Improved emergy indices for the evaluation of industrial systems incorporating waste management

Emergy analysis is able to account for ecosystems’ contribution to industrial activity. Accordingly, it is an ecologically conscious tool useful for assessing the environmental impact and sustainability of industrial systems. The emergy-based approach requires proper system boundary definitions and uses several standard indices. In this article some perspectives on the deficiencies of three standard emergy indicators - environmental loading ratio (ELR), emergy yield ratio (EYR) and emergy index of sustainability (EIS) - when applied to industrial systems involving waste management are put forward and suggestions for overcoming them given. In addition, in order to account for the impact of waste emissions on the environment, a simple impact amplification factor is proposed for inclusion in the improved emergy indicators. To demonstrate their usefulness and highlight their superiority over standard indices, the improved emergy indicators are used to evaluate the interaction between a commercial polyethylene production process incorporating waste management and its surrounding environment.     

An environmental sustainability assessment of China’s cement industry based on emergy

As one of important building materials, the sustainability of cement production is widely concerned in the world. This research evaluated the sustainability of China’s cement industry in 2010 using emergy analysis. Several emergy based indicators were adopted to describe the comprehensive performance of this system from different angles, including Percentage of renewability (%R), Unit emergy value (UEV), Emergy yield ratio (EYR), Emergy exchange ratio (EER), Environmental load ratio (ELR) and Emergy sustainable index (ESI). The research results show that (1) Mineral resources have absolute contribution to China’s cement production; (2) Coal is the main energy source for China’s cement industry; (3) China’s cement industry has relatively weak competition ability due to relatively high ratio of purchased inputs; (4) China’s other industries have benefited greatly from this industry by exchanges; (5) China’s cement industry cannot keep sustainable in the long run due to its high environmental load; (6) the UEV of Chinese cement in 2010 is 3.64E15 sej/t (based on the emergy baseline 15.83E24 sej/yr). Finally, the related policy implications are proposed from four aspects, including (1) Accelerating the adjustment of process structure and technical innovation; (2) Promoting the substitution of raw materials or fuels; (3) Raising the price of cement products; (4) Decreasing the export of cement products.     

The ecological potential of a restored abandoned quarry ecosystem in Mt. Mufu, Nanjing, China

In order to conserve the remaining rare dolomite rocks and restore Mt. Mufu, a forest restoration program has been implemented over ten years. Emergy analysis was used to evaluate the current status of the restored ecosystem, in addition, the ecological potential of the fully developed system was predicted and analyzed. Four main emergy indices of the two systems, EYR, EIR, ELR, and ESI, were calculated and compared. In addition, a relatively new emergy index, PYR, was used to evaluate the restored forest system's ecological potential. The results revealed that the current restored forest system was still in the initial stage of ecological restoration but it has already resulted in several positive effects, such as richness of plant biodiversity and improving air condition. The value of the predicted system's PYR is as great as 201.53, demonstrating that the restored forest system has a great potential for ecological development in the future.     

城市可持续发展能力的能值评价新指标

能值理论、方法克服了传统能量与经济分析方法的诸多缺憾,为城市可持续发展的研究提供了全新的视角。但作为一种新兴的理论,其评价指标,尤其是针对城市可持续发展能力的综合评价指标尚不完善。从生态经济效益及环境影响的全面表达角度,剖析了国际现行可持续发展能值指标(ESI)的不足之处,并在此基础上拓展构建了新的可持续发展能值指标(EISD)。以珠江三角洲中山市1996～2000年的发展动态为例进行了案例研究。结果表明,新拓展的可持续发展能值指标．在系统效益评价中考虑了系统能值产出的实际经济效果,在环境影响评价中同时考虑了系统的消耗影响和排放影响,可以更全面明晰的评价城市系统的可持续发展能力、状态及其成因,为系统的优化指明方向。     

Emergy evaluations of three aquaculture systems on wetlands surrounding the Pearl River Estuary,China

