Federico Maria Pulselli

A Thermodynamic Geography: Night-Time Satellite Imagery as a Proxy Measure of Emergy

Night-time satellite imagery enables the measurement, visualization, and mapping of energy consumption in an area. In this paper, an index of the “sum of lights” as observed by night-time satellite imagery within national boundaries is compared with the emergy of the nations. Emergy is a measure of the solar energy equivalent used, directly or indirectly, to support the processes that characterize the economic activity in a country. Emergy has renewable and non-renewable components. Our results show that the non-renewable component of national emergy use is positively correlated with night-time satellite imagery. This relationship can be used to produce emergy density maps which enable the incorporation of spatially explicit representations of emergy in geographic information systems. The region of Abruzzo (Italy) is used to demonstrate this relationship as a spatially disaggregate case.

Accounting for “land-grabbing” from a biocapacity viewpoint

The comparison of the Ecological Footprint and its counterpart (i.e. biocapacity) allow for a classification of the worlds countries as ecological creditors (Ecological Footprint lower than biocapacity) or debtors (Ecological Footprint higher than biocapacity). This classification is a national scale assessment on an annual time scale that provides a view of the ecological assets appropriated by the local population versus the natural ecological endowment of a country. We show that GDP per capita over a certain threshold is related with the worsening of the footprint balance in countries classified as ecological debtors. On the other hand, this correlation is lost when ecological creditor nations are considered. There is evidence that governments and investors from high GDP countries are playing a crucial role in impacting the environment at the global scale which is significantly affecting the geography of sustainability and preventing equal opportunities for development. In particular, international market dynamics and the concentration of economic power facilitate the transfer of biocapacity related to “land grabbing”, i.e. large scale acquisition of agricultural land. This transfer mainly occurs from low to high GDP countries, regardless of the actual need of foreign biocapacity, as expressed by the national footprint balance. A first estimation of the amount of biocapacity involved in this phenomenon is provided in this paper in order to better understand its implications on global sustainability and national and international land use policy.

Implications of a consumer-based perspective for the estimation of GHG emissions. The illustrative case of Luxembourg.

The Kyoto protocol has established an accounting system for national greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions according to a geographic criterion (producer perspective), such as that proposed by the IPCC guidelines for national GHG inventories. However, the representativeness of this approach is still being debated, because the role of final consumers (consumer perspective) is not considered in the emission allocation system. This paper explores the usefulness of a hybrid analysis, including input-output (IO) and process inventory data, as a complementary tool for estimating and allocating national GHG emissions according to both consumer- and producer-based perspectives. We assess the historical GHG impact profile (from 1995 to 2009) of Luxembourg, which is taken as a case study. The countrys net consumption over time is estimated to generate about 28,700 Gg CO2e/year on average. Compared to the conventional IPCC inventory, the IO-based framework typically shows much higher emission estimations. This relevant discrepancy is mainly due to the different points of view obtained from the hybrid model, in particular with regard to the contribution of imported goods and services. Detailing the GHG inventory by economic activity and considering a wider system boundary make the hybrid IO method advantageous as compared to the IPCC approach, but its effective implementation is still limited by the relatively complex modeling system, as well as the lack of coordination and scarce availability of datasets at the national level.

The Effect of a Consumption-Based Accounting Method in National GHG Inventories: A Trilateral Trade System Application

The allocation of emissions embodied in international trade is crucial to evaluate the real impact of countries in the climate change and their responsibility in greenhouse gas emissions. In this paper we apply a new theoretical framework that allocates the emissions embodied in international trade and computes the consequent carbon transferred across countries, according to a consumption-based accounting. The method uses the value of goods traded internationally and the respective carbon intensity as a average national emissions coefficient.. We analyze a trilateral trade system composed by Sweden, Italy and Poland during the period 2000-2008. We find that, with respect to the conventional greenhouse gas national inventory schemes, consumption-based accounting implies an increase of Italian and Swedish emission responsibility by 1.4% and 11.8%, respectively, and a decrease of Polish one by 2.81%. We also assess the relevance of this framework at the sectoral level by hypothesizing a shift of Italian imports of Machinery and Transport Equipment from Poland to Sweden. We deduce that, through appropriate policies, importer nations could be encouraged to find producers with the best environmental performances while exporter nations could be induced to reduce their carbon intensity to stimulate the international demand for their goods. Finally, we discuss some policy implications deriving from the application of the consumption-based accounting. The analysis performed in the paper suggests that the consumption-based accounting could be an important tool in the climate change challenge to reduce global emissions.

Biomes, Ecosystem Services And Emergy:Is There A Relationship?

Ecosystems and human systems are interconnected through a complex series of dynamic relations. In particular, natural functions of ecosystems generate flows of services continuously. To represent adequately the importance of ecosystems for human well-being, the concept of Ecosystem Services (ES) was defined. A complete review of methods and values for the assessment of ES from an economic viewpoint was provided by Costanza et al. in 1997. However, in ES valuation (ESV) several values are neglected or not calculated and estimation methods rely on strictly economic and subjective practices. In order to have a physical reference upon which an objective (and complementary) evaluation can be based, we used the concept of emergy. Emergy is a thermodynamic entity based on energy quality and hierarchy. Life on Earth is organized in an ordered series of energy transformations from one type to the next; these types do not have the same ability to do work. Emergy can be defined as the quantity of (solar) energy that is used up directly or indirectly to make a product or a service. An accounting system based on emergy can be implemented to evaluate production processes, ecosystems and nations. In this paper the emergy of different biomes was calculated and translated into money by means of a specific “environmental” emergy-to-money conversion factor given by the ratio of the renewable emergy supporting the entire biosphere (emergy baseline) to the value of the world ES previously proposed. The results show that the new economic value is higher than classical ESV values.

Comparing renewable energies: estimating area requirement for biodiesel and photovoltaic solar energy

This paper describes two kinds of renewable energy: photovoltaic (PV) solar energy installations connected to the Italian electrical grid system, and pure biodiesel (BD100) production by using sunflower oil. A comparison between them is proposed on the basis of: (A) greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and (B) land requirement. Point (A) is related to the emissions from carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O) deriving from energy production and use, which are calculated in terms of CO2 equivalent by their global warming potentials (GWP); point (B) is related to the area (hectares of biomass plantations and m of photovoltaic panels) necessary for energy production. The results will be compared to those resulting from the use of fossil fuels.

Integrating human and natural systems sustainably: emergy evaluation and visualization of the Abruzzo Region

This paper presents an environmental accounting method, based on Odum’s systems theory. So-called emergy analysis (spelled with an M) was here applied for evaluating sustainability of the Abruzzo Region, a large area in the middle of Italy along east coast. This study attempts to answer questions concerning: globalization (strong competition among regional and national systems, outsourcing of productive activities), energy (growth of consumptions, cost and lack of resources), territorial disequilibrium (concentration of activities and environmental impacts) and use of resources (renewable and non renewable). The aim of this research is to study a territorial system and to verify potentiality and contribution that this environmental accounting technique provides to manage and to program the future development. In particular this study aims to understand the functioning of a region based on the analysis of stocks and flows of energy and matter inside the examined area, investigating their spatial distribution and their relationships with geo-morphological structure of territory. This study further evaluates the use of local resources and aims to understand the relationships among the different parts of a territorial systems, their level of autonomy in terms of resource use and their effective spatial boundaries, which usually do not correspond to the administrative limits. The study also attempts to present the evaluation in an easily comprehensible graphic manner as digital maps.

Modifying the ISEW and taking into account energy.

The Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare (ISEW) introduced by H. Daly and J. Cobb in 1989, can be used to have comprehensive knowledge of the characteristics of the economic system: in fact, items included in the ISEW allow this accounting method to make a more recognisable picture of reality. This case study presents an analysis of the ISEW calculated for the Province of Siena, Central Italy. The main aim is to quantify significant benefits when policies designed to reduce the use of fossil fuels are applied to the local economy. Discussion focuses on the role of ISEW as an indicator able to evaluate the usefulness of a given energy project/policy.

Global Warming Potential and the Net Carbon Balance

This article presents two different approaches for the study of the role of carbon as a fundamental resource for life on Earth. The article is composed of two parts, the first devoted to the description of global warming potential (GWP), a conventional standard index introduced in the early 1990s. It is acknowledged by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as a useful tool for evaluating the role of greenhouse gases and their changes in concentration induced in the context of greenhouse effect and climate change. GWP is also applied worldwide in the framework of emission mitigation policies of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. The second part of this article is devoted to physiological carbon balance from an atmospheric, oceanic, land biotic, marine biotic, and mineral point of view. The carbon cycle is also affected by anthropogenic emissions that play a crucial role in the net carbon balance. This role can be accounted by the IPCC Greenhouse Gas Inventory, which is briefly mentioned.

Sustainability Concern Of Housing:Emergy Storage And Flow Assessment

A city is an organized open structure made of assembled materials and buildings that constantly interface with changeable contextual agents such as clime, weather, solar irradiation and human beings. Urban systems feed on energy inflows in order to achieve an organization (e.g. society, economy, architecture) that is maintained in time. The interaction of different inputs from the environment generates the building as a built storage in which energy and materials have been stocked. Energy and materials inflows are required to maintain and to use the building in time (for instance, electricity, water and gas are needed for building use). These interaction processes between buildings and the external environment are the focus of this study. Is it possible to measure these processes to evaluate sustainability of urban systems? How can the impact due to resource exploitation of housing on local sustainability be measured? Can we evaluate the environmental effects of urban strategies and structural plans? An environmental accounting method, namely emergy analysis (spelled with an ‘m’), was applied to an urban area considering the main activities of an entire human settlement and a detailed analysis was focussed on housing: the general environmental performances of buildings in terms of resource exploitation were evaluated considering their construction, maintenance and use. As a case study, an emergy analysis of the municipality of Ravenna (north-eastern Italy) is presented with a special focus on housing and on the trend of growth of the building industry.