Open Issues in Emergy Methodology

Transcription

1 Emergy Synthesis 8, Proceedings of the 8 th Biennial Emergy Conference (2015) 38 Open Issues in Emergy Methodology Enrique Ortega and Simone Bastianoni ABSTRACT To address the need for consistent systemic scientific knowledge, Emergy Methodology deserves a critical revision to build-up solid and valuable collaboration with other scientific and philosophical approaches. Increased scrutiny of Emergy Methodology has brought different points of view from researchers and society, so it is important to discuss them. The main points to discuss: [01] Review the baseline considering ideas and proposals from various researchers. [02] Consider renewability of inflows and modification of emergy indices; [03] Critical discussion of certain emergy indices (Ren, ELR, EYR, ESI) [04] Create emergy indices able to evaluate climate change impacts and mitigation; [05] Develop emergy indices for ecological and social resilience; [06] Consider environmental services as products in agricultural projects; [07] Include negative externalities (social and environmental impacts); [08] Discuss services inflows (as added work) in national and agricultural systems; [09] Consider social indicators in emergy terms [10] Include economic subsidies as inflows [11] Develop emergy indices for ideological, military, and cultural inflows and stocks [12] Include the issues of environmental and ethical debts in Emergy Synthesis. Discussion [01] Baseline The baseline methodology (discussed in Figures 1a, 1b and 1c) is a methodological issue of highest priority, which deserves a special forum to involve all the emergy researchers interested in this topic. 297

2 Figure 1a. Biogeochemical flows and energy inputs to the Biosphere according to the emergy language. Energy inputs represented in terms of E24 sej per year (adaptation from Brown and Ulgiati, 2004). Figure 1b. Biogeochemical flows and energy inputs to the Biosphere including the important regulatory work made by frozen water corps; in a situation of sustainable use of renewable resources. 298

3 Figure 1c.Biogeochemical flows and energy inputs to the Biosphere considering climate change, nonsustainable economy and modified biochemical flows that put under huge stress the Biosphere s ecosystems health. The research effort on this topic may be improved if other researcher s points of view are considered and discussed, for example: (a) The baseline is not constant, as is supposed; it changes with time according with energies immobilized by nature and now being mobilized by human beings (that will not be available in next decades). The internal potential stocks should be considered: the fossil fuels have a great capacity for biogeochemical stocks and flows modification; besides that, biological stocks (biodiversity) and sequestered carbon stocks (carbon, oil, gas, bituminous carbon) are extremely important for climate stability, ecosystems productivity and biosphere albedo (b) Instead of looking for an internal solution to provide a solar equivalence (with some methodological inconsistencies), the baseline could be calculated considering an external solar equivalence e.g. based on entropy flow. [02] Renewability of inflows The basic diagram used to calculate emergy indices (Figure 2) considers that flows received from other stages upward in the energy hierarchy are nonrenewable. It is not the case in many sustainable systems that existed in past and that some of those that have resisted and remain at work at present times. Therefore, the consumer side of systems should be studied in order to know the renewability of their feedback flows and consider this information in the calculation of emergy indices. 299

4 Non renewable resources from nature N F Feedback from economy Internal stocks Renewable energies R x N Ep system Y = R + N + F Figure 2. Basic emergy diagram of a production system. [03] Critical analysis and revision of EYR and ESI indices A yield ratio defined as EYR = Y/F = (R/F + N/F) + (M/F + S/F) is only important from the perspective of economic growth that considers that non-renewables (N) are the origin of emergy surplus. This situation is possible only when non-renewables does not produce perilous social and environmental impacts. F F R F N F R F N F N N R R Figure 3. Inflows and outflow. Inflows: (R + N) + F = (R + N) + (F R + F N) Outflow: Y = R U N U F Therefore: Y = (R + R F) + (N + N F) = renewables + non-renewables Modifications suggested for some Emergy Indices Renewability: Ren = Ren = Emergy Loading Ratio: ELR = ELR = 300

