Emergy-based indices and ratios to evaluate sustainability: monitoring economies and technology toward environmentally sound innovation
Emergy-based indices and ratios to evaluate sustainability: monitoring economies and technology toward environmentally sound innovation
复制标题
DOI：
10.1016/s0925-8574(97)00033-5
复制
发表时间：
1997-09-01
影响因子：
3.8
通讯作者：
Ulgiati, S
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Brown, MT;Ulgiati, S
本文为生态技术过程和整体经济的评价提供了一套基于能值的参考指标。重点介绍了能源产出比（EYR）、环境负荷比（ELR）和能源投资比（EIR）等指标，并定义了能源可持续指数（ESI）。给定系统的能量指标是可再生、不可再生和购买能量流入的函数。给出了几种生态工程活动的指数，包括溢油修复、土地复垦和通过湿地回收废水、几种生产系统和几种国民经济，以证明它们的实用性。生态工程涉及自然和工程系统以及可再生和不可再生能源的流动，适当的数量对于确定它们是否会导致资源的可持续利用很重要。可持续性指数可用于评价适当的不可再生生态技术投资，以最大化其绩效。经济的可持续性被证明是经济净收益及其对环境的“负荷”的函数。这些指数的趋势可以长期监测，并提供有关经济系统在其所处环境的承载能力范围内的动态的有用信息。当一个特定的部门或生产过程被关注时，而不是国民经济，基于能量的指数可以提供对过程的热力学效率、输出质量以及过程与周围环境之间相互作用的见解。(C) 1997爱思唯尔科学有限公司
This paper provides a reference set of indices based on emergy, for the evaluation of ecotechnological processes and whole economies. Indices of emergy yield ratio (EYR), environmental loading ratio (ELR), and emergy investment ratio (EIR), among others, are stressed, and a new index the emergy sustainability index (ESI) is defined. The emergy indices for a given system are shown to be functions of renewable, nonrenewable and purchased emergy inflows. Indices are given for several ecological engineering activities including oil spill restoration, land reclamation and wastewater recycle through wetlands, several production systems, and several national economies to demonstrate their usefulness. Ecological engineering involves both natural and engineered systems and the flows of renewable and nonrenewable energy, the appropriate amounts of which are important to determine if they are to result in sustainable use of resources. The sustainability index can be used to evaluate appropriate nonrenewable investments in eco-technology to maximize their performance. Sustainability of economies is shown to be a function of the net yield of the economy and its 'load' on the environment. The trends of these indices can be monitored over time and provide useful information about the dynamics of economic systems within the carrying capacity of the environment in which they develop. When a particular sector or production process is focused on, instead of a national economy, emergy based indices can provide insights into the thermodynamic efficiency of the process, the quality of its output, and the interaction between the process and its surrounding environment. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.