1. ENEA Workshop Day 1 ~ Lecture 3… EMERGY and Environmental Accounting

2. Organization of Lecture:  Brief review of the concepts of energy hierarchy and definitions of emergy and related quantities.  Overview of global emergy flows  Emergy and transformities of many products and processes of the biosphere  Several case studies of evaluations of energy technologies.  A summary discussion Emergy Analysis (EMA) compared with Embodied Energy Analysis (EEA).

3. A. Emergy Concepts and Principles… Emergy Transformity Specific emergy Relationship to money, etc…

4. Emergy: the energy of one type that is embodied in any form of energy, good, or service. Sometimes thought of as ENERGY MEMORY EMPOWER = emergy per time EMPOWER DENSITY = empower per area A. Emergy Concepts and Principles…

5. ENERGY... The ability to cause work. Since all energy can be converted 100% to heat, it is convenient to express energy in heat units (BTUs, calories, joules). A. Emergy Concepts and Principles…

6. There are many “forms” of energy…. Sunlight… Wind… Geopotential energy of elevated water… Fuel… Electricity… Information... A. Emergy Concepts and Principles…

7. ENEA Workshop Day 1 ~ Lecture 3… Not all forms of energy are equivalent... sunlight = wind = fuels = electricity While they can all be converted to heat…one cannot say that calories of one form of energy are equal to calories of another form in their ability to cause work... A. Emergy Concepts and Principles…

8. Work may be thought of as an energy transformation process… two or more energies are “processed” to make another form of energy.

9. Energy Quality…  related to concentration  flexibility  ease of transportation  convertibility A. Emergy Concepts and Principles…

10. Energy Quality…  The concept of quality requires a new concept of energy  One that recognizes that not all forms of energy have the same qualities  Needed: A quantitative means of measuring quality….

11. EMERGY EMERGY - The energy required directly and indirectly to make something  Expressed in energy of the same FORM … usually solar energy  Sometimes called Energy Memory = Emergy  Similar to Embodied Energy  Units = Solar Emergy joules = sej A. Emergy Concepts and Principles… Energy Quality…

12. EMERGY EMERGY - The energy (of one form) required directly and indirectly to make something A. Emergy Concepts and Principles…

13. Units of EMERGY... Solar emergy joules… or Solar emjoules… or “sej” A. Emergy Concepts and Principles…

14. Hierarchy… A hierarchy is a form of organization resembling a pyramid where each level is subordinate to the one above it. …in ecology, hierarchical organization is a group of processes arranged in order of rank or class in which the functions at each higher level become more broadly embracing than at the lower level. Thus we often speak of food- chains as hierarchical in organization.

15. All systems are organized as hierarchies…. Many small components and fewer and fewer larger components. B. Review of concepts and definitions... Hierarchy…

16. Food chain…with each successive energy transformation, there is less energy, but of a higher quality B. Review of concepts and definitions...

17. Energy Chain… the food chain can be thought of as an energy transformation chain. At each transformation step some energy is degraded and some is passed to the next step in the chain. B. Review of concepts and definitions...

18. The energy food chain of techno- humans… B. Review of concepts and definitions...

19. Emergy Intensities… The amount of emergy required to produce a given amount of mass or energy of a product Output = Joules or grams Emergy Intensity = Output in Emergy Output (Joules or grams

20. Emergy Intensities… B. Review of concepts and definitions...  If units are Sej/J they are called Transformities  If units are Sej/g they are called Specific Emergies  We also use Sej/$

21. …are a kind of efficiency measure, since they relate all the outputs from processes to their inputs. The lower the transformity or specific emergy, the more efficient the conversion. Emergy Intensities… B. Review of concepts and definitions...

22.  From 2 nd Law of Thermodynamics: There are some minimum emergy intensities for processes consistent with maximum power operations.  While there is no way to calculate them directly, the lowest emergy intensity found in long-operating systems is used as an approximation.  When estimating a theoretical potential of some system, it is appropriate to use the best (lowest) emergy intensity known. Emergy Intensities… B. Review of concepts and definitions...

