Ecological Emergy Accounting for a Limited System: General Principles and a Case Study of Macao

201 Pages·2014·5.522 MB·English

by  Kampeng Lei, Shaoqi Zhou, Zhishi Wang (auth.)

Springer Environmental Science and Engineering
Kampeng Lei
Shaoqi Zhou
Zhishi Wang
Ecological Emergy
Accounting for a
Limited System:
General Principles
and a Case Study
of Macao
Ecological Emergy Accounting for a Limited
System: General Principles and a Case Study of
Macao
Springer Environmental Science and Engineering
Forfurthervolumes:
www.springer.com/series/10177
Kampeng Lei (cid:2) Shaoqi Zhou (cid:2) Zhishi Wang
Ecological Emergy
Accounting for a Limited
System: General Principles
and a Case Study of Macao
KampengLei ZhishiWang
MacauScienceandTechnologyAssociation FacultyofScienceandTechnology
Macao,People’sRepublicofChina TheUniversityofMacau
Macao,People’sRepublicofChina
ShaoqiZhou
CollegeofEnvironmentalScienceand
Energy
SouthChinaUniversityofTechnology
Guangzhou,People’sRepublicofChina
and
GuizhouAcademyofSciences
Guiyang,People’sRepublicofChina
ISSN2194-3214 ISSN2194-3222(electronic)
ISBN978-3-642-45169-0 ISBN978-3-642-45170-6(eBook)
DOI10.1007/978-3-642-45170-6
SpringerHeidelbergNewYorkDordrechtLondon
JointlypublishedwithSciencePress,Beijing
ISBN:978-7-03-038271-9SciencePress,Beijing
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©SciencePress,BeijingandSpringer-VerlagBerlinHeidelberg2014
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Preface
InDecember2000,theconference“NewChallengeofEco-cityDevelopmentin21st
Century”washeldinMacaobytheEcologicalSocietyofChina.Atthisconference,
oneofus(Lei)firstencounteredthetheoryofecologicaleconomics.Sincethen,Lei
hasbecomeincreasinglyconcernedaboutthesustainabilityofhishomecity,Macao.
Macaoisacitywithadensepopulationthatdependsheavilyonexogenousnatural
resources,butbenefitsgreatlyfromthegamblingandtourismincomethatflowsinto
thecity.Residentsbenefitgreatlyfromthehighnetinfluxofmaterialsandenergy
intoMacao,andasaresultoftheseinflows,thestandardoflivingofthecitizenshas
steadilyincreasedduringthepast30years.
However, there are concerns over whether the city’s rapid development is sus-
tainable. Sustainable development combines concerns about the carrying capacity
of the natural systems that sustain human systems with concerns about the social
challenges faced by humanity, and particularly the need for socioeconomic devel-
opment.Fordevelopmenttobesustainable,itmustmeettheneedsbothofhumans
andofthenaturalenvironment.TostudyMacao’ssustainability,itwasnecessaryto
choose an approach and a system of metrics that could relate the natural environ-
ment’s flows to those of the socioeconomic system. Based on a careful review of
theliterature,Leichoseemergysynthesis.Emergysynthesismeasurestheflowsof
materials,energy,commodities,money,andservices,andcaneasilyquantifythese
values within a common analytical framework that integrates all the flows and al-
lows direct comparisons among them. The clear advantage of emergy synthesis is
thatitcombinesthemostinsightfulfeaturesoftheecologicalandeconomicmethods
ofanalysis,therebyprovidingacompletepictureofthehumanandenvironmental
meaningoftheflows.
Inthisbook,wehaveusedtheemergysynthesisapproachtodevelopanaccount-
ing model that is suitable for describing systems with relatively clear boundaries,
suchasanurbansystem,therebyprovidingacomprehensivepictureofthesystem.
Ourbookhaseightchapters,andisorganizedasfollows:
Chapter 1 gives a general introduction to the basic theoretical background for
emergyaccountingandrelatedfields,anddefinesmanyofthekeyparametersand
indicatorsusedinemergystudies.
v
vi Preface
Chapter 2 first presents a detailed emergy accounting for Macao in 2004, fol-
lowedbya timeseries oftheemergyflowsinMacao’ssystemfrom 1983to 2004
andacomparisonwithItalyandSwedentoputthesevaluesinperspective.Finally,
wepresentastatisticalanalysisofMacao’semergy-basedindicators.
