The Concept of Renewability in Terms of Sustainability - Term Paper Example

?What is Renewability? Renewability is the ability of an object or a resource to be replaced or replenished by the passage of time either by natural or ecological factors or by sound resource management practices. For me, the above-mentioned definition will introduce us to the elements that should be present before the principle of “renewability” applies (Kamal, 2010). One is the ability of the resource to be replenished; next is the presence of factors, phenomenon or actions that causes the replacement of these resources. Example, recent discussions on renewable supply center on the sun being a source of tremendous energy; however scientific data revealed that only a fraction of the sun’s energy can be exploited for human consumption. To date, innovative technologies have been adapted in order to harvest this resource. Auspicious developments are in the areas of photovoltaic cells that directly convert the sun’s light energy to electricity (Kamal, 2010 & van Santen, et; al. 2010). To put it in a concept, the sun’s energy is the ultimate energy resource and in the simplest explanation, it is renewable because it is easily refilled as long as the sun continues to shine and along with the consideration that it is not capable of polluting the environment and therefore hastening climate change. Sun’s heat aside from giving light energy, heat and as energy resource for photosynthesis also stirs up phenomenon in the earth’s surface that can also serve as promising energy sources such as wind and water movement (van Santen, et. al. 2010). Renewability and Sustainability: Establishing relationship Closely related to the concept of renewability is the universally accepted principle of sustainability. The term is not difficult to understand for almost all efforts of economic development and planning in many modern countries especially in the United States today centers on sustainable economic development. As early as 1987, in a report from the World Commission on Environment and Development has already identified the escalating economic growth along with humanity’s dependence to raw materials and chemicals that have consequently polluted the environment without being adequately being accounted for the figures of the production cost. The concept of renewability is best understood with the ‘dead end” model by Herman Daly and John Cobb in the book For the Common Good. They argued that the current lifestyle we are in is an ideology of death where we are over-consuming and therefore destroying resources not capable of replenishing itself. Moreover at the economic standpoint, sustainability and renewbaility are both important backdrops where in they are essential ingredients to sustainable economic policies. When the principle is integrated into sustainable economic policies such as giving them positive economic values and functions, then there is a reduced risk of overuse. At the standpoint of sustainable development and resources use, the utility of non-renewable resources points to an economic of collapse. There are many misleading yet established notions that the use of nonrenewable resource is cheaper and the renewable ones would entail a plethora of investment (Kamal, 2010 & van Santen, et; al. 2010). This is in the other hand, a largely inaccurate assessment and as a matter of fact, it is the use of nonrenewable raw materials have plunged economies in different parts of the world. Recycling and Nutrient Cycling in the Purview of Renewability In the context of renewability, the closet and most relevant point of view where recycling and nutrient cycles comes is in on the direct and indirect effects of global warming. Nutrient cycle is the process of transforming and utilizing nutrients from one organism to another. It is obvious therefore that energy plays a central role in this nutrient transport (Kamal, 2010). To illustrate, remember that the Earth is a huge ecosystem – a natural environ. And that the function, as well as the structure of the ecosystem is highly governed by energy flow and how it fuels nutrient cycle. Furthermore, energy processes and transformations will reveal a lot about animal behavior and the movement of nutrients that occur not only locally but at the global level as well. This is an emphasis that energy and nutrient cycles link the living world to the non-living. Recycling, on the other hand is the process of transforming “used” products into another product that can still be utilized. Nutrient cycle and recycling is the same framework that a product undergoes another process to create another product and this product was created for the same purpose – to remain useful. Difference between the two process lies on two grounds, in nutrient cycle there is almost a complete transformation from the original product that it comes out unique while in recycling, this seldom happens. And secondly, there is less waste in the process of nutrient cycle. The importance of recycling into the established relationship between energy and nutrient cycle is best demonstrated in carbon cycle. The sun, as a renewable energy resource directly fuels photosynthesis which fixes carbon and releases it in the form of carbon dioxide in large amount. Large amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is the primary cause of the phenomenon called greenhouse effects that effectively traps in heat from the sun however, it is almost completely unable to release it back space causing drastic increase in the earth’s temperature. Aside from photosynthesis, carbon dioxide production is highly related to energy production from non-renewable sources such as fossil fuels. Excessive use of the depleting fossil fuels therefore is a primary culprit for global warming concerns. However, recycling efforts such as the utilization of industrial residues for example with the use of naturally present microorganisms have promising standards that decrease percentage of industrial carbon emission to the environment. What is further required, is the utility of the billion species of bacteria and microorganisms that are found anywhere to their optimal use – favorable results perhaps on carbon dioxide fixing bacteria. Damen Hall: A look at valuable concepts of renewability Renewability can be measured and assessed based on the matrices used for sustainability measurement. Different indicators have to be established in order to distinguish the discrete dimension behind each renewability concept. This initial step will be followed by the thorough aggregation of these lower dimension indicators in order to create higher indices. For example, Boulanger’s Sustainable development indicators: a scientific challenge, democratic issue provides a systematic way to measure sustainability which is highly applicable in measuring renewability. There are construction indicators which is composed of several subgroups such as successive phases, standardization, aggregation, the construction of indicators and multi-criteria decision-making and lastly, weighting. In stricter terms, the concept of renewability is a misnomer under the context of building demolition. Renewability has three elements, 1) capable of being replenished; 2) the element of time and lastly 3) the factors that replenished the resource which is either natural or through human factors. In building demolition, there is an absolute lack of the three elements, generally because demolition is largely a man-made phenomenon that does not involve natural process such as nutrient cycle. This highlights the difference of renewability to other environmental concepts such as “recycle” and “reuse”, for the former deals more on preemptive actions. The Damen Hall demolition for example is the result of the proactive applications of the concept of renewability. It is an option between maintaining a non-sustainable edifice that cannot maintain efficiency in terms of energy, water and other resources against creating “green” infrastructures specifically designed to lessen the impact of these built structures to the environment. This is where “renewability” comes in, especially in terms of the materials used and the significant decrease of fossil fuel dependence. However, at the opposite side of the gamut, yet still in the perspective of renewable energy, mechanisms that can replace (even if not completely) energy sources of Damen Hall would also point to the direction where green infrastructures are heading to – however, pecuniary considerations and economic returns in the long run is a painstaking matter to weigh options with. One highly similar situation where human still uses “materials” is in the automobile industry. Like building construction and demolition, cars and other vehicles are also constructed (using similar materials like steel), assembled and demolished. Renewability therefore, equivalent to building construction and demolition comes in proactively – that is, initiatives on redesigning and rebuilding utilizing materials powered by renewable energy. As discussed above, the concept of renewability for me has two main positive areas - first, it decreases pollution and second, at the economic viewpoint, it adds “value” to raw materials prompting sustainable use. However, the downside of the concept is primarily on the area of applicability. We have seen that the concept is highly proactive, which does not mean that it will fail at present times apply now, but on the context that, its full swing can be realized after a deconstruction. The demolition of the Damen Hall, for me, serves as a symbol of what “renewability” has in stores for us – striking a balance between sustaining a defective one and creating something entirely that sustains itself. The latter sounds highly utopian, however, improvements on the application and use of renewable resources are in its full swing where these green infrastructures. References Kamal, Sajed. The Renewable Revolution. Earthscan. 2010. London van Santen, Rutger; Khoe, Djan, and Vermer Bram. 2030 Technology that will Change the World. Oxford University Press. 2010 Read More