Eleni Papathanasopoulou

Towards an Integrated Regional Materials Flow Accounting Model

Summary A key challenge in attaining regional sustainability is to reduce both the direct and the indirect environmental impacts associated with economic and household activity in the region. Knowing what these flows are and how they change over time is a prerequisite for this task. This article describes the early development of an integrated regional materials flow accounting framework. The framework is based on a hybrid (material and economic) multiregional input-output model. Using readily available economic and materials data sets together with transport and logistics data, the framework attempts to provide estimates of household resource flows for any U.K. region at quite detailed levels of product and material disaggregation. It is also capable of disaggregating these flows according to specific socioeconomic criteria such as income level or occupation of the head of household. Allied to appropriate energy and life-cycle assessment data sets, the model could, in addition, be used to map both direct and indirect environmental impacts associated with these flows. The benefits of such an approach are likely to be a considerable reduction of uncertainties in (1) our knowledge of the household metabolism, and hence our predictions of regional household waste generation; (2) our assessment of the impacts of contemplated changes in industrial process siting, and thereby on other aspects of local and regional planning; and (3) our understanding of the impacts of changes in the pattern of demand for different materials and products. It is concluded that the use of such an integrated assessment tool has much to contribute to the debate on regional sustainability.

What are the local impacts of energy systems on marine ecosystem services: a systematic map protocol

BackgroundIncreasing concentrations of atmospheric greenhouse gases (GHG) and its impact on the climate has resulted in many international governments committing to reduce their GHG emissions. The UK, for example, has committed to reducing its carbon emissions by 80% by 2050. Suggested ways of reaching such a target are to increase dependency on offshore wind, offshore gas and nuclear. It is not clear, however, how the construction, operation and decommissioning of these energy systems will impact marine ecosystem services, i.e. the services obtained by people from the natural environment such as food provisioning, climate regulation and cultural inspiration.Research on ecosystem service impacts associated with offshore energy technologies is still in its infancy. The objective of this review is to bolster the evidence base by firstly, recording and describing the impacts of energy technologies at the marine ecosystems and human level in a consistent and transparent way; secondly, to translate these ecosystem and human impacts into ecosystem service impacts by using a framework to ensure consistency and comparability. The output of this process will be an objective synthesis of ecosystem service impacts comprehensive enough to cover different types of energy under the same analysis and to assist in informing how the provision of ecosystem services will change under different energy provisioning scenarios.MethodsRelevant studies will be sourced using publication databases and selected using a set of selection criteria including the identification of: (i) relevant subject populations such as marine and coastal species, marine habitat types and the general public; (ii) relevant exposure types including offshore wind farms, offshore oil and gas platforms and offshore structures connected with nuclear; (iii) relevant outcomes including changes in species structure and diversity; changes in benthic, demersal and pelagic habitats; and changes in cultural services. The impacts will be synthesised and described using a systematic map. To translate these findings into ecosystem service impacts, the Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services (CICES) and Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA) frameworks are used and a detailed description of the steps taken provided to ensure transparency and replicability.

Gasoline Demand in Greece: The Importance of Shifts in the Underlying Energy Demand Trend

This paper explores the relative importance of factors other than price and income in explaining gasoline demand in Greece between 1978 and 2008. Using a structural time series model (STSM) the long-run elasticities of income and price are 0.45 and −0.32, respectively. Further, it is shown using the estimated underlying energy demand trend (UEDT) that other exogenous factors have been shifting the gasoline demand curve to the right, thus reflecting more energy-intensive lifestyles in Greece. Given the results, it is contended that the kinds of policies that governments can use to manage gasoline demand and move toward sustainable transportation go beyond the usual price mechanism.

What evidence exists on the local impacts of energy systems on marine ecosystem services: a systematic map

BackgroundIncreasing concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere and its impact on the climate are a pressing concern for governments around the world. Reducing GHG emissions by changing the energy production mix is one option to reach targets being set by international communities. As the implementation of renewable and non-renewable energy infrastructure deployed in marine ecosystems increases, it is not clear how these changes will impact on the marine environment and the ecosystem services it provides. To address this knowledge gap a systematic mapping approach was applied, with three key aims: firstly, to provide an overview of the types of impacts being studied for the offshore components of nuclear, offshore oil & gas and offshore wind arrays; secondly to demonstrate how these impacts can be translated into ecosystem services; and finally to provide a searchable database of the results.MethodsSearches for relevant articles were carried out using academic and grey literature databases. A total of 2297 articles were sourced, which were screened using selection criteria that determined which subject populations, exposure types and outcomes were considered relevant. To translate these findings into ecosystem service impacts, the Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services (CICES) and Millennium Ecosystem Assessment frameworks were used to ensure relevance, transparency and replicability.ResultsA total of 50 articles, which equated to 208 studies, spanning four decades since 1970, were selected and coded for the systematic map. Across all energy systems, benthic species were the most studied group. Following this, results then varied by group; marine birds and fish were most prevalent in studies of offshore wind; fish for offshore oil & gas studies; and pelagic organisms for nuclear. The outcome variables most investigated were changes in population and ecosystem function/process. Of all the ecosystem services associated with the studied impacts, regulating services were investigated most often, due to the large number of studies on benthic organisms. Cultural services, specific to offshore wind, were also prevalent.DiscussionThe systematic map provides a searchable database of articles and their relevant studies on the local ecological impacts of marine renewable energies. It has identified a number of potential future areas for primary research; for example, investigating the impacts of decommissioning offshore energy infrastructure on marine habitats and organisms.

The United Kingdom's Fossil Resource Consumption Between 1968 and 2000

This article presents the trends of two indicators measuring fossil resource consumption in the United Kingdom (UK). First, a domestic material consumption (DMC) indicator for fossil resources (DMC) in the mass unit million tonnes is calculated. DMC shows that between 1970 and 2000 UK fossil resource consumption decreased by 10%, which suggests absolute dematerialization for this resource. Investigation into the mix of fossil resources during this period highlighted the shift from the heavy fossil resource coal to the lighter, more energy-dense natural gas, which resulted in decreased mass of resource required. Second, an alternative indicator, resource consumption by a nation (RCN) for fossil resources (RCN) was calculated, which includes the indirect fossil resources attributable to traded goods and is measured in million tonnes of oil equivalent. RCN shows that between 1970 and 2000 United Kingdoms fossil resource consumption increased by 14%, which emphasizes that even though there has been a decrease in the mass of fossil resources demanded, it has been accompanied by an increase in the volume of resource consumed. Additionally, deconstruction of RCN shows that indirectly used resources attributable to exports and imports for the United Kingdom are significant. RCN indicates that on the basis of past trends, fossil resources attributable to UK imports will overtake fossil resources attributable to its exports, which will make it dependent on imported resources. We conclude that further debate on appropriate aggregate and complementary indicators is needed.