Diary

Brasov, Romania, 7-9 July 2005

The meeting is being organised by the Centre for Sustainable Energy,Transilvania University of Brasov, Romania, The Ministry of Education and Research, Romania, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands and the University of Applied Sciences in Aachen, Germany.

The three day conference will comprise plenary lectures focusing on the state of the art and targets of sustainable energy. Papers are invited on the following topics:

• 1.

  Traditional energy production systems towards sustainability: CHP systems,Innovative solutions for fossil fuel use, Centralized/decentralized energy production systems.

• 2.

  Renewable energy systems: Solar thermal systems, Solar PV systems, Biomass,Hydrogen technology, Hybrid systems.

• 3.

  Energy efficiency & energy saving: Sustainable processes, Eco-buildings,Energy saving in buildings.

• 4.

  Environmental impact: Water, air and waste management.

• 5.

  Education on sustainable energy.

For more information about the conference please go to: www.unitbv.ro/cse

International Conference on Environmental Effects of Agricultural Practices: Remediation, Prevention, and Sustainability

Hilo, Hawaii, 21-24 August 2005

This conference will provide an opportunity to promote agricultural productivity and environmental quality worldwide. The objectives of the conference are:

• To exchange knowledge about cleanup and restoration technologies for soil and water impacted by past agricultural practices.

• To share international experience in pollution prevention and best management practices to reduce negative impacts of agricultural practices.

• To discuss sustainable agricultural practices.

Presentation topics may include:

• Remediation.

• Environmental health.

• Risk management.

• Sustainable agriculture.

• International initiatives, POPs Convention and others.

• Pollution prevention and best management practices.

• Innovative technologies.

• Indigenous approaches.

• Ecological restoration.

A complete list of suggested topics appears on the conference web site under “Call for Papers”. Complete information can be found at:www.dce.ksu.edu/dce/conf/ag&environment/

Complexity and Ecological Economics Subject Area Session at the Conference: Complexity, Science & Society

University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK, 11-14 September 2005

The idea that human economic systems are embedded within a part of the larger biophysical systems of this planet lies at the heart of the ecological economics. The discourse on ecological economics could be described as transdisciplinary enquiry into the relationships between economic and ecological processes. Complexity theory has served and emerged from the works of scholars in both the economic and ecological discourses and within ecological economics there is a rich intermingling of works, exploring multi-dimensionality, geno-and pheno-typic evolution, entropy and exergy, emergence, uncertainty,ignorance, time, choice and irreversibility.

The main aims of this subject-area session are to introduce the growing community of complexity theory scholars to ecological economics and to illustrate and elaborate the relations between complexity theory, ecology,economics and ecological economics.

Papers are invited toward any of the following three themes:

• 1.

  The entropy law and the economic process – papers will draw upon,critique or develop the writings and theories of Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen;address relationships between the history of the entropy law and the history of economics analysis; address implications and applications of the entropy law for ecological economics theory, method and/or practice.

• 2.

  Complexity cubed – papers will specifically address descriptive and normative challenges arising with combined analysis of multiple, inter-acting,independently complex systems, such as ecology and economy; consider the place(s) and/or role(s) of decision choice events in ecological economic theory,method and practice; specifically address questions concerning governance of ecology economy inter-actions, with reference to complexity theory (with or without further incorporation of theory from political economy, philosophy,public administration, history or other related areas).

• 3.

  Proposals invited – papers relating any aspects of the relationships between ecological economics and complexity theory are invited; proposals for the overall session theme are also invited; submissions made toward this third session will be reviewed by the scientific committee in the same manner as those for the two set sessions, papers will be accepted based on the committee’s scientific assessment; the theme for this session will be treated as an emergent property.

Further details are available at: www.governance.qub.ac.uk/kf.html

9th International Conference on Waste Recycling (Recyklace IX)

Cracow, Poland, 17-19 November 2005

This conference is organised by the Technical University of Ostrava with the cooperation of different scientific and research centres. As this event is located in Cracow, the main co-organisers are Cracow University of Technology,Institute of Inorganic Chemistry and Technology, and Polish Academy of Sciences,Mineral and Energy Economy Research Institute.

Areas of interest for this conference include following subjects:

• 1.

  Wasteless technologies.

• 2.

  Recycling of industrial waste.

• 3.

  Cleaner technologies.

• 4.

  Management of industrial waste.

• 5.

  Methods of environmental assessment (incl. LCA).

• 6.

  Processing of mineral resources and waste, including elementary operations in chemical technologies and related processes.

• 7.

  Best available techniques.

• 8.

  Economical and regulatory aspects in waste management (LCC calculations).

• 9.

  Techniques for sewage and waste purification.

• 10.

  Methods for industrial waste disposal.

• 11.

  Methods for thermal processing of waste.

During the conference there will be a possibility to present a subject as a paper or at poster session. Further details are available from Dr Zbigniew Wzorek at: wzor@chemia.pk.edu.pl