Development of concepts for human labour accounting in Emergy Assessment and other Environmental Sustainability Assessment methods

Kamp, Andreas; Morandi, Fabiana; Østergård, Hanne

doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2015.08.011

Cited by 35 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 29 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Human labour is an essential production factor in any conversion system, and although not a novelty in energetic assessments, its correct introduction is controversial [26].…”

Section: Labourmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Way Forward in Quantifying Extended Exergy Efficiency

2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Extended exergy accounting (EEA) is a methodology which estimates the extended exergy cost (EEC) of a product or a service or the extended exergy efficiency (EEE) of a country or economic sector taking into account materials, energy, labour, capital, and environmental impact. The use of EEA results for policy or planning purposes has been hampered by: (1) the lack of data to quantify the EEC of most of the inputs, making it almost impossible to quantify the EEC of a product or service and (2) the lack of a conceptual framework to quantify in a consistent way the exergy of labour and capital. In this paper, we make a review of past studies to identify, synthesize, and discuss the different EEA methods. We identified 3 different EEA methods, that we further compare using the Portuguese Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishery (AFF) sector from 2000 to 2012. The equivalent exergies of labour and capital estimated for the AFF sector vary widely among the three EEA methodologies. We propose and test a new EEA methodology to estimate EEE which accounts for these fluxes in a more restricted scope but more consistently and that includes the Environmental Benefit (EB) that represents the capability of the forestry to capture carbon dioxide. Results show that the EEE of the Portuguese AFF sector has increased by 32% from 2000 to 2012.

show abstract

“…Human labour is an essential production factor in any conversion system, and although not a novelty in energetic assessments, its correct introduction is controversial [26].…”

Section: Labourmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Way Forward in Quantifying Extended Exergy Efficiency

2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…It is measured in sej/US$ or another relevant currency. For example, the global average EMR can be obtained by dividing the global emergy budget of 1.05 × 10 26 sej/y by the global money flow of 6.06 × 10 13 US$/y (Kamp, Morandi et al 2016) to give an UEV as emergy per monetary value of 1.73 × 10 12 sej/US$.…”

Section: Human Labor In Emergy Accountingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental performance assessment of Napier grass for bioenergy production

Nimmanterdwong

Chalermsinsuwan

Østergård

et al. 2017

Journal of Cleaner Production

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Direct labor takes place in the "foreground" of the assessment and comprises the man-hours required for farming and cooking fuel collection or production. The resource use supporting direct labor is differentiated across different labor types, using a UEV of 3.2ˆ10 12 sej/man-hour for farm work and 9.1ˆ10 12 sej/man-hour for specialist labor (chainsaw operation and village biogas plant management) [49].…”

Section: Labor Accountingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, inclusion of labor inputs demonstrates that there is a trade-off between material and energy inputs, on the one hand, and labor inputs on the other. Excluding labor focuses attention on material and energy inputs, enables use of the calculated UEVs for inputs in other assessment, and facilitates re-calculations that apply alternative labor accounting methods (see [49]). …”

Section: Accounting For Labormentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Environmental Assessment of Integrated Food and Cooking Fuel Production for a Village in Ghana

2016

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Small-scale farming in Ghana is typically associated with synthetic fertilizer dependence and soil degradation. The farmers often rely on wood fuel for cooking imported from outside the farmland, a practice that is associated with deforestation. Integration of food and energy production may be a holistic approach to solving these issues. We study four approaches to providing food and fuel for cooking in a small-scale farming community. Present practice (PP) of synthetic fertilizer based food production and provision of wood fuel from outside the farming area is compared to three modeled, integrated technology options: integrated food and household-scale biogas production (HH Biogas), integrated food and village-scale biogas production (Village Biogas), and integrated food and wood fuel production (Agroforestry). Integrated approaches are able to eliminate the import of wood fuel, reduce synthetic fertilizer use by 24%, 35% and 44% and soil loss by 15%, 20% and 87%, respectively, compared to present practice. An Emergy Assessment (EmA) shows that integrated approaches are relevant substitutes to present practice considering biophysical efficiency indicated by Unit Emergy Value (in solar emjoules (sej) per J of output) and dependence on renewable inputs indicated by the Global Renewability Fraction (in %): 2.6-3.0ˆ10 5 sej/J and 38%-48% (PP), 2.5-2.8ˆ10 5 sej/J and 41%-46% (HH Biogas), 2.4-2.6ˆ10 5 sej/J and 45%-47% (Village Biogas), 1.7-2.4ˆ10 5 sej/J and 49%-66% (Agroforestry). Systematic recycling and use of local resources may play a pivotal role in reducing the dependence on non-renewable resources in Ghanaian farming, ensuring long-term soil fertility and stemming the current deforestation of wood reserves.

show abstract

Development of concepts for human labour accounting in Emergy Assessment and other Environmental Sustainability Assessment methods

Cited by 35 publications

References 29 publications

The Way Forward in Quantifying Extended Exergy Efficiency

The Way Forward in Quantifying Extended Exergy Efficiency

Environmental performance assessment of Napier grass for bioenergy production

Environmental Assessment of Integrated Food and Cooking Fuel Production for a Village in Ghana

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About