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A Brief History of the Emergy Society and its Mission in the World
Citation:
Campbell, Dan. A Brief History of the Emergy Society and its Mission in the World. World Summit on Environmental Accounting 2016, Beijing, CHINA, July 04 - 06, 2016.
Impact/Purpose:
This talk was delivered as a plenary address to the assembled body of participants at the World Summit on Environmental Accounting, Beijing Normal University, July 4-6, 2016. This was a significant talk for the conference attendees, since the International Society for the Advancement of Emergy Research (ISAER) has been instrumental in supporting the growth and improvement of environmental accounting methods using emergy in China and throughout the world. Also, this was the first international conference held outside of the United States and sponsored by ISAER. Campbell along with Betty Odum are the principal founders of this organization and he is an expert on its history.
Description:
In 2002, H.T. Odum authorized the formation of a society dedicated to research, communication, and education focused on the new ideas of emergy and transformity and their basis in Energy Systems Theory. From this initial concept and after a 5 period of incubation, the International Society for the Advancement of Emergy Research (ISAER), a.k.a., the Emergy Society, was incorporated as a nonprofit corporation in the United States on July 28, 2007. In this talk, the history of the Emergy Society from its origin to the present time will be presented. The key ideas of emergy and transformity and their derivation and importance will be discussed. The structure of the Emergy Society and how it has carried out its mission over its history will be examined, including the formation of the China Chapter of ISAER. In many ways the history of ISAER is a story about its Presidents and the Executive Council members, who worked hard to promote the growth of the Emergy Society and to expand its services to its membership and the world. The development of the Emergy Society website as the major interface to communicate with its members and the general public will be recounted along with the story of the development of the Emergy Society logo and its esoteric meaning. Finally, the accomplishments of ISAER in the United States, China, Brazil and Europe to date will be considered and the future of the Emergy Society explored.