5 Non-renewables produce negative externalities and the cost of solving environmental and social impact must be incorporated in EYR ratio. The critique of ESI index derives from this observation. A problem for indicators is the loss of information when using ratios without consistency between indicandum and indicator: Emergy Yield Ratio: EYR= Emergy Sustainability Index: ESI = It is questionable the use of non-renewables (N+N F) as a benefit for consumer considering that the damages inflicted to consumers (society, flora and fauna). [04] Consideration of negative externalities The emergy methodology has devoted a great effort in studying the production side of the societal metabolism. Its indices focus the production of resources for economy and society in modified ecosystems (Figure 4a), sometimes considering regional biota but without considering the ecosystem services produced by biological stocks. Figure 4. Inflows and outflow. Emergy Investment Ratio: EIR = Other scientific groups have studied the relationship between Consumption and Production in terms of Ecological Footprint. World circumstances demand the use of a whole perspective that includes the research of human consumer side, regional fauna, feedback mechanisms and the social super-structure. There is need to study the value of the different negative externalities in different ecosystems and at a global level. This should involve the study of the impact and the cost of its solution in conventional and alternative forms. Again in Ulgiati et al., 1995 a possible solution to be applied is already described but almost never used thereafter (Figure 4b). 301

6 Figure 4b. Absorption of externalities (after Ulgiati et al., 1995). What was shown in Figure 4c as assets and population is now usually called as the superstructure. It is composed of government corps (executive, legislative and juridical), banking, financing, political movements and institutions, ideology and culture production, police and military forces. The size of externalities has grown in the last centuries and mainly in the last decades, and now it affects the biosphere as a whole. These two important topics will be discussed in the next paragraphs. [05] Emergy indices for climate change Climate change is now recognized as a great menace to humanity. The concern about this problem appeared only in the last 20 years and, for this reason, it was not considered during Emergy Methodology development. In the emergy literature there are almost none emergy diagrams neither emergy indices to orient the studies on this critical issue. Tiezzi et al., 1996, made an attempt in this direction; in their paper, the emergy of energy resource (seen as the potential of producing a useful output) is compared with the emergy needed to recreate the pristine conditions after a fuel is used and CO 2 released. When the latter is subtracted there is no more free emergy available; on the contrary the emergy necessary to fix the global damage produced by carbon dioxide is higher than emergy in the fuel. [06] Emergy indices for ecological and social resilience Some forces as technological innovation, administrative capability, robbery in many kinds, unsuspected geographical factors (germs, food crops, useful animals, and biological resistance) and finally ideology production allowed some groups to dominate other people and get possession of the ecosystems where these people lived. The introduction of all these forces in new territories led to a great modification of native ecosystems changing its flora and fauna (biodiversity loss), by the introduction of mono-crops the rural systems become very simple and dependent of external inputs and unfair faraway markets. At the same time, the social organization developed in centuries, well adapted to native ecosystems, was destroyed. After centuries of colonial occupation and increasing use of fossil fuels and minerals these ecosystems have lost a great part of their resilience, which could be very useful after the pulse of fossil fuels use. Behind a compulsive growth paradigm there is an interrelated psychological, philosophical and political phenomenon with critical limits that everyone needs to understand to contribute for its change. How can this complex phenomena can be diagramed, how it will possible to measure its information stocks and flows, what emergy indices will be necessary to develop to evaluate resilience, what sort of public policy and actions should be necessary? If resilience establishes the limit of modification for the original ecosystem: what is the value of this limit? 302

7 [07] Consideration of environmental services as products in agro-ecosystems It has being introduced the science of Paleoclimatology as one of the most important sciences to understand climate change in the past and to prepare climate s future sceneries. It may allow the calculation of the emergy indices of climate change products. Paleobiology deserves similar attention. This knowledge is important in the evaluation of ecosystems services that have been recognized as vital resources to recover and maintain the biosphere s equilibrium. In some countries, the ecosystem services are beginning to be paid and there is an opportunity for emergy methodology to contribute to their calculation. At the same time, the human-modified ecosystems are producing environmental disservices (external negativities). A balance between services and disservices is necessary to determine the magnitude of the benefit or the damage produced and environment debt (accumulated value and yearly flow). [08] Critical analysis of services concept used by some emergy scientists. When the transformities of inputs of a system are unknown and the transformities of the main raw materials used in the production of those inputs are known, it is possible to estimate the approximate value of the emergy flow if the cost of those resources is incorporated. It is assumed that work to transform the main raw materials into products consists basically in human services (labor), but if it could be not the case, an error could appear because important emergy flows are omitted. See Figures 5. Figure 5a. Diagram with services as work added outside the system. 303

