Browse
You are viewing all publications with the tag: Time series.
Click the button below to filter for system type: Urban
Apply filter: system type = Urban
154 publication(s) found.
Filter by type:
| Title | Author(s) | Type | Year | Tags | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The energy metabolism of countries: Energy efficiency and use in the period that followed the global financial crisis This paper discusses how the deceleration of economic growth, that followed the financial crisis of 2008, influenced the energy efficiency, allocation and use of 18 European countries. By using a Multi-scale Integrated Analysis of Societal and Ecosystem Metabolism (MuSIASEM), the relationships between energy requirements, economic trends and population are investigated for the years 2008 and 2015. The analyses are performed for the entire society (Level N), for the household and the paid sectors (Level N-1) and for the agricultural, the industrial and the service activities (Level N-2). Results show that two main groups of countries performed the largest energy reductions, namely: the country most affected by the global financial crisis, such as Greece, Romania and Spain, where the total energy throughput decreased by −19.6%, −15.8% and −12.1%, respectively; and the countries, such as Ireland and United Kingdom, that experienced the largest energy intensity reductions (−38.7% and −19.2%), together with the highest GDP increases (+44.8% and +10.2%). By providing an overview of the relationships existing between socio-economic and energy variables, this paper contributes to the debate around growth and efficiency and can support the design of policies oriented to promote the achievement of a more sustainable and competitive economy. | The energy metabolism of countries: Energy efficiency and use in ... | Valeria Andreoni | Journal Article | academic | 2020 |
Energy
Multi-Scale Integrated Analysis of Societal and Ecosystem Metabolism (MuSIASEM)
National
Time series
|
| The weight of islands: Leveraging Grenada's material stocks to adapt to climate change The building stock consumes large amounts of resources for maintenance and expansion which is only exacerbated by disaster events where large‐scale reconstruction must occur quickly. Recent research has shown the potential for application of material stock (MS) accounts for informing disaster risk planning. In this research, we present a methodological approach to analyze the vulnerability of the material stock in buildings to extreme weather events and sea‐level rise (SLR) due to climate change. The main island of Grenada, a Small Island Developing State (SIDS) in the Caribbean region, was used as a case study. A bottom‐up approach based on a geographic information system (GIS) is used to calculate the total MS of aggregate, timber, concrete, and steel in buildings. The total MS in buildings in 2014 was calculated to be 11.9 million tonnes (Mt), which is equivalent to 112 tonnes per capita. Material gross addition to stock (GAS) between 1993 to 2009 was 6.8 Mt and the average value over the time period was 4.0 tonnes per capita per year. In the year following Hurricane Ivan (2004), the per capita GAS for timber increased by 172%, while for other metals, GAS spiked by 103% (compared to average growth rates of 11% and 8%, respectively, between 1993 and 2009). We also ran a future “Ivan‐II” scenario and estimated a hypothetical loss of between 135 and 216 kilotonnes (kt) of timber from the building stock. The potential impact of SLR is also assessed, with an estimated 1.6 Mt of building material stock exposed under a 2‐m scenario. We argue that spatial material stock accounts have an important application in planning for resilience and provide indication of the link between natural disaster recovery and resource use patterns. | The weight of islands: Leveraging Grenada's material stocks to adapt ... | Symmes, Rob; Fishman, Tomer; Telesford, John N.; Singh, Simron J.; Tan, Su‐Yin; De Kroon, Kristen | Journal Article | academic | 2019 |
Island
Material Stock Analysis (MSA)
National
Time series
|
| Uncovering Household Carbon Footprint Drivers in an Aging, Shrinking Society In order to meet climate change mitigation goals, nations such as Japan need to consider strategies to reduce the impact that lifestyles have on overall emission levels. This study analyzes carbon footprints from household consumption (i.e., lifestyles) using index and structural decomposition analysis for the time period from 1990 to 2005. The analysis identified that households in their 40s and 50s had the highest levels of both direct and indirect CO2 emissions, with decomposition identifying consumption patterns as the driving force behind these emissions and advances in CO2 reduction technology having a reducing effect on lifestyle emissions. An additional challenge addressed by this study is the aging, shrinking population phenomenon in Japan. The increase in the number of few-member and elderly households places upward pressure on emissions as the aging population and declining national birth rate continues. The analysis results offer two mitigatory policy suggestions: the focusing of carbon reduction policies on older and smaller households, and the education of consumers toward low-carbon consumption habits. As the aging, shrinking population phenomenon is not unique to Japan, the findings of this research have broad applications globally where these demographic shifts are being experienced. | Uncovering Household Carbon Footprint Drivers in an Aging, Shrinking Society | Huang, Yuzhuo; Shigetomi, Yosuke; Chapman, Andrew; Matsumoto, Ken’ichi | Journal Article | academic | 2019 |
Carbon Footprint (CF)
Case Study
Household
National
Time series
|
| Modeling copper demand in China up to 2050: A business-as-usual scenario based on dynamic stock and flow analysis In this paper, we develop a dynamic stock model and scenario analysis involving a bottom-up approach to analyze copper demand in China from 2005 to 2050 based on government and related sectoral policies. The results show that in the short-term, China's copper industry cannot achieve a completely circular economy without additional measures. Aggregate and per capita copper demand are both set to increase substantially, especially in infrastructure, transportation, and buildings. Between 2016 and 2050, total copper demand will increase almost threefold. Copper use in buildings will stabilize before 2050, but the copper stock in infrastructure and transportation will not yet have reached saturation in 2050. The continuous growth of copper stock implies that secondary copper will be able to cover just over 50% of demand in 2050, at best, even with an assumed recycling rate of 90%. Finally, future copper demand depends largely on the lifetime of applications. There is therefore an urgent need to prolong the service life of end-use products to reduce the amount of materials used, especially in large-scale applications in buildings and infrastructure. | Modeling copper demand in China up to 2050: A business-as-usual ... | Dong, Di; Tukker, Arnold; Voet, Ester Van der | Journal Article | academic | 2019 |
Case Study
Circular Economy
Copper
Material Flow Analysis (MFA)
National
Scenario analysis
Time series
|
| Vulnerability of a Northeast Mediterranean Island to Soil Loss. Can Grazing Management Mitigate Erosion? Grazing management practices can be erosion abatement actions for lowering soil loss and the subsequent sediment pollution of surface water bodies. Process-based Geographic Information Systems models provide the opportunity to identify critical areas and hence better target such actions across the landscape. This study implemented the SWAT (Soil Water Assessment Tool) hydrologic and catchment management model to estimate the soil loss vulnerability of the nearly pristine but highly erodible Greek island of Samothraki in the North Aegean Sea, with a typical Mediterranean climate and steep topography. Model parameterization and evaluation were carried out by taking advantage of previous modeling experience on areas with data limitations. Inter-annual and intra-annual soil loss variability and the most critical areas (subbasins) of soil loss to waters were adequately identified and grazing management scenarios, including livestock reductions by 50% and 100%, grazing period reduction, and a combination of them, were formulated and applied to investigate the degree to which soil loss could be reduced. The annual reduction results varied between scenarios in the range of 10% to 25% for the entire island, and in wider ranges for its individual subbasins, showing a high potential for reducing the vulnerability of the most pressured ones. However, due to the high importance of the natural factors of rainfall and land slopes, the erosion vulnerability of the island overall could be significantly altered only if grazing management was integrated within a vegetation regeneration plan that included reforestation. | Vulnerability of a Northeast Mediterranean Island to Soil Loss. Can ... | Panagopoulos, Yiannis ; Dimitriou, Elias; Skoulikidis, Nikolaos | Journal Article | academic | 2019 |
Food and agriculture
Island
Time series
|
| The expansion of the built environment, waste generation and EU recycling targets on Samothraki, Greece: An island’s dilemma Connectivity and affluence provide communities on small islands with opportunities and challenges. Both factors drive the expansion of material stocks which in turn determines future waste generation. For islands with limited waste treatment options an effective waste management strategy is inevitable. For the Greek island of Samothraki, construction and demolition waste (CDW) represents a new phenomenon. The advent of tourism, EU funding, labor migration and the construction of a new port in the 1960s led to an expansion of the built environment unprecedented on the island. As a consequence, new types and expanding quantities of CDW put the island community increasingly in the need for action. The European Waste Framework Directive, reinforced in 2018 with the Circular Economy Package, demands from EU member states at least 70% recycling and recovery rate of CDW until 2020. In this study, a mixed methods approach enabled the integration of data from official statistics, field surveys and interviews into a dynamic stock-driven model for different infrastructure and buildings types on Samothraki from 1971 to 2016. Our results show that the material stock expanded from 175 t/cap to 350 t/cap in the given period, leading to a 15-fold increase of annual CDW generation. With a recycling rate of only 14%, the island is currently far away from meeting the recycling and recovery targets of the EU-WFD. This study provides a systematic and dynamic analysis for developing policy and management options on reducing, re-using and recycling of CDW on islands where waste treatment options are limited. | The expansion of the built environment, waste generation and EU ... | Noll, Dominik; Wiedenhofer, Dominik; Miatto, Alessio; Singh, Simron Jit | Journal Article | academic | 2019 |
Circular Economy
Island
Material Stock Analysis (MSA)
Sub-national
Time series
|
| Modeling copper demand in China up to 2050: A business‐as‐usual scenario based on dynamic stock and flow analysis In this paper, we develop a dynamic stock model and scenario analysis involving a bottom‐up approach to analyze copper demand in China from 2005 to 2050 based on government and related sectoral policies. The results show that in the short‐term, China's copper industry cannot achieve a completely circular economy without additional measures. Aggregate and per capita copper demand are both set to increase substantially, especially in infrastructure, transportation, and buildings. Between 2016 and 2050, total copper demand will increase almost threefold. Copper use in buildings will stabilize before 2050, but the copper stock in infrastructure and transportation will not yet have reached saturation in 2050. The continuous growth of copper stock implies that secondary copper will be able to cover just over 50% of demand in 2050, at best, even with an assumed recycling rate of 90%. Finally, future copper demand depends largely on the lifetime of applications. There is therefore an urgent need to prolong the service life of end‐use products to reduce the amount of materials used, especially in large‐scale applications in buildings and infrastructure. | Modeling copper demand in China up to 2050: A business‐as‐usual ... | Di Dong, Arnold Tukker, Ester Van der Voet | Journal Article | academic | 2019 |
Circular Economy
National
Time series
|