23. Emergy and Solar Transformity... B. Review of concepts and definitions...

24. Typical Solar Transformities B. Review of concepts and definitions...

26.  By using a standard conversion factor, we can express emergy in dollar equivalents…  In the same way as we could express dollars in energy equivalents (e.g. liters of gas) EmDollars… the money equivalent of emergy. A. Emergy Concepts and Principles…

27. Emergy/Money Ratio… USA A. Emergy Concepts and Principles…

28. Emdollars of the US Economy Total Emergy Use Gross Domestic Product = 1.0 E12 sej/dollar So... Every dollar spent in US economy has “embodied” in it, 1 E 12 sej of emergy A. Emergy Concepts and Principles…

29. 3.6 E18 sej/yr 1.0 E12 sej/$ = 3.6 E6 em$ Express emergy as Emdollars for ease of recognition... An emergy input of 3.6 E18 sej/yr… becomes... 3.6 E6 Em$ A. Emergy Concepts and Principles…

30. Environmental support of human economy... B. Review of concepts and definitions...

31. Relationship of money to emergy... B. Review of concepts and definitions...

32. Environmental - Economic Interface System B. Review of concepts and definitions...

33. Emergy Benefit to Purchaser... B. Review of concepts and definitions...

34. Relationship of emergy, money, and the economic concept of “value added” B. Review of concepts and definitions...

35.  Emergy accounting uses the thermodynamic basis of all forms of energy, materials and human services, but converts them into equivalents of one form of energy.  Emergy accounting is organized as a top down approach where first a system diagram of the process is drawn to organize the evaluation and account for all inputs and outflows.  Tables of the actual flows of materials, labor and energy are constructed from the diagram and all flows are evaluated.  The final step of an emergy evaluation involves interpreting the quantitative results. C. Emergy Evaluation Procedure…

36.  In some cases, the evaluation is done to determine fitness of a development proposal.  In others, it may be a question of comparing different alternatives, or  the evaluation may be seeking the best use of resources to maximize economic vitality. So the final step in the evaluation is to calculate several emergy indices that relate emergy flows of the system being evaluated to predict economic viability, carrying capacity, or fitness. Evaluating Alternatives… C. Emergy Evaluation Procedure…

37.  Recently the evaluation process has been termed “Emergy Synthesis”.  Synthesis is the act of combining elements into coherent wholes.  Rather than dissect and break apart systems and build understanding from the pieces upward, emergy synthesis strives for understanding by grasping the wholeness of systems.  By evaluating complex systems using emergy methods, the major inputs from the human economy and those coming “free” from the environment can be integrated to analyze questions of public policy and environmental management holistically C. Emergy Evaluation Procedure… Emergy Synthesis

38. 1. Left-right Energy Systems Diagram Systems diagrams are used to show the inputs that are evaluated and summed to obtain the emergy of a resulting flow or storage. The purpose of the system diagram is to conduct a critical inventory of processes, storages and flows that are important to the system under consideration and are therefore necessary to evaluate. C. Emergy Evaluation Procedure…

39. 2. Preparation of an Emergy Evaluation Table  Tables of the actual flows of materials, labor and energy are constructed from the diagram.  Raw data on flows and storage reserves are converted into emergy units, and then summed for a total emergy flow to the system. C. Emergy Evaluation Procedure…

40. Example emergy evaluation table…

41. 3. Emergy of Storages  When calculating the emergy of stored quantities (storages), it is necessary to sum the emergy of each of the inputs for the time of its contribution.  Input emergy inflows are multiplied by the time it takes to accumulate the storage and exported yield, if any. C. Emergy Evaluation Procedure…

42. 4. Evaluations Based on Averaged Inputs  All systems pulse with time intervals and pulse strength that increase with scale.  To evaluate a process on one scale of time and space usually means using averages for each of the inputs from smaller scales where pulses are of high frequency.  For example, for an evaluation of phenomena on the scale of human economy, yearly averages are often appropriate. C. Emergy Evaluation Procedure…