8 The addition of services (human labor) can be made within the system under study or outside its frontiers (Figures 5a and 5b). In the case of central countries, the additional work is usually incorporated within the system but, in the case of peripheral countries the work is added outside their borders. Even this is a proxy to the real value it should not be a general rule; this analysis should be done for each input (Figures 5c and d). Unfortunately human labor and services are treated in different ways by different authors and they are often a relevant input in evaluations. Furthermore the degree of uncertainty and double counting, using the conversion of money into emergy is unknown. Figure 5b. Diagram with services as work added outside the system. Figure 5c. Diagram for the whole transformation process of inputs derived the use of petrochemicals and minerals showing a small participation of services inflow. The solution is to describe the processes that allow obtaining the inputs used, and in this case calculating the transformity, the renewability and specific emergy values of the resources produced, considering also environmental services and disservices. 304

9 Env. service Fuel Infra - estruct. Equip. Mate - rials Labor Info Fuels as basic resource in nature Extraction, storage, transport, processing $ Petro - chemicals for human activities Figure 5d. Diagram for discussion of services. The Emergy Society (ISAER) should keep reviewing the methodological procedure and improving the data bank with diagrams, list of inputs, transformities and renewabilities used, prices of inputs and products, costs of environmental services and negative externalities, aggregated emergy flows and emergy indicators tables for different kinds of systems: agriculture, cattle growing, forestry, aquaculture, fisheries, transport, industry, commerce and distribution, recycling, government services, etc. [09] Social indicators in emergy terms Emergy scientists have studied production systems and made lower efforts to study consumption, decomposing and recycling. Even a lesser effort was dedicated to study the super-structure (Ortega, 2012). See Figures 6. Figure 6a. The super-structure appears as public services and information in Odum and Odum diagram (2001). Instead of population we use social classes. The super-structure is the top of human-dominated ecosystems that now have new trophic levels to produce resources and services aimed to organize the productionconsumption system and the interaction with other human systems and nature. The study of the superstructure should use emergy and social sciences at the same time. 305

10 Figure 6b. The Super-structure is now described as System of Tax Paying, Use and Distribution of Economic Resources (STPUDR). System of Tax Paying, U se and D istribution of E conomic R esources of poor people $ S TPUD R of + V rich people Figure 6c. Separation of the box relative to super-structure from the rest of the diagram to begin the analysis of this sector of Ecological Economy. [10] Inclusion of economic subsidies as inflows The emergy study of economic systems should include all the hidden inflows such as different kind of subsidies that occur in agriculture, industry, commerce, research, financing systems. That complete analysis will reveal the truth behind some prosperous business whose survival depend on a high volume of subsidies made by governments and cause economic deviation and nature depletion. 306

11 Figure 6d. Diagram for discussion of super-structure stocks and flows. Figure 6e. Diagram of infra-structure and super-structure interactions. 307

12 Figure 6f. Diagram for discussion of global super-structure stocks and flows. [11] Emergy indices for ideological, military, and cultural inflows and stocks In opposition with the predominant idea in liberal economy, that the national, regional and local systems are free to decide what the best is for them; at the peripheral countries and even in powerful countries, decisions are usually taken under the coercive force imposed by dominant groups. The mechanism of decision-taking processes must be studied using emergy methodology with the help of sociologists, anthropologists and experts in geo-political analysis. [12] Consideration of environmental and ethical debts. Until now, Emergy Science has not considered the concept of Ecological Debt used by some Ecological Economists. It is a philosophical issue that Emergy Scientists should be aware of. This study will demand to acquire a socially concerned historical perspective. Besides the Ecological Debt, it could be necessary to consider also Historical or Ethical Debt and Climatic Debt. REFERENCES S. Ulgiati, M.T. Brown, S. Bastianoni and N. Marchettini: Emergy based indices and ratios to evaluate the sustainable use of resources. Ecological Engineering, 5, ; Elsevier, E. Tiezzi, S. Bastianoni and N. Marchettini: Environmental cost and steady state: the problem of adiabaticity in the emergy value Ecological Modelling, 90, 33-37; Elsevier, H.T. Odum & E. C. Odum: A Prosperous Way Down: Principles and Policies ; The University Press of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA, Re-impression: E. Ortega: Critical Analysis of Green Economy Proposals. Proceedings of 7 th Emergy Conference, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA, URL: 308