Impact/Purpose:

The methods described in this report will enable managers to examine the emergy accounting data and analysis for environmental systems before making policy decisions about those systems. Emergy accounting gives environmental managers tools similar to those used by financial analysts to make business decisions. This report can be used as a general guide to Emergy Analysis methods and as a particular guide by States and Regions for creating emergy accounts for any state in the United States.

Description:

This report was developed by energy systems ecologists from NHEERL's Atlantic Ecology Division. This research was conducted to provide methods and information to support a variety of regulatory and governance decisions that encompass environmental, economic and social issues. The report describes the methods used to conduct emergy accountings and their results for the State of West Virginia. This report will be used as a model for future accountings of other states, sub-state regions and multi-state regions. This report contains a theoretical overview of emergy accounting and its relationship to environmental management. A conceptual and detailed method for incorporating the data used in the analysis is presented as a standard for future emergy accountings. Application of the method to the State of West Virginia is presented in full, with both supporting emergy data and the ratios and indices resulting from the analysis. Finally, a discussion addressing interpretation of results, both in comparison to past emergy accountings and in answering management questions, provides a context for evaluating the utility of the method in providing science-based support for environmental policy and decision-making.

Record Details: