Energy and Carbon Management Systems

This article examines an important class of information system that serves as the foundation for corporate energy and greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting: energy and carbon management systems (ECMS). Investors, regulators, customers, and employees increasingly demand that organizations provide information about their organizational energy use and GHG emissions. However, there is little transparency about how organizations use ECMS to meet such demands. To shed light on ECMS implementation and application, we collected extensive qualitative interview data from two service‐sector organizations: one that uses a spreadsheet‐based ECMS and another that implemented an ECMS provided by a third‐party vendor. Our analysis of collected data revealed numerous challenges in the areas of business processes, managerial capabilities, data capture and integration, and data quality. Though our study is built on only two organizations and requires confirmation in large‐sample surveys, we provide several recommendations for organizations regarding ECMS. We also provide suggestions for future studies to build on our tentative results.     

A Method for Measuring the Efficiency Gap between Average and Best Practice Energy Use: The ENERGY STAR Industrial Energy Performance Indicator

A common feature distinguishing between parametric/statistical models and engineering economics models is that engineering models explicitly represent best practice technologies, whereas parametric/statistical models are typically based on average practice. Measures of energy intensity based on average practice are of little use in corporate management of energy use or for public policy goal setting. In the context of companyor plant‐level indicators, it is more useful to have a measure of energy intensity that is capable of indicating where a company or plant lies within a distribution of performance. In other words, is the performance close to (or far from) the industry best practice? This article presents a parametric/statistical approach that can be used to measure best practice, thereby providing a measure of the difference, or “efficiency gap,” at a plant, company, or overall industry level. The approach requires plant‐level data and applies a stochastic frontier regression analysis used by the ENERGY STAR^TM industrial energy performance indicator (EPI) to energy intensity. Stochastic frontier regression analysis separates energy intensity into three components: systematic effects, inefficiency, and statistical (random) error. The article outlines the method and gives examples of EPI analysis conducted for two industries, breweries and motor vehicle assembly. In the EPI developed with the stochastic frontier regression for the auto industry, the industry median “efficiency gap” was around 27%.     

The Sankey Diagram in Energy and Material Flow Management

The Sankey diagram is an important aid in identifying inefficiencies and potential for savings when dealing with resources. It was developed over 100 years ago by the Irish engineer Riall Sankey to analyze the thermal efficiency of steam engines and has since been applied to depict the energy and material balances of complex systems. The Sankey diagram is the main tool for visualizing industrial metabolism and hence is widely used in industrial ecology. In the history of the early 20th century, it played a major role when raw materials were scarce and expensive and engineers were making great efforts to improve technical systems. Sankey diagrams can also be used to map value flows in systems at the operational level or along global value chains. The article charts the historical development of the diagrams. After the First World War the diagrams were used to produce thermal balances of production plants for glass and cement and to optimize the energy input. In the 1930s, steel and iron ore played a strategic role in Nazi Germany. Their efficient use was highlighted with Sankey diagrams. Since the 1990s, these diagrams have become common for displaying data in life cycle assessments (LCAs) of products. Sankey diagrams can also be used to map value flows in systems at the operational level or along global value added chains. This article, the first of a pair, charts the historical development. The companion article discusses the methodology and the implicit assumptions of such Sankey diagrams.     

The Sankey Diagram in Energy and Material Flow Management

The Sankey diagram is an important aid in pointing up inefficiencies and potential for savings in connection with resource use. This article, the second of a pair, examines the use of Sankey diagrams in operational material flow management. The previous article described the development of the diagram and its use in the past.
Simple Sankey diagrams follow the requirement of conservation of energy or mass and allow a physical view of production systems. Advanced diagrams integrate stocks of materials beside the flows or show the different (ecological) quality of the materials. For the purpose of management, however, a further step is necessary: to illustrate the economic value of the energy and material flows and to use information from cost accounting. The use of flow charts showing added value or the costs of energy and material flows is particularly important for production systems. This article describes examples of each of these uses as well as assumptions that must be taken into account for Sankey diagrams to be used as an effective aid for decision-making in business and public policy.     