Chapter3presentstheresultsofsimulatingMacao’ssystemusingtheSTELLA
dynamicmodelingsoftwaretoinvestigateandcharacterizetheevolutionanddevel-
opmentofMacao’snaturalandsocioeconomicsystemsfrom1983to2003.Based
onthesimulationresults,wealsopredicttheevolutionofthesesystemsinthecom-
ing20yearsanditsrelationshipwiththeongoinglandreclamationfromtheseathat
isoccurringinMacao.
Chapter4focusesonanemergyaccountingforthecity’stourismindustry.First,
weintroducethehistoricalevolutionandeconomiccontributionsofthetourismin-
dustry,followedbyadetailedemergycalculationandassessmentofitscontributions
andimpactsfrom1983to2004.Finally,wedeterminethenetemergyforMacao’s
tourismindustryanddrawconclusionsaboutthissector’simpacts.
InChap.5,weanalyzetheemergyflowsinthegamblingsector.Gamblingand
relatedtourismactivitiesrepresentaspecialformofeconomicandsocietalactivity,
andhavebeencrucialtoMacao’ssuccess.
Chapter6describesadetailedemergyaccountingofwastetreatmentinMacao,
including some pioneering efforts to include previously neglected flows such as
gaseousemissions.Wedescribetherelatedfeedbackratiosforsolidwastes,sewage,
and gaseous emissions and use the results to determine the efficiency of Macao’s
wastetreatmentandcalculatethetransformitiesofthesewastesusingMacao’swaste
dischargedata.
Chapter 7 shows how a comparison of the carrying capacity of a city’s or a
region’s natural resources with the consumption of these resources at regional or
global scales can reveal the system’s sustainability. To illustrate how this compar-
ison works in practice, we performed a case study of 17 representative countries,
using data obtained from the National Environmental Accounting Database, and
the results confirmed that to ensure long-term sustainability, it will be necessary
tocontrolpopulationincreases,reduceemergyconsumption,andpromoteemergy
efficiency.
Chapter8providesafinalsummaryofthepreviouschapters,andidentifiesprob-
lemsthatwillrequireadditionalresearch,aswellassomeshortcomingsoftheeco-
logicalenergyaccountingapproach.Itconcludeswitharesearchoutlookforfuture
researchers.
Thisbookisintendedforreaderswhowanttolearnmoreabouthowhybridnat-
ural and socioeconomic systems function. This includes researchers and graduate
studentsworkinginthefieldsofsystemsecology,energyaccounting,environmental
management,andrelatedareas.Readerswillobtainacomprehensiveunderstanding
ofthemethodologyofemergysynthesis,andofthedilemmasthatgovernmentplan-
nersfaceasaresultoftheneedtosustainsocioeconomicdevelopmentwhileprotect-
ingtheenvironment,whichwillultimatelyleadtosustainablesocioeconomicdevel-
opment.Wehopethatbymakingthisbookavailabletostudentsandresearchers,we
willpromotethedevelopmentofemergyanalysisskillsandincreaseknowledgeof
Preface vii
theimportanceofecologicalenergyaccounting.Wealsohopethatreaderswillbe
motivatedtofindwaystoimproveonthemethodswedescribeinthisbook.
WegratefullyacknowledgetheassistanceofProfessorS.L.Huangof“National”
Taipei University, Dr. H. F. Lu of the South China Botanical Garden of the Chi-
nese Academy of Sciences, and Professor S. Ulgiati of Parthenope University of
Napoli,Italy,fortheirconstructivecriticismofandcommentsonearlyversionsof
our manuscripts. We are also grateful for the efforts of the anonymous journal re-
viewers who rigorously critiqued the journal manuscripts that form the basis for
the chapters of this book. We also gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Dr. S.
SweeneyoftheUniversityofFlorida,Gainesville,forprovidingthebasicNational
EnvironmentalAccountingDatabasedatausedinourtechnicalanalysisinChap.7,
andforansweringourquestionsaboutsomecategoriesinthecalculations.
We thank the University of Macau, the South China University of Technology
and the Guizhou Academy of Sciences for providing us with access to their rich
researchresourcesandwithhelpfulsupportinmanyareasduringourresearchand
during the writing of this book. During the past 10 years we have received much
professionalandpersonalsupportandencouragementfrompeoplewhoaretoonu-
meroustolisthere.Wethankallofthem.