Emergy and economic analysis, accompanied by sensitivity analysis, were used to evaluate the ecological economic characteristics of three fish aquaculture systems on wetlands surrounding the Pearl River Estuary in China. The sustainability of these systems was compared to two aquaculture systems and two wetland systems, to provide reference conditions for the best use of limited wetland areas. We found that the three systems studied had similar emergy characteristics, despite their very different economic characteristics. Counter intuitively, the high economic input and output mode did not have higher environmental impact or lower sustainability compared with low economic input and output mode. Apparently, the sustainability of an intensive aquaculture system is determined mainly by how many natural renewable resources are exploited. The large differences in economic benefit and environmental impacts between the mangrove reserve and the aquaculture systems demonstrated the important role of nature reserves on preserving the sustainability of an estuary. Transformity (TR) and Emergy Yield Ratio (EYR) are both indicators of system efficiency, but from different points of view, and they produced opposite results in assessing the efficiency of the same system in this study. The ratio of EYR to TR might be used in addition to the EYR and transformity as a discreet perspective on overall system production efficiency.     

米草生态工程加环效益能值分析

根据生态工程加环原理,在互花米草生态工程(Spartina alterniflora Ecological Engineering,SAEE)基础上设计一个深度开发的增益环,选取天然植物纤维与互花米草提取物——生物矿质液(Biological Mineral Liquid,BML)共同制成降脂胶囊,并应用能值分析的方法对SAEE+胶囊的加环设计(SAE Eand Capsule SAEEC)进行了经济、生态、社会复合效益评估,与SAEE相比,加环设计(SAEEC)的经济投入增加,能值投资比率(Emergy investment ratio,EIR)是SAEE的1．37倍;经济收益是SAEE的2．13倍,经济收益产投比是SAEE的1．46倍;净能值效益(Netemergy yield,NEY)是SAEE的3．18倍,净能值产出率(Evaergy yield ratio,EYR)是SAEE的2．20倍,经济效益和生态效益均得到提高,体现了生态工程加环增益的基本设计原则。     

基于能值分析的深圳市三个小型农业生态经济系统研究

应用能值分析方法,通过能值转换率,把深圳市3个农场生态经济系统的能量流、物质流、货币流和信息流转化为统一量纲———能值。在绘制能值系统概图和编制能值分析表的基础上,建立能值评价指标体系对3个系统的能值输入结构、生产效率、环境负载和可持续发展状况等进行分析和比较。此外,比较经济指标与能值分析结果,并采用情景分析对农场未来发展做出预测。能值分析方法不仅考虑环境及其服务功能对经济生产的贡献,同时能值交换率和能值产出率把系统经济流入和产出纳入分析过程,结合环境和经济评价,可用于综合分析农场生态效益和经济效益。研究结果表明:西丽果场是可持续发展能力最高的农场,碧岭现代农业科技园次之,而山海农场的可持续发展能力最低。都市农场应该大比例利用可更新资源,努力发展农业生产,并且积极提升农业的技术含量。在此基础上,控制规模合理地发展旅游经济,走高科技农业生态旅游之路。     

Studies of emergy flow in a compound agro-ecosystem in the Taihu Lake area, Jiangsu Province, China

Emergy flow in a compound agro-ecosystem in the Taihu Lake area of Jiangsu province, China, is studied with a set of numeric models. Model parameters are based on 11 years of records. Results show that total emergy production of two producing subsystems will decline although emergy input into the two subsystems and emergy production of the fish subsystem are growing. Emergy efficiency of the producing subsystems, both gross and net, will decrease, while emergy efficiency of the compound ecosystem will grow up first and then gradually decline. Net emergy production of the producing subsystems will gradually decline, but that of the compound ecosystem will firstly increase and then decrease. Net emergy allocation per human capita in the compound ecosystem will slowly inecrease, but it will decrease if the animal subsystem is removed from the ecosystem; this shows that the animal subsystem is a necessary part of the compound ecosystem. Relative to buffering capacity, emergy efficiency of the compound ecosystem, and recent living quality of local people, sustainable development of the ecosystem is discussed.     