43. 5. Calculating Emergy Intensities  After a evaluation table is prepared, emergy intensities of products can be calculated.  The output or product is evaluated first in units of energy or mass.  Then the input emergy is summed and the emergy intensity for the product calculated by dividing the emergy by the units of the output.  The emergy intensities that result are useful for other emergy evaluations. C. Emergy Evaluation Procedure…

44. Example: Algae cultivation for wastewater treatment Algal Turf Scrubber: Recirculating Lab Scale (1 m 2 )

53. Emergy Analysis Part 2: Indices of Sustainability

54. 6. Performance Indicators The systems diagram in Figure 2 shows non-renewable environmental contributions (N) as an emergy storage of materials, renewable environmental inputs (R), and inputs from the economy as purchased (F) goods and services. C. Emergy Evaluation Procedure…

55. Several ratios, or indices are given in Figure 1 that are used to evaluate the global performance of a process as follows: Emergy yield ratio. The ratio of the emergy yield from a process to the emergy costs. The ratio is a measure of how much a process will contribute to the economy. C. Emergy Evaluation Procedure…

56. Emergy Investment ratio. The ratio of emergy fed back from outside a system to the indigenous emergy inputs (both renewable and non-renewable). It evaluates if a process is a good user of the emergy that is invested, in comparison with alternatives. C. Emergy Evaluation Procedure…

57. Environmental loading ratio. The ratio of nonrenewable and imported emergy use to renewable emergy use. It is an indicator of the pressure of a transformation process on the environment and can be considered a measure of ecosystem stress due to a production (transformation activity). C. Emergy Evaluation Procedure…

58. Emergy Sustainability Index. The ratio of the Emergy Yield Ratio to the Environmental Loading Ratio. It measures the contribution of a resource or process to the economy per unit of environmental loading. C. Emergy Evaluation Procedure…

59. Empower density. The ratio of total emergy use in the economy of a region or nation to the total area of the region or nation. Renewable and nonrenewable emergy density are also calculated separately by dividing the total renewable emergy by area and the total nonrenewable emergy by area, respectively. C. Emergy Evaluation Procedure…

60. Several other ratios are sometimes calculated depending on the type and scale of he systems being evaluated… Percent renewable emergy (%Ren). The ratio of renewable emergy to total emergy use. In the long run, only processes with high %Ren are sustainable. C. Emergy Evaluation Procedure…

61. Emprice. The emprice of a commodity is the emergy one receives for the money spent. Its units are sej/$. C. Emergy Evaluation Procedure…

62. Emergy exchange ratio. The ratio of emergy exchanged in a trade or purchase (what is received to what is given). The ratio is always expressed relative to one or the other trading partners and is a measure of the relative trade advantage of one partner over the other. Units = sej/ sej C. Emergy Evaluation Procedure…

63. Emergy per capita. The ratio of total emergy use in the economy of a region or nation to the total population. Emergy per capita can be used as a measure of potential, average standard of living of the population. C. Emergy Evaluation Procedure…

64. Emergy Flow (Empower) Supporting The Geobiosphere….

65. Table 1. Annual Emergy Contributions to Global Processes* (after Odum et al. 2000) _______________________________________________________________ Note InputUnitsInflow Emergy/Unit Empower units/yr sej/unit(E24 sej/yr) _______________________________________________________________ 1 Solar insolation, J3.93 E24 1.03.93 2 Deep earth heat, J6.72 E20 1.20 E4 8.06 3 Tidal energy, J0.52 E20 7.39 E4 3.84 4 Total-- --15.83 _______________________________________________________________ Table 1. Annual Emergy Contributions to Global Processes* (after Odum et al. 2000) _______________________________________________________________ Note InputUnitsInflow Emergy/Unit Empower units/yr sej/unit(E24 sej/yr) _______________________________________________________________ 1 Solar insolation, J3.93 E24 1.03.93 2 Deep earth heat, J6.72 E20 1.20 E4 8.06 3 Tidal energy, J0.52 E20 7.39 E4 3.84 4 Total-- --15.83 _______________________________________________________________ Empower Supporting the Geobiosphere….

