ECO EXERGY AS SUSTAINABILITY

Transcription

1 ECO EXERGY AS SUSTAINABILITY WIT Press publishes leading books in Science and Technology. Visit our website for the current list of titles. WITeLibrary Home of the Transactions of the Wessex Institute, the WIT electronic-library provides the international scientific community with immediate and permanent access to individual papers presented at WIT conferences. Visit the WIT elibrary at

2 The Sustainable World Aims and Objectives Sustainability is a key concept of 21 st century planning in that it broadly determines the ability of the current generation to use resources and live a lifestyle without compromising the ability of future generations to do the same. Sustainability affects our environment, economics, security, resources, health, economics, transport and information decisions strategy. It also encompasses decision making, from the highest administrative office, to the basic community level. It is planned that this Book Series will cover many of these aspects across a range of topical fields for the greater appreciation and understanding of all those involved in researching or implementing sustainability projects in their field of work. Topics Data Analysis Data Mining Methodologies Risk Management Brownfield Development Landscaping and Visual Impact Studies Public Health Issues Environmental and Urban Monitoring Waste Management Energy Use and Conservation Institutional, Legal and Economic Issues Education Visual Impact Simulation Systems Forecasting Infrastructure and Maintenance Mobility and Accessibility Strategy and Development Studies Environment Pollution and Control Land Use Transport, Traffic and Integration City, Urban and Industrial Planning The Community and Urban Living Public Safety and Security Global Trends Main Editor E. Tiezzi University of Siena Italy

3 Associate Editors D. Almorza University of Cadiz Spain M. Andretta Montecatini Italy A. Bejan Duke University A. Bogen Down to Earth I. Cruzado University of Puerto Rico-Mayazuez Puerto Rico W. Czyczula Krakow University of Technology Poland M. Davis Temple University K. Dorow Pacific Northwest National Laboratory C. Dowlen South Bank University UK D. Emmanouloudis Technical Educational Institute of Kavala Greece J.W. Everett Rowan University R.J. Fuchs United Nations Chile F. Gomez Universidad Politecnica de Valencia Spain K.G. Goulias Pennsylvania State University A.H. Hendrickx Free University of Brussels Belgium I. Hideaki Nagoya University Japan S.E. Jørgensen The University of Pharmeceutical Science Denmark D. Kaliampakos National Technical University of Athens Greece

4 H. Kawashima The University of Tokyo Japan B.A. Kazimee Washington State University D. Kirkland Nicholas Grimshaw & Partners UK A. Lebedev Moscow State University D. Lewis Mississippi State Univesity N. Marchettini University of Siena Italy J.F. Martin-Duque Universidad Complutense Spain M.B. Neace Mercer University R. Olsen Camp Dresser & McKee Inc. J. Park Seoul National University Korea M.F. Platzer Naval Postgraduate School V. Popov Wessex Institute of Technology UK A.D. Rey McGill University Canada H. Sozer Illinois Institute of Technology A. Teodosio Pontificia Univ. Catolica de Minas Gerais Brazil W. Timmermans Green World Research The Netherlands R. van Duin Delft University of Technology The Netherlands G. Walters University of Exeter UK M.S. Palo The Finnish Forestry Research Institute Finland

5 ECO EXERGY AS SUSTAINABILITY S.E. Jørgensen Danish University of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Denmark

6 ECO EXERGY AS SUSTAINABILITY Series: The Sustainable World, Vol. 16 S.E. Jørgensen Danish University of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Denmark Published by WIT Press Ashurst Lodge, Ashurst, Southampton, SO40 7AA, UK Tel: 44 (0) ; Fax: 44 (0) For, Canada and Mexico WIT Press 25 Bridge Street, Billerica, MA 01821, Tel: ; Fax: British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A Catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN: ISSN: Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: No responsibility is assumed by the Publisher, the Editors and Authors for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions or ideas contained in the material herein. WIT Press Printed in Great Britain by Athenaeum Press Ltd All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the Publisher.

7 Contents Preface List of symbols List of abbreviations and definitions xi xiii xv Chapter 1 Introduction Two basic thermodynamic concepts Sustainability versus cost/benefit Pollution abatement tools Weak and strong sustainability The core ideas of this volume Part A The basic concepts of thermodynamics and the use of thermodynamic variables as sustainability indices Chapter 2 You cannot escape the thermodynamic laws Mass and energy conservation The second law of thermodynamics Energy policy Chapter 3 Exergy What is exergy? Eco-exergy Exergy and information Dissipative structures How to calculate the eco-exergy for organic matter and organisms? Why do living systems have such a high level of exergy? Embodied energy/emergy The ecosystem as a biochemical reactor Summary... 47

8 Chapter 4 Application of eco-exergy in human activities and ecosystems Losses and gains of eco-exergy by human activities including pollution Exergy flows in the society Formulation of a thermodynamic hypothesis for ecosystems Support for the hypothesis Growth and development of ecosystems Chapter 5 Eco-exergy as an ecosystem health indicator Criteria for the selection of ecological indicators for ecosystem health assessment (EHA) Classification of ecosystem health indicators Presentation and definition of level 7 and 8 indicators holistic indicators Conclusions and summary Part B The use of thermodynamic indicators Chapter 6 Eco-exergy as an ecosystem health indicator for lakes Introduction Determination of eco-exergy Use of observations to find the eco-exergy Conclusions and summary Chapter 7 Eco-exergy as an ecosystem health indicator for coastal areas Introduction Results of the statistical analysis Discussion How to calculate and interpret eco-exergy and specific eco-exergy an example The application of ecological indicators to assess the ecosystem health of coastal lagoons Conclusions Chapter 8 Eco-exergy as an ecosystem health indicator for agricultural systems Different types of agriculture Use of ecological indicators to assess the health of agricultural systems Assessment of the ecosystem health of a series of selected agricultural systems Conclusions

