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CURRENT TECHNICAL PROBLEMS IN EMERGY ANALYSIS
Citation:
Campbell, D E., S BrandtWilliams, AND T Cai. CURRENT TECHNICAL PROBLEMS IN EMERGY ANALYSIS. Presented at 3rd Biennial Emergy Analysis Research Conference, University of Florida, Gainville, FL, January 29-31, 2004.
Description:
: Emergy Analysis has been a rapidly evolving assessment methodology for the past 30 years. This process of development was primarily driven by the inquiring mind and ceaseless activity of its founder, H.T. Odum, his students, and colleagues. Historically, as new kinds of problems were analyzed and old ones reexamined our understanding of environmental systems grew and Emergy Analysis methods adapted to the new situations and in the process became stronger. This adaptability has been possible because the theoretical basis for Emergy Analysis, i.e., Energy System Theory, is a meta-theory that can encompass and relate other approaches. Emergy Analyses performed recently have led to the recognition of several technical problems that need resolution. In this paper we discuss some of these problems and suggest possible solutions. The problems considered are: (1) the planetary baseline, its meaning, importance, and use, (2) the renewable energy received and absorbed and the use of these quantities in calculating indices and in determining the emergy base for systems, (3) the calculation of the emergy basis for a region or locale (scale dependence and double counting), (4) comparison of Emergy Analyses of environmental systems from the past and present that have considered different combinations of social, economic and environmental components and processes in the evaluations, (5) evaluation of import-export relationships for states. Finally, we consider the pros and cons of promulgating standard methods for performing emergy analyses of environmental systems.