| Infrastructure expansion, waste generation and EU policies on Circular Economy in Samothraki, Greece: An island's dilemma For the Greek island of Samothraki, the EU recovery and recycling targets for construction and demolition waste seem currently far out of reach. For many island communities dealing with waste represents one of the major challenges towards a local sustainable development (Eckelman et al. 2014). The EU Waste Framework Directive (2008/98/EC) demands from EU member states a 70% recovery and recycling rate for construction and demolition waste (CDW) by 2020. With the implementation of the 2018 Circular Economy (CE) package the significance of recycling and reuse even increased (European Commission 2016; 2018). The present study introduces a case about the small and remote Greek island Samothraki that due to numerous reasons is currently far away from meeting these targets. Since the construction of a new port in the late 1960s, the island experienced an unprecedented era of infrastructure expansion accompanied by new and complex challenges regarding CDW. With no proper management system for CDW in place, material output was so far used for backfilling or simply dumped illegally somewhere on the island or into the sea. Buildings and infrastructure provide important services to society and depending on their lifetimes can shape material demand and waste generation for a long time due to inherent path dependencies (Fishman et al. 2015; Haberl et al. 2017). By applying a dynamic bottom-up stock modelling approach (Tanikawa et al. 2015; Stephan and Athanassiadis 2018), this study aims at establishing a comprehensive analysis of drivers and quantities for resource consumption and CDW generation on the island of Samothraki for buildings and infrastructure from 1971 to 2016. | Infrastructure expansion, waste generation and EU policies on Circular Economy ... | Noll, Dominik; Wiedenhofer, Dominik; Miatto, Alessio; Singh, Simron Jit | Document | reports | 2019 |
Circular Economy
Island
Sub-national
Time series
|
| In-use Product and Steel Stocks Sustaining the Urbanization of Xiamen, China In-use product and material stocks are now an essential component of cities and urban ecosystem. They refer to the amount of concerned manufactured products and materials in active use. This study estimates the dynamic in-use stocks of various steel-containing products and steel in the city of Xiamen, China, during 1980-2015 by applying a bottom-up accounting approach. We incorporate 55 categories of steel-containing products that are classified into five main end-use sectors (i.e., buildings, infrastructure, transportation equipment, machinery, and domestic appliances). We find that in-use stocks of more than half of the studied products kept increasing during the period 1980-2015, especially after 2000. Steel stocks in Xiamen have grown up to 4.9 ± 1.4 tons per capita (t/cap) in 2015, from 0.5 ± 0.2 t/cap in 1980. Buildings are the largest reservoirs during the studied period, although its share decreased from 89% in 1980 to 68% in 2015. The dynamic spatial distribution indicates that in-use steel stocks gradually expanded from urban core to the suburban areas during the studied period. Results of this study help to explore how a city’s urbanization is sustained by the growth of in-use product and steel stocks in China that has been quickly urbanized. In-use steel stocks, of which the growth is highly correlated to and probably driven by the population growth, GDP increase, and urban built-up area expansion in Xiamen, may serve as a supplementary indicator for urbanization. | In-use Product and Steel Stocks Sustaining the Urbanization of Xiamen, ... | Lulu Song, Chao Zhang, Ji Han & Wei-Qiang Chen | Journal Article | academic | 2019 |
Case Study
Material Stock Analysis (MSA)
Time series
Urban
|
| Quantifying the spatial patterns of urban carbon metabolism: A case study of Hangzhou, China With rapid urbanization in China, there is an urgent need to better understand spatial patterns of cities’ carbon transitions in urban metabolism processes and to explore ways to achieve low carbon cities through sustainable urban planning. In this study, we took Hangzhou City as an example, and firstly analyzed changes in carbon emission and sequestration based on land use types, using data with 5 years interval from 1995 to 2015. We then quantified both harmful and beneficial carbon transitions by land use changes spatially. Harmful carbon transitions are processes that cause carbon sequestration decreases or carbon emission increases and the beneficial ones are the opposite processes. Finally, we employed a panel data regression analysis to investigate how urban forms and road structures influence urban carbon emission at the district level. We found that carbon emissions experienced a nearly five times increase, while carbon sequestration decreased by 22.29%. And the land use change from cultivated land to industrial land accounted for 61.05% of the harmful carbon transitions. In addition, the spatial analysis of urban carbon transitions indicated harmful carbon transitions always sourced from the eastern parts of Hangzhou. Most beneficial carbon transitions were located in the urban central area and western mountainous areas. The panel data analysis demonstrated that urban expansion modes with high connectedness and a better coupling relationship between urban form and road structure could help to emission reduction, and a mononuclear urban expansion mode at the district-level exerted a positive influence in relation to carbon emissions increase. This study provided an approach to assess urban carbon metabolism and help to better understanding of low-carbon urban form. | Quantifying the spatial patterns of urban carbon metabolism: A case ... | Chuyu Xia and Yan Li and Tingbao Xu and Yanmei Ye and Zhou Shi and Yuan Peng and Jingming Liu | Journal Article | academic | 2018 |
Carbon
Case Study
Time series
Urban
spatial
|
| Reaching a socio-ecological tipping point: Overgrazing on the Greek island of Samothraki and the role of European agricultural policies Livestock keeping and food production from grasslands play an important role in the Mediterranean region, where grazing has a long tradition and still is a key livelihood strategy. Yet, in many places widespread degradation (caused by overgrazing) severely threatens the natural resource base and prospects for future food security and sustainable development. On Samothraki, a Greek island, several decades of continuous increase of the local livestock population, exceeding not only the local food base by far but also the local farmers’ ability to provide supplementary feed, led to a socio-ecological tipping point turning the dynamics downward. Still, in the face of very restricted marketing opportunities, we find local farmers in an economic deadlock of relying on CAP subsidies as a main source of income and on still too high animal numbers for maintaining an ecological balance of their land while lacking the labor power (due to large-scale migration to Germany in the 1950s and 60 s) to apply adequate management practices. In this paper, we present a feed balance (feed-demand and supply) for sheep and goats from 1970 to 2012 and discuss causes and effects of the excessive growth in animal numbers, as well as reasons for their downturn in the last decade. We describe the island’s groundcover and symptoms of soil degradation, and underline our findings by reference to a remote sensing approach. Our findings recently gained in prominence as in September 2017, a state of emergency had to be declared on the island when a major weather event triggered a series of landslides that severely damaged the main town, a number of roads and bridges and even the 700 years old Fonias Tower, a marker of Samothraki tourism. | Reaching a socio-ecological tipping point: Overgrazing on the Greek island ... | Fetzel, Tamara; Petridis, Panos; Noll, Dominik; Singh, Simron Jit; Fischer-Kowalski, Marina | Journal Article | academic | 2018 |
Island
Rural
Time series
|
| Uncovering the Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Urban Infrastructure Development: A High Spatial Resolution Material Stock and Flow Analysis Understanding the complexity and sustainability of infrastructure development is crucial for reconciling economic growth, human wellbeing, and environmental conservation. However, previous studies on infrastructure’s material metabolism were mainly conducted on a global or national scale, due largely to lack of more spatially refined data, and thus could not reveal the spatial patterns and dynamics on a city scale. Here, we integrated material flow analysis (MFA) and geographical information system (GIS) for uncovering the spatiotemporal patterns of the material stocks and flows accompanying the infrastructure development at a high spatial resolution for a case of Shanghai, China. From 1980 to 2010, material stocks and waste output flows of Shanghai’s infrastructure system exhibited a significant increase from 83 million metric tons (Mt) to 561 Mt and from 2 Mt to 17 Mt, respectively. Input flows peaked in 2005 due to the economic slowdown and stepped-up policies to cool down the housing market. Spatially, the center and peri-urban areas were the largest container of material stocks and biggest generator of demolition waste, while suburban areas absorbed 58% to 76% of material inputs. Plans to make the city more compact will enhance the service capacity of stocks but may also increase the use of more energy and emissions intensive construction materials (e.g., steel). Prolonging the service lifetime of infrastructure through proper management and increasing the recycling and reuse rate of demolition waste are also identified as highly efficient strategies. | Uncovering the Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Urban Infrastructure Development: A High ... | Ji Han, Weiqiang Chen, Lixiao Zhang, Gang Liu | Journal Article | academic | 2018 |
Geographic Information System (GIS)
Material Stock Analysis (MSA)
Time series
Urban
|
| The Weight of Islands: A GIS based Material Stock Analysis of Grenada in the Context of Extreme Weather and Climate Change The building stock consumes large amounts of resources for maintenance and expansion, which is only exacerbated by disaster events where large-scale reconstruction must occur quickly. Recent research has shown the potential for application of material stock (MS) accounts for informing disaster risk planning. This research presents a methodological approach to analyze the vulnerability of the material stock in buildings to extreme weather events and sea-level rise (SLR) due to climate change. The main island of the Grenada, a Small Island Developing State (SIDS) in the Caribbean region, was used as a case study. A stock-driven approach based on a geographic information system (GIS) is used to calculate total MS of aggregate, timber, concrete and steel in buildings. The total MS in buildings in 2014 is calculated to be 11.9 Mt. equalling 112 tonnes per capita given that year’s population. Material Gross Addition to Stock (GAS) between 1993 to 2009 was 6.8 Mt and the average value over this time period is 4.0 tonnes/capita/year. In the year following Hurricane Ivan (2004) the per capita GAS for timber increased by 172%, while for other metals, GAS spiked by 103% (compared to average growth rates of 11% and 8%, respectively, between 1993 and 2009). A future hurricane “Ivan-II” scenario to hit the 2014 building stock was also developed and estimated a hypothetical loss between 135 kt and 216 kt of timber stock. The potential impact of sea level rise (SLR) is also assessed, with an estimated 1.6 Mt of building material stock exposed under a 2-meter scenario. Further, I argue that spatial material stock accounts have an important application in planning for resilience and provide indication of the link between natural disaster recovery and resource use patterns. | The Weight of Islands: A GIS based Material Stock Analysis ... | Robert Symmes | Thesis | theses | 2018 |
Geographic Information System (GIS)
Island
Material Stock Analysis (MSA)
Time series
|
| The Sustainability of Humanitarian Aid: The Nicobar Islands as a Case of ‘Complex Disaster' By virtue of being close to the epicentre, the Nicobar Islands located in the Bay of Bengal was severely affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Overwhelming aid followed, transforming an indigenous community of hunters-and-gatherers and coconut growers into a consumer society in a matter of months. Based on several years of fieldwork, this chapter describes the tsunami and its aftermath, the role of aid organisations, the media and the government in driving the islanders from a self-reliant to an aid dependent society, plagued with social conflicts. We call this a ‘complex disaster’, a situation that has fundamentally challenged the socio-ecological system to reproduce itself, an effect more severe and longer lasting than what the disaster itself had accomplished. In other words, a complex disaster is a consequence of inappropriate interventions following a “simple” disaster, which affects the social system’s ability to regenerate, to govern its own recovery, by interfering with its cultural, economic and political regulation. This in turn effects the environmental relations of the society, and its social metabolism. | The Sustainability of Humanitarian Aid: The Nicobar Islands as a ... | Singh, Simron; Fischer-Kowalski, Marina; Haas, Willi | Book Section | academic | 2018 |
