Sustainability & Renewable Energy

When using the Library Search Engine (Primo), enter specific search terms to help narrow your focus. For example, searching for "Sustainable Business" is more helpful than simply searching for "Business" and—depending on your particular topic—"Corporate Social Responsibility" or "Impact Investing" might be even better.

Consider also filtering your search results by media type (e.g. books, streaming videos &c) or arranging them by most recent publication date. Newer is not always better, but more recent scholarship does have the benefit of hindsight. Finding current information is especially important for fast-changing fields and technologies, whether it be materials science or corporate tax law.

If you find resources particularly helpful for your research interests, use the catalog entry to your advantage and search for other books or media with similar subject headings and keywords.

While many academic journals require a paid subscription, others may be "open-access," which means that their content is freely available to the public online. These can be an excellent resource for discovering new research, but it may also be very difficult to gauge the quality of the publication. For example: Is the content peer-reviewed? What standards must the scholarship meet?

Some scholars rely on journal rankings and "impact factor" to assess a journal's reliability. This system is imperfect, but is a helpful place to start. The Scimago Journal & Country Rank provides a searchable database on academic literature, journals, and citations.

Below are a few examples of open-access journals related to sustainable business and manufacture:

• Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) - This global non-profit maintains a blog and publishes reports, primers, and case studies related on sustainability in business.

• Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship - This organization publishes research and practical guidance for social entrepreneurs in the global market.

• GreenBiz - An online platform the provides content on business, technology and sustainability.

• All Business - A guide to small business ownership featuring expert advice on a wide range of entrepreneurial topics.

• Bloomberg Business Week - Online portal to the Bloomberg Business Week magazine.

• EconBiz - This resource offers access to business and economics related literature, a virtual reference material, and a calendar of scholarly conferences.

• Federal Reserve Economic Research - This portal provides over 240,000 economic and time series data files, which can be used to analyze market trends and to aid in economic forecasting.

• North American Industry Classification System - Federal statistical agencies use the NAICS standard to classify business establishments when collecting, analyzing, and publishing reports related to the U.S. business economy.

• Orlando Business Journal - News source for business and industry in Central Florida.

• U. S. Society for Ecological Economics (USSEE) - An interdisciplinary consortium of academics and practitioners focusing on theory, policy, and the implementation of sustainable development.

• Bureau of Economic Analysis - An agency of the United States Government, the BEA collects data from national, international, regional, and industry-specific economies in order to produce estimates and analyzes.

• History of Economic Thought - Collects the full text of writings from over 70 different important authors in the field of economics, including Francis Bacon, John Locke, Adam Smith, and many other notable figures.

• Economics Network - Excellent directory to a vast collection of economic research found on the web. While it is based in the UK, the coverage is largely international so there is plenty of relevant research available.

• The Economist - The website of The Economist magazine provides news, columns, ideas, and data on a variety of economic issues.

• Measuring Worth - This site provides historical data on the most commonly cited economic indicators and allows users to calculate economic growth across years.

• U.S. Economic Indicators - Monthly reports of important U.S. economic indicators like gross domestic product, income, employment, production, business activity, prices, money, credit, security markets, federal finance, and international statistics.

• Economic Policy Institute - The Economic Policy Institute is a non-partisan, non-profit think tank of economics experts aimed at researching economic policy as it relates to a broader scale of people. A wide range of issues are studied here, making it an ideal source of economic data and analysis.

• Resources for Economists on the Internet - Sponsored by the American Economic Association, this extensive guide will connect you with many specialized resources related to a variety of economic issues and topics. Definitely worth a look for detailed information.