Dan Campbell performs research in the field of systems ecology for the USEPA, ORD, NHEERL, AED, which is located in Narragansett, RI. Supervisors: H.T. Odum Address: Narragansett, Rhode Island, United States
The bio-thermodynamic structures of a mixed native species plantation, a conifer plantation and a... more The bio-thermodynamic structures of a mixed native species plantation, a conifer plantation and an Acacia mangium plantation in Southern China were quantified over a period of 15 years based on eco-exergy methods. The efficiencies of structural development and maintenance were quantified through an integrated application of eco-exergy and emergy methods. The results showed that the storage of eco-exergy increased over 3 times in all three plantations, as predicted by the maximum eco-exergy principle. This trend was primarily seen due to the accumulation of biomass, instead of an increase in the specific eco-exergy (eco-exergy per unit biomass), although species richness did increase. The eco-exergy to emergy and eco-exergy to empower ratios of the three plantations generally increased during the study period, but the rate of increase slowed down after 20 years. The dominant trees are the largest contributors to the eco-exergy stored in the plantations, and thus, the introduction of ...
The agricultural and industrial development of small cities is the primary environmental manageme... more The agricultural and industrial development of small cities is the primary environmental management strategy employed to make full use of extra labor in the rural areas of China. The ecological and economic consequences of this development strategy will affect over 100 million people and change the organization of the Chinese landscape. In this study, we examined the agricultural development of Shunde, a small city in Guangdong Province, over the period 1978 until 2000. Our analysis of the ecological and economic dynamics of the agricultural system revealed the dominant role of labor in the intensification of agricultural production, even though the use of fuels, fertilizers and machines also increased during this time. The Shunde agricultural system was examined from both biophysical or donor-based and human utility or receiver-based perspectives, using emergy and economic methods, respectively. After 22 years of urbanization, the Shunde agricultural system was still able to fill 96% of the local demand for agricultural products using only 6% of its total yield compared to using 14% of the total yield in 1978. Aquaculture developed quickly during the study period as grain production decreased. In 2000, the production of fish, pork, and vegetables accounted for 92% of the total emergy output of the system; however, the emergy buying power of the money received in exchange was lower than the emergy contained in the products exported. The excess emergy exported is the basis for a high quality diet delivered to city dwellers at a relatively low price. In the 1980s, the productivity of both land and labor increased; but after 1992 the productivity of labor decreased, causing the efficiency of the whole agricultural system to decrease. We recommend that processing plants be established for the main agricultural products of Shunde to decrease the emergy loss in trading and to increase employment. The effect of including monetized ecosystem services in the balance between the emergy delivered to the markets in agricultural products and the emergy buying power of the money received was to decrease the emergy gained by the Shunde agricultural system.
Eutrophication (i.e., nutrient enrichment, organic enrichment, and oxygen depletion) is one of th... more Eutrophication (i.e., nutrient enrichment, organic enrichment, and oxygen depletion) is one of the most common sources of impairment in Clean Water Act 303(d)-listed waters in the United States. Although eutrophication can eventually cause adverse effects to the benthos, it may be difficult to diagnose. Sediment organic carbon (OC) content has been used as an indicator of enrichment in sediments, but the amount of surface area available for carbon adsorption must be considered. We investigated the utility of the relationship between OC and sediment grain size as an indicator of eutrophication. Data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program was used to test this relationship. However, anthropogenic contaminants are also capable of causing adverse effects to the benthos and often co-occur with elevated levels of OC. Contaminant analysis and toxicity tests were not consistently related to enrichment status as defined by relationship between total OC and grain size. Although variability in response occurred, reflecting the variance in the water column factors (dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll a, and nutrients) and limited sample sizes, the data supported the hypothesis that sites designated as enriched were eutrophied. Dissolved oxygen levels were reduced at enriched sites, whereas chlorophyll a and nutrients were higher at enriched sites. This suggests that the relationship of OC to grain size can be used as a screening tool to diagnose eutrophication.
Ecosystem processes represented by manifold material cycles and energy flows are a necessary cond... more Ecosystem processes represented by manifold material cycles and energy flows are a necessary condition of life on Earth. Though our species is embedded in a matrix of ecosystem processes mediated by networks involving millions of other species, human activities per se account for an ever-increasing fraction of matter and energy budgets at every scale. Human agency is now apparent in processes ranging from the global increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, to the regional acidification of lakes and streams, to local changes in the organic matter contents of soils. Human agency implies human responsibility. In the context of ecosystems, that responsibility must be directed to the living network comprised of many millions of other living species on the planet, the planetary life support system. The recently coined term, vivantary responsibility, is a specific referent for exactly this specialized duty of care. For vivantary responsibility to be realized in practice, it must be coupled to an appropriate measure of value in ecosystems. Energy System Theory (EST) identifies such a value with energy as the basis for selection. The differential between competing networks in units of emjoules determines survival, just as a temperature differential directs the flow of heat. Since the future states of ecosystems and human life are linked inextricably to human agency and to vivantary responsibility, we posit that the maximum empower principle, as the basis for emergy accounting, gives a general criterion for judging the impacts of human activities on the planet that is consistent with our vivantary duties.