H. T. 奥德姆与中国的能值研究

简要论述了由霍华德.汤姆.奥德姆创立的能值理论与方法在中国的传播并综述了多年以来中国的能值研究进展。能值理论与方法在中国的传播始于1990年霍华德·汤姆·奥德姆第二次访华.在此期间,即1990年8月1日至1990年8月21日他访问了台北、广州、北京和沈阳,并作了多个学术报告,如“自组织与系统生态学”和“能值分析与环境评价”等。从此以后,我国的广州、北京、南京和沈阳、佛山等多座城市的大学和科研机构先后开展了10多年的能值研究,能值理论应用于多个领域,包括国家、省、市、自然保护区等生态经济系统的能值评估、农业生态系统、城市生态系统、环境与资源、废水处理、生态工程和工业的能值评价。用中文或英文发表关于能值的学术论文60多篇,由霍华德.汤姆.奥德姆所著的3本关于能值的书被翻译为中文,能值概念、理论和方法被10多部中文书刊引用,2本关于能值的中文专著已发表。能值分析的研究工作已得到国家自然科学基金资助,其中有些课题已结题,有些课题正在进行中。能值理论与方法已被许多中国生态学家所接受,但在应用过程中仍存在许多问题。     

Emergy evaluation of the impact of waste exchanges on the sustainability of industrial systems

Emergy evaluation provided global performance indicators that were used to assess the impact of waste exchanges on the sustainability of a sulfuric acid production system (SAPS) and a titanium dioxide production system (TDPS) in Pan-zhi-hua City, China. Impact of emissions was quantified in terms of emergy and integrated into the classic emergy-based indicators. Results show that waste exchanges improve the sustainability of the two systems, although the SAPS benefits more from the waste exchanges than the TDPS from an economic perspective however, the impact of emissions reduces their sustainability to some degree. This study creates awareness and brings new insight to the gains achieved with resource recovery from waste in the interrelated industrial systems, which is derived from the mutualism relationship existing in natural ecosystems. Finally, this paper puts forward some corresponding suggestions.     

稻鸭共作有机农业模式的能值评估

应用能值分析方法对稻鸭共作有机农业模式（模式Ⅰ）和对应的稻麦常规生产模式（模式Ⅱ）进行比较研究,并比较了两种模式的生态经济效益.结果表明,模式Ⅰ的能值效益高,自组织能力、可持续发展能力强,产品安全性高,净能值产出率（EYR）、系统产出能值反馈率（FYE）、能值可持续指标（ESI）分别是模式Ⅱ的1.57、14.1和8.71倍;基于能值的产品安全性指标（EIPS）模式Ⅰ为0,模式Ⅱ为-0.66;模式Ⅰ对环境的压力小于模式Ⅱ,能值投资率（EIR）,环境负载率（ELR）分别是模式Ⅱ的40.1%和18.3%;但模式Ⅰ的经济效益低于模式Ⅱ,其产出、毛收入和净效益分别低于模式Ⅱ15.7%、9.6%和29.6%;以能值 货币价值计算,模式Ⅰ的产投比、毛收入和净收入分别高于模式Ⅱ50%、102.6%和136.4%.随着生产系统的优化和市场对有机食品认知程度的提高,模式Ⅰ的经济效益具有提高的潜力.     

