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Introduction to Case Studies
CHAPTER 7
Introduction to Case Studies
Chapter Outline 7.1 Introduction and Synopsis 111 7.2 The Structure of the Case Studies 112 7.3 Articulations of Sustainable Development That Went Wrong 113
7.4 Summary and Conclusions 115 7.5 Exercises 116 Further Reading 116
7.1 INTRODUCTION AND SYNOPSIS The six chapters that follow this one are case studies. Each investigates an articulation of sustainable development using the 5-step method developed in Chapters 3 and 4. The topics are as follows: iopolymers to replace oil-based plastics B n Wind farms as a source of renewable energy n Electric cars as the future for clean personal transport n
Materials and Sustainable Development. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-100176-9.00007-4 Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
111
112
CHAPTER 7 Introduction to Case Studies ighting – incandescent, fluorescent, LED L Solar PV for low-carbon power n Bamboo as a sustainable building material n n
They are designed for project-based teaching.
7.2 THE STRUCTURE OF THE CASE STUDIES The case studies follow a standard pattern. Each starts with an Introduction and Background information, providing context and basic, relevant, facts. This leads into the 5-step analysis. Each step is identified by an icon, shown here on the right. 6WHS
6WHS
6WHS
"
6WHS
"
"
Step 1 is a statement of the Prime Objective, size scale and time scale. Sometimes these are explicitly stated in the description of the project. When they are not, we need common-sense estimates. Step 2 is the identification of Stakeholders and their concerns, ideally through interviews and questionnaires. When this is not possible, the National Press plus a web-based search of news reports, Government and NGO position-papers, letters to editors and magazine surveys reveal a great deal about them. The interest and influence of each stakeholder is mapped onto the stakeholder diagram. Step 3 is Fact-finding, using literature and internet searches, to research both the factual background of the articulation and the validity of the concerns expressed by the stakeholders. Facts should, if possible, be checked against a second, independent source. All the facts assembled in the Fact-finding step of the Case Studies are available from open sources but they are scattered. It helps to re-visit the checklists of Chapter 4 at the start of the Fact-finding step. The Appendix of Chapter 17 is an assembly of facts relating to materials, energy and national characteristics; a paragraph highlighted in blue in each case study indicates how this information is found and used. Fact-finding is made easier by using the CES EduPack Sustainability database described in Chapter 15, but this is a convenience not a necessity. Step 4 Synthesis is an examination of how the facts influence Human, Natural and Manufactured Capital. Some facts have a positive impact on one capital but a negative one on another. Articulations designed to reduce harmful emissions, for example, have a positive influence on Natural Capital but may incur expense and
Introduction to Case Studies CHAPTER 7
113
thus create a burden on Financial Capital. Mapping the findings of the Fact-finding step onto the Synthesis matrix shown in Table 4.5 helps to assemble a big picture. In the Case Studies, a “fact” that has a generally positive influence is given a ( + ) and is colored green, one that has a generally negative influence is given a ( – ) and is colored red. The same fact can appear in more than one cell of the matrix. As an example, the use of corn as a feedstock for biopolymer production might carry a ( + ) for Natural Capital but it might carry a ( – ) for Financial Capital because it drives up corn prices. 6WHS
Step 5, the final step, is that of informed Reflection, assessing the picture that has emerged and considering priority changes. It is valuable to do this with two timescales in mind. Many articulations appear, in the short term, to be impractical or misguided because the infrastructure essential for their success is not in place and cannot be created in the short time frame visualized when the articulation was first formulated. Decarbonizing the national electricity grid to allow carbon-free charging of electric cars is clearly something that cannot be done in a 10-year time frame. In the longer (40-year) term, however, this might be possible. Thus many present-day articulations of sustainable development are, as it were, first steps on a longer journey. Does the long-term gain justify the short-term pain? Step 5 is also the moment to ask: Could the vision behind the original articulation be achieved in a lesspainful way than that first proposed? The first three steps in this progression are objective and deterministic; the last two are subjective, and therefore open to debate. To reiterate a point made in Chapter 1: there is no “right” answer to assessing issues as complex as those of sustainable development. Instead there is a thoughtful, well-researched response that accepts the complexity and seeks to work with it to reach a balanced, fair and defensible conclusion.
7.3 ARTICULATIONS OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT THAT WENT WRONG Not all articulations of sustainable development succeed; indeed some fail in spectacular ways. We can learn something from these mistakes. Here are three examples.
114
CHAPTER 7 Introduction to Case Studies
THE GROUNDNUT SCHEME The Groundnut Scheme was a British Government plan to cultivate peanuts (“ground nuts”) in what was then Tanganyika, now Tanzania. The prime objective was to create a sustainable source of vegetable oil for Britain, at that time (1946) short of food. The Ministry of Food authorized £25 million to clear and cultivate 600 km2 of land in the colony. Factfinding (Step 3) for the proposed project was inadequate. Work started before soil samples were taken or water sources identified. Neither the climate and soil nor the lack of insects for pollination suited the peanuts. The project was abandoned after 5 years and an investment of £49 million, roughly £1000 million today, none of it recovered. Wood, A. (1950). “The Groundnut Affair”, London: Bodley Head.
TECHNOLOGY LOCK-IN One way to deal with municipal waste is to burn it, using the recovered heat for district heating. One such project in Stockholm involved the construction of a plant fed by the local waste stream that was current at the time of construction. At the time this seemed attractive in two ways, that of waste disposal and low-cost heating for new apartment blocks, which were therefore built without any alternative heating system. As recycling in Sweden grew more efficient, less waste became available to feed the plant. The heating needs of the apartments remained the same. The plant is now fed in part by waste imported to Sweden from surrounding nations, 800,000 tonnes per year, requiring transport to the plant. The associated costs and environmental impacts make the scheme no longer attractive but the large initial investment and the absence of independent heating for the apartments locks it in. This is an example of a failure of Fact-finding, but one that is hard to anticipate: the missing fact (that the volume of municipal waste would decline because of more efficient recycling) was not known or foreseen at the time the plant was designed. Mulder, K., Ferrer, D. and Van Lente, H. (2011) “What is sustainable technology” Greenleaf Publishing, UK.
CARBON-OFFSETTING GONE WRONG Carbon off-setting is the buying of credits to compensate for the carbon emissions released by an industry or individual. Manufacture, power generation from fossil fuels, heating and some services
Introduction to Case Studies CHAPTER 7
115
(particularly transport) all have large carbon footprints. The idea is that money collected in off-sets be invested in activities elsewhere that absorb or sequester carbon or that replace the use of fossil fuels by energy sources that are carbon free: tree planting, solar, wind or wave power, for example. Much of the off-set investment is in less-developed areas of the world such as Africa, India and south-east Asia. By purchasing sufficient credits, the generator of CO2 can claim to be “carbon neutral”. There are controls in place that are designed to ensure that the money reaches its intended target. Heather Rogers* tracks the path of money collected in this way. The money passes through more than one set of hands before it reaches its target. Her finding is that, often, little of it does; the hands absorb most of it as administrative costs or kick-backs. Here the problem is a human one: the idealism of the carbon off-set scheme was not matched by that of the chain that managed it. *Rogers, Heather (2010) “Green gone wrong: How our economy is undermining the Environmental Revolution” Scribner Publishing.
7.4 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS This chapter sets up the 5-step structure of the case studies that follow. The first three steps are straightforward. The last two are not. You may not agree with the way the facts have been assigned to capitals in the Synthesis step of these case studies, or with the lines of reasoning that emerge from the final Reflection step. If you do not agree, it means you have a different view. Expressing these views clearly is one of the skills that this approach to assessing sustainable development can teach. None of the articulations of sustainable development explored here is without objections – indeed, some appear to be impossible in the short term. It is important, in each case, to think also about the longer term and whether short-term sacrifice should be accepted to achieve long-term gain. It is appropriate here to end with a quotation: “Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome” Samuel Johnson (1709 – 1784)
116
CHAPTER 7 Introduction to Case Studies
7.5 EXERCISES E7.1 Explore examples of articulations of sustainable development that went wrong, seeking to identify at which point the mistake was made. Was it because stakeholders’ concerns were not met? Or because critical facts that could have been explored were in fact ignored (like the climate and pollination problem of the ground nut scheme)? Was it because the negative impact of the facts on one of the Capitals was overlooked? Was it because basic knowledge was lacking, so that the consequences of the articulation, when implemented, could not have been foreseen (like ozone-depleting effect of CFCs)? You will find examples of articulations that went wrong in the two books listed under Further Reading. E7.2 Research the history of CFCs as a heat-transfer medium for refrigeration and air-conditioning. At what point in the assessment of CFCs was the mistake made that led to their introduction? (They are now banned.)
Further Reading Rogers Heather: Green Gone Wrong: How Our Economy Is Undermining the Environmental Revolution, Scribner, 2010. ISBN13: 9781416572220; ISBN10: 1416572228 (A readable, first-hand account of the many ways in which wellintentioned green projects can go wrong.). Mulder K, Ferrer D, Van Lente H: What Is Sustainable Technology, Sheffield, UK, 2011, Greenleaf Publishing, ISBN: 978-1-906093-50-1 (A set of invited essays on aspects of sustainability, with a perceptive introduction and summing up.).
Introduction to Case Studies
Chapter Outline 7.1 Introduction and Synopsis 111 7.2 The Structure of the Case Studies 112 7.3 Articulations of Sustainable Development That Went Wrong 113
7.4 Summary and Conclusions 115 7.5 Exercises 116 Further Reading 116
7.1 INTRODUCTION AND SYNOPSIS The six chapters that follow this one are case studies. Each investigates an articulation of sustainable development using the 5-step method developed in Chapters 3 and 4. The topics are as follows: iopolymers to replace oil-based plastics B n Wind farms as a source of renewable energy n Electric cars as the future for clean personal transport n
Materials and Sustainable Development. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-100176-9.00007-4 Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
111
112
CHAPTER 7 Introduction to Case Studies ighting – incandescent, fluorescent, LED L Solar PV for low-carbon power n Bamboo as a sustainable building material n n
They are designed for project-based teaching.
7.2 THE STRUCTURE OF THE CASE STUDIES The case studies follow a standard pattern. Each starts with an Introduction and Background information, providing context and basic, relevant, facts. This leads into the 5-step analysis. Each step is identified by an icon, shown here on the right. 6WHS
6WHS
6WHS
"
6WHS
"
"
Step 1 is a statement of the Prime Objective, size scale and time scale. Sometimes these are explicitly stated in the description of the project. When they are not, we need common-sense estimates. Step 2 is the identification of Stakeholders and their concerns, ideally through interviews and questionnaires. When this is not possible, the National Press plus a web-based search of news reports, Government and NGO position-papers, letters to editors and magazine surveys reveal a great deal about them. The interest and influence of each stakeholder is mapped onto the stakeholder diagram. Step 3 is Fact-finding, using literature and internet searches, to research both the factual background of the articulation and the validity of the concerns expressed by the stakeholders. Facts should, if possible, be checked against a second, independent source. All the facts assembled in the Fact-finding step of the Case Studies are available from open sources but they are scattered. It helps to re-visit the checklists of Chapter 4 at the start of the Fact-finding step. The Appendix of Chapter 17 is an assembly of facts relating to materials, energy and national characteristics; a paragraph highlighted in blue in each case study indicates how this information is found and used. Fact-finding is made easier by using the CES EduPack Sustainability database described in Chapter 15, but this is a convenience not a necessity. Step 4 Synthesis is an examination of how the facts influence Human, Natural and Manufactured Capital. Some facts have a positive impact on one capital but a negative one on another. Articulations designed to reduce harmful emissions, for example, have a positive influence on Natural Capital but may incur expense and
Introduction to Case Studies CHAPTER 7
113
thus create a burden on Financial Capital. Mapping the findings of the Fact-finding step onto the Synthesis matrix shown in Table 4.5 helps to assemble a big picture. In the Case Studies, a “fact” that has a generally positive influence is given a ( + ) and is colored green, one that has a generally negative influence is given a ( – ) and is colored red. The same fact can appear in more than one cell of the matrix. As an example, the use of corn as a feedstock for biopolymer production might carry a ( + ) for Natural Capital but it might carry a ( – ) for Financial Capital because it drives up corn prices. 6WHS
Step 5, the final step, is that of informed Reflection, assessing the picture that has emerged and considering priority changes. It is valuable to do this with two timescales in mind. Many articulations appear, in the short term, to be impractical or misguided because the infrastructure essential for their success is not in place and cannot be created in the short time frame visualized when the articulation was first formulated. Decarbonizing the national electricity grid to allow carbon-free charging of electric cars is clearly something that cannot be done in a 10-year time frame. In the longer (40-year) term, however, this might be possible. Thus many present-day articulations of sustainable development are, as it were, first steps on a longer journey. Does the long-term gain justify the short-term pain? Step 5 is also the moment to ask: Could the vision behind the original articulation be achieved in a lesspainful way than that first proposed? The first three steps in this progression are objective and deterministic; the last two are subjective, and therefore open to debate. To reiterate a point made in Chapter 1: there is no “right” answer to assessing issues as complex as those of sustainable development. Instead there is a thoughtful, well-researched response that accepts the complexity and seeks to work with it to reach a balanced, fair and defensible conclusion.
7.3 ARTICULATIONS OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT THAT WENT WRONG Not all articulations of sustainable development succeed; indeed some fail in spectacular ways. We can learn something from these mistakes. Here are three examples.
