Network Environ Perspective for Urban Metabolism and Carbon Emissions: A Case Study of Vienna, Austria

Abstract

Cities are considered major contributors to global warming, where carbon emissions are highly embedded in the overall urban metabolism. To examine urban metabolic processes and emission trajectories we developed a carbon flux model based on Network Environ Analysis (NEA). The mutual interactions and control situation within the urban ecosystem of Vienna were examined, and the system-level properties of the city's carbon metabolism were assessed. Regulatory strategies to minimize carbon emissions were identified through the tracking of the possible pathways that affect these emission trajectories. Our findings suggest that indirect flows have a strong bearing on the mutual and control relationships between urban sectors. The metabolism of a city is considered self-mutualistic and sustainable only when the local and distal environments are embraced. Energy production and construction were found to be two factors with a major impact on carbon emissions, and whose regulation is only effective via ad-hoc pathways. In comparison with the original life-cycle tracking, the application of NEA was better at revealing details from a mechanistic aspect, which is crucial for informed sustainable urban management.

The Role of Renewable Energy in the Promotion of Circular Urban Metabolism

“…For UM studies, two general types of methodologies are used: those based on the inventory of inputs and outputs (materials and energy), and those that use biophysical indicators that allow the representation of the resources and energy efficiency in terms of energy and exergy [23,33,37]. In Table 1, several studies are presented that include inventories, balances, flows, indicators, comparisons between cities, efficiency assessments, and resource qualities.…”

“…UM conceives cities as interactive ecosystems, therefore economic, social or ecological rules apply as processes in an interaction with the external environment [33]. Unlike linear metabolism, where the required matter and energy comes from outside urban boundaries and is largely discarded outside of them (non-related inputs and outputs) [34], in circular metabolism, the resources are local, reducing external demand; therefore, the inputs and outputs of the city are connected (from the cradle to the cradle) [5].…”

Fomento Del Metabolismo Energético Circular Mediante Generación Eléctrica Proveniente De Rellenos Sanitarios

“…Más del 50 % de la población mundial vive en áreas consideradas como urbanas, que consumen más de dos tercios de la energía primaria, que provocan entre el 70 y 80 % de las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero relacionadas con la energía [2][3][4].…”

Modeling the carbon cycle of the municipal solid waste management system for urban metabolism

“…Urban systems play an important role in the global carbon cycle, and the carbon dioxide emissions of urban systems are typically approximately 80% of the total carbon dioxide emission Schellnhuber, 2006, 2008). In an urban system, carbon is input in terms of food, fossil fuel, goods, etc., and it is processed and transformed within human society; a portion of the carbon is then stocked in the urban Abbreviations: MSW, municipal solid waste; MSWM, municipal solid waste management; GHGs, greenhouse gases; LFGs, landfill gases; LF, scenario 1/landfill; INC, scenario 2/incineration; SIT, scenario 3/source separation and integrated technologies; IPCC, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; CDM, clean development mechanism.system, while the other part is output as solid waste, wastewater and waste gases (Lebel, 2005;Chen et al, 2011a,b;Chen and Chen, 2012;. The municipal solid waste management (MSWM) system is not only a subsystem of the urban system (including production, consumption, logistics and recovery), but also a self-organized social-economic-natural complex ecosystem that has environmental impacts on rivers, lakes, underground water, soil, air, plants and the landscape (Zhou et al, 2011).…”