Economy-Wide Material Flow Analysis (EW-MFA)
Island
Rural
Sub-national
Sustainable production and consumption
Time series
|
| Understanding the mechanism of urban material metabolism with ecological network analysis: An experimental study of Wuxi, China Cities are considered to be major consumers of natural resources, creating global resource shortages and environmental challenges. Therefore, understanding the mechanism of material metabolism is crucial for modern cities’ sustainable development. Here we took the city of Wuxi as an example, first constructing a network composed of 8 components. Combining material accounting and ecological network analysis, we analyzed the integrated flow process and components’ weight distributions for 6 years. Additionally, relationships among components were identified, to examine the synergism level of the metabolic system. Our results indicate that Wuxi’s urban system was dependent on its environment, and the integrated material inflow of transportation, household consumption and mining increased to 1.55, 1.36 and 3.36, respectively, during the study period. Environment and household consumption accounted for the largest sectoral weights (20.9% and 20.0%, respectively), while that of manufacturing, and mining changed significantly by 5.1% and 4.4%, respectively. Within the system, the environment supplied resources, agriculture and mining utilized renewable resources, venous industry promoted resource recycling. Mutualism relationships were mainly related to these sectors. However, exploitation and control were the dominant relationships in Wuxi, and the whole system’s synergism level still needed to be improved. This study provides a scientific guidance for the future structural adjustment and resource utilization for Wuxi and the similar medium-sized cities with rapid economic development in China. | Understanding the mechanism of urban material metabolism with ecological network ... | Li, Yanxian; Wang, Xinjing; Tian, Xin; Zhang, Yan | Journal Article | academic | 2018 |
Biomass
Case Study
Ecological Network Analysis (ENA)
Emissions
Energy
Material Flow Analysis (MFA)
Minerals
Time series
Urban
Various Materials
Waste
Water
Zotero import
Zotero2
|
| Urban Metabolism of Bangalore City: A Water Mass Balance Analysis Cities are increasingly depending on energy-intensive water sources, such as distant rivers and the ocean, to meet their water demand. However, such expensive sources could be avoided using alternative local sources of water such as wastewater, rainwater, and stormwater. Many cities do not have robust accounts of those localized water resources, as estimating those resources requires comprehensive accounting in complex urban water systems. In this article, we investigate whether an urban metabolism evaluation framework built on the urban water mass balance can help analyze these resources, especially in a rapidly growing developing city. We first refined the water mass balance equation developed by Kenway and his colleagues in 2011 for a developing country context with the inclusion of some significant components such as system loss. Then, we applied the refined equation for the first time to Bangalore city in India, a developing country, for the year 2013–2014 as a real case example, which is a rare water mass balance analysis of its kind. The refined equation helped analyze Bangalore's urban water system. The total available wastewater, stormwater, and rainwater were 656 gigaliters (GL). The gap between water demand and supply could be met if 54\% of this recycled potential were harnessed. Wastewater had enough potential (362 GL) to replace the whole centralized water supply from the Cauvery. A scenario analysis showed that the gap between water demand and supply in 2021 can be met if 60\% of total recycled potential is utilized. This approach can be used to help other cities identify the potential of alternative water sources and support integrated water planning and monitoring water metabolic performance. | Urban Metabolism of Bangalore City: A Water Mass Balance Analysis | Paul, Reba; Kenway, Steven; McIntosh, Brian; Mukheibir, Pierre | Journal Article | academic | 2018 |
Case Study
Material Flow Analysis (MFA)
Scenario analysis
Time series
Urban
Wastewater
Water
Water mass balance analysis
|
| Estimating the Material Stock of Roads: The Vietnamese Case Study This study is a pioneering effort to quantify the materials stocked in the road network of a developing country, Vietnam, and analyze its relationships to the country's recent economic development. National road networks function as capital and infrastructure investments that are necessary catalysts for countries’ development, while requiring the extraction of vast amounts of construction materials for expansion and maintenance causing environmental impacts. However, there has so far been little research on the subject, especially in developing countries. We compile material stock and flow accounts for Vietnam's roads from 2003 to 2013 on the national and provincial levels, finding that approximately 40% of the domestic consumption of construction materials is for expanding and maintaining the road network, and the materials stocked in the road network doubled from 1,321 million metric tons in 2003 to 2,660 million metric tons in 2012. Material stock growth rates closely resembled those of gross domestic product (GDP) in this period, suggesting a codependency of physical infrastructure development and economic development. On the provincial level, our results show local disparities in the stock and its capacity to support the transportation of passengers and freight, especially considering the surging growth of vehicles in urban centers. By showcasing the challenges of conducting a material flow and stock analysis in a developing country, this study not only sheds light on Vietnam's transportation material stock and its policy implications, but also serves as a case study for further work in similar countries. | Estimating the Material Stock of Roads: The Vietnamese Case Study | Thi Cuc Nguyen, Tomer Fishman, Alessio Miatto, Hiroki Tanikawa | Journal Article | academic | 2018 |
Material Stock Analysis (MSA)
National
Time series
|
| Material Flow Accounts and Driving Factors of Economic Growth in the Philippines This study looks into material flow trends in the Philippines from 1985 to 2010 by utilizing the methodology of economy-wide material flow analysis. Using domestic data sources, this study presents disaggregated annual material flow trends in terms of four major material categories, namely: biomass; fossil energy carriers; ores and industrial minerals; and construction minerals. The results describe in detail the growth of material flows in a high-density country at the onset of its development and reveal the shift of material consumption from dominance of renewable materials in 1985 to nonrenewable materials in 2010. IPAT analysis shows that the increase in material consumption was driven by population growth from 1985 to 1998 and by growth in affluence from 1999 to 2010. However, high inequalities amidst the growing economy suggest that a small group of wealthy people have influenced the acceleration of material consumption in the Philippines. The results of this research are intended to provide a thorough analysis of the processes occurring in Philippine economic growth in order to assist in tackling implications for the important issue of sustainable resource management. | Material Flow Accounts and Driving Factors of Economic Growth in ... | Marianne Faith G. Martinico‐Perez, Tomer Fishman, Keijiro Okuoka, Hiroki Tanikawa | Journal Article | academic | 2017 |
Economy-Wide Material Flow Analysis (EW-MFA)
Island
National
Time series
|
| Reprint of: Urban metabolism profiles. An empirical analysis of the material flow characteristics of three metropolitan areas in Sweden Knowledge about the characteristics and driving forces of material flows in urban areas is crucial, as the pathways towards sustainability depend on local conditions. Currently, Urban Metabolism research focuses on the analysis of trends and transitions in different stages of city development, on developing classification systems and identification of metabolism profiles for urban areas. A novel framework for characterizing cities metabolism is provided using Urban Material Flow Accounting indicators as the basis. A Material Flow Accounting study is conducted for three cities in Sweden, from 1996 until 2011: Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmo. Based on the urban metabolism characteristics framework, three distinct profiles are proposed: consumer-service; industrial; and transitioning. Stockholm’s material needs are mainly for final consumption. When compared with the other two cities, material flows follow a more stable trend and have lower dependency on external systems due to the marginal production and export of goods. Gothenburg has the most resource intensive metabolism. It requires several times larger material inputs than the other two cities and produces much larger outputs, for benefit of the rest of the country and the world. Consequently, CO2 emissions are higher in Gothenburg. Malmo characteristics are more complex than Stockholm’s with higher material needs in particular construction minerals. Its dependency on external flows is low, due to the fact that the economy and exports are based on domestically extracted Non-Metallic Minerals and Biomass. | Reprint of: Urban metabolism profiles. An empirical analysis of the ... | Leonardo Rosado and Yuliya Kalmykova and João Patrício | Journal Article | academic | 2017 |
Carbon dioxide (CO2)
Case Study
Construction Materials
Indicators - general
Time series
Urban
Urban Metabolism Analyst Model (UMan)
|
| Estimating the Potential for Urban Mining in Paris Region Construction materials are the largest flows entering urban areas after water, while they constitute the top waste deposit (Matthews et al., 2000). The consumption of these mostly non-renewable materials generates environmental impacts and land-use conflicts, from extraction to end-life management and especially storage. Moreover, urbanisation strongly constrains local mineral resources extraction, which leads to the extension of the supplying areas. Materials contained in a city today, in the form of buildings and networks, could potentially be recycled tomorrow through urban mining and so partly substitute for primary resources in highly urbanised countries (Brunner, 2011). The joint analysis of flows and stock of construction materials is therefore an important issue in terms of understanding and managing the metabolism of socioeconomic systems. This is bound up with significant methodological challenges concerning the knowledge of flows and stock of existing materials, in terms of quantity and location, along with short-term forecasting which is essential to anticipating and acting on metabolism. A three years research project launched in 2014 by Géographie-Cités laboratory aims at helping regional authorities to set urban mining objectives until 2030. It is financed by the regional council (Région Ile-de-France) which is in charge of the C&D waste management plan, and the regional office for environment (DRIEE) responsible of the quarries regulation plan. First, construction materials flows were studied through a top-down material flow analysis for Paris Region and its administrative divisions (départements) in 2001 and 2013. The Eurostat top-down MFA method adapted to urban and regional scales by Barles (2009) was used. Then the stock contained in buildings and networks was studied in terms of quantity and location for the entire region through a bottom-up assessment. For buildings, a 3D geographical database called BD Topo® was matched with local tax records which contain information on construction years, economic activities and materials in wall structures. Materials stocked in road, rail, electricity, gas, heat and water networks were estimated with BD Topo® and data from networks managers. Domestic material consumption (DMC) of Paris region reaches 2.5 t/inhab. in 2013. Annual net addition to stock amounts for 2.0 t/inhab. while total stock estimation is 226 t/inhab. While non metallic minerals form 95 % of the DMC, used domestic extraction of these materials decreases and only amounts for 85 % of non metallic minerals imports in 2013. Paris urban area (city and petite couronne) has the lowest DMC (1.8 t/inhab.) in the region, but also the most important local and exported processed outputs (0.8 t/inhab.). Regional development plan for 2030 (SDRIF) sets high annual construction objectives for Paris urban area that imply a strong increase of building renewal. Buildings form 79 % of material stock in this area with a building stock density that reaches 12,277 t/ha in 2013. Objectives of the development plan and statistics on demolition during the last decade are used to estimate future input and output flows until 2030 and hence the potential for urban mining. | Estimating the Potential for Urban Mining in Paris Region | Sabine Barles, Vincent Augiseau | Conference Paper | None | 2017 |
