Energy, Environment, Natural Resources and Business Competitiveness: The Fragility of Interdependence

Dimitris N. Chorafas

Apr 2016 · CRC Press

About this ebook

Every generation leaves both assets and liabilities to the next. Alert people can see we are going to leave our children and grandchildren with a nearly unsolvable test of energy supplies; waste polluting the air and water; and the appalling problem of a huge and uncontrollable explosion in world population. Energy, Environment, Natural Resources and Business Competitiveness addresses itself to those having a professional, academic or general interest in these issues: - Energy sources, their nature and contribution, - Environmental problems associated to power production and usage, - Financing and control of energy-related projects and processes, - Future direction of agriculture produce now used as energy, - Complex social and technical issues resulting from lack of family planning - and, therefore, of demands for energy, - Impact of energy and an exploding population on pollution, - Truth and hype about the most talked about environmental subjects. In this fourth book for Gower, Dimitris Chorafas reviews Europe, America and Asia's energy needs in the coming decade, pointing out that current policies are inadequate at best, and more likely disastrous for the economy. Governments persist in having their own agenda and priorities as well as plenty of constraints and taboos, yet when he critically examines the challenges Dr Chorafas concludes that no government can solve all current energy problems by acting alone. The book confronts current thinking, and its after-effect on policies and practices. Readers accustomed to mainstream books and articles which blame fossil fuels for a deteriorating world environment will find this a contrary opinion.

About the author

Professor Chorafas is an academic and consultant. He is a member of the New York Academy of Sciences and visiting faculty to the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL). He has been a Fulbright Scholar and has taught in 10 universities around the world. During his career, Dr Chorafas has been a consultant to the board of UBS, Bank Vontobel, Bank of Scotland, Commerzbank, Istituto Bancario Italiano, Credito Commerciale, Banca Provinciale Lombarda, First Austrian Bank, Italcementi, AEG-Telefunken, Osram, General Electric Bull, and a number of other companies. Over 8,000 executives around the world have attended his seminar programme. In 1992, in conjunction with the Swiss Academies of Sciences, he established his Foundation which grants annual awards to the best PhD graduates at 25 partner universities worldwide. Dr Chorafas has authored 153 books on engineering, mathematics, banking and finance. Many of them have got 5 stars out of 5 in rating. Among his most recent are 'Globalization's Limits' and 'The Business of Europe is Politics' and 'Education and Employment in the European Union' (February 2011) published by Gower.