Often questions related to environmental policy are difficult to resolve successfully, because ro... more Often questions related to environmental policy are difficult to resolve successfully, because robust solutions depend on accurately balancing the needs of both human and natural systems. To accomplish this end the socioeconomic and environmental effects of policies must be expressed in common terms so that both the contributions of the environment and the contributions of the economy to human well-being are valued fairly. Emergy is an accounting quantity that has the property of expressing all forms of energy in terms of their equivalent ability to do work when used in the system of which they are a part. Based on past studies and a previous report in this series, environmental accounting using emergy has proved to be a method that can be used to objectively value the work of the environment, economy and society by using an energy-based unit, the solar emjoule (sej) and a combined emergy-monetary unit the emdollar (Em$). Emergy tabulates the available energy of one kind required for the production of a product or service i.e., the solar joules used up both directly and indirectly in the past to make the product or service. The unit of emergy is the emjoule, which denotes that the energy has been used in the past in contrast to a joule of available energy that is an energy potential that can be used in the present. What something can do when used within its network is represented by its emergy and not its energy. Thus, energy alone is not a sufficient basis for making policy decisions. This USEPA Project Report contains an emergy evaluation of the State of Minnesota and it includes a guide to the Emergy Analysis methods used to characterize a state within the larger context of its region and nation. A summary of the results of this analysis based on the values of emergy indices calculated for the State and their interpretation follows: (1) Twenty-one percent of the emergy used in the State in 1997 was derived from home sources, which indicates a moderate potential for self-sufficiency. (2) The emergy use per person was 1.53E+17 sej/person. This index showed that Minnesotans have a high overall standard of living compared to the national average. (3) The import/export emergy ratio showed 1.33 times as much emergy leaving the State in exports as is received in imports, which indicates a slight imbalance in the exchange of real wealth with the Nation. However, when iron ore (taconite) is removed from the import-export balance, the emergy of exports is only 10% larger than that of the imports. (4) The emergy used per square meter (3.23E+12 sej/m2) indicates that an average location in the State is developed relative to an average place in the Nation. (5) The emergy to dollar ratio was 4.66 E+12 sej/$, thus the purchasing power of a dollar in Minnesota in 1997 was 1.82 times that of an average place in the United States. This ratio had fallen to 1.69 times the national purchasing power of a dollar by 2000. (6) The investment ratio was 3.81:1, which indicates a relatively low intensity of matching between purchased economic emergy invested from outside the State and the emergy of renewable and nonrenewable environmental resources within the State. This index suggests that Minnesota is still an attractive place for further economic investment. (7) The environmental loading ratio was 37.1:1, indicating a more intense matching of purchased inputs with renewable energy from the environment than was found for West Virginia (20.4:1) or the Nation as a whole (19.6:1). Higher environmental loading ratios potentially result in higher stress on ecosystems and a heavier “load” on the waste processing capacity of the environment. (8) Minnesota can support 2.6% of the present population at the 1997 standard of living using its renewable resources alone in their current state of development compared to 3.0% for West Virginia and 4.9% for the Nation. Minnesota is a state with large regional differences. The Northeastern region appears to be a hinterland exporting vast quantities of emergy in its natural resources. For example, the iron mining sector has a balanced monetary exchange but the emergy exchange shows a 42:1 advantage in favor of the buyer. The agricultural and industrial regions in the remainder of the State export value added products that command a premium over the average skill level used to produce the products imported. This premium paid for the services of Minnesota workers is the main reason for the State’s high standard of living relative to other states. Minnesota’s pool of highly educated and skilled labor can be attributed to an early and continuing interest in and support for education in the State. Based on this evidence the best thing that the State can do to ensure a prosperous future is to continue to educate forward-thinking, highly-skilled individuals through further developing and maintaining its school systems.
Abstract
Development of the concept of emergy established a medium for accounting that made it po... more Abstract Development of the concept of emergy established a medium for accounting that made it possible to express economic and environmental work of all kinds on a common basis as solar emjoules. Environmental accounting using emdollars, a combined emergy-monetary unit, can be used to produce a single income statement and balance sheet giving comprehensive accounts for the economy, society, and the environment that can be expressed on a single income statement and balance sheet. At present, emergy accounting is rapidly developing and this paper uses well-known methods from financial accounting and bookkeeping to guide the further development of emergy accounting methods. The important concept of environmental liability is defined and a conceptual basis for applying this idea in ecological-economic systems is presented in the form of an Energy Systems Language model. Four categories of environmental debt are recognized and a scheme for payment of these debts is proposed based on the criterion that economic production be sustainable. Also, a system of double entry emergy and money bookkeeping is proposed, which uses a combined emergy and money journal, separate emergy and money ledgers with this data transferred to a unified emdollar balance sheet to keep one set of books for the environment and the economy. Further development, testing, and adoption of environmental accounting tools like the ones proposed here will allow governments and managers to finally determine the true solvency (i.e., the ability to pay economic, social and environmental debts) and therefore the sustainability of the firms and economic systems for which they are responsible.
Historically, questions related to environmental policy have been difficult to solve, because
sol... more Historically, questions related to environmental policy have been difficult to solve, because solutions depend on accurately balancing the needs of both human and natural systems. In addition, there has been no good way to express the socioeconomic and environmental effects of policies in common terms. The USEPA has recognized that a knowledge gap exists in our ability to assess the effects of environmental policies using a comprehensive, integrated approach. Assessment methods that can bridge this gap are needed to address complex issues of environmental policy. Based on past studies, environmental accounting using emergy was identified as a method that had been used by some scientists to bridge the gap. This USEPA Project Report provides a guide to Emergy Analysis methods with particular emphasis on those methods used to characterize a state within the larger context of its region and the nation. An emergy evaluation of the State of West Virginia was performed as a case study to illustrate the method. The results of the West Virginia case study provided indices that were used to elucidate several questions that environmental managers asked about this state, when considering policy needs for the state as a whole. Assessment methods for quantifying imports and exports to and from states within the United States were further developed in this study. The Emergy Analysis of West Virginia documented the environmental and economic resource base for the state in common terms (i.e. solar emjoules) and the indicators derived from the emergy evaluation were used to examine questions of self-sufficiency, sustainability, the balance of exchange, and quality of life in the state as a whole. The results of this study may be useful to planners and managers who must perform analyses or recommend policy for the State of West Virginia. Also, scientists who need large scale indicators for the State as a context for studies focused on smaller scale systems (watersheds, counties, or industries) may find the results of this study useful. In addition, the general methods described here can be used to analyze other states within the United States and they may also serve as a starting point for emergy studies of large watersheds and regions.