Construction
Economy-Wide Material Flow Analysis (EW-MFA)
Material Stock Analysis (MSA)
Single point in time
Sub-national
Time series
Urban
|
| An Urban Metabolism and Carbon Footprint Analysis of the Jing-Jin-Ji Regional Agglomeration Urban energy metabolism includes processes for exploiting, transforming, and consuming energy, as well as processes for recycling by-products and wastes. Embodied energy is the energy consumed during all of these activities, both directly and indirectly. Multiregional input-output (MRIO) analysis can calculate the energy consumption embodied in flows among sectors for multiple cities or regions. Our goal was to address a problem apparent in previous research, which was insufficient attention to indirect energy flows. We combined MRIO analysis with ecological network analysis to calculate the embodied energy consumption and the energy-related carbon footprints of five sectors in three regions that comprise the Jing-Jin-Ji agglomeration, using data from 2002 and 2007. Our analysis traced metabolic processes of sectors from the perspective of final consumption. Based on the embodied energy analysis, we quantified the indirect energy consumption implied in exchanges of sectors and its distribution and identified the relationships formed through the indirect consumption to analyze the roles of providers and receivers in the system. Results showed that the embodied energy consumption for the Jing-Jin-Ji region increased from 2002 to 2007 as a result of increased energy consumption in Tianjin and Hebei. Overall, consumption of Beijing decreased likely attributable to the fact that government policies relocated industries during this time in anticipation of the Olympic Games. The relationships among sectors changed: Beijing changed from a net exporter to an importer, whereas Hebei changed from a net importer of energy from Beijing to an exporter to Beijing, and Tianjin served as an importer in both years. | An Urban Metabolism and Carbon Footprint Analysis of the Jing-Jin-Ji ... | Zheng, Hongmei and Fath, Brian D. and Zhang, Yan | Journal Article | academic | 2017 |
Carbon Footprint (CF)
Case Study
Ecological Network Analysis (ENA)
Energy
Multi-Region Input-Output (MRIO) Analysis
Sub-national
Time series
Urban
|
| Scenarios for achieving absolute reductions in phosphorus consumption in Singapore Phosphorus is a resource that is utilized with efficiency in most parts of the world. Farmers fertilize with increasing precision; wastewater treatment plants strip phosphorus from sewage; and industries make use of phosphorus byproducts. Why, then, do incidents of eutrophication and harmful algal blooms related to excessive phosphorus outflows continue to intensify? Incremental improvements in phosphorus use efficiency and monitoring of individual phosphorus waste streams no longer seem sufficient to dampen these environmental impacts. A radical shift in perspective is needed, one in which phosphorus is treated as a resource rather than as waste. Using substance flow analysis, we explore various types of phosphorus management scenarios for a specific system, for the urban city-state of Singapore. These scenarios are jointly framed with the urban planning agency of Singapore and takes into consideration both behavioral and infrastructural changes to the status quo. These scenarios include strategies and technologies such as composting, separated incineration of organic and non-organic waste, anaerobic co-digestion of food waste and wastewater, and dedicated anaerobic digestion of food waste and wastewater. Publicly available UN Comtrade data is used to establish temporal trends in phosphorus consumption between 1989 and 2012. Phosphorus waste outputs are verified via empirically collected data on household and commercial waste generation. The results of this paper demonstrate how the transition from a linear to a closed-loop phosphorus cycle might be possible for Singapore, an island that is an important test bed for planning the sustainable metabolism of future urban areas. | Scenarios for achieving absolute reductions in phosphorus consumption in Singapore | Pearce, Bin Bin J.; Chertow, Marian | Journal Article | academic | 2017 |
National
Substance Flow Analysis (SFA)
Time series
Urban
|
| Embodied GHGs in a Fast Growing City: Looking at the Evolution of a Dwelling Stock using Structural Element Breakdown and Policy Scenarios: Embodied GHGs in a Fast Growing City Africa is currently experiencing rapid population growth and accelerated urbanization. This demographic shift will require a large amount of new construction material resulting in substantial environmental impact. For many cities on the continent, data gaps make specific quantification and robust prediction of this impact highly difficult. This article presents a method to assess the stock dynamics and embodied emissions of a rapidly growing urban built environment using a bottom-up, typological approach. This approach allows for the identification of appropriate engineering solutions for decarbonization by localizing embodied greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the different constructive elements with a revisited Sankey diagram. Different alternatives regarding housing type and construction techniques are compared. The city of Johannesburg is used as a case study to illustrate the relation between building types, technologies, and embodied GHG of its residential building stock. This new visualization uncovers the most material- and GHG-intense dwelling types and building elements. The adapted Sankey represents the building stock and its drivers in a simple way, allowing clear understanding of the consequences of potential alternatives. The business-as-usual scenario indicates 100.5 megatons carbon dioxide equivalent (Mt CO2-eq) for new construction between 2011 and 2040. The results of the dynamic model over time show that only a combination of a densified building stock with multistory buildings and the use of alternative construction materials and techniques show real potential to decelerate GHG emissions (33.0 Mt CO2-eq until 2040) while aiming to provide adequate and sustainable housing for all. | Embodied GHGs in a Fast Growing City: Looking at the ... | Verena Göswein, Jonathan Krones, Giulia Celentano, John E. Fernández, Guillaume Habert | Journal Article | academic | 2017 |
Material Stock Analysis (MSA)
Time series
Urban
|
| Using Material and Energy Flow Analysis to Estimate Future Energy Demand at the City Level Cities undergoing rapid growth encounter tremendous challenges, not only in terms of providing services to meet demand, but also in ensuring that development occurs in a sustainable way. This research evaluates the potential contribution of the material and energy flow analysis framework to predicting future energy flows and corresponding CO2 emissions in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The research presents a generic material and energy flow analysis model and applies it to the housing stock in Riyadh to estimate future energy demand and to assess associated effects. As the country starts to adopt sustainability measures and plan its transition from a fossil fuel-based energy system towards a renewable-based energy system, an understanding of future energy flows will allow early recognition of potential environmental impacts and provide information to enable accurate predictions of future demand for resources. | Using Material and Energy Flow Analysis to Estimate Future Energy ... | Naif Albelwi and Alan Kwan and Yacine Rezgui | Journal Article | academic | 2017 |
Carbon dioxide (CO2)
Case Study
Material Stock Analysis (MSA)
Scenario analysis
Time series
Urban
|
| Using Web‐Based Technology to Bring Hands‐On Urban Material Flow Analysis to the Classroom The main objective of this article is to introduce an open‐source, online software tool called OMAT as a teaching tool for performing economy wide‐material flow analysis (EW‐MFA) at urban or regional level in industrial ecology curricula. To that intent, we present a classroom and project activity that was developed for a masters‐level industrial ecology course offered by the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Insights are provided with regards to the outcome of the classroom exercise as well as lessons learned from both an academic and a software development point of view. The OMAT software provides users with a specialized tool to enter and process MFA data in a simple, intuitive way. The usefulness of OMAT as a teaching tool was tested by engaging students in a classroom activity that entailed using OMAT as a tool to perform an EW‐MFA applied to the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona for the years 2005‐2011. The aim of this exercise was to teach students specific skills required in performing an EW‐MFA, not through theory classes, but hands‐on through a learn‐as‐you‐go approach. The exercise not only equipped the students with knowledge about MFA, but also introduced them to solving problems as a team, meeting project deadlines, and communicating effectively with colleagues from different disciplines and backgrounds. Even though there is room for further improvements, this exercise showed that OMAT provided a useful addition to traditional methods that allowed students to get a more practical and thorough understanding of the MFA methodology. | Using Web‐Based Technology to Bring Hands‐On Urban Material Flow Analysis ... | Gara Villalba and Paul Hoekman | Journal Article | academic | 2017 |
Case Study
Economy-Wide Material Flow Analysis (EW-MFA)
Method
Time series
Urban
|
| Water management in Brussels: knowledge gained from the long time data series of the Flowbru regional telemetry system The long time data series provided by the Flowbru regional hydrometric network (www.flowbru.be) represents a new opportunity to gain knowledge on the hydrographical system in Brussels. With a combination of data mining analysis, data consolidation, models and in-depth data interpretation, new insights on sewer system performance are obtained. First, the problem of the infiltration of parasitic clear water into the sewer system is addressed. A new methodology is developed to compute the daily volumes of clear water infiltrated in the entire zone treated by the Brussels-North Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP). We show the strong seasonal variation of infiltration and how this pattern can be identified in limnimetric time series to highlight sewers which are subject to infiltration. Secondly, the sewer sediment accumulation in the Brussels Right main collector – the largest sewer in the Brussels Region – is studied. The accumulation dynamics are discussed, and a comparison between the present situation and that of the 1980s shows the massive increase in sediment accumulation in recent decades. The potential causes and consequences of this accumulation are discussed briefly. | Water management in Brussels: knowledge gained from the long time ... | de Ville, Nicolas; Verbanck, Michel | Journal Article | academic | 2017 |
Case Study
Time series
Urban
Wastewater
Water
|
| A hybrid method for quantifying China's nitrogen footprint during urbanisation from 1990 to 2009 In this study, we devise a national nitrogen footprint method to evaluate the life cycle nitrogen flows through the national economy of China from 1990 to 2009. To this end, we build a hybrid method based on two well-established techniques, namely material flow analysis (MFA) and input-output analysis (IOA). This integration allows for the evaluation of the effects of international trade and interdependencies among economic sectors. Our results suggest that China's nitrogen footprint (NF) has increased from 30.3 Teragrams (Tg) in 1990 to 54.0 Tg in 2009, whereas the NF per capita has increased from 25.9 to 39.5 kg N/yr. Relationship between the world NF per capita and human development index (HDI) appears to show an inverted U curve, whilst China shows an increase both in NF per capita and HDI. We find that an increase in China's NF is largely associated with high levels of urbanisation. Although the energy NF (E_NF) has increased more drastically than the food NF (F_NF), the latter still dominates China's total NNF, with proportions of 91% in 1990 and 82% in 2009. Taking international trade into account, our results demonstrate that China was a net exporter of F_NF, whilst a net importer of E_NF over this time period. There are many measures considered to reduce China's nitrogen footprint, including improvements in N use efficiency of food systems, transformation of meat-based diets and optimisation of China's economic structure. | A hybrid method for quantifying China's nitrogen footprint during urbanisation ... | Shenghui Cui and Yalan Shi and Arunima Malik and Manfred Lenzen and Bing Gao and Wei Huang | Journal Article | academic | 2016 |