Emergy evaluation of organic rice-duck mutualism system

Rice-duck mutualism is one form of ecological engineering which makes use of the symbiotic relationship between rice and ducks to more effectively utilize materials, reduce chemical fertilizer and pesticide inputs, increase product safety and overall productivity and decrease the pollutants discharged from rice-fields. This is becoming a popular mode for organic rice production in China and it can be used as one measure taken in the drainage area to assist in the ecological rehabilitation of lakes. This study applied the emergy evaluation method to analyze the resource use and environmental impact of organic rice-duck mutualism (mode 1) compared with the conventional wheat/rice rotation system (mode 2) in the same farm to evaluate its sustainability and ecological and economic benefits and provide suggestions for optimizing this system. The results showed that mode 1 produced greater emergy benefits, and had higher self-organization, lower environmental pressure and higher product safety. The net emergy yield ratio (EYR), feedback ratio of yield emergy (FYE) and emergy sustainable index (ESI) of mode 1 were 1.57 times, 14.10 times and 8.71 times those of mode 2, respectively, and the emergy index of product safety (PSI) was 0 in mode 1 and −0.66 in mode 2. The emergy investment ratio (EIR) and environmental loading ratio (ELR) were 40.1 and 18.3% of those of mode 2. The economic benefit of mode 1 was lower than mode 2. The economic output, gross income and net income of mode 1 were 15.7, 10.8 and 35.4% less than those of mode 2, respectively, but using Em$, the output, gross income and net income of mode 1 were 47.4, 161.2, 87.3% higher than mode 2. With the development of markets for organic foods, mode 1 has the potential to achieve better economic benefits.     

基于能值理论的循环复合农业生态系统发展评价——以福建省福清星源循环农业产业示范基地为例

循环农业是当前农业可持续发展理念的具体运作模式。对能值分析方法优化,使其更适合循环复合生态系统的应用上进行优化,并以福建省福清星源循环农业产业示范基地为例验证,评价复合生态系统的可持续发展程度和经济效益。结果表明改进的能值分析方法对循环复合农业生态系统的可持续发展评价更科学,复合系统的可持续发展指数比单纯的生猪养殖提高23.44%—33.86%,在4种组合的循环模式中以"生猪养殖-沼气工程-有机肥生产-种植业"循环复合生态系统整体效益最佳,其可持续发展指数最高,环境负载率最低,净能值产出率仅略低于"生猪养殖-沼气工程-种植业"复合系统。     

Renewability and emergy footprint at different spatial scales for innovative food systems in Europe

Food production is increasingly being challenged by limited resources of energy and land as well as by growing demand for food. In a future with less availability of fossil fuels, land area will become very important for capturing the flow-limited renewable resources. Emergy assessment has been applied to calculate scale dependent indicators, which account for the land area needed, if agricultural systems were to be supported solely on renewable sources. These indicators are designated emergy footprints (EmFs) and expand the concept of support area defined previously in emergy accounting. The EmF (in ha) is calculated based on renewable empower densities which convert resource use into area equivalents able to capture renewable flows. The spatial division between on-site, local and non-local land areas applied in this study, identifies where the support area is located in order to apply a site-specific renewable empower density. A new indicator applying the EmF is the emergy overshoot factor, which estimates the ratio between EmF and the geographical system boundary (in ha). We apply this approach on three innovative food supply systems in Europe located at farms characterised by combining high diversity, reduced use of resources, nutrient cycling and local sales. The question is whether this type of food system may be considered sustainable from a resource use point of view measured as resource use efficiency by means of unit emergy value (UEV), renewability (R_on-site and R_global), direct and indirect occupation of land on different spatial scales (EmF and Emergy overshoot factor) and productivity per ha of the directly observed areas and the EmF area, respectively. Labour inputs constituted between 13 and 80% of the total emergy flow. The proportion of resource use from renewable sources was between 31 and 60% when excluding the inputs of direct labour. The food system with the lowest UEV, excluding direct labour, had the highest emergy overshoot factor, which even exceeded the global average of seven. However, this system had the highest productivity. The system with the highest UEV, excluding direct labour, had the lowest overshoot factor. In conclusion, each food system strategy has its pros and cons and it depends on the priorities, which is judged the most sustainable from an emergy point of view.     

Development of concepts for human labour accounting in Emergy Assessment and other Environmental Sustainability Assessment methods

Human labour is central to the functioning of any human-influenced process. Nevertheless, Environmental Sustainability Assessments (ESAs) do not systematically include human labour as an input. Systematic omission of labour inputs in ESAs may constitute an unfortunate, significant bias in favour of labour intensive processes and a systematic underestimation of environmental impacts has implications for decision-making. A brief review of the evaluation of human labour in ESAs reveals that only Emergy Assessment (EmA) accounts for labour as standard. Focussing on EmA, we find, however, that there is no agreement on the calculation method for labour. We formalise the calculation of human labour unit emergy values (UEVs) as being the ratio between the emergy resource basis of the labour system and a proxy for labour, with or without allocation to account for different qualities of labour. The formalised calculation approach is demonstrated using examples from the literature (USA, with allocation based on educational level; Ghana, with allocation based on income level; the World, with no allocation). We elaborate on how labour may be considered as endogenous or exogenous to the studied system, and how inputs can be categorised as direct labour taking place in the system under study and indirect labour occurring upstream in the supply chain associated with the studied system. With appropriate modifications, the formalised calculation approach and the distinction between direct and indirect labour may be transferred to other ESA methodologies. Concerning EmA, we recommend that product UEVs should systematically be calculated with and without labour, and that working hours rather than salary should be used when accounting for labour inputs. We recognise that there is a risk of double counting of environmental impacts when including labour. We conclude, however, that it can be ignored for most production systems, since only a negligible fraction of emergy already accounted for is likely to be included in the emergy flow from labour inputs.     

顺德产业生态系统能值动态分析

虽然当前的产业生态学研究多集中于生产线、企业和产业生态园尺度,但城市无疑是产业系统基本组合单元,城市区域尺度的产业生态学研究是产业生态学研究尺度上推的必经阶段。我国产业生态系统及城市化进程的空间分布不均,以顺德等为代表的东南沿海市(县)产业生态系统的发展历程对中西部地区有拉动和借鉴的双重作用。以能值理论方法为基础,结合环境经济学和区域经济学方法,从系统开放性、本土性、闭路循环性和经济性4个方面,投入和产出端2个角度,对顺德市产业生态系统改革开放22a的发展动态进行分析研究。结果发现,22a系统能值总用量增加15.65倍,能值密度增加16.31倍,人均能值使用强度增加9.70倍,外部不可更新资源用量增加16.32倍。能值废弃率在20世纪80年代不断上升而在90年代迅速下降,但环境负载率则表现为无规律的波动状态。20世纪90年代,系统能值出口率上升至1978年的4.10倍,但能值交换率小于1。结果表明,改革开放22a,顺德产业生态系统自组织能力明显提高,土地资源利用率不断提高,但系统对周边负熵资源,尤其是不可更新资源的依赖性不断提高,人力资源生产力水平提高相对较慢。20世纪90年代污染物处理产业发展迅速,但在系统资料消耗端的绿色化方面则无显明进展。系统对不可更新资源的利用效率不高,产出商品在市场交换中处于表面繁荣背景下的生态经济不利地位。系统已到了向知识密集型发展道路转变的拐点域。能值理论方法与环境经济学和区域经济学分析的整合可以满足产业生态系统分析评价要求,针对产业生态系统特点,进行多尺度、多方面联立评价,实现系统发展现状、动态与动因的整合分析,对产业生态系统优化点的发现与优化方向的确定有直接的意义。     

An emergy evaluation of the sustainability of Chinese crop production system during 2000–2010

