The Kaya Identity
Developed by Yoichi Kaya, an engineer at Tokyo University, and a team of carbon experts, the Kaya Identity is an equation for computing the total carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions caused by humans or a specific country. The formula determines the total CO2 emissions by calculating the product of population, GDP per capita, energy use per […]
Keystone Species
A species so critical to an ecosystem that its removal could potentially destroy the entire system. A good example of this are Blue Jays, which plant acorns that give rise to oak forests. Without Blue Jays, oak forests are not naturally replenished and without the forests, all other species in the ecosystem cannot survive. It […]
Kyoto Protocol
An agreement developed by and for industrial nations in 1997 at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) in Kyoto, Japan, to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases by at least 5% below 1990 levels by 2012. The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in 2005 without the US ratifying it. Currently, the EU expects […]
Knowledge Management Systems
Internal corporate information systems focused on the acquisition, codification, and management of data and information within an organization. The best of these systems incentivize employees to input and share their experiences so that others can learn from these experiences and perform better. KM systems can also track customer behavior in fine detail allowing organizations to […]