Case Study
Input-Output Analysis (IOA)
Material Flow Analysis (MFA)
Method
National
Nitrogen
Time series
hybrid
|
| Evaluating urban sustainability potential based on material flow analysis of inputs and outputs: A case study in Jinchang City, China Many cities are facing environmental challenges with rapid urbanisation and industrialisation. It is critical to evaluate this new urban reality and its sustainability potential to generate appropriate solutions for a sustainable future. The urban metabolism framework is commonly applied to understand appropriate strategies to achieve sustainability for urban systems. In this study, material flow analysis was applied in conjunction with specific socio-economic indicators to model urban metabolism and evaluate appropriate urban metabolism changes for Jinchang City, China between 1995 and 2014. Structural decomposition analysis and decoupling analysis were used to explain and evaluate the sustainability potential of Jinchang City. Changes in material consumption and the waste generation of Jinchang City indicated a long-term unsustainable trajectory, evidenced by continuously increasing material inputs and outputs. We also found a significant reduction in air pollution, with declining sulphur dioxide emissions and dust; all are indicators of improvement in air quality. What is of special note is that industrial production was concurrently greatly increasing. These indicators suggest a positive improvement in sustainability beyond simple incrementalism. The study showed that MFA techniques can be used as valuable tools for understanding urban metabolism, evaluating urban sustainability, and suggesting strategies for the timely addressing of urban sustainability issues. This strategy is important in the face of China’s increasing industrial capacity. | Evaluating urban sustainability potential based on material flow analysis of ... | Li, Ying; Beeton, R. J. S.; Halog, Anthony; Sigler, Thomas | Journal Article | academic | 2016 |
Biomass
Case Study
Construction Materials
Energy
Material Flow Analysis (MFA)
Metals
Minerals
Time series
UM review paper import
Urban
|
| Spatial variation in the ecological relationships among the components of Beijing's carbon metabolic system In this paper, we construct a spatially explicit model of carbon metabolism for the flows of carbon among the components of an urban area. We used the model to identify spatial heterogeneity in the ecological relationships within a carbon metabolic network. We combined land-use and cover type maps for Beijing from 1990 to 2010 with empirical coefficients and socioeconomic data to quantify the flows. We used utility analysis to determine the ecological relationships between the components of the system and analyzed their changes during urban development. We used ArcGIS to analyze their spatial variation. We found that the positive utilities in Beijing decreased over time and that negative relationships mostly outweighed positive relationships after 2000. The main ecological relationships were distributed throughout the entire urban area before 2000; subsequently, exploitation, control, and mutualism relationships became concentrated in the southeast, leaving competition relationships to dominate the northwest. Mutualism relationships were most common for natural components, but were not stable because they were easily disturbed by urban expansion. Transportation and industrial land and urban land were the most important contributors to exploitation and control relationships and may be important indicators of spatial adjustment. Increasing competition relationships unbalanced the carbon metabolism, and limitations on the area of land available for development and on the water resources led to increasingly serious competition. The results provide an objective basis for planning adjustments to Beijing's land-use patterns to improve its carbon metabolism and reduce carbon emission. | Spatial variation in the ecological relationships among the components of ... | Xia, Linlin; Fath, Brian D.; Scharler, Ursula M.; Zhang, Yan | Journal Article | academic | 2016 |
Carbon
Case Study
Ecological Network Analysis (ENA)
Geographic Information System (GIS)
Throughflow Analysis
Time series
UM review paper import
Urban
Zotero2
|
| Complex Disasters on the Nicobar Islands This chapter is a case study of a local rural system affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. The Asian tsunami clearly revealed the vulnerability of coastal communities with respect to dealing with ecological hazards. An area that was greatly affected was the Nicobar Islands, an archipelago belonging to India and located in the Bay of Bengal. Critiquing disaster management and humanitarian aid structures, the chapter considers how an indigenous, subsistence, island community of hunter-gatherers was transformed into an aid-dependent monetary economy embedded in the regional market. Drawing on the concept of social metabolism and transitions, the chapter presents various scenarios of consumption and the consequences these will have on future material and energy demand, land use and time use for the local population. The case reveals the inherent metabolic traps in terms of the islands’ sustainable future, both ecologically and socially, and the role of disaster response in driving them to their biophysical limits as islands in the aftermath. | Complex Disasters on the Nicobar Islands | Singh, Simron; Haas, Willi | Book Section | academic | 2016 |
Economy-Wide Material Flow Analysis (EW-MFA)
Island
Rural
Sub-national
Sustainable production and consumption
Time series
|
| Urban metabolism profiles. An empirical analysis of the material flow characteristics of three metropolitan areas in Sweden Knowledge about the characteristics and driving forces of material flows in urban areas is crucial, as the pathways towards sustainability depend on local conditions. Currently, Urban Metabolism research focuses on the analysis of trends and transitions in different stages of city development, on developing classification systems and identification of metabolism profiles for urban areas. A novel framework for characterizing cities metabolism is provided using Urban Material Flow Accounting indicators as the basis. A Material Flow Accounting study is conducted for three cities in Sweden, from 1996 until 2011: Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmo. Based on the urban metabolism characteristics framework, three distinct profiles are proposed: consumer-service; industrial; and transitioning. Stockholm's material needs are mainly for final consumption. When compared with the other two cities, material flows follow a more stable trend and have lower dependency on external systems due to the marginal production and export of goods. Gothenburg has the most resource intensive metabolism. It requires several times larger material inputs than the other two cities and produces much larger outputs, for benefit of the rest of the country and the world. Consequently, \{CO2\} emissions are higher in Gothenburg. Malmo characteristics are more complex than Stockholm's with higher material needs in particular construction minerals. Its dependency on external flows is low, due to the fact that the economy and exports are based on domestically extracted Non-Metallic Minerals and Biomass. | Urban metabolism profiles. An empirical analysis of the material flow ... | Leonardo Rosado and Yuliya Kalmykova and João Patrício | Journal Article | academic | 2016 |
Case Study
Construction Materials
Direct Material Consumption (DMC)
Domestic extraction (DE)
Fossil Fuels
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
Imports and Exports
Metals
Minerals
Research and Analysis
Time series
UM review paper import
Urban
Urban Metabolism Analyst Model (UMan)
|
| Towards more comprehensive urban environmental assessments: exploring the complex relationship between urban and metabolic profiles Urban areas cover 2% of the Earth's land surface, host more than 50% of global population and are estimated to account for around 75% of CO2 emissions from global energy use. In order to mitigate existing and future direct and indirect environmental pressures resulting from urban resource use, it is necessary to investigate and better understand resource and pollution flows associated with urban systems. Current urban environmental assessment methodologies enable the quantification of resource use and pollution emissions flows entering, becoming stocked and exiting urban areas. While these methodologies enable to estimate the environmental effect of cities, they often consider urban areas as being static and homogeneous systems. This partial and simplistic representation shadows the complex spatio-temporal interrelationships between the local context and its associated local and global environmental pressures. This characterisation of urban systems is a significant limitation, not only for the urban environmental assessments, but also for the identification of their drivers as it may lead to inadequate urban environmental policies. To overcome this limitation and effectively reduce glocal urban environmental pressures, it is necessary to better understand the complex functioning of cities and identify their drivers. This research developed a comprehensive urban environmental assessment framework that helps to better explicit and understand the complex relationship between an urban system and its environmental profile in a systemic and systematic way. This framework was applied to the case study of Brussels Capital Region (BCR). Results from the application of this framework show that urban systems are neither static nor homogeneous. In fact, different relationships between the urban and metabolic profiles appear when considering different spatial scales and temporal intervals as well as different urban and metabolic metrics. The establishment of BCR's urban profile showed that components that shape the urban system evolve in an organic way over time. Moreover, the spatial expression of an urban system portrays its heterogeneous aspect and how different metrics of the same urban indicator can reveal distinct facets and challenges for an urban area or a neighbourhood. Finally, it was demonstrated that the relationship between urban indicators is different for each spatial scale and therefore knowledge from one spatial scale is not necessarily transferable from one scale to another. The establishment and analysis of BCR's metabolic profile also underlined the complex functioning of cities as each flow has a different temporal evolution and spatial expression. Due to the multifaceted and intertwined aspect of metabolic flows it becomes clear that no single parameter enables to explain or predict their behaviour. This leads to the conclusion that a great number of questions still need to be considered, understood and answered before effectively and coherently reducing environmental pressures from cities. The developed framework proposes a number of concrete steps that enable existing and new cities to better understand their metabolic functioning and ultimately transition towards less environmentally harmful futures. | Towards more comprehensive urban environmental assessments: exploring the complex relationship ... | Aristide Athanassiadis | Thesis | theses | 2016 |
Belgium
Biomass (must be merged with other Biomass)
Brussels
Carbon
Carbon Monoxide (CO)
Carbon dioxide (CO2)
Circular Economy
City
Construction Materials
Domestic extraction (DE)
Economy-Wide Material Flow Analysis (EW-MFA)
Electricity
Emissions (must be merged with Emissions)
Energy
Food
Global
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
Imports and Exports
Material Stock Analysis (MSA)
Metals
Minerals
Multi-scale
NOx
Natural Gas
SO2
Single point in time
Social Metabolism
Time series
Urban
Waste
Wastewater
Water
Zotero import
|