9 Chapter 9 Eco-exergy losses and gains in the society How to set up an eco-exergy balance for a region? Exergy loss by the consumption of non-renewable resources: what can we do to reduce this eco-exergy loss? Loss by the consumption of fossil fuel Eco-exergy of human products Eco-exergy change due to consumption of renewable resources Exergy and energy consumption in the transport sector The total global eco-exergy balance Part C Basic properties of ecosystems and their application for a more sustainable management of man-made and man-controlled systems Chapter 10 Properties of ecosystems Introduction: basic properties of ecosystems The use of the 19 basic principles (rules) of ecological engineering on agricultural systems Conclusions and summary Chapter 11 Ecological and sustainable management of agricultural systems Sustainable agriculture Presentation of an agricultural system based upon sustainability principles The use of sustainability indicators for the analysis of a normal agricultural system and of an agricultural system based on sustainability The global agricultural policy Exergy consumption of agriculture Agriculture in the industrialized countries versus agriculture in the developing countries Summary and conclusions Chapter 12 Ecological and sustainable management of industrial systems Industrial ecology Ecological properties of industries An ecological network of industries Closing remarks and conclusions Chapter 13 A society based on ecological principles Introduction Recycling and reuse: green tax

10 13.3 Unsubsidized agriculture A sustainable fishery policy is urgently needed Much more resources are needed for research and education Administration, management and bureaucracy: decentralization and individual responsibility are needed Conservation of nature An ecologically sound pollution abatement requires the use of a wide spectrum of methods Energy policy Social welfare Part D Conclusions and summary Chapter 14 Conclusions and summary Eco-exergy as a sustainability indicator The application of ecological principles to obtain a sustainable society Political conclusions Epilogue 191 References 195 Index 203

11 Preface Of late, the economy has determined the agenda when environmental issues are in focus. The economists have convinced the politicians that the cost/benefit analysis of environmental problems can be made with sufficient low uncertainty to allow decisions. The shortcomings of the cost/benefit analyses and the doubts raised by scientists about the estimation of the uncertainty by cost/benefit analyses have been widely discussed, but unfortunately it has been more convenient for the politicians to listen to the economists, who have been able to sell the message most environment for the money. This inevitably leads to wrong decisions, because the uncertainties of the cost/benefit analyses are very often magnitudes higher than that estimated by the economists, simply because they do not know all the consequences of the impact on our environment or because they use the scientific numbers and indications as if they were holy numbers without any uncertainty at all. Therefore, cost/benefit has to be replaced (or at least supplemented) by the concept of sustainability if we want to take the right decisions. This is the focus of this book: how can we estimate sustainability and thereby make better decisions? The answer is that we must learn from ecosystems, which have been sustainable for millions of years. So what properties have ensured their sustainability? Can we learn from these properties and use them to take decisions about the development of our society? These are some of the main questions that this book will discuss. Furthermore, this book represents the first attempt to apply eco-exergy, a thermodynamic concept used to describe the development of ecosystems, to express sustainability and use it in a non-ecological context. I believe that the applications in this book illustrate that eco-exergy is a useful concept to apply for estimating the sustainability or health of a system, irrespective of whether it is made by nature or man. I hope that the introduction of eco-exergy will facilitate the evaluation of our environmental policy or strategy. However, it is essential to test the application of eco-exergy as an environmental concept on a much wider scale before a final recommendation can be made on its application as a general environmental sustainability index. It is therefore my hope that this book will encourage others to use the concept of eco-exergy in other and even wider contexts.

12 The theory behind the application of eco-exergy in ecology uses mathematics and the theory is presented using equations. However, I want to present this application of eco-exergy to assess the sustainability in a way that will allow the readers to understand the theoretical considerations without the use of mathematics. The book is therefore written in a way that makes it possible to understand even the results of the eco-exergy and sustainability calculations without mathematics. In particular, Chapter 3, where the concept of eco-exergy is introduced, may be difficult to understand without the equations. Therefore, for Chapter 3 I have summarized the ideas presented in the chapter at the end without equations. So, in general, it is possible to skip the equations and still understand the text. This book comprises four parts. Part A outlines the thermodynamic basis. Part B uses the concepts on ecosystems. Those readers who want to get acquainted only with the application of ecosystem properties and the application of eco-exergy on the development of our society, may after reading Chapters 1 and 2 and Section 3.9 go on directly to Chapter 9 followed by Parts C and D, which focus on the use of these concepts in agriculture, industries and the entire society. Associate Professor Søren Nors Nielsen, The Danish University of Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Civil Engineer Peter Skat Nielsen, former chief for the Waste Water System and Waste Water Treatment of Copenhagen City, have both read and reviewed the book before it was finalized. They have both provided very useful comments that have improved the quality of the book considerably. I am therefore very thankful to Søren Nors Nielsen and Peter Skat Nielsen for their many useful comments. S.E. Jørgensen Copenhagen 2006