journal of Industrial Ecology is a
peer-reviewed international quarterly published by MIT Press, owned by
Yale University, and headquartered at the Yale School of Forestry &
Environmental Studies.
Despite the immense differences in approaches, all studies derive the
same major priorities. The following activities and product groups cause
70 to 80% of the total environmental impacts in society:
- Mobility: automobile and air transport;
- Food: meat and dairy, followed by other types of food; and
- The home, and related energy use: buildings, and heating-, cooling-,
and other energy using appliances.
Important reductions in environmental impacts thus can be reached by
policies that target this limited group of product
categories.
The special issue is based on research prepared for the EU-funded
project Environmental
Impacts of Products. The project was led by Dutch research
organizations TNO and CML and provides an important basis for the EU’s
Integrated Product Policy.
For more information about this special issue, see
<
http://tinyurl.com/y4c8pe>
Sincerely,
Reid Lifset
Editor-in-chief,
Journal of Industrial Ecology
[please excuse any cross-postings, but do forward this announcement
to others that might be interested]
============================================================
Reid J. Lifset, Assoc.
Dir.
School of Forestry & Env. Studies
Industrial Environmental Mgmt.
Program
Yale University
Editor, Journal of Industrial
Ecology
205 Prospect Street
203-432-6949 (tel) -5912
(fax)
New Haven, CT 06511-2189 USA
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http://mitpress.mit.edu/JIE