| Assessing urban sustainability of Chinese megacities: 35 years after the economic reform and open-door policy Driven by unprecedented economic development for more than three decades, China's urbanization level rose from 17.9% in 1978 to 54.8% in 2014. This breakneck speed of urbanization has resulted in myriad environmental problems and social inequities. To gauge the urban sustainability of China, our study focused on ten megacities which are socioeconomic centers of the country. We evaluated the three dimensions of sustainability using a set of sustainability indicators, including Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI), Ecological Footprint (EF), Biocapacity, Environmental Performance Index (EPI), City Development Index (CDI), Human Development Index (HDI), Gini coefficient, and Urban-rural income ratio. Based on time-series data from 1978 to 2012, our study has produced the following findings: (1) The values of GPI for the ten megacities started to increase since 2006 after a relatively constant period between 1994 and 2005; (2) The pressures of economic growth on the environment (EF) increased while biocapacity decreased for the ten megacities, with smaller biocapacity deficits for western cities; (3) The overall level of human wellbeing (HDI) increased; (4) Socioeconomic inequality (Gini and urban-rural income ratio) widened, but the widening trend seemed to have ceased in recent years for most of the ten megacities; and (5) Certain aspects of urban environment and city development (EPI and CDI) improved gradually, particularly in waste treatment and infrastructure development. Our findings suggest that, to achieve overall urban sustainability, China must move away from maximizing economic development and focus on improving environmental quality of its megacities. | Assessing urban sustainability of Chinese megacities: 35 years after the ... | Lu Huang and Lijiao Yan and Jianguo Wu | Journal Article | academic | 2016 |
Case Study
Ecological Footprint (EF)
Indicators - general
Time series
UM review paper import
Urban
|
| Coupling of carbon and energy flows in cities: A meta-analysis and nexus modelling Urban metabolism is a useful framework for characterizing human manipulation of energy and material flows in cities, but little attention has been paid to interactions among different flows. In this study, we examine the coupling of energy and carbon flows associated with cities. To do this, a time-series dataset of carbon and energy flows with 66 urban samples of various geographic and economic conditions is developed, dating back to 1865. We assess correlation between energy consumption and carbon emissions with consideration of urban size and population density. By focusing on Beijing and Issaquah as two case cities, we model the coupling of energy and carbon metabolism at urban scale from a network perspective. The energy-carbon nexus is evaluated for its impact on carbon intensities associated with economic sectors. We find energy-use and carbon emissions of 1865-2014 are strongly coupled, for both large and small cities of varying population densities. A closer look into the impact of the energy-carbon nexus on carbon intensities is important for emissions control. We suggest that more comprehensive and up-to-date monitoring of the nexus in urban energy and carbon flows be initiated immediately in order to search for ideal options of low-carbon pathways for cities at global scale. | Coupling of carbon and energy flows in cities: A meta-analysis ... | Shaoqing Chen and Bin Chen | Journal Article | academic | 2016 |
Beijing
Carbon dioxide (CO2)
China
City
Energy
Issaquah
Research and Analysis
Time series
United States
|
| An evaluation of the urban metabolism of Macao from 2003 to 2013 From 2003 to 2013, Macao experienced an economic boom accompanied by rapid socioeconomic development. Macao is a tourist city that depends heavily on an expanding gambling sector, and depends greatly on exogenous resources. In this study, we used H.T. Odum's emergy theory to quantify flows through Macao's urban metabolism and describe the consequences of Macao's urbanization from 2003 to 2013. By employing mass, energy, and emergy metrics, we analyzed different metabolic resources. The anabolic and catabolic flows during urban activities such as importation of resources and discharge of wastes were classified and compiled according to their function in the urban metabolism. Macao's urban metabolism showed different behavior during different periods. The main metabolic factors changed due to changes in the urban structure, government regulations, and other conditions. On an emergy basis, we found that the proportion of the life resource increased as the city developed and expanded. We also found that Macao's anabolic and catabolic density increased, indicating increased metabolic pressure from 2003 to 2013. By analogy with the concept of a biological metabolism, we discuss the criteria and implications of our results for urban metabolism and the consequences for policy makers and urban managers. | An evaluation of the urban metabolism of Macao from 2003 ... | Kampeng Lei and Lu Liu and Inchio Lou | Journal Article | academic | 2016 |
China
City
Emergy Analysis
Energy
Macao
Research and Analysis
Time series
|
| Monitoring Urban Copper Flows in Stockholm, Sweden: Implications of Changes Over Time In this study, a substance flow analysis (SFA) for copper (Cu) was conducted, in which the inflow, stock, and outflow (in the form of diffuse emissions to soil and water) for Stockholm were estimated for 2013 and compared with a previous study from 1995, hence allowing a discussion on changes over time. A large number of applications containing Cu were analyzed (including power cables, copper alloys, heavy electrical equipment, tap water systems, roofs, cars, various consumer electronics, wood preservatives, and contact cables for the railroad). The results show that the inflow of Cu to Stockholm has increased between 1995 and 2013, both in total and per person, mainly as the result of an increase in heavy electrical equipment, power cables, and cars. The stock remains relatively unchanged, whereas the outflow has increased. For the outflow, the emission increase from brake linings is of greatest quantitative importance, with an estimated 5.8 tonnes annual emission of Cu to the environment of Stockholm in 2013 compared to 3.9 tonnes in 1995. Given that increasing inflows of limited resources drive the global demand, continuous monitoring of flows through society and management of outflow routes are crucial, including improvement of national legislation and regional environmental plans as well as efforts to increase resource-use efficiency and recycling. | Monitoring Urban Copper Flows in Stockholm, Sweden: Implications of Changes ... | Amneklev, Jennie and Augustsson, Anna and Sörme, Louise and Bergbäck, Bo | Journal Article | academic | 2016 |
Case Study
Copper
Substance Flow Analysis (SFA)
Time series
UM review paper import
Urban
|
| Lisbon's womb: an approach to the city metabolism in the turn to the twentieth century The consumption and production of food products in the municipality of Lisbon in the 1890-1900 decade is assessed with the support of historical cartography and statistical resources. For the first time, food production in a municipality in the turn to the twentieth century is accounted and simultaneously subject of a visual analysis of the land used for agriculture and of the water infrastructures that supported such uses. Agriculture occupied at least 40 % of the territory of the city, while the built environment occupied no more than 16 % of the territory. However, local production of food was far from supplying most of the citizens' needs, and substantial food imports were needed. In this context, the municipality behaved like a heterotrophic system, highly dependent on the external supply of resources. Moreover, comparing to other European cities at the time Lisbon was facing in the end of the nineteenth century a late and slow transition from an agrarian social metabolism to an industrial one, suggesting that Lisbon was still relatively high-solar-powered as compared to other European cities at the time that were already highly fossil-fuel-powered. | Lisbon's womb: an approach to the city metabolism in the ... | Niza, Samuel and Ferreira, Daniela and Mourão, Joana and d'Almeida, Patrícia Bento and Marat-Mendes, Teresa | Journal Article | academic | 2016 |
Case Study
Economy-Wide Material Flow Analysis (EW-MFA)
Lisbon
Portugal
Time series
Urban
|
| Socioeconomic metabolism of Biomass in Jamaica in the Context of Trade and National Food Security: A time series biophysical analysis (1961-2013) This thesis presents a novel study on the historical evolution of socioeconomic metabolism of biomass in Jamaica in the context of trade and national food security. The goal of this study was to provide empirical insight into the structure of Jamaica biomass system by analyzing biomass material flows (domestic extraction, imports, and exports) from 1961 to 2013, and on this basis establish a link to the issue of national food security in Jamaica. A biomass material database in time series was constructed for Jamaica based on Eurostat methodological guidelines and general principles of economy-wide material flow account and analysis (EW-MFA). The constructed database allowed for the characterization of biomass production and consumption using the calculated material flow indicators- domestic extraction (DE), domestic consumption (DMC) and physical trade balance (PTB). The degree of import dependency was also calculated. To establish a link between patterns of biomass metabolism, trade and national food security, the scope of MFA was expanded to conduct a time series analysis of national food availability and progress towards food self-sufficiency based on analysis of dietary energy supply (DES) and dietary energy production (DEP) in Jamaica. Results obtained revealed a declining trend in both metabolic scale and metabolic rate of biomass use in Jamaica. MFA calculated indicators showed two alternating phases of growth and decline in the evolution of biomass use- peak growth (1966 and 1996) and steep decline (1981 and 2006). Primary crops dominated DE (48%) and DMC (47%). Cereals (74%) dominated physical imports flows and export flows were dominated by sugar cane (76%). Jamaica agro-food system is characterized by export oriented production as the share of mainstay food crops in overall primary crop extraction was less than 10%. A high food Import dependency ratio was observed. Food energy availability has significantly improved since 1961 from 1740 kcal/cap/day to 2470 kcal/cap/day in 2013. Jamaica is yet to achieve food self-sufficiency as DEP remains critically below the minimum dietary energy requirement threshold for Jamaica. This study contributes to the growing body of research on material flow analysis and socioeconomic metabolism. It offers a starting point for methodological enhancement of the MFA framework towards adapting it for food security studies. | Socioeconomic metabolism of Biomass in Jamaica in the Context of ... | Akunne Okoli | Thesis | theses | 2016 |
Direct Material Consumption (DMC)
Domestic extraction (DE)
Economy-Wide Material Flow Analysis (EW-MFA)
Island
Time series
|
| Dynamic type-cohort-time approach for the analysis of energy reductions strategies in the building stock While many countries have set ambitious targets for reducing energy use and GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions, it remains highly uncertain whether the policies introduced will be suitable to reach these targets at the specified times. Models used to inform building policies often do not account for the different boundary conditions related to socio-economic development, climate, composition and age structure of the existing building stock, and lifetime expectancy, which hinders effective strategy development and realistic target setting. This study presents a dynamic Type-Cohort-Time (TCT) stock-driven modelling approach that considers demographic aspects, lifestyle-related issues, and building-specific characteristics. Case studies were conducted for the dwelling stocks in Germany and the Czech Republic, two countries with different boundary conditions, but that are sheltered under the same European energy-reduction policies and goals. The effects of the policies on nearly zero energy buildings and increased renovation rates were tested. The results showed that current regulations are sufficient to achieve the 20% energy efficiency goal by 2020, but not to reach the 2050 energy and GHG-emission goals. The scenarios further demonstrate that the same policies on renovation and construction in different countries lead to different energy reduction levels. Accordingly, country-specific policies and measures are suggested. | Dynamic type-cohort-time approach for the analysis of energy reductions strategies ... | Vásquez, Felipe, and Løvik, Amund N., and Sandberg, Nina Holck, and Müller, Daniel B. | Journal Article | academic | 2016 |
National
Time series
|
