Sustainable Development and the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative

Lee Endress

No 2013-4, Working Papers from University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization, University of Hawaii at Manoa

Abstract: The connection between the emerging field of sustainability science and the economics of sustainable development has motivated a line of interdisciplinary research inspired by the notion of oppositive sustainability.� This notion is founded on three principles or pillars: (1) adopting a complex systems approach to modeling and analysis, integrating natural resource systems, the environment, and the economy; (2) pursuing dynamic efficiency, that is, efficiency over both time and space in the management of the resource-environment-economy complex to maximize intertemporal well-being; and (3) enhancing stewardship for the future through intertemporal equity, which is increasingly represented as intergenerational neutrality or impartiality. This paper argues that the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative (HCEI) fails to satisfy all three pillars of sustainability, and consequently fails to achieve the "sustainability criterion" put forward by Arrow, Dagupta, Daily et al: that total welfare of all future generations not be diminished. HCEI shrinks the economy, contributes negligibly to reduction of global carbon emissions, and sparks rent seeking activity (pursuit of special privilege and benefits) throughout the State of Hawaii.

Keywords: sustainability science; sustainable development; intertemporal welfare; complex systems; dynamic efficiency; time preference; intergenerational equity; renewable energy; rentseeking (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O33 Q01 Q42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 16 pages
Date: 2013-03
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://uhero.hawaii.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/WP_2013-4.pdf First version, 2013 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hae:wpaper:2013-4

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization, University of Hawaii at Manoa Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by UHERO ().