Abstract. Emergy provides a general accounting mechanism that allows us to view the economy and
t... more Abstract. Emergy provides a general accounting mechanism that allows us to view the economy and the environment on the same income statement and balance sheet. This allows an auditor to verify the economic picture by checking it against a more complete representation of the flows and storages of real wealth as measured by emergy. In this study, we constructed emergy accounts for the state of West Virginia in 1997. The income statement showed annual production, consumption, and flows of emergy and dollars into and out of the state. The balance sheet evaluated the storage of emergy in some of the state’s assets. Emergy indices were used to answer questions posed by managers and gain insight into the state’s economic and environmental strengths and weaknesses. West Virginia has great wealth in nonrenewable resources (9E14 sej m-2 or 17 times the U.S. average). The investment ratio of emergy purchased outside to indigenous renewable and nonrenewable emergy was 2.2:1, which indicates a high potential for future development. However, the environmental loading ratio (14:1) was already 1.5 times higher than that found at an average location in the U.S. Twice as much emergy was exported as received and standard of living indicators showed that people have largely failed to benefit from their state’s wealth. We propose that, just as in business, where decisions made using financial accounts ensure solvency; decisions governing the environment should be made based on an emergy accounting of activities, assets, and liabilities for the combined system of humanity and nature.
Northeastern Naturalist 11(Special Issue 2):355-424, Dec 4, 2004
A naturally eutrophic, estuarine ecosystem with many unique features has developed in Cobscook Ba... more A naturally eutrophic, estuarine ecosystem with many unique features has developed in Cobscook Bay over the past four thousand years under the influence of six meter tides and rich flows of nitrogen from the deep waters of the Gulf of Maine. In this paper, measurements of primary production and water column properties made in the Bay from 1995 to 1996 and information from past studies are used to construct an energy systems model of the Bay’s ecosystem and to evaluate the annual flows of energy and matter coursing through this network. The properties of this ecosystem network were analyzed in terms of the solar emjoules (emergy) required to support primary and secondary production. In
Cobscook Bay there is an extraordinary convergence of emergy, 7.4E+12 sej m –2, from renewable sources. This level of emergy is one of the highest natural empower densities that we have found. Eighty-four percent of this emergy is from the tides and wave action. Transformities calculated in this analysis show that
emergy is being used, most effectively, to support populations of large brown alga, i.e., Ascophyllum nodosum, Fucus vesiculosus, and Laminaria longicruris, and the diverse community of benthic organisms that thrive in the intertidal and shallow subtidal zone along the shore. Phytoplankton production is less efficient pparently due to light limitation, but phytoplankton and esuspended benthic microalgae support highly productive beds of filter feeders. Empower density in Cobscook Bay is similar to that required elsewhere for intensive fish culture; therefore, aquaculture may be a good human use of the rich convergence of natural emergy found there. The nitrogen entering Cobscook Bay from salmon culture is 19% of the net annual flux of new nitrogen entering from the coastal waters. The Bay’s great resource wealth supports economic activities such as salmon culture and commercial dragging for scallops and urchins that, in turn, alter the concentrations of nutrients and suspended sediments locally in the Bay and may cause increased sedimentation and changing benthic communities in the Bay as a whole.
The bio-thermodynamic structures of a mixed native species plantation, a conifer plantation and a... more The bio-thermodynamic structures of a mixed native species plantation, a conifer plantation and an Acacia mangium plantation in Southern China were quantified over a period of 15 years based on eco-exergy methods. The efficiencies of structural development and maintenance were quantified through an integrated application of eco-exergy and emergy methods. The results showed that the storage of eco-exergy increased over 3 times in all three plantations, as predicted by the maximum eco-exergy principle. This trend was primarily seen due to the accumulation of biomass, instead of an increase in the specific eco-exergy (eco-exergy per unit biomass), although species richness did increase. The eco-exergy to emergy and eco-exergy to empower ratios of the three plantations generally increased during the study period, but the rate of increase slowed down after 20 years. The dominant trees are the largest contributors to the eco-exergy stored in the plantations, and thus, the introduction of ...
The agricultural and industrial development of small cities is the primary environmental manageme... more The agricultural and industrial development of small cities is the primary environmental management strategy employed to make full use of extra labor in the rural areas of China. The ecological and economic consequences of this development strategy will affect over 100 million people and change the organization of the Chinese landscape. In this study, we examined the agricultural development of Shunde, a small city in Guangdong Province, over the period 1978 until 2000. Our analysis of the ecological and economic dynamics of the agricultural system revealed the dominant role of labor in the intensification of agricultural production, even though the use of fuels, fertilizers and machines also increased during this time. The Shunde agricultural system was examined from both biophysical or donor-based and human utility or receiver-based perspectives, using emergy and economic methods, respectively. After 22 years of urbanization, the Shunde agricultural system was still able to fill 96% of the local demand for agricultural products using only 6% of its total yield compared to using 14% of the total yield in 1978. Aquaculture developed quickly during the study period as grain production decreased. In 2000, the production of fish, pork, and vegetables accounted for 92% of the total emergy output of the system; however, the emergy buying power of the money received in exchange was lower than the emergy contained in the products exported. The excess emergy exported is the basis for a high quality diet delivered to city dwellers at a relatively low price. In the 1980s, the productivity of both land and labor increased; but after 1992 the productivity of labor decreased, causing the efficiency of the whole agricultural system to decrease. We recommend that processing plants be established for the main agricultural products of Shunde to decrease the emergy loss in trading and to increase employment. The effect of including monetized ecosystem services in the balance between the emergy delivered to the markets in agricultural products and the emergy buying power of the money received was to decrease the emergy gained by the Shunde agricultural system.
Eutrophication (i.e., nutrient enrichment, organic enrichment, and oxygen depletion) is one of th... more Eutrophication (i.e., nutrient enrichment, organic enrichment, and oxygen depletion) is one of the most common sources of impairment in Clean Water Act 303(d)-listed waters in the United States. Although eutrophication can eventually cause adverse effects to the benthos, it may be difficult to diagnose. Sediment organic carbon (OC) content has been used as an indicator of enrichment in sediments, but the amount of surface area available for carbon adsorption must be considered. We investigated the utility of the relationship between OC and sediment grain size as an indicator of eutrophication. Data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program was used to test this relationship. However, anthropogenic contaminants are also capable of causing adverse effects to the benthos and often co-occur with elevated levels of OC. Contaminant analysis and toxicity tests were not consistently related to enrichment status as defined by relationship between total OC and grain size. Although variability in response occurred, reflecting the variance in the water column factors (dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll a, and nutrients) and limited sample sizes, the data supported the hypothesis that sites designated as enriched were eutrophied. Dissolved oxygen levels were reduced at enriched sites, whereas chlorophyll a and nutrients were higher at enriched sites. This suggests that the relationship of OC to grain size can be used as a screening tool to diagnose eutrophication.