| Examining the historical and present energy metabolism of a Rust Belt City: Syracuse, NY 1840--2005 Early cities depended on local, solar-based energy resources for their metabolism. Over time, cities have become increasingly dependent on fossil fuels, both directly and indirectly, as they facilitate exploitation of solar resources from much farther away. Alternatives to fossil fuels, typically generated locally, often provide lower surplus energy to society. As cities consider the transition back to solar-based energy resources, it becomes necessary to understand the capability of the solar-based economy to provide e.g. energy (including food) from nearby lands. To do so, we compared the energy metabolism (respiration) of a typical rust-belt city, Syracuse, NY, with the net primary production in the surrounding county (production) over its development (1840-2005). We calculated the ratio of respiration to production (R:P) and examined how this ratio changed during the periods of industrialization, shifts in major fuel types, and deindustrialization. We found that from 1840 to 1950 respiration became increasingly centralized in the urban core; since then it has become more diffused. Urban respiration exceeded production in the county by 9:1 in 1930, and it remains just under 2:1 today. Respiration reached an absolute (67 PJ) and a per capita (339 GJ) maximum in 1970, then fell by 40 % and 20 % respectively, due to deindustrialization and population losses. Conversely, production increased 480 % from its lows in 1930 because of reforestation and improved agricultural yields. What this means is that to achieve a higher P:R ratio requires either increased production of food and fuels in areas surrounding the city, or decreased per capita energy consumption. | Examining the historical and present energy metabolism of a Rust ... | Balogh, Stephen and Hall, Charles AS and Gamils, Drew V and Popov, Alexander M and Rose, Ryan T | Journal Article | academic | 2016 |
Syracuse
Time series
Urban
|
| Towards a Dynamic Approach to Urban Metabolism: Tracing the Temporal Evolution of Brussels' Urban Metabolism from 1970 to 2010 Urban metabolism (UM) is a way of characterizing the flows of materials and energy through and within cities. It is based on a comparison of cities to living organisms, which, like cities, require energy and matter flows to function and which generate waste during the mobilization of matter. Over the last 40 years, this approach has been applied in numerous case studies. Because of the data‐intensive nature of a UM study, however, this methodology still faces some challenges. One such challenge is that most UM studies only present macroscopic results on either energy, water, or material flows at a particular point in time. This snapshot of a particular flow does not allow the tracing back of the flow's evolution caused by a city's temporal dynamics. To better understand the temporal dynamics of a UM, this article first presents the UM for Brussels Capital Region for 2010, including energy, water, material, and pollution flows. A temporal evaluation of these metabolic flows, as well as some urban characteristics starting from the seminal study of Duvigneaud and Denayer‐De Smet in the early 1970s to 2010, is then carried out. This evolution shows that Brussels electricity, natural gas, and water use increased by 160%, 400%, and 15%, respectively, over a period of 40 years, whereas population only increased by 1%. The effect of some urban characteristics on the UM is then briefly explored. Finally, this article succinctly compares the evolution of Brussels’ UM with those of Paris, Vienna, Barcelona, and Hong Kong and concludes by describing further research pathways that enable a better understanding of the complex functioniong of UM over time. | Towards a Dynamic Approach to Urban Metabolism: Tracing the Temporal ... | Athanassiadis, Aristide and Bouillard, Philippe and Crawford, Robert H. and Khan, Ahmed Z. | Journal Article | academic | 2016 |
Carbon dioxide (CO2)
Case Study
Electricity
Emissions
Energy
Energy Balance
Fossil Fuels
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
Infra-urban
Material Flow Analysis (MFA)
Research and Analysis
SO2
Time series
UM review paper import
Urban
Waste
Wastewater
Water
|
| An application of system dynamics for evaluating planning alternatives to guide a green industrial transformation in a resource-based city A number of resource-based cities have suffered from unsustainable industrial pathways and aggravated environmental devastation. For such types of cities, especially in developing countries, it is imperative to launch a green industrial transformation that calls for considering more alternatives that involve environmental concerns in the planning process. This study aims to develop a system dynamics model for evaluating different planning alternatives concerning three prominent factors: industrial scale, structure, and efficiency; the findings are expected to assist decision-makers with a wider perspective in retrofitting the industrial system. Linfen, a typical Chinese resource-based city, is taken as a case. The results showed that compared with structure adjustment and technical progress, scale control should be taken as the foremost transformation measure for some cities with more excessive industrial capacities or in even worse environmental situations. For Linfen, the production capacities of its four main industries, i.e., coking, iron making, steel making and coal-power generation, need to be cut down, respectively, by 18.0%, 8.6%, 12.7% and 64.2% compared to the local industrial department's preferred options. Because of its capability to depict sophisticated interactions of environmental issues and industrial factors under diversified circumstances, alternative evaluation with the SD model is of great potential for delivering more integrated knowledge to decision-makers in industrial planning towards green transformation. | An application of system dynamics for evaluating planning alternatives to ... | Kuai, Peng; Li, Wei; Cheng, Runhe; Cheng, Gang | Journal Article | academic | 2015 |
Case Study
Energy
Material Flow Analysis (MFA)
SO2
Scenario analysis
System dynamics modelling (SDM)
Time series
UM review paper import
Urban
Water
|
| In-use product stocks link manufactured capital to natural capital In-use stock of a product is the amount of the product in active use. In-use product stocks provide various functions or services on which we rely in our daily work and lives, and the concept of in-use product stock for industrial ecologists is similar to the concept of net manufactured capital stock for economists. This study estimates historical physical in-use stocks of 91 products and 9 product groups and uses monetary data on net capital stocks of 56 products to either approximate or compare with in-use stocks of the corresponding products in the United States. Findings include the following: (i) The development of new products and the buildup of their in-use stocks result in the increase in variety of in-use product stocks and of manufactured capital; (ii) substitution among products providing similar or identical functions reflects the improvement in quality of in-use product stocks and of manufactured capital; and (iii) the historical evolution of stocks of the 156 products or product groups in absolute, per capita, or per-household terms shows that stocks of most products have reached or are approaching an upper limit. Because the buildup, renewal, renovation, maintenance, and operation of in-use product stocks drive the anthropogenic cycles of materials that are used to produce products and that originate from natural capital, the determination of in-use product stocks together with modeling of anthropogenic material cycles provides an analytic perspective on the material linkage between manufactured capital and natural capital. | In-use product stocks link manufactured capital to natural capital | Wei-Qiang Chen and T.E. Graedal | Journal Article | academic | 2015 |
Material Stock Analysis (MSA)
National
Time series
United States
Various Materials
|
| Uncertainty in Material Flow Analysis Indicators at Different Spatial Levels Material flow analysis (MFA) is a tool for research and decision support in environmental policy and management. In order to promote the use of MFA at different spatial scales, a quantification of the uncertainty in nationwide, regional, and urban MFA methodologies is provided. In particular, the impact of the input data quality on the main MFA indicators is analyzed and the sources and extent of uncertainties for different spatial scales are listed. The types, origin, and extent of the errors are described in detail and several imputation methods are explained and evaluated. By introducing a novel approach to account measurement errors in data sets with 'very few details on the measurement errors,' this article aims at contributing to the development of a standardized method to account for the uncertainty in MFA studies. This study uses the time series of MFA data for 1996-2011 at three spatial scales—nationwide (Sweden), regional (the Stockholm Region), and metropolitan (Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmo)—to determine how propagation of measurement errors affects the MFA results. The following MFA indicators were studied: direct material input; domestic processed output; and domestic material consumption. Generally, availability decreased as the spatial scale was lowered, whereas data errors increased. In the specific case of Sweden, the data on freight transport by rail and on waste produced by economic activities at the regional and metropolitan level should be improved. | Uncertainty in Material Flow Analysis Indicators at Different Spatial Levels | Patrício, João and Kalmykova, Yuliya and Rosado, Leonardo and Lisovskaja, Vera | Journal Article | academic | 2015 |
Case Study
Indicators - general
Method
Multi-scale
National
Single point in time
Sub-national
Time series
UM review paper import
Uncertainty
Urban
Urban Metabolism Analyst Model (UMan)
Zotero import
|
| Urban metabolism: Measuring the city's contribution to sustainable development Urban metabolism refers to the assessment of the amount of resources produced and consumed by urban ecosystems. It has become an important tool to understand how the development of one city causes impacts to the local and regional environment and to support a more sustainable urban design and planning. Therefore, the purpose of this paper was to measure the changes in material and energy use occurred in the city of Curitiba (Brazil) between the years of 2000 and 2010. Results reveal better living conditions and socioeconomic improvements derived from higher resource throughput but without complete disregard to environmental issues. Food intake, water consumption and air emissions remained at similar levels; energy use, construction materials and recycled waste were increased. The paper helps illustrate why it seems more adequate to assess the contribution a city makes to sustainable development than to evaluate if one single city is sustainable or not. | Urban metabolism: Measuring the city's contribution to sustainable development | Leonardo S. Conke and Tainá L. Ferreira | Journal Article | academic | 2015 |
Case Study
Construction
Emissions
Energy
Energy Accounting
Food
Food, Energy, Water (FEW)
Material Flow Analysis (MFA)
Time series
UM review paper import
Urban
Waste
|
| Urban Metabolism of Recycling and Reusing Food Waste: A Case Study in Taipei City The purpose of this study is to adopt the urban metabolism method to compare bio-waste scenarios of reuse and landfills. The study focuses on food waste (FW) generated from Taipei City to determine what outcomes will result if bio-waste is transformed into energy or material resources. The results show that under the scenario of bio-waste reuse, metabolic efficiency in Taipei increases, e.g., the same amount of resources can be used to produce more products. However, the urban impact also increases due to the bio-waste conversion process. Applying the life cycle assessment method of quantifying the environmental burden for bio-waste conversion technology selection enhances the urban metabolism efficiency of resources in Taipei and reduces the urban impact on the environment. The most environmentally friendly FW conversion technology is composting after pre-treatment of high-temperature cooking. The next most environmentally friendly method is direct composting treatment. This is followed by anaerobic co-digestion with sewage sludge, and the worst option is transforming FW into bio-ethanol. | Urban Metabolism of Recycling and Reusing Food Waste: A Case ... | Tseng, Wei-Lun and Chiueh, Pei-Te | Journal Article | academic | 2015 |
Case Study
Food Waste
Hybrid MFA-LCA
Time series
UM review paper import
Urban
|
