Issue 33, 2012
Articles
Could Perceived Risks Explain the ‘Green Gap’ in Green Product Consumption?
Although green consumption is increasingly popular in the academic literature, practice is still far from commonplace among consumers. Few studies have been conducted to explain consumer reluctance to adopt green products (GPs), particularly with regard to the roles of the various risks consumers perceive in their purchases. However, perceived risks towards GPs could be one of the explanations for the ‘green gap’ – the difference between pro-environmental attitudes and green purchase behaviour. We used a means-end chain (MEC) approach to explore the links that consumers establish between the attributes of green cleaning products, their consequences, and their perceived risks. Findings indicate that consumers perceive greater risk with respect to the functional, financial, and temporal aspects of GPs than to their physical and psychosocial aspects. Social desirability appears to be a strong personal value attached to the purchase of GPs. We also identified positive (pleasant fragrance, natural ingredients, recyclable packaging, lack of health risks, protection of the environment, enhancement of personal and social image) and negative motivations (limited distribution, weaker concentration, less attractive label, higher cost, longer and more complex purchasing process, product ineffectiveness) associated with the purchase of green cleaning products.
The Potential of Plug-in Hybrid and Battery Electric Vehicles as Grid Resources: the Case of a Gas and Petroleum Oriented Elecricity Generation System
Using data pertaining to the wholesale electricity market for Long Island, New York, a market unusually dependent on natural gas- and petroleum-fired generation, the article examines the potential uses of plug-in hybrid and battery electric vehicles for various electricity grid services. The one area in which the vehicles could clearly play an economically favorable role is frequency regulation services, whereby the vehicles would minutely fluctuate the power they feed into the grid or take from it, in order to keep the total power being fed into the grid in constant balance with the total demand for power. The article also discusses the potential pitfalls in designing an institutional architecture for integrating the vehicles into the market for frequency regulation services.
Public Geology at Griffith Park in Los Angeles: A Sample Teachers’ Guide
The paper promotes urban parks as suitable locations for geology field trips. A sample field guide of Griffith Park in Los Angeles is presented. The area described includes fault splays in the Santa Monica Fault Zone, and shows an inferred linkage between the Hollywood Fault and the Eagle Rock Fault. A conjunction of three faults is described, along with prominent jointing.
Paying for Green: An economics literature review on the constraints to financing environmental innovation
In an effort to explore the potential for financing environmental innovation, this paper examines different forms of financing and attempts to evaluate their effectiveness. The study considers both public and private forms of funding as well as providing policy suggestions for the support of appropriate financing for eco-innovation.
- 1 supplemental file
Columns
Environmental Information Sources: Websites and Books
Listing of websites and recently published books on topics related to environmental science.
Reviews
Plato's Revenge: Politics in the Age of Ecology
Book review.
Green Ethics and Philosophy: An A-to-Z Guide; and Green Issues and Debates: An A-to-Z Guide
This is a book review and there is no abstract.
Everyday Environmentalism: Law, Nature & Individual Behavior
This is a book review and there is no abstract.
The Last Refuge of the Mt. Graham Red Squirrel: Ecology of Endangerment
This is a book review and there is no abstract.
Conserving Southern Longleaf: Herbert Stoddard and the Rise of Ecological Land Management
Conserving Southern Longleaf: Herbert Stoddard and the Rise of Ecological Land Management
Paths to a Green World: The Political Economy of the Global Environment
This is a book review and there is no abstract.
Beyond Resource Wars: Scarcity, Environmental Degradation, and International Cooperation
This is a book review and there is no abstract.
Eau Canada: The Future of Canada's Water
This is a book review and there is no abstract.
When the Rains Come: A Naturalist’s Year in the Sonoran Desert
This is a book review and there is no abstract.