Ecosystem processes represented by manifold material cycles and energy flows are a necessary cond... more Ecosystem processes represented by manifold material cycles and energy flows are a necessary condition of life on Earth. Though our species is embedded in a matrix of ecosystem processes mediated by networks involving millions of other species, human activities per se account for an ever-increasing fraction of matter and energy budgets at every scale. Human agency is now apparent in processes ranging from the global increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, to the regional acidification of lakes and streams, to local changes in the organic matter contents of soils. Human agency implies human responsibility. In the context of ecosystems, that responsibility must be directed to the living network comprised of many millions of other living species on the planet, the planetary life support system. The recently coined term, vivantary responsibility, is a specific referent for exactly this specialized duty of care. For vivantary responsibility to be realized in practice, it must be coupled to an appropriate measure of value in ecosystems. Energy System Theory (EST) identifies such a value with energy as the basis for selection. The differential between competing networks in units of emjoules determines survival, just as a temperature differential directs the flow of heat. Since the future states of ecosystems and human life are linked inextricably to human agency and to vivantary responsibility, we posit that the maximum empower principle, as the basis for emergy accounting, gives a general criterion for judging the impacts of human activities on the planet that is consistent with our vivantary duties.
Often questions related to environmental policy are difficult to resolve successfully, because ro... more Often questions related to environmental policy are difficult to resolve successfully, because robust solutions depend on accurately balancing the needs of both human and natural systems. To accomplish this end the socioeconomic and environmental effects of policies must be expressed in common terms so that both the contributions of the environment and the contributions of the economy to human well-being are valued fairly. Emergy is an accounting quantity that has the property of expressing all forms of energy in terms of their equivalent ability to do work when used in the system of which they are a part. Based on past studies and a previous report in this series, environmental accounting using emergy has proved to be a method that can be used to objectively value the work of the environment, economy and society by using an energy-based unit, the solar emjoule (sej) and a combined emergy-monetary unit the emdollar (Em$). Emergy tabulates the available energy of one kind required for the production of a product or service i.e., the solar joules used up both directly and indirectly in the past to make the product or service. The unit of emergy is the emjoule, which denotes that the energy has been used in the past in contrast to a joule of available energy that is an energy potential that can be used in the present. What something can do when used within its network is represented by its emergy and not its energy. Thus, energy alone is not a sufficient basis for making policy decisions. This USEPA Project Report contains an emergy evaluation of the State of Minnesota and it includes a guide to the Emergy Analysis methods used to characterize a state within the larger context of its region and nation. A summary of the results of this analysis based on the values of emergy indices calculated for the State and their interpretation follows: (1) Twenty-one percent of the emergy used in the State in 1997 was derived from home sources, which indicates a moderate potential for self-sufficiency. (2) The emergy use per person was 1.53E+17 sej/person. This index showed that Minnesotans have a high overall standard of living compared to the national average. (3) The import/export emergy ratio showed 1.33 times as much emergy leaving the State in exports as is received in imports, which indicates a slight imbalance in the exchange of real wealth with the Nation. However, when iron ore (taconite) is removed from the import-export balance, the emergy of exports is only 10% larger than that of the imports. (4) The emergy used per square meter (3.23E+12 sej/m2) indicates that an average location in the State is developed relative to an average place in the Nation. (5) The emergy to dollar ratio was 4.66 E+12 sej/$, thus the purchasing power of a dollar in Minnesota in 1997 was 1.82 times that of an average place in the United States. This ratio had fallen to 1.69 times the national purchasing power of a dollar by 2000. (6) The investment ratio was 3.81:1, which indicates a relatively low intensity of matching between purchased economic emergy invested from outside the State and the emergy of renewable and nonrenewable environmental resources within the State. This index suggests that Minnesota is still an attractive place for further economic investment. (7) The environmental loading ratio was 37.1:1, indicating a more intense matching of purchased inputs with renewable energy from the environment than was found for West Virginia (20.4:1) or the Nation as a whole (19.6:1). Higher environmental loading ratios potentially result in higher stress on ecosystems and a heavier “load” on the waste processing capacity of the environment. (8) Minnesota can support 2.6% of the present population at the 1997 standard of living using its renewable resources alone in their current state of development compared to 3.0% for West Virginia and 4.9% for the Nation. Minnesota is a state with large regional differences. The Northeastern region appears to be a hinterland exporting vast quantities of emergy in its natural resources. For example, the iron mining sector has a balanced monetary exchange but the emergy exchange shows a 42:1 advantage in favor of the buyer. The agricultural and industrial regions in the remainder of the State export value added products that command a premium over the average skill level used to produce the products imported. This premium paid for the services of Minnesota workers is the main reason for the State’s high standard of living relative to other states. Minnesota’s pool of highly educated and skilled labor can be attributed to an early and continuing interest in and support for education in the State. Based on this evidence the best thing that the State can do to ensure a prosperous future is to continue to educate forward-thinking, highly-skilled individuals through further developing and maintaining its school systems.
Abstract
Development of the concept of emergy established a medium for accounting that made it po... more Abstract Development of the concept of emergy established a medium for accounting that made it possible to express economic and environmental work of all kinds on a common basis as solar emjoules. Environmental accounting using emdollars, a combined emergy-monetary unit, can be used to produce a single income statement and balance sheet giving comprehensive accounts for the economy, society, and the environment that can be expressed on a single income statement and balance sheet. At present, emergy accounting is rapidly developing and this paper uses well-known methods from financial accounting and bookkeeping to guide the further development of emergy accounting methods. The important concept of environmental liability is defined and a conceptual basis for applying this idea in ecological-economic systems is presented in the form of an Energy Systems Language model. Four categories of environmental debt are recognized and a scheme for payment of these debts is proposed based on the criterion that economic production be sustainable. Also, a system of double entry emergy and money bookkeeping is proposed, which uses a combined emergy and money journal, separate emergy and money ledgers with this data transferred to a unified emdollar balance sheet to keep one set of books for the environment and the economy. Further development, testing, and adoption of environmental accounting tools like the ones proposed here will allow governments and managers to finally determine the true solvency (i.e., the ability to pay economic, social and environmental debts) and therefore the sustainability of the firms and economic systems for which they are responsible.
Historically, questions related to environmental policy have been difficult to solve, because
sol... more Historically, questions related to environmental policy have been difficult to solve, because solutions depend on accurately balancing the needs of both human and natural systems. In addition, there has been no good way to express the socioeconomic and environmental effects of policies in common terms. The USEPA has recognized that a knowledge gap exists in our ability to assess the effects of environmental policies using a comprehensive, integrated approach. Assessment methods that can bridge this gap are needed to address complex issues of environmental policy. Based on past studies, environmental accounting using emergy was identified as a method that had been used by some scientists to bridge the gap. This USEPA Project Report provides a guide to Emergy Analysis methods with particular emphasis on those methods used to characterize a state within the larger context of its region and the nation. An emergy evaluation of the State of West Virginia was performed as a case study to illustrate the method. The results of the West Virginia case study provided indices that were used to elucidate several questions that environmental managers asked about this state, when considering policy needs for the state as a whole. Assessment methods for quantifying imports and exports to and from states within the United States were further developed in this study. The Emergy Analysis of West Virginia documented the environmental and economic resource base for the state in common terms (i.e. solar emjoules) and the indicators derived from the emergy evaluation were used to examine questions of self-sufficiency, sustainability, the balance of exchange, and quality of life in the state as a whole. The results of this study may be useful to planners and managers who must perform analyses or recommend policy for the State of West Virginia. Also, scientists who need large scale indicators for the State as a context for studies focused on smaller scale systems (watersheds, counties, or industries) may find the results of this study useful. In addition, the general methods described here can be used to analyze other states within the United States and they may also serve as a starting point for emergy studies of large watersheds and regions.
Abstract. Emergy provides a general accounting mechanism that allows us to view the economy and
t... more Abstract. Emergy provides a general accounting mechanism that allows us to view the economy and the environment on the same income statement and balance sheet. This allows an auditor to verify the economic picture by checking it against a more complete representation of the flows and storages of real wealth as measured by emergy. In this study, we constructed emergy accounts for the state of West Virginia in 1997. The income statement showed annual production, consumption, and flows of emergy and dollars into and out of the state. The balance sheet evaluated the storage of emergy in some of the state’s assets. Emergy indices were used to answer questions posed by managers and gain insight into the state’s economic and environmental strengths and weaknesses. West Virginia has great wealth in nonrenewable resources (9E14 sej m-2 or 17 times the U.S. average). The investment ratio of emergy purchased outside to indigenous renewable and nonrenewable emergy was 2.2:1, which indicates a high potential for future development. However, the environmental loading ratio (14:1) was already 1.5 times higher than that found at an average location in the U.S. Twice as much emergy was exported as received and standard of living indicators showed that people have largely failed to benefit from their state’s wealth. We propose that, just as in business, where decisions made using financial accounts ensure solvency; decisions governing the environment should be made based on an emergy accounting of activities, assets, and liabilities for the combined system of humanity and nature.
Northeastern Naturalist 11(Special Issue 2):355-424, Dec 4, 2004
A naturally eutrophic, estuarine ecosystem with many unique features has developed in Cobscook Ba... more A naturally eutrophic, estuarine ecosystem with many unique features has developed in Cobscook Bay over the past four thousand years under the influence of six meter tides and rich flows of nitrogen from the deep waters of the Gulf of Maine. In this paper, measurements of primary production and water column properties made in the Bay from 1995 to 1996 and information from past studies are used to construct an energy systems model of the Bay’s ecosystem and to evaluate the annual flows of energy and matter coursing through this network. The properties of this ecosystem network were analyzed in terms of the solar emjoules (emergy) required to support primary and secondary production. In
Cobscook Bay there is an extraordinary convergence of emergy, 7.4E+12 sej m –2, from renewable sources. This level of emergy is one of the highest natural empower densities that we have found. Eighty-four percent of this emergy is from the tides and wave action. Transformities calculated in this analysis show that
emergy is being used, most effectively, to support populations of large brown alga, i.e., Ascophyllum nodosum, Fucus vesiculosus, and Laminaria longicruris, and the diverse community of benthic organisms that thrive in the intertidal and shallow subtidal zone along the shore. Phytoplankton production is less efficient pparently due to light limitation, but phytoplankton and esuspended benthic microalgae support highly productive beds of filter feeders. Empower density in Cobscook Bay is similar to that required elsewhere for intensive fish culture; therefore, aquaculture may be a good human use of the rich convergence of natural emergy found there. The nitrogen entering Cobscook Bay from salmon culture is 19% of the net annual flux of new nitrogen entering from the coastal waters. The Bay’s great resource wealth supports economic activities such as salmon culture and commercial dragging for scallops and urchins that, in turn, alter the concentrations of nutrients and suspended sediments locally in the Bay and may cause increased sedimentation and changing benthic communities in the Bay as a whole.
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Papers by Daniel Campbell
Human agency implies human responsibility. In the context of ecosystems, that responsibility must be directed to the living network comprised of many millions of other living species on the planet, the planetary life support system. The recently coined term, vivantary responsibility, is a specific referent for exactly this specialized duty of care.
For vivantary responsibility to be realized in practice, it must be coupled to an appropriate measure of value in ecosystems. Energy System Theory (EST) identifies such a value with energy as the basis for selection. The differential between competing networks in units of emjoules determines survival, just as a temperature differential directs the flow of heat. Since the future states of ecosystems and human life are linked inextricably to human agency and to vivantary responsibility, we posit that the maximum empower principle, as the basis for emergy accounting, gives a general criterion for judging the impacts of human activities on the planet that is consistent with our vivantary duties.
depend on accurately balancing the needs of both human and natural systems. To accomplish this end the
socioeconomic and environmental effects of policies must be expressed in common terms so that both the
contributions of the environment and the contributions of the economy to human well-being are valued fairly.
