Environmental Accounting or Fundamentals of Organizational Behavior

Environmental Accounting: Energy and Environmental Decision Making

Author: Howard T Odum

In this important new work, Howard T. Odum, widely acknowledged as the father of systems ecology, lucidly explains his concept of emergy, a measure of real wealth that provides a rational, science-based method of evaluating commodities, services, and environmental goods. Using specific real-world examples, Dr. Odum clearly demonstrates the revolutionary role of emergy in environmental management and policy making.

Environmental Accounting: Emergy and Environmental Decision Making offers environmental professionals—policymakers, managers, ecologists, planners, developers, and activists—a systematic approach to environmental and economic valuation that will eliminate much of the rancor and adversarial decision making that often plagues environmental issues. Specifically, this book:

• Describes the theoretical basis, calculation procedures, and applications of emergy
• Introduces the concept of "transformity," the ratio of emergy (work put into a product) and energy (value received from the product)
• Provides formulas for emergy calculations, procedures for making an emergy evaluation table, and parameters for updating evaluations
• Demonstrates the use of emergy to evaluate environments, minerals, waters, primary energy sources, economic developments, and international trade
• Compares the emergy approach to environmental evaluation with others

Environmental Accounting: Emergy and Environmental Decision Making will help environmental decision makers and the society they serve maximize economic vitality with less trial and error, innovate with fewer failures, and adapt to change more rapidly. It provides the tools they need to arrive atthe best policies in resource management, economics, and the environment.

Balancing the economy and the environment— from the father of systems ecology

Increasing economic dependence on diminishing natural resources has sparked a highly charged debate over the use and fate of the world environment. Environmental Accounting: Emergy and Environmental Decision Making presents a unique method of environmental management based on maximizing real wealth, the whole economy, and the public benefit.

Renowned ecologist Howard T. Odum introduces the concept of emergy to provide a rational alternative to the tug-of-war over the world's most vital assets. Emergy measures the energy put into making a product and is the cornerstone of Odum's revolutionary text. This timely and important book offers key insights into:

• Determining the real value of a product or service
• Transformity, or the relationship between emergy (input) and energy (output)
• Stored wealth, available energy, and the final product
• Balancing economic and environmental needs

Environmental Accounting: Emergy and Environmental Decision Making will help economists, ecologists, policymakers, and planners make more responsible, informed decisions to sustain economic and environmental development.

Booknews

Pioneer ecologist Odum (environmental policy, U. of Florida) introduces the concept of emergy, the cost of making a product or providing a service, as a balance to energy, the benefit expected. He explains how it can be applied to environmental management to maximize real wealth, the whole economy, and the public benefit. The dimensions he considers include evaluating environmental resources, fuels and electricity, alternative development, states and nations, international exchange, information and human services, and policy perspectives. He includes several appendixes of formulas and other data, and a simulation program in BASIC. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Table of Contents:

	Preface
1	Introduction: Emergy and Real Wealth	1
2	Emergy and the Energy Hierarchy	15
3	Earth Emergy	35
4	Environmental Production and Economic Use	53
5	Emergy Evaluation Procedure	73
6	Empower Through Networks: Emergy Algebra	88
7	Evaluating Environmental Resources	110
8	Net Emergy of Fuels and Electricity	136
9	Evaluating Alternatives for Development	164
10	Emergy of States and Nations	182
11	Evaluating International Exchange	208
12	Evaluating Information and Human Service	220
13	Emergy Over Time	242
14	Comparison of Methods	260
15	Policy Perspectives	279
	An Emergy Glossary	288
	App. A Use of Energy Systems Symbols	290
	App. B Formulas for Energy Calculations	294
	App. C Transformities	304
	App. D Emergy/Money Ratios	312
	App. E Parameters for Updating Evaluations	316
	App. F Simulation Programs	318
	References	325
	Index	359

Book review: Wine Etiquette Guide or Theres a Chef in Your Freezer

Fundamentals of Organizational Behavior: A Primer

Author: Henry Tosi

This primer offers MBA and other advanced students exposure to the basic theories and concepts of organizational behavior and management.

• Delivers the basic theories and concepts of organizational behavior and management in a concise format.

• Includes ‘Guides for Managers' which show how managers can apply these theories.

• Supplemental materials include exercises and cases.

• Covers topical issues such as diversity, technology and e-business.

• Executive edition of Tosi and Mero's successful textbook, Managing Organizational Behavior (Blackwell Publishing, Fourth Edition, 2000