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INTEGRATED ENVIRONMENTAL AND ECONOMIC ASSESSMENT OF TECHNOLOGY PROSPECTS: A CASE STUDY OF FLAT GLASS MANUFACTURING
Abstract
The Fourth Industrial Revolution enables in depth assessment of technology prospects by systematising social, environmental, and other measurable indicators while sustaining economic growth. Although these categories can be integrated into a monetary framework, such unification fails to account for dependencies among resource costs, geographical variations, and business paradigms, thereby introducing significant uncertainties. Economic growth models have long attempted to incorporate social factors. Growth is a function of capital and labour, both of which depend on the efficiency of the technologies employed, while the impetus for change stems from rising demand. These relationships enable an estimation of the long-term investments required to improve living standards. This study proposes incorporating environmental indicators пїЅ quantifying negative impacts пїЅ into the variable matrix, with defined boundaries. Compliance with these thresholds, alongside conventional economic growth, serves as a measure of a technologyпїЅs viability. Authors analyse flat glass manufacturing looking at it through the lens of economic and environmental shifts following the phase-out of obsolete technologies. This study establishes boundaries for qualitative and quantitative indicators and examines their interrelation. Findings suggest that policies promoting resource efficiency align with sustainable development principles, fostering economic growth while mitigating ecological harm.
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