Emergy is an accounting quantity that has the property of expressing all forms of energy in terms of their equivalent
ability to do work when used in the system of which they are a part. Based on past studies and a previous report in
this series, environmental accounting using emergy has proved to be a method that can be used to objectively value
the work of the environment, economy and society by using an energy-based unit, the solar emjoule (sej) and a
combined emergy-monetary unit the emdollar (Em$). Emergy tabulates the available energy of one kind required for
the production of a product or service i.e., the solar joules used up both directly and indirectly in the past to make the
product or service. The unit of emergy is the emjoule, which denotes that the energy has been used in the past in
contrast to a joule of available energy that is an energy potential that can be used in the present. What something can
do when used within its network is represented by its emergy and not its energy. Thus, energy alone is not a
sufficient basis for making policy decisions.
This USEPA Project Report contains an emergy evaluation of the State of Minnesota and it includes a guide to the
Emergy Analysis methods used to characterize a state within the larger context of its region and nation. A summary
of the results of this analysis based on the values of emergy indices calculated for the State and their interpretation
follows: (1) Twenty-one percent of the emergy used in the State in 1997 was derived from home sources, which
indicates a moderate potential for self-sufficiency. (2) The emergy use per person was 1.53E+17 sej/person. This
index showed that Minnesotans have a high overall standard of living compared to the national average. (3) The
import/export emergy ratio showed 1.33 times as much emergy leaving the State in exports as is received in imports,
which indicates a slight imbalance in the exchange of real wealth with the Nation. However, when iron ore (taconite)
is removed from the import-export balance, the emergy of exports is only 10% larger than that of the imports. (4) The
emergy used per square meter (3.23E+12 sej/m2) indicates that an average location in the State is developed relative
to an average place in the Nation. (5) The emergy to dollar ratio was 4.66 E+12 sej/$, thus the purchasing power of a
dollar in Minnesota in 1997 was 1.82 times that of an average place in the United States. This ratio had fallen to 1.69
times the national purchasing power of a dollar by 2000. (6) The investment ratio was 3.81:1, which indicates a
relatively low intensity of matching between purchased economic emergy invested from outside the State and the
emergy of renewable and nonrenewable environmental resources within the State. This index suggests that
Minnesota is still an attractive place for further economic investment. (7) The environmental loading ratio was 37.1:1, indicating a more intense matching of purchased inputs with renewable energy from the environment than
was found for West Virginia (20.4:1) or the Nation as a whole (19.6:1). Higher environmental loading ratios
potentially result in higher stress on ecosystems and a heavier “load” on the waste processing capacity of the
environment. (8) Minnesota can support 2.6% of the present population at the 1997 standard of living using its
renewable resources alone in their current state of development compared to 3.0% for West Virginia and 4.9% for the
Nation.
Minnesota is a state with large regional differences. The Northeastern region appears to be a hinterland exporting
vast quantities of emergy in its natural resources. For example, the iron mining sector has a balanced monetary
exchange but the emergy exchange shows a 42:1 advantage in favor of the buyer. The agricultural and industrial
regions in the remainder of the State export value added products that command a premium over the average skill
level used to produce the products imported. This premium paid for the services of Minnesota workers is the main
reason for the State’s high standard of living relative to other states. Minnesota’s pool of highly educated and skilled
labor can be attributed to an early and continuing interest in and support for education in the State. Based on this
evidence the best thing that the State can do to ensure a prosperous future is to continue to educate forward-thinking,
highly-skilled individuals through further developing and maintaining its school systems.
Development of the concept of emergy established a medium for accounting that made it possible to express economic and environmental work of all kinds on a common basis as solar emjoules. Environmental accounting using emdollars, a combined emergy-monetary unit, can be used to produce a single income statement and balance sheet giving comprehensive accounts for the economy, society, and the environment that can be expressed on a single income statement and balance sheet. At present, emergy accounting is rapidly developing and this paper uses well-known methods from financial accounting and bookkeeping to guide the further development of emergy accounting methods. The important concept of environmental liability is defined and a conceptual basis for applying this idea in ecological-economic
systems is presented in the form of an Energy Systems
Language model. Four categories of environmental debt are recognized and a scheme for payment of these debts is proposed based on the criterion that economic production be sustainable. Also, a system of double entry emergy and money bookkeeping is proposed, which uses a combined emergy and money journal, separate emergy and money ledgers with this data transferred to a unified emdollar balance sheet to keep one set of books for the environment and the economy. Further development, testing, and adoption of environmental accounting tools like the ones proposed here will allow governments and managers to finally determine the true solvency (i.e., the ability to pay economic, social and environmental debts) and therefore the sustainability of the firms and economic systems for which they are responsible.
solutions depend on accurately balancing the needs of both human and natural systems. In addition,
there has been no good way to express the socioeconomic and environmental effects of policies in
common terms. The USEPA has recognized that a knowledge gap exists in our ability to assess the
effects of environmental policies using a comprehensive, integrated approach. Assessment methods that
can bridge this gap are needed to address complex issues of environmental policy. Based on past studies,
environmental accounting using emergy was identified as a method that had been used by some scientists
to bridge the gap. This USEPA Project Report provides a guide to Emergy Analysis methods with
particular emphasis on those methods used to characterize a state within the larger context of its region
and the nation. An emergy evaluation of the State of West Virginia was performed as a case study to
illustrate the method. The results of the West Virginia case study provided indices that were used to
elucidate several questions that environmental managers asked about this state, when considering policy
needs for the state as a whole. Assessment methods for quantifying imports and exports to and from
states within the United States were further developed in this study. The Emergy Analysis of West
Virginia documented the environmental and economic resource base for the state in common terms (i.e.
