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In this paper, before turning to the analysis of recycling, we move beyond the framework where the rate of interest is determined independently of resource consumption. We examine a variety of models to see how the significant presence of depletable resources (and, by extension, recycleable resources) would affect market interest rates. We conclude from this analysis that our optimality and equilibrium results derived later on do indeed generalize to the case where interest rates are determined endogenously. Then we turn to the analysis of recycling. The assumption of strict depletability can be relaxed to a variety of degrees. The polar opposite would be no depletion whatsoever. Diamonds are a fair example. Their value does not depreciate with use. Less extreme are situations where use does not exhaust a good, but does irrevocably deplete some fraction of it. Chemical compounds used as catalysts might lead such a physical existence. The major recycling model deals with a third case. It is assumed that the commodity is in fixed supply, but that it can be recycled at a cost. Different analytic structures are shown to arise depending on the relationship of marginal extraction costs to the cost of recycling. This most general model can be applied to a wide range of mineral resources for which recycling and additional extraction are both possible. For many resources, the stage of interesting switchovers in economic behaviour may not have been reached. But as demand shifts outward, as costs of extraction increase, and as technological progress yields less costly recyling procedures, we can expect to observe an ever increasing array of materials that are recycled for their resource values. In all of this analysis, capital markets and information are assumed to be perfect; storage costs to suppliers are assumed to be zero. It is shown in all cases that the socially optimal time stream of consumption is identical to the stream produced by perfectly competitive markets. The policy conclusion is, as in the case of absolutely depletable resources, that resource preservation considerations alone provide no justification for governmental intervention into the allocation processes of perfect free markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Throughout the balance of this paper we shall concentrate upon only one of many aspects of the energy problem—the race between the development of breeder fission and the exhaustion of low-cost natural uranium resources. Sequential probabilistic linear programming is employed to calculate optimal electricity plant-mix decisions during the decade of the 1980's—given the uncertainty on the date of availability of the breeder. The model allows for the possibility that future uranium resource scarcities will lead to an increase in electricity prices and hence a reduction in the projected demands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers news briefs related to the textile industry in the U.S. U.S. manufacturers will spend about $615 million on synthetic and natural polysaccharides, gums and polymers for thickening and sizing a wide variety of industrial and consumer products. The textile industry has been given special recognition by the U.S. Department of Commerce for its efforts to conserve energy. A $3 million issue of industrial development revenue bonds has been sold by the City of Dalton, Georgia.

Trends in the U.K. consumption of coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear and hydroelectric energy are discussed, and forecasts of use to the year 2000 A.D. are given. More detailed forecasts of fuel use by different sectors to 1985 are presented. Wastes, the resulting pollution and their likely future trends from the following energy sources are reviewed: primary energy--oil treatment, natural gas transhipment, coal production and nuclear and hydroelectric power; secondary energy--electricity generation, coking and gas making; tertiary energy--use of fuels in transport and the domestic sector. Emission forecasts for several air pollutants from all energy sources to 1985 are presented, the pollution and damage arising being discussed. The need for further waste and pollutant monitoring is then debated, and the necessity of continuing to consider environmental protection in energy policy decisions, along with fuel conservation and relative price is stressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1. The growth and respiration of Azotobacter vinelandii, together with the composition and activity of its membrane-bound respiratory system are compared during nitrogen-fixing batch growth at high and low aeration. 2. The aeration rate determines the length of the lag period, the extent of logarithmic growth and the respiratory activity of the culture; logarithmic growth ceases when the dissolved oxygen concentration drops to approximately 32 µM. A considerable increase in whole cell respiratory activity is observed on changing from low to high aeration conditions. 3. During logarithmic, non-oxygen-limited growth, oxidase activities and respiratory carrier concentrations, with the exception of cytochrome o, remain low; the concentration of cytochrome o starts to rise when the ambient oxygen concentration falls to approximately 120 µM. Phosphorylation efficiencies, particularly at site I, are very low at high ambient oxygen concentrations but increase as the oxygen concentration decreases. Site I P/2e ratio is maxtal (approx. 0.5) only when the oxygen concentration becomes growth limiting. 4. At the turnover point into non-logarithmic, oxygen-limited growth, respiratory carrier concentrations increase considerably; primary dehydrogenase activities increase by 2-fold whereas the activity of the minor phosphorylating terminal pathway increases by 9-13 fold. 5. A working hypothesis is proposed to account for the ability of the ambient oxygen concentration to control both the activity and the energy conservation efficiency of A. vinelandii respiration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A freely competitive market for natural gas is defined to include price floors, so. a freely competitive market for oil is defined to include output controls on the basis of technical considerations or market demand, whichever is lower. The term, in fact, appears to be compatible with any form of market organization which does not involve federal control of the domestic industry. The domestic crude oil industry has always been one or the most inefficient in the whole economy and still is. The inefficiency goes beyond waste of oil to waste of manpower, steel, and capital generally. This inefficiency was originally produced by a combination of private ownership of subsoil rights on the basis of surface ownership and the law of capture. The article also presents suggestions to formulate a sensible oil policy. To achieve defense objectives overlooked or prejudiced by existing arrangements; to limit further depletion of the federal income tax base; to re-establish the principle that price should be a guide to the use of resources as well as a creator of incomes; and, finally, to encourage the industry to pursue rational conservation objectives in place of the present irrational objective of punching more holes in the ground.

The article focuses on the problem of selecting the appropriate public policy toward natural gas focuses on its field price rather than on the somewhat more settled area of control of pipeline rates. The article also discusses the merits and demerits of p

Corrects myths about energy use. Energy conservation from plant shutdowns; Energy requirements of employees working in the second and night shifts; Effects of staggered employee reporting time on energy consumption; School closures to address energy shortages.