114
CHAPTER 7 Introduction to Case Studies
THE GROUNDNUT SCHEME The Groundnut Scheme was a British Government plan to cultivate peanuts (“ground nuts”) in what was then Tanganyika, now Tanzania. The prime objective was to create a sustainable source of vegetable oil for Britain, at that time (1946) short of food. The Ministry of Food authorized £25 million to clear and cultivate 600 km2 of land in the colony. Factfinding (Step 3) for the proposed project was inadequate. Work started before soil samples were taken or water sources identified. Neither the climate and soil nor the lack of insects for pollination suited the peanuts. The project was abandoned after 5 years and an investment of £49 million, roughly £1000 million today, none of it recovered. Wood, A. (1950). “The Groundnut Affair”, London: Bodley Head.
TECHNOLOGY LOCK-IN One way to deal with municipal waste is to burn it, using the recovered heat for district heating. One such project in Stockholm involved the construction of a plant fed by the local waste stream that was current at the time of construction. At the time this seemed attractive in two ways, that of waste disposal and low-cost heating for new apartment blocks, which were therefore built without any alternative heating system. As recycling in Sweden grew more efficient, less waste became available to feed the plant. The heating needs of the apartments remained the same. The plant is now fed in part by waste imported to Sweden from surrounding nations, 800,000 tonnes per year, requiring transport to the plant. The associated costs and environmental impacts make the scheme no longer attractive but the large initial investment and the absence of independent heating for the apartments locks it in. This is an example of a failure of Fact-finding, but one that is hard to anticipate: the missing fact (that the volume of municipal waste would decline because of more efficient recycling) was not known or foreseen at the time the plant was designed. Mulder, K., Ferrer, D. and Van Lente, H. (2011) “What is sustainable technology” Greenleaf Publishing, UK.
CARBON-OFFSETTING GONE WRONG Carbon off-setting is the buying of credits to compensate for the carbon emissions released by an industry or individual. Manufacture, power generation from fossil fuels, heating and some services
Introduction to Case Studies CHAPTER 7
115
(particularly transport) all have large carbon footprints. The idea is that money collected in off-sets be invested in activities elsewhere that absorb or sequester carbon or that replace the use of fossil fuels by energy sources that are carbon free: tree planting, solar, wind or wave power, for example. Much of the off-set investment is in less-developed areas of the world such as Africa, India and south-east Asia. By purchasing sufficient credits, the generator of CO2 can claim to be “carbon neutral”. There are controls in place that are designed to ensure that the money reaches its intended target. Heather Rogers* tracks the path of money collected in this way. The money passes through more than one set of hands before it reaches its target. Her finding is that, often, little of it does; the hands absorb most of it as administrative costs or kick-backs. Here the problem is a human one: the idealism of the carbon off-set scheme was not matched by that of the chain that managed it. *Rogers, Heather (2010) “Green gone wrong: How our economy is undermining the Environmental Revolution” Scribner Publishing.
7.4 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS This chapter sets up the 5-step structure of the case studies that follow. The first three steps are straightforward. The last two are not. You may not agree with the way the facts have been assigned to capitals in the Synthesis step of these case studies, or with the lines of reasoning that emerge from the final Reflection step. If you do not agree, it means you have a different view. Expressing these views clearly is one of the skills that this approach to assessing sustainable development can teach. None of the articulations of sustainable development explored here is without objections – indeed, some appear to be impossible in the short term. It is important, in each case, to think also about the longer term and whether short-term sacrifice should be accepted to achieve long-term gain. It is appropriate here to end with a quotation: “Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome” Samuel Johnson (1709 – 1784)
116
CHAPTER 7 Introduction to Case Studies
7.5 EXERCISES E7.1 Explore examples of articulations of sustainable development that went wrong, seeking to identify at which point the mistake was made. Was it because stakeholders’ concerns were not met? Or because critical facts that could have been explored were in fact ignored (like the climate and pollination problem of the ground nut scheme)? Was it because the negative impact of the facts on one of the Capitals was overlooked? Was it because basic knowledge was lacking, so that the consequences of the articulation, when implemented, could not have been foreseen (like ozone-depleting effect of CFCs)? You will find examples of articulations that went wrong in the two books listed under Further Reading. E7.2 Research the history of CFCs as a heat-transfer medium for refrigeration and air-conditioning. At what point in the assessment of CFCs was the mistake made that led to their introduction? (They are now banned.)
Further Reading Rogers Heather: Green Gone Wrong: How Our Economy Is Undermining the Environmental Revolution, Scribner, 2010. ISBN13: 9781416572220; ISBN10: 1416572228 (A readable, first-hand account of the many ways in which wellintentioned green projects can go wrong.). Mulder K, Ferrer D, Van Lente H: What Is Sustainable Technology, Sheffield, UK, 2011, Greenleaf Publishing, ISBN: 978-1-906093-50-1 (A set of invited essays on aspects of sustainability, with a perceptive introduction and summing up.).