Kumar Venkat

Kumar Venkat is president and chief technologist at CleanMetrics Corp., a provider of analytical solutions for the sustainable economy.

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3 Ways to Get Ahead of Climate Change, Without Ditching Oil (Yet)
By Kumar Venkat, February 10, 2012
Despite the painfully slow progress on a global transition to clean energy, there are three relatively simple ideas that, if widely implemented, could offset a big chunk of fossil fuel emissions...
Climate Change and the Consumption Trap
By Kumar Venkat, December 06, 2011
After more than two decades of talking about sustainable consumption -- and in spite of advances in resource efficiencies and renewable energy -- we are not all that much closer to consuming...
The Hidden Costs of Comparative Advantage
By Kumar Venkat, January 31, 2005
The principle of comparative advantage works well in an ideal world where trade incurs no human or environmental costs. But in the real world someone has to ultimately bear every cost, whether it......
Sustainability's Labor Gap
By Kumar Venkat, November 30, 2004
It is all too common for discussions on sustainability to focus entirely on how to make our resource consumption more efficient, and very little on how people can work and earn a living without......
Choosing the Right Technologies
By Kumar Venkat, June 30, 2004
Technology plays a significant role in the development process for third-world countries. But what kinds of technological tools do developing societies need? By Kumar Venkat...
What Kind of Productivity Do We Need?
By Kumar Venkat, March 31, 2004
Is it possible that we are over-optimizing one factor of production -- labor -- at the expense of other resources that are truly scarce? By Kumar Venkat...
Free Trade: Benefit or Peril for the Environment?
By Kumar Venkat, January 06, 2004
Columnist Kumar Venkat explores a new approach to the debate....
Global Trade and Climate Change
By Kumar Venkat, December 14, 2003
With the Kyoto Protocol faltering, global trade may hold the key to a comprehensive climate change agreement. By Kumar Venkat...
Beware the Life Cycle of 'Recycled'
By Kumar Venkat, October 16, 2003
At what point are the benefits of recycling offset by the environmental costs of long-distance transport? By Kumar Venkat...