We are grateful for the financial support for our research from the Science and
TechnologyDevelopmentFundofMacau(grant022/2007/A2),MacaoSpecialAd-
ministrative Region, China; from the State Key Laboratory of Subtropical Build-
ingSciences,SouthChinaUniversityofTechnology(grant2012ZB06,2013ZC03);
the National Natural Science Foundation (21277052); and from the University of
Macau.WealsothanktheMacaoFoundationforsponsoringourpublication.
Macau,China KampengLei
Guangzhou,China ShaoqiZhou
ZhishiWang
Contents
1 EmergySynthesisandEcologicalEnergyAccounting . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 TheEvolutionfromSystemsTheorytoEmergy . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 EnergySystemDiagrams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.3 EmergyValuesandTheirTransformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.4 TheEcologicalEnergyCalculationMethod . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.4.1 DefinitionsofExergy,Emergy,andTransformity . . . . . 9
1.4.2 GeneralEmergyCalculationMethod . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.5 IndicesUsedinEmergySynthesis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.6 EmergyBalanceandStorage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.7 EcologicalEnergyAccountingforTourism . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1.8 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2 EcologicalEnergyAccountingforMacao’sSocioeconomicand
EcologicalSystems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.1 SocialandEconomicCharacteristicsofMacao . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.2 EmergySynthesisforMacao’sEco-economicSystemin2004 . . 30
2.3 ComparisonoftheEmergy-BasedIndicesofFiveCities . . . . . 38
2.3.1 ComparisonoftheEmergyComponents . . . . . . . . . 42
2.3.2 EmergyDensity,EmergyUse,andFuelUseperPerson . 42
2.3.3 E /$RatioandEmergyInvestmentRate(EIR) . . . . . 43
m
2.3.4 EmergyExchangeRatio(EER) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
2.3.5 RenewableResourcesProportion(%Ren),Emergy
SustainabilityIndex(ESI),andNetEmergyRatio(NER) 45
2.4 TimeSeriesforMacao’sEmergyandEmergy-BasedIndices. . . 45
2.4.1 TheComponentsofEmergyUse . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
2.4.2 PerCapitaElectricityEmergy,FuelEmergy,andEmergy
Density(U/area) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
2.4.3 %RenandEmergySelf-sufficiencyRatio(ESR) . . . . . 50
2.4.4 EmergyExchangeRatio(EER)andEmergyYieldRatio
(EYR) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
ix
x Contents
2.4.5 TotalEmergyUsed(U),EmergyMoneyRatio(E /$),
m
ProportionofWasteEmergy(W),andPerCapitaEmergy
Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
2.4.6 EmergyInvestmentRatio(EIR),EnvironmentalLoading
Ratio(ELR),andEmergySustainabilityIndex(ESI) . . . 53
2.4.7 NetEmergy(NE)andtheNetEmergyRatio(NER) . . . 54
2.5 TimeSeriesforEmergyFlowsofItaly,Sweden,andMacao
ofChina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
2.5.1 %Ren. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
2.5.2 EmergyUsePerCapita . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
2.5.3 EmergyMoneyRatio(E /$) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
m
2.5.4 IntegratedEmergyIndex:TheEnvironmental
SustainabilityIndex(ESI) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
2.5.5 StorageIndices:NEandNER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
2.6 StatisticalAnalysesofEmergy-BasedIndicatorsofMacao . . . . 62
2.7 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
3 EmergySynthesisandSimulationforMacao . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
3.1 IntroductiontoEcologicalEmergyAccountinginaSystem
DynamicsContext . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
3.2 SimulationMethodologyUsingtheSTELLAModelingSoftware 69
3.3 LandUseandReclamationinMacao . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
3.4 SimulationResultsandAnalyses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
3.5 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
4 EmergyAnalysisfor TourismSystems: Principlesanda Case
StudyforMacao . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
4.1 IntroductiontoEcologicalEmergyAccountingforTourism . . . 87
4.2 Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
4.2.1 ApproachesUsedinTourismEmergyAccounting . . . . 88
4.2.2 TwoEmergyFlowsforTourism:WhatYouPaidforand
WhatYouGot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
4.3 EmergyAnalysisandDiscussion:ACaseStudyofTourism
inMacao . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
4.3.1 IntroductiontoTourisminMacao . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
4.3.2 EmergyAccountingforMacao’sTourismSector . . . . . 94
4.4 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
5 EcologicalEnergyAccountingfortheGamblingSector:ACase
StudyinMacao . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
5.1 IntroductiontoMacao’sGamblingSector . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
5.2 AnOverviewofMacaoandItsGamblingSector . . . . . . . . . 108
5.3 StudyMethodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
5.4 ResultsandDiscussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110