| Urban metabolism based on emergy and slack based model: A case study of Beijing, China The key to studying urban sustainable development depends on quantifying stores, efficiencies of urban metabolisms and capturing urban metabolisms’ mechanisms. This paper builds up the metabolic emergy account and quantifies some important concepts of emergy stores. Emphasis is placed on the urban metabolic model based on the slack based model (SBM) method to measure urban metabolic efficiencies. Urban metabolic mechanisms are discussed by using the regression method. By integrating these models, this paper analyzes the urban metabolic development in Beijing from 2001 to 2010. We conclude that the metabolic emergy stores of Beijing increased significantly from 2001 to 2010, with the emergy imported accounting for most of the increase. The metabolic efficiencies in Beijing have improved since the 2008 Olympic Games. The population, economic growth, industrial structures, and environmental governance positively affect the overall urban metabolism, while the land expansion, urbanization and environmentally technical levels hinder the improving of urban metabolic efficiencies. The SBM metabolic method and the regression model based on the emergy analysis provide insights into the urban metabolic efficiencies and the mechanism. They can promote to integrate such concepts into their sustainability analyses and policy decisions. | Urban metabolism based on emergy and slack based model: A ... | Song, Tao; Cai, Jianming; Xu, Hui; Deng, Yu; Niu, Fangqu; Yang, Zhenshan; Du, Shanshan | Journal Article | academic | 2015 |
Case Study
Emergy Analysis
Time series
UM review paper import
Urban
|
| Maintenance and Expansion: Modeling Material Stocks and Flows for Residential Buildings and Transportation Networks in the EU25 Material stocks are an important part of the social metabolism. Owing to long service lifetimes of stocks, they not only shape resource flows during construction, but also during use, maintenance, and at the end of their useful lifetime. This makes them an important topic for sustainable development.In this work, a model of stocks and flows for nonmetallic minerals in residential buildings, roads, and railways in the EU25, from 2004 to 2009 is presented. The changing material composition of the stock is modeled using a typology of 72 residential buildings, four road and two railway types, throughout the EU25. This allows for estimating the amounts of materials in in-use stocks of residential buildings and transportation networks, as well as input and output flows. We compare the magnitude of material demands for expansion versus those for maintenance of existing stock. Then, recycling potentials are quantitatively explored by comparing the magnitude of estimated input, waste, and recycling flows from 2004 to 2009 and in a business-as-usual scenario for 2020. Thereby, we assess the potential impacts of the European Waste Framework Directive, which strives for a significant increase in recycling.We find that in the EU25, consisting of highly industrialized countries, a large share of material inputs are directed at maintaining existing stocks. Proper management of existing transportation networks and residential buildings is therefore crucial for the future size of flows of nonmetallic minerals. | Maintenance and Expansion: Modeling Material Stocks and Flows for Residential ... | Wiedenhofer, Dominik and Steinberger, Julia K. and Eisenmenger, Nina and Haas, Willi | Journal Article | academic | 2015 |
Case Study
Construction Materials
Economy-Wide Material Flow Analysis (EW-MFA)
Europe
Time series
Transportation
Zotero import
|
| The Spanish Transition to Industrial Metabolism: Long-Term Material Flow Analysis (1860-2010) The aim of this work is to reconstruct the main economy-wide/material flow accounting indicators for the Spanish economy between 1860 and 2010. The main results indicate that from 1960 onward, the country saw a very rapid industrial transition based on the domestic extraction of quarry products and the import of fossil fuels and manufactured goods. Direct material consumption rose from 58.7 million tonnes (Mt) in 1860 to 570.2 Mt in 2010. In per capita terms, it rose from 2.76 tonnes per capita per year (t/cap/yr) to 11.61 t/cap/year. Of the decennial years studied in this article, a peak of 15.23 t/cap/yr occurs in the year 2000; the subsequent fall is explained by the crisis of 2008. Until 1930, Spain was a net exporter of resources, but since that year, and especially since 1960, it began to depend heavily on overseas resources. The physical trade balance per inhabitant in Spain was -0.01 t/cap/year in 1860 and today it is 2.45 t/cap/year. This process also reveals the change in consumption patterns, which became increasingly dependent on abiotic resources. In 1860, 98.1% of resources consumed was biomass, whereas today the figure is 16.2%. In all events, this article shows how, although the great transformation did not occur until 1960, before that date the country saw significant qualitative transformation, which did not involve relevant changes in the mobilization of resources. | The Spanish Transition to Industrial Metabolism: Long-Term Material Flow Analysis ... | Infante-Amate, Juan and Soto, David and Aguilera, Eduardo and García-Ruiz, Roberto and Guzmán, Gloria and Cid, Antonio and González de Molina, Manuel | Journal Article | academic | 2015 |
Case Study
Economy-Wide Material Flow Analysis (EW-MFA)
National
Spain
Time series
Transportation
|
| The socio-economic drivers of material stock accumulation in Japan's prefectures Physical economy research has, thus far, focused on the throughput of materials that underpin economic development. The role of stocks of buildings and infrastructure has remained underexplored, yet it is the physical stock that provides service to society. To fill this gap, this research investigates stock dynamics in Japan in relation to population and economic drivers using panel regression and IPAT analyses for the past five decades. We recognize characteristic changes in the strength and relative influence of the drivers throughout time, in different subnational regions, and on the dynamics of buildings compared to transportation infrastructure. We find that material stock accumulation mainly occurred due to growth in economic activity, specifically by tertiary sector demand. Apart from a period of government-driven stock accumulation in the 1990s to stimulate economic growth, as economic and population growth slowed stock accumulation dynamics also changed signaling a new stock saturation trend. Migration from rural to urban areas has recently become an influential driver, leaving behind underused buildings and roads. This analysis provides a case study on how socio-economic drivers and stock accumulation interacted and changed while the country matured, which may have implications for understanding stock dynamics in rapidly industrializing economies. | The socio-economic drivers of material stock accumulation in Japan's prefectures | Fishman, Tomer and Schandl, Heinz and Tanikawa, Hiroki | Journal Article | academic | 2015 |
Island
Material Stock Analysis (MSA)
National
Time series
|
| The weight of society over time and space: a comprehensive account of the construction material stock of Japan, 1945-2010 In order to fully comprehend the socioeconomic metabolic (SEM) dynamics and material balance of nations, long-term accounting of economy-wide material stock is necessary in parallel to material flow accounts. Nevertheless, material stock accounts have been scarce, isolated, and mostly focused either on single materials, short time spans, or small regions. This study has two objectives: (1) review the state of the art of material stock research in the SEM discourse and (2) present a project to map, in a high level of detail, the in-use construction material stocks of Japan and its 47 prefectures from the 1940s until the present era. This project documents the two major depositories of material stock: buildings and infrastructure. We describe the challenges and benefits of utilizing a bottom-up approach, in order to promote its usage in material stock studies. The resulting database presents the accumulation of stock over time, as well as visually displaying the spatial distribution of the stock using geographical information systems (GIS), which, we argue, is an essential aspect of material stock analysis in the context of socioeconomic metabolism research. | The weight of society over time and space: a comprehensive ... | Tanikawa, Hiroki and Fishman, Tomer and Okuoka, Keijiro and Sugimoto, Kenji | Journal Article | academic | 2015 |
Island
Material Stock Analysis (MSA)
National
Time series
|
| What Drives Austrian Raw Material Consumption?: A Structural Decomposition Analysis for the Years 1995 to 2007 The growth in Austria's raw material consumption (RMC) or material footprint is driven by changes in consumption and production. In using the tool of structural decomposition analysis and applying it to Austrian RMC between 1995 and 2007, three specific drivers (technology, composition, and volume of final demand) are identified and quantified. The overall growth of Austrian RMC across the period of time under investigation shows that neither improved production or consumption efficiency nor reduction of consumption alone can lead to absolute material savings. The 'rebound effect' has been used to describe how efficiency gains can be offset by growth in overall consumption, putting 'degrowth' on the agenda of sustainability sciences and political movements. Absolute decoupling, that is, simultaneous growth in gross domestic product (GDP) and reduction of RMC, can only be achieved if reductions in final demand volume as a driver of material use are not offset by increases as a result of the changing final demand mix and/or technology effect (and vice versa). The Austrian case study provides very little evidence for such developments having occurred simultaneously during the period of time under investigation. In order for economic degrowth to contribute to lower material use and thus greater environmental protection, it must occur not only quantitatively, but also qualitatively in production and consumption structures. | What Drives Austrian Raw Material Consumption?: A Structural Decomposition Analysis ... | Wenzlik, Manuel and Eisenmenger, Nina and Schaffartzik, Anke | Journal Article | academic | 2015 |
Austria
National
Raw Materials Equivalent (RME)
Time series
|
| Urban Economies Resource Productivity and Decoupling: Metabolism Trends of 1996--2011 in Sweden, Stockholm, and Gothenburg Resource productivity and evidence of economic decoupling were investigated on the basis of the time series in 1996-2011 of material flow analysis for Sweden, Stockholm, and Gothenburg. In the three cases, absolute reductions in CO2 emissions by about 20% were observed, energy consumption per capita decreased, while gross domestic product (GDP) per capita grew. The energy consumption of the residential and public sectors decreased drastically, while the transport energy consumption is still growing steadily. Decoupling of the economy as a whole (i.e., including materials) is not yet happening at any scale. The domestic material consumption (DMC) continues to increase, in parallel with the GDP. The rate of increase for DMC is slower than that for GDP in both Stockholm and Sweden as a whole (i.e., relative decoupling). The metabolism of the cities does not replicate the national metabolism, and the two cities each have their own distinct metabolism profiles. As a consequence, policy implications for each of the case studies were suggested. In general, because of the necessarily different roles of the two cities in the national economy, generic resource productivity benchmarks, such as CO2 per capita, should be avoided in favor of sectorial benchmarks, such as industry, transport, or residential CO2 per capita. In addition, the share of the city impacts caused by the provision of a service for the rest of the country, such as a port, could be allocated to the national economy. | Urban Economies Resource Productivity and Decoupling: Metabolism Trends of 1996--2011 ... | Kalmykova, Yuliya and Rosado, Leonardo and Patrício, João | Journal Article | academic | 2015 |
Case Study
Decoupling
Economy-Wide Material Flow Analysis (EW-MFA)
Gothenburg
National
Stockholm
Sweden
Time series
Urban
|
| Social metabolism: a metrics for biophysical growth and degrowth The chapter outlines the concept of social metabolism and how it has been evolving. Next, it discusses the energetic metabolism of societies, methodological and conceptual issues as well as relevant findings such as the increase of metabolic rates across human history. The following section is devoted to societal material metabolism, major issues of measurement as well as findings, among them the ‘1970s syndrome' of metabolic stagnation in high-income countries, while so-called ‘emerