Ecological network analysis of an urban energy metabolic system

Abstract

Analysis of the structure and function of urban energy metabolic systems is an important tool to facilitate compliance with China's current energy-conservation policy. In this study, we used network throughflow analysis and network utility analysis to analyze the structure of an urban energy metabolic system and the complex relationships among its components. Using weight distributions in the network flow matrix, we determined the system structure; using the sign distribution in the network utility matrix, we determined the relationships between pairs of components. We then developed an ecological network model using Beijing in 1995Beijing in , 2000Beijing in , 2005Beijing in , and 2007 as an example of how the model can be used to understand the system's structure and function. The model's components were the energy exploitation, transformation, consumption, and recovery sectors. Network throughflow analysis revealed that the energy transformation and consumption sectors had high weights (34-45%) in all 4 years, whereas the energy recovery sector had small weights (\5%) and the energy exploitation had low to intermediate weights (which decreased from 23% in 1995 to 11% in 2007). Network utility analysis revealed that the ecological relationships between the energy transformation and exploitation sectors, the energy consumption and transformation sectors, and the energy consumption and exploitation sectors did not change, but that the ecological relationships between the energy recovery sector and other sectors changed greatly. Our analysis of Beijing's urban energy metabolic system provided guidance for optimizing the system's structure and adjusting the relationships among the sectors.

Ecological network analysis of urban–industrial ecosystems

“…Only networks with flow information were considered so that the full suite of ENA metrics could be used. In total, 13 different publications were used to generate 29 separate networks (Baker, Hope, Xu, Edmonds, & Lauver, 2001; Burström, Brandt, Frostell, & Mohlander, 1997; Chen & Chen, 2012; Forkes, 2007; Hendriks et al., 2000; Lauver & Baker, 2000; Liang & Zhang, 2011; Nilsson, 1995; Singh, Grünbühel, Schandl, & Schulz, 2001; Y. Zhang et al., 2016; Y. Zhang, Yang, & Yu, 2009; J. Zhang, Zhang, & Yang, 2011; Zhao, 2012). Some data sources included multiple networks based on data from different years, locations, or the type of flow.…”

The free energy of an ecosystem: towards a measure of its inner value

“…One of the most significant and widespread research field aimed at studying the relationship between humans and nature is the Ecosystem Services Science (4) mainly focuses on defining, classifying (5)(6)(7), and estimating the value of the services they provide (8)(9)(10) as well as to define and assess the risks they are facing (11)(12)(13). Risks are generally due to changing global, regional, and local conditions and anthropic activities as well, while valuation depends primevally on the notion of value adopted.…”

Ecological Network Analysis for Economic Systems: Growth and Development and Implications for Sustainable Development

“…Since then, ENA has been used widely in the field of ecology [16] – [21] . Increasingly it is being adopted for other applications, such as city management [22] , [23] and water systems [24] – [27] . ENA has been re-imported back into economics, mainly as a form of general qualitative analyses of problems such as the causes of and solutions to banking crises [28] , [29] and how to quantify economic sustainability from a network perspective [30] , [31] .…”