Longitudinal Analysis of the Eco‐Design Management Standardization Process in Furniture Companies

This article discusses how eco‐design management standards have been adopted and the environmental and economic results that have been obtained by the Spanish furniture manufacturers. This is precisely the industry sector in Spain where the dissemination of eco‐design standards has been most important. Using multiple case‐study methodology, the research has shown that, in three companies, more than 90% of the environmental impact of the companies’ products occurs within the manufacturing phase. Companies have implemented tools for life cycle assessment with eco‐indicators values that allow them to assess complex products and evaluate their significant environmental impacts at each stage. The environmental strategies of these companies are based on the continuous improvement of the internal processes and the review and monitoring of their activities. In this approach, the proper choice of materials and the environmental management of the supply chain are the main problems for companies. The outcomes achieved by the companies included some improvements, such as a greater control of product management and a reduction in operating costs, that have allowed them to obtain competitive advantages. Moreover, the adoption of standard management has enabled the companies to drive innovation of products, improve the image of companies and their products, significantly reduce the environmental impact of their products, and adapt to new, more demanding environmental laws and regulations.     

Industrial Symbiosis in the Australian Minerals Industry: The Cases of Kwinana and Gladstone

The realization of regional synergies in industrial areas with intensive minerals processing provides a significant avenue toward sustainable resource processing. This article provides an overview of past and current synergy developments in two of Australia's major heavy industrial regions, Kwinana (Western Australia) and Gladstone (Queensland), and includes a comparative review and assessment of the drivers, barriers, and trigger events for regional synergies initiatives in both areas. Kwinana and Gladstone compare favorably with well‐known international examples in terms of the current level and maturity of industry involvement and collaboration and the commitment to further explore regional resource synergies. Kwinana stands out with regard to the number, diversity, complexity, and maturity of existing synergies. Gladstone is remarkable with regard to unusually large geographic boundaries and high dominance of one industry sector. Many diverse regional synergy opportunities still appear to exist in both industrial regions (particularly in Kwinana), mostly in three broad areas: water, energy, and inorganic by‐product reuse. To enhance the further development of new regional synergies, the Centre for Sustainable Resource Processing (CSRP), a joint initiative of Australian minerals processing companies, research providers, and government agencies, has undertaken several collaborative projects. These include research to facilitate the process of identifying and evaluating potential synergy opportunities and assistance for the industries with feasibility studies and implementation of selected synergy projects in both regions. The article also reports on the progress to date from this CSRP research.     

Progress Toward a Circular Economy in China

Eco‐industrial initiatives, which close industrial loops by turning wastes at one point in a value chain into inputs at another point, are attracting growing interest as a solution to the problem of sustainability of industrial systems. Although Germany and Japan have made important advances in building recycling incentives into their industrial systems and sought competitive advantage from doing so, China is arguably taking the issue even further (in principle) through its pursuit of a circular economy, now enshrined in law as an official national development goal. In this article, we review a number of the eco‐industrial initiatives taken in China and compare them using a common graphical representation with comparable initiatives taken in the West and elsewhere in East Asia. Our aim is to demonstrate some common themes across the case studies, such as the transformation from the former linear economy to a circular economy and the evolutionary processes in which dynamic linkages are gradually established over time. We discuss the drivers of these eco‐industrial initiatives as well as the inhibitors, setting the initiatives in an evolutionary framework and introducing a notion of Pareto eco‐efficiency to evaluate them. We make the argument that China might be capturing latecomer advantages through its systematic promotion of eco‐industrial initiatives within a circular economy framework.     

A High‐Resolution Approach to Mapping Energy Flows through Water Infrastructure Systems

Using data from the water service area of the East Bay Municipal Utility District in Northern California, we develop and discuss a method for assessing, at a high resolution, the energy intensity of water treated and delivered to customers of a major metropolitan water district. This method extends previous efforts by integrating hourly data from supervisory control and data acquisition systems with calculations based on the actual structure of the engineered infrastructure to produce a detailed understanding of energy use in space and time within the territory of a large‐scale urban water provider. We found significant variations in the energy intensity of delivered potable water resulting from seasonal and topographic effects. This method enhances our understanding of the energy inputs for potable water systems and can be applied to the entire delivery and postuse water life cycle. A nuanced understanding of water's energy intensity in an urban setting enables more intelligent, targeted efforts to jointly conserve water and energy resources that take seasonal, distance, and elevation effects into account.     

The Influence of State‐Ownership on Eco‐Innovations in Russian Manufacturing Firms

This paper studies drivers for eco‐innovation in Russian manufacturing firms on a sample of 2,212 innovative firms, of which over 600 introduced eco‐innovations. The companies in our sample specifically mention environmental regulation as a reason for engaging in eco‐innovations. Furthermore, we show that those firms who engage in eco‐innovations are motivated even stronger by the desire to increase resource efficiency. Companies under state ownership are especially prone to a higher likelihood to invest. We conclude that regulations are mostly relevant to the late comers who are obliged to follow minimum standards. On the other hand, the state uses its controlling influence to press companies under their control to exceed these minimum standards. Thus, we argue, state ownership does indeed have an influence on both the likelihood to eco‐innovate and on the levels of spending. Eco‐innovative state‐owned companies are only prone to invest in eco‐innovations, if they get additional money.     

Exploring Greenhouse Gas‐Mitigation Strategies in Chinese Eco‐Industrial Parks by Targeting Energy Infrastructure Stocks

China has more than 1,500 industrial parks, which, collectively, play a crucial role in facilitating industrialization and urbanization. A key characteristic of these parks is that most rely on shareable energy infrastructure, an efficient configuration that can also deliver substantial and sustainable reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This study offers strategies for mitigating GHG emissions from Chinese industrial parks. We focus on extensive data collection for the 106 industrial parks listed in the national demonstration eco‐industrial park (EIP) program. In doing so, we carefully examine the evolution of 608 serviceable energy infrastructure units by vintage year, fuel type, energy output, and technologies of combined heat and power units. We assess direct GHG emissions from both energy infrastructure and the parks, and then identify the features and driving forces of energy infrastructure development in the EIPs. We also offer recommendations for ways to mitigate the GHG emissions from these industrial parks. The energy infrastructure stocks in Chinese EIPs are characterized by heavy coal dependence (87% of capacity) and high ratios of direct GHG emissions versus the total direct emissions of the park (median value: 75.2%). These findings establish a baseline from which both technology and policy decisions can then be made in an informed way.     

Comprehensive Regional Eco‐Efficiency Analysis Based on Data Envelopment Analysis: The Case of Polish Regions

This article examines the concept of eco‐efficiency at a regional level as an approach to promote the sustainable transformation of regions, using the regions of Poland as an example. The data envelopment analysis (DEA) method—the input‐oriented Charnes, Cooper, and Rhodes (CCR) model—was chosen as the eco‐efficiency analysis tool because of its high capability to measure the regional eco‐efficiency. The research process was divided into two stages. First, the chosen instruments of mathematical statistics (e.g., Hellwig's method and coefficient of determination) were applied to ensure an appropriate combination of environmental and economic indicators of the eco‐efficiency equation. Next, the CCR model was used to calculate the eco‐efficiency scores. The results of the study have revealed that the regions of Lubuskie, Mazowieckie, ?l?skie, Warmińsko‐Maurskie, and Wielkopolskie are relatively eco‐efficient, whereas the remaining regions use too many environmental resources in relation to the produced value of goods and services. Six of the eleven eco‐inefficient regions in Poland have increasing returns to scale, that is, the usage of natural resources connected with the negative impact upon the environment rises slower than the values of goods and services. Notwithstanding, it is beneficiary from the perspective of sustainability. The obtained research results are a valuable source of management information for the creation of regional environmental protection strategies and a basis for searching for the causes of eco‐inefficiency.     

Environmental Performance Analysis of Eco‐Industrial Parks in China: A Data Envelopment Analysis Approach

In pursuit of more sustainable development of industry, China has been actively developing eco‐industrial parks (EIPs) for more than a decade. However, the environmental value of these EIPs remains largely unverified. This study aimed to evaluate the environmental performance of national EIPs in China using data envelopment analysis. Eco‐efficiency and environmental performance indices were used to represent the static and dynamic environmental performance of EIPs, respectively. An environmental performance index was formed by combining measures of eco‐efficiency in a dynamic setting with the sequential Malmquist index approach. We obtained three main empirical findings. First, 34 national EIPs exhibited a cumulative environmental performance improvement of 89.4% from 2007 to 2010, which is primarily the result of eco‐efficiency change rather than environmental technical change. Second, compared with the trial EIPs, the demonstration EIPs had a higher average eco‐efficiency (0.611 vs. 0.446 in 2010) and experienced greater average environmental performance improvement (129% vs. 60%). Third, the EIPs retrofitted from high‐tech industrial development zones exhibited much higher average eco‐efficiency (0.798 vs. 0.440 in 2010) than those retrofitted from economic and technical development zones. The key measures supporting the performance improvement and policy implications for the development of EIPs are also discussed.     

Carbon and Water Footprints and Energy Use of Greenhouse Tomato Production in Northern Italy

This study reports on the carbon, water, and energy footprints of tomatoes grown in a greenhouse in Northern Italy and two possible future variations of heating and carbon dioxide (CO₂) fertilization on the current setup. The heat supply in place, consisting of natural gas (NG) and canola oil combustion, is compared to cogeneration and incineration of municipal solid waste for heating and CO₂ from industrial exhaust for fertilization. As a benchmark, the current system is also compared to a conventional system, in which heat is delivered solely based on NG. Each kilogram (kg) of fresh tomatoes (“Cuore di Bue” variety) produced in the current greenhouse emits 2.28 kg CO₂ equivalents (eq) and uses 95.5 megajoules (MJ) eq energy and 122 liters (L) of water. Relative to the system in place, the carbon footprint (CF) is 57.5% and 18% higher with conventional NG heating and cogeneration and is 40% lower with waste valorization. Further, 33%, 55%, and 63% less energy and 9%, 96%, and 14% less water are used in the conventional, cogeneration, and waste valorization scenarios, respectively. This confirms that there are multiple strategies to reduce the impact of the tomato production under consideration.     

An Ecological Economic Critique of the Use of Market Information in Life Cycle Assessment Research

The rising prominence of life cycle assessment (LCA) and similar environmental accounting frameworks reflects increasing awareness of the pressing necessity of managing both for eco‐efficiency and with respect to the macroscale, environmental dimensions of the material/energy flows and emissions that underpin all economic activity. However, by relying on environmentally myopic market signals to inform evaluations of the biophysical dimensions of economic activity through the widespread use of market information (in particular, via economic allocation) in LCA, we are concerned that researchers greatly compromise the value of their work to furthering these objectives. In response to this problem, we provide a systematic critique of the use of market information in attributional LCA and present the case for an ecological‐economic approach to the execution, interpretation, and application of biophysically consistent LCA research specifically intended to elucidate the environmental dimensions of meeting human needs. We further argue that, although LCA has historically been limited to informing eco‐efficiency considerations, it can and should also be used to manage for sustainable scale, which is the first condition of sustainability.     

Feasibility of Water Efficiency and Reuse Technologies as Demand‐Side Strategies for Urban Water Management

Potable residential water efficiency and reuse technologies have seen increasing adoption in recent years and have been estimated to reduce demands by up to 50%. In this work, we used an engineering economic model to estimate the technically feasible levelized cost of water provided by seven above‐code water efficiency (i.e., beyond that required by building code) and reuse technologies within the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) in central Texas. Unlike other demand‐side studies of residential water use, we model uncertainty and variation in technology adoption cost and performance; include reuse technologies; and differentiate between new construction and retrofits. We developed a conservation supply curve to compare the levelized cost of efficiency and reuse technologies with conventional supply‐side water management strategies. We estimate that efficiency and reuse in the residential sector can meet 85% of 50‐year projected needs (the difference between projected demand and estimated supplies) for the LCRA service area. We also estimate lower levelized costs for immediate retrofits of most technologies, promoting incentives for early technology adoption. However, efficiency and reuse technology performance demonstrates considerable uncertainty and variability. The fraction of demands met by demand‐side strategies range from around 60% to 100%. Occupancy drives much of the variability because it significantly affects demand. These results promote designing incentives for adoption of water efficiency and reuse technologies based upon use. We find that water‐efficient showerheads and bathroom faucet aerators perform well over a variety of assumptions, indicating that these technologies should be a priority for municipalities seeking water demand reductions.     

Capacity and Efficiency in Small‐ to Medium‐Sized Biodiesel Production Systems

This article applies principles of industrial ecology to small‐ and medium‐sized biodiesel production facilities. A large potential for gains in efficiency and profit are realized through technology retrofits and the novel application and reuse of process materials. Our basic criteria for sustainability of farm‐scale biodiesel production systems are measured by the following questions: Are all of the resources, mass, and energy flows in the system rational and harmonized? Is the feedstock produced without adverse effects on natural resources or the food chain? We answer these questions by presenting and applying the latest chemical engineering and technology research to support the harmonized and rationalized use of resources and energy within the system boundaries of a farm economy. The feedstock must include refuse and secondary oil sources with low impact on the food chain. Emissions must be reduced to a minimum for a smaller carbon footprint and positive emissions balance from seed to exhaust. Discharges should be avoided; wastes must be turned into primary and intermediary products or energy resources. Proper techniques and routines should serve environmental and human health and safety targets. Reuse of existing assets is considered for improving unit capacity and efficiency, thus lowering costs of conversion. Significant benefits in profitability and production capacity, combined with improved environmental performance, are the main outcomes of the recommended restructuring of production at farm‐scale.     

Service Sector Metabolism: Accounting for Energy Impacts of the Montjuic Urban Park in Barcelona

This article evaluates, from an industrial ecology (IE) perspective, the energy performance of the services inside an urban system and determines their global environmental impact. Additionally, this study determines which are the most energy demanding services and the efficiency of their energy use per visitor and per surface area unit.
The urban system under study is the Montjuïc urban park in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, which can be considered a services system. In this case study we distinguished the different patterns of consumption among the service fields and, by studying each field individually, found the most efficient facilities and identified the most critical services based on energy use per visitor or per square meter. These findings are based on the use of energy flow accounting (EFA), life-cycle assessment (LCA), and the energy footprint to analyze the Park's technical energy consumption.
Electricity consumption represents nearly 70% of the total energy consumed by the services at Montjuïc Park. The forest surface area required to absorb the CO2-equivalent emissions produced by the life cycle of the energy consumed at Montjuïc Park represents 12.2 times the Park's surface area. We conclude this article by proposing the incorporation of the methods of IE within the study of parks containing multiple services to improve energy management, and as a result, to raise the global environmental performance of the service sector.     

Temporal Aspects in Evaluating the Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Benefits of Using Residues from Forest Products Manufacturing Facilities for Energy Production

Methods for carbon footprinting typically combine all emissions into a single result, representing the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) over the life cycle. The timing of GHG impacts, however, has become a matter of significant interest. In this study, two approaches are used to characterize the timing of GHG emission impacts associated with the production of energy from various biomass residues produced by the forest products industry. The first approach accounts for the timing of emissions and characterizes the impact using Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 100‐year global warming potentials (GWPs). The second is a dynamic carbon footprint approach that considers the timing of the GHG emissions, their fate in the atmosphere, and the associated radiative forcing as a function of time. The two approaches generally yield estimates of cumulative impacts over 100 years that differ by less than 5%. The timing of impacts, however, can be significantly affected by the approach used to characterize radiative forcing. For instance, the time required to see net benefits from a system using woody mill residues (e.g., bark and sawdust) is estimated to be 1.2 years when using a fully dynamic approach, compared to 7.5 years when using 100‐year GWPs, with the differences being primarily attributable to methane (CH₄). The results obtained for a number of different biomass residue types from forest products manufacturing highlight the importance of using a fully dynamic approach when studying the timing of emissions impacts in cases where emissions are distributed over time or where CH₄ is a significant contributor to the emissions.