solar emjoules) and the indicators derived from the emergy evaluation were used to examine questions of
self-sufficiency, sustainability, the balance of exchange, and quality of life in the state as a whole. The
results of this study may be useful to planners and managers who must perform analyses or recommend
policy for the State of West Virginia. Also, scientists who need large scale indicators for the State as a
context for studies focused on smaller scale systems (watersheds, counties, or industries) may find the
results of this study useful. In addition, the general methods described here can be used to analyze other
states within the United States and they may also serve as a starting point for emergy studies of large
watersheds and regions.
the environment on the same income statement and balance sheet. This allows an auditor to verify the
economic picture by checking it against a more complete representation of the flows and storages of
real wealth as measured by emergy. In this study, we constructed emergy accounts for the state of
West Virginia in 1997. The income statement showed annual production, consumption, and flows of
emergy and dollars into and out of the state. The balance sheet evaluated the storage of emergy in some
of the state’s assets. Emergy indices were used to answer questions posed by managers and gain
insight into the state’s economic and environmental strengths and weaknesses. West Virginia has
great wealth in nonrenewable resources (9E14 sej m-2 or 17 times the U.S. average). The investment
ratio of emergy purchased outside to indigenous renewable and nonrenewable emergy was 2.2:1,
which indicates a high potential for future development. However, the environmental loading ratio
(14:1) was already 1.5 times higher than that found at an average location in the U.S. Twice as much
emergy was exported as received and standard of living indicators showed that people have largely
failed to benefit from their state’s wealth. We propose that, just as in business, where decisions made
using financial accounts ensure solvency; decisions governing the environment should be made based
on an emergy accounting of activities, assets, and liabilities for the combined system of humanity and
nature.
Cobscook Bay there is an extraordinary convergence of emergy, 7.4E+12 sej m –2, from renewable sources. This level of emergy is one of the highest natural empower densities that we have found. Eighty-four percent of this emergy is from the tides and wave action. Transformities calculated in this analysis show that
emergy is being used, most effectively, to support populations of large brown alga, i.e., Ascophyllum nodosum, Fucus vesiculosus, and Laminaria longicruris, and the diverse community of benthic organisms that thrive in the intertidal and shallow subtidal zone along the shore. Phytoplankton production is less efficient pparently due to light limitation, but phytoplankton and esuspended benthic microalgae support highly productive beds of filter feeders. Empower density in Cobscook Bay is similar to that required elsewhere for intensive fish culture; therefore, aquaculture may be a good human use of the rich convergence of natural emergy found there. The nitrogen entering Cobscook Bay from salmon culture is 19% of the net annual flux of new nitrogen entering from the coastal waters. The Bay’s great resource wealth supports economic activities such as salmon culture and commercial dragging for scallops and urchins that, in turn, alter the concentrations of nutrients and suspended sediments locally in the Bay and may cause increased sedimentation and changing benthic communities in the Bay as a whole.
Human agency implies human responsibility. In the context of ecosystems, that responsibility must be directed to the living network comprised of many millions of other living species on the planet, the planetary life support system. The recently coined term, vivantary responsibility, is a specific referent for exactly this specialized duty of care.
For vivantary responsibility to be realized in practice, it must be coupled to an appropriate measure of value in ecosystems. Energy System Theory (EST) identifies such a value with energy as the basis for selection. The differential between competing networks in units of emjoules determines survival, just as a temperature differential directs the flow of heat. Since the future states of ecosystems and human life are linked inextricably to human agency and to vivantary responsibility, we posit that the maximum empower principle, as the basis for emergy accounting, gives a general criterion for judging the impacts of human activities on the planet that is consistent with our vivantary duties.
depend on accurately balancing the needs of both human and natural systems. To accomplish this end the
socioeconomic and environmental effects of policies must be expressed in common terms so that both the
contributions of the environment and the contributions of the economy to human well-being are valued fairly.
Emergy is an accounting quantity that has the property of expressing all forms of energy in terms of their equivalent
ability to do work when used in the system of which they are a part. Based on past studies and a previous report in
this series, environmental accounting using emergy has proved to be a method that can be used to objectively value
the work of the environment, economy and society by using an energy-based unit, the solar emjoule (sej) and a
combined emergy-monetary unit the emdollar (Em$). Emergy tabulates the available energy of one kind required for
the production of a product or service i.e., the solar joules used up both directly and indirectly in the past to make the
product or service. The unit of emergy is the emjoule, which denotes that the energy has been used in the past in
contrast to a joule of available energy that is an energy potential that can be used in the present. What something can
do when used within its network is represented by its emergy and not its energy. Thus, energy alone is not a
sufficient basis for making policy decisions.
This USEPA Project Report contains an emergy evaluation of the State of Minnesota and it includes a guide to the
Emergy Analysis methods used to characterize a state within the larger context of its region and nation. A summary
of the results of this analysis based on the values of emergy indices calculated for the State and their interpretation
follows: (1) Twenty-one percent of the emergy used in the State in 1997 was derived from home sources, which
indicates a moderate potential for self-sufficiency. (2) The emergy use per person was 1.53E+17 sej/person. This
index showed that Minnesotans have a high overall standard of living compared to the national average. (3) The
import/export emergy ratio showed 1.33 times as much emergy leaving the State in exports as is received in imports,
which indicates a slight imbalance in the exchange of real wealth with the Nation. However, when iron ore (taconite)
is removed from the import-export balance, the emergy of exports is only 10% larger than that of the imports. (4) The
emergy used per square meter (3.23E+12 sej/m2) indicates that an average location in the State is developed relative
to an average place in the Nation. (5) The emergy to dollar ratio was 4.66 E+12 sej/$, thus the purchasing power of a
dollar in Minnesota in 1997 was 1.82 times that of an average place in the United States. This ratio had fallen to 1.69
times the national purchasing power of a dollar by 2000. (6) The investment ratio was 3.81:1, which indicates a
relatively low intensity of matching between purchased economic emergy invested from outside the State and the
emergy of renewable and nonrenewable environmental resources within the State. This index suggests that
Minnesota is still an attractive place for further economic investment. (7) The environmental loading ratio was 37.1:1, indicating a more intense matching of purchased inputs with renewable energy from the environment than
was found for West Virginia (20.4:1) or the Nation as a whole (19.6:1). Higher environmental loading ratios
potentially result in higher stress on ecosystems and a heavier “load” on the waste processing capacity of the
environment. (8) Minnesota can support 2.6% of the present population at the 1997 standard of living using its
renewable resources alone in their current state of development compared to 3.0% for West Virginia and 4.9% for the
Nation.
Minnesota is a state with large regional differences. The Northeastern region appears to be a hinterland exporting
vast quantities of emergy in its natural resources. For example, the iron mining sector has a balanced monetary
exchange but the emergy exchange shows a 42:1 advantage in favor of the buyer. The agricultural and industrial
regions in the remainder of the State export value added products that command a premium over the average skill
level used to produce the products imported. This premium paid for the services of Minnesota workers is the main
reason for the State’s high standard of living relative to other states. Minnesota’s pool of highly educated and skilled
labor can be attributed to an early and continuing interest in and support for education in the State. Based on this
evidence the best thing that the State can do to ensure a prosperous future is to continue to educate forward-thinking,
highly-skilled individuals through further developing and maintaining its school systems.
Development of the concept of emergy established a medium for accounting that made it possible to express economic and environmental work of all kinds on a common basis as solar emjoules. Environmental accounting using emdollars, a combined emergy-monetary unit, can be used to produce a single income statement and balance sheet giving comprehensive accounts for the economy, society, and the environment that can be expressed on a single income statement and balance sheet. At present, emergy accounting is rapidly developing and this paper uses well-known methods from financial accounting and bookkeeping to guide the further development of emergy accounting methods. The important concept of environmental liability is defined and a conceptual basis for applying this idea in ecological-economic
systems is presented in the form of an Energy Systems
Language model. Four categories of environmental debt are recognized and a scheme for payment of these debts is proposed based on the criterion that economic production be sustainable. Also, a system of double entry emergy and money bookkeeping is proposed, which uses a combined emergy and money journal, separate emergy and money ledgers with this data transferred to a unified emdollar balance sheet to keep one set of books for the environment and the economy. Further development, testing, and adoption of environmental accounting tools like the ones proposed here will allow governments and managers to finally determine the true solvency (i.e., the ability to pay economic, social and environmental debts) and therefore the sustainability of the firms and economic systems for which they are responsible.
solutions depend on accurately balancing the needs of both human and natural systems. In addition,
there has been no good way to express the socioeconomic and environmental effects of policies in
common terms. The USEPA has recognized that a knowledge gap exists in our ability to assess the
effects of environmental policies using a comprehensive, integrated approach. Assessment methods that
can bridge this gap are needed to address complex issues of environmental policy. Based on past studies,
environmental accounting using emergy was identified as a method that had been used by some scientists
to bridge the gap. This USEPA Project Report provides a guide to Emergy Analysis methods with
particular emphasis on those methods used to characterize a state within the larger context of its region
and the nation. An emergy evaluation of the State of West Virginia was performed as a case study to
illustrate the method. The results of the West Virginia case study provided indices that were used to
elucidate several questions that environmental managers asked about this state, when considering policy
needs for the state as a whole. Assessment methods for quantifying imports and exports to and from
states within the United States were further developed in this study. The Emergy Analysis of West
Virginia documented the environmental and economic resource base for the state in common terms (i.e.
solar emjoules) and the indicators derived from the emergy evaluation were used to examine questions of
self-sufficiency, sustainability, the balance of exchange, and quality of life in the state as a whole. The
results of this study may be useful to planners and managers who must perform analyses or recommend
policy for the State of West Virginia. Also, scientists who need large scale indicators for the State as a
context for studies focused on smaller scale systems (watersheds, counties, or industries) may find the
results of this study useful. In addition, the general methods described here can be used to analyze other
states within the United States and they may also serve as a starting point for emergy studies of large
watersheds and regions.
the environment on the same income statement and balance sheet. This allows an auditor to verify the
economic picture by checking it against a more complete representation of the flows and storages of
real wealth as measured by emergy. In this study, we constructed emergy accounts for the state of
West Virginia in 1997. The income statement showed annual production, consumption, and flows of
emergy and dollars into and out of the state. The balance sheet evaluated the storage of emergy in some
of the state’s assets. Emergy indices were used to answer questions posed by managers and gain
insight into the state’s economic and environmental strengths and weaknesses. West Virginia has
great wealth in nonrenewable resources (9E14 sej m-2 or 17 times the U.S. average). The investment
ratio of emergy purchased outside to indigenous renewable and nonrenewable emergy was 2.2:1,
which indicates a high potential for future development. However, the environmental loading ratio
(14:1) was already 1.5 times higher than that found at an average location in the U.S. Twice as much
emergy was exported as received and standard of living indicators showed that people have largely
failed to benefit from their state’s wealth. We propose that, just as in business, where decisions made
using financial accounts ensure solvency; decisions governing the environment should be made based
on an emergy accounting of activities, assets, and liabilities for the combined system of humanity and
nature.
Cobscook Bay there is an extraordinary convergence of emergy, 7.4E+12 sej m –2, from renewable sources. This level of emergy is one of the highest natural empower densities that we have found. Eighty-four percent of this emergy is from the tides and wave action. Transformities calculated in this analysis show that
emergy is being used, most effectively, to support populations of large brown alga, i.e., Ascophyllum nodosum, Fucus vesiculosus, and Laminaria longicruris, and the diverse community of benthic organisms that thrive in the intertidal and shallow subtidal zone along the shore. Phytoplankton production is less efficient pparently due to light limitation, but phytoplankton and esuspended benthic microalgae support highly productive beds of filter feeders. Empower density in Cobscook Bay is similar to that required elsewhere for intensive fish culture; therefore, aquaculture may be a good human use of the rich convergence of natural emergy found there. The nitrogen entering Cobscook Bay from salmon culture is 19% of the net annual flux of new nitrogen entering from the coastal waters. The Bay’s great resource wealth supports economic activities such as salmon culture and commercial dragging for scallops and urchins that, in turn, alter the concentrations of nutrients and suspended sediments locally in the Bay and may cause increased sedimentation and changing benthic communities in the Bay as a whole.