66. Table 3. Annual Emergy Contributions to Global Processes Including Use of Resource Reserves (after Brown and Ulgiati, 1999) ________________________________________________________________________ NoteInputs & UnitsInflowEmergy/Unit*Empower (J/yr)(sej/unit)E24 sej/yr ________________________________________________________________________ 1Renewable inputs ----15.8 Nonrenwable energies released by society: 2Oil, J1.38 E209.06 E412.5 3Natural gas (oil eq.), J7.89 E198.05 E46.4 4Coal (oil eq.), J1.09 E206.71 E47.3 5Nuclear power, J8.60 E183.35 E52.9 6Wood, J5.86 E191.84 E41.1 7Soils, J1.38 E191.24 E51.7 8Phosphate, J4.77 E161.29 E70.6 9Limestone, J7.33 E162.72 E60.2 10Metal ores, g9.93 E141.68 E91.7 Total non-renewable empower34.3 Total global empower50.1 _________________________________________________________________ Table 3. Annual Emergy Contributions to Global Processes Including Use of Resource Reserves (after Brown and Ulgiati, 1999) ________________________________________________________________________ NoteInputs & UnitsInflowEmergy/Unit*Empower (J/yr)(sej/unit)E24 sej/yr ________________________________________________________________________ 1Renewable inputs ----15.8 Nonrenwable energies released by society: 2Oil, J1.38 E209.06 E412.5 3Natural gas (oil eq.), J7.89 E198.05 E46.4 4Coal (oil eq.), J1.09 E206.71 E47.3 5Nuclear power, J8.60 E183.35 E52.9 6Wood, J5.86 E191.84 E41.1 7Soils, J1.38 E191.24 E51.7 8Phosphate, J4.77 E161.29 E70.6 9Limestone, J7.33 E162.72 E60.2 10Metal ores, g9.93 E141.68 E91.7 Total non-renewable empower34.3 Total global empower50.1 _________________________________________________________________ Empower Supporting the Geobiosphere….

67. Table 2. Emergy of Products of the Global Energy System (after Odum et. al 2000) _____________________________________________________________________ ____ NoteProduct and UnitsEmergy*Production Emergy/Unit E24 sej/yr units/yr sej/unit _____________________________________________________________________ ____ 1 Global latent heat, J15.831.26 E24 12.6 sej/J 2 Global wind circulation, J15.836.45 E21 2.5 E3 sej/J 3 Global precipitation on land, g15.831.09 E20 1.5 E5 sej/g 4 Global precipitation on land, J15.835.19 E20 3.1 E4 sej/J 5 Average river flow, g15.833.96 E19 4.0 E5 sej/g 6 Average river geopotential, J15.833.4 E20 4.7 E4 sej/J 7 Average river chem. energy, J15.831.96 E20 8.1 E4 sej/J 8 Average waves at the shore, J15.833.1 E20 5.1 E4 sej/J 9 Average ocean current, J15.838.6 E17 1.8 E7 sej/J _____________________________________________________________________ ____ Table 2. Emergy of Products of the Global Energy System (after Odum et. al 2000) _____________________________________________________________________ ____ NoteProduct and UnitsEmergy*Production Emergy/Unit E24 sej/yr units/yr sej/unit _____________________________________________________________________ ____ 1 Global latent heat, J15.831.26 E24 12.6 sej/J 2 Global wind circulation, J15.836.45 E21 2.5 E3 sej/J 3 Global precipitation on land, g15.831.09 E20 1.5 E5 sej/g 4 Global precipitation on land, J15.835.19 E20 3.1 E4 sej/J 5 Average river flow, g15.833.96 E19 4.0 E5 sej/g 6 Average river geopotential, J15.833.4 E20 4.7 E4 sej/J 7 Average river chem. energy, J15.831.96 E20 8.1 E4 sej/J 8 Average waves at the shore, J15.833.1 E20 5.1 E4 sej/J 9 Average ocean current, J15.838.6 E17 1.8 E7 sej/J _____________________________________________________________________ ____ Global Emergy Intensities…

68. Emergy Intensities…

70. Emergy of Wastewater Treatment (Vassalo et al. 2009)