• Login
    View Item 
    •   NWU-IR Home
    • North-West University Journals
    • PER: Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal
    • PER: 2013 Volume 16 No 2 (Special Edition)
    • View Item
    •   NWU-IR Home
    • North-West University Journals
    • PER: Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal
    • PER: 2013 Volume 16 No 2 (Special Edition)
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Law, the laws of nature and ecosystem energy services: a case of wilful blindness

    Thumbnail
    View/Open
    PER_16_2(2013)_Hodas_DR.pdf (483.2Kb)
    Date
    2013
    Author
    Hodas, David R
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Abstract
    Ecosystems services include the collection, concentration, and storage of solar energy as fossil fuels (e.g., coal, petroleum, and natural gas). These concentrated forms of energy were produced by ancient ecosystem services. However, our legal and economic systems fail to recognise the value of the ecosystem service subsidies embedded in fossil fuels. This ecosystem services price subsidy causes overuse and waste of fossil fuels in the free market: fossil fuels are consumed more quickly than they can be replaced by ecosystem services and in far larger quantities than they would be if the price of fossil fuels included the cost of solar energy collection, concentration and manufacturing of raw fossil fuels. Moreover, burning fossil fuels produces enormous environmental, human health and welfare costs and damage. Virtually no legal literature on ecosystem services, sustainable development, or sustainable energy, considers fossil fuels in this context. Without understanding stored energy as an ecosystem service, we cannot reasonably expect to manage our fossil fuel energy resources sustainably. International and domestic energy law and policy systems generally ignore this feature of fossil fuel energy, a blind spot that explains why reducing greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels is fundamentally a political challenge. This paper will use new understandings emerging from the field of complex systems to critique existing legal decision-making models that do not adequately account for energy ecosystem services in policy design, resource allocation and project approvals. The paper proposes a new "least-social-cost" decision-making legal structure that includes ecosystem energy services.
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/10394/8841
    Collections
    • PER: 2013 Volume 16 No 2 (Special Edition) [6]

    Related items

    Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.

    • Thumbnail

      Role of nuclear technology in South Africa 

      Bieldt, Frederick (2015)
      South Africa is in the critical process of determining the profile of its power composition for the next 30 years and beyond. From the IRP2010 it seems that too much emphasis is placed on renewable energy, coal and other ...
    • Thumbnail

      Nuclear energy in Africa : a legal framework for sustainable energy access 

      Barnard, Michelle (2014)
      The promotion of sustainable development is an objective shared by African Union (AU) member states and the pursuance thereof is expressly mandated by the Constitutive Act of the African Union, 2000 and the Treaty Establishing ...
    • Thumbnail

      Energy management for improved profitability of small manufacturing enterprises 

      Kaputu, Chisakula (North-West University (South Africa) , Potchefstroom Campus, 2015)
      Approximately 75% of small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) created in South Africa (SA) fail in the first year. This is a serious socio-economic problem as SMMEs in South Africa employ over 60% of the workforce and ...

    Copyright © North-West University
    Contact Us | Send Feedback
    Theme by 
    Atmire NV
     

     

    Browse

    All of NWU-IR Communities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsAdvisor/SupervisorThesis TypeThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsAdvisor/SupervisorThesis Type

    My Account

    LoginRegister

    Copyright © North-West University
    Contact Us | Send Feedback
    Theme by 
    Atmire NV