Crop production systems are the basis of human survival and development because they can produce grain and industrial raw materials. As one of the largest agricultural countries in the world, the sustainability of China's crop production system is being concerned widely with its economic development and increasing population. This study adopted emergy analysis to explore the comprehensive performance of this system. A set of emergy based indicator system was used to investigate its economic benefit, environmental pressure and sustainability from 2000 to 2010. The study results show that the purchased nonrenewable input makes the largest contribution to the total input (average value 60.73% of the total input), which mainly derived from agricultural mechanic equipments and chemical fertilizer; on the average, beans has the largest share (20.20%) to the total emergy output, next from rape seed (18.36%), then from peanuts (15.85%), fruits (15.74%), wheat (8.26%), rice (8.07%), corn (7.66%) and cotton (4.60%) accordingly, and the other four categories crops just have a contribution of 1.28%; the production efficiency of China's crop production system has been raised by 11.54% with decrease of the indicator unit emergy value of product (UEVP) from 1.82E09 sej/g to 1.61E09 sej/g, the dependence of this system on economic market has increased by 24.92% with growth of the indicator EIR from 6.22 to 7.77, its economic benefit has been reduced by 0.59% with decline of the indicator EYR from 1.69 to 1.68, and its environmental loading has raised by 57.89% with growth of the indicator ELR from 1.33 to 2.10; the sustainability of China's crop production system is reduced by 37.01% with decrease of the index ESI from 1.27 to 0.80, during this study period. Based on these study results, the following measures should be emphasized in future, including raising the efficiency of purchased non-renewable resources (especially agricultural mechanical equipments and chemical fertilizer), using other methods of cultivation inherently more sustainable (e.g. replacing chemical fertilizer with organic fertilizer, recycling organic wastes, biological control of agricultural pests, use of local renewable energy, and more), strengthening supervision of the related industrial processes and further promoting agricultural environmental protection.     

两种典型养鸡模式的能值分析

畜禽养殖的有机化过程被认为是实现养殖业持续发展与保障食品安全的重要途径.运用能值分析方法对两种典型养鸡模式——家庭有机饲养和林地散养进行了系统分析,并结合Castellini等人对意大利所做的同类研究(工业规模化笼养和草地散养)进行了横向对比.结果表明,林地散养生产系统的能值产出率为1.11,与家庭有机饲养系统相近,而在环境负载率和可持续发展能力方面的表现,均差于家庭有机饲养生产系统,说明林地散养模式尽管通过提高系统生产空间,理论上接近畜禽养殖的有机化理念,但由于大量的禽舍建筑、医药及其饲料等方面的外部资源输入,反而使得系统的环境负载率提高,可持续性大大下降.与意大利的结果比较发现,我国两个养殖系统的社会经济成本高、对外部不可再生资源的依赖程度较高,有机化目标并没有很好的实现.因此,我国现有的有机化畜禽养殖方式和外部制度都有待进一步改进和创新.     

基于能值理论的有色金属矿产资源开采生态补偿机制

矿产资源为中国经济的高速增长提供了不竭的动力,但在其开采过程中也带来了诸多的环境问题。在当今资源、环境的约束下,如何采取适宜的量化方法来表征矿产资源开采所带来的生态环境损失,并在此基础上确定合理的生态补偿标准,成为了一项重要的研究课题。选取我国有色金属采选业为研究案例,并基于能值分析方法,核算了矿产资源开采过程中造成的直接、间接环境损失,提出了生态补偿指数,用以为生态补偿标准的制定提供参考依据。对能值分析指标的计算和分析结果表明,从可持续发展角度,生态补偿指数为89.18%,说明我国有色金属采选业的环境投入较高,需要的补偿费用较多;能值产出率为9.24,表明有色金属采选业的生产效率高;环境承载率为238,呈现高负荷状态,区域环境所承受的压力巨大;可持续发展指数为0.039,表明我国有色金属采选业处于不可持续状态,急需采取相关环境保护措施进行调整。从经济成本角度,我国有色金属采选业需要的生态环境补偿费用约为4.38×109元,现阶段征收的资源税费远低于生态恢复的治理费用,不能够覆盖生态修复治理成本。最后根据本文研究内容得出我国有色金属采选业面临的主要问题,分别从宏观角度、微观角度及长远角度3个方面给出了相应的政策建议。     

生态系统的能值分析

论述了国际生态学最新发展的能值(Emergy)分析方法与原理,并与能量分析作比较研究.任何产品或劳务形成过程中所需投入的直接和间接的一种有效能之量称为其具有的能值;单位能量相当的能值称为该能量的能值转换率.能值和能值转换率揭示了能量的能质、等级及其真实价值;以能值尺度可衡量比较不同类别的能量,综合分析各种生态系统的生态流,定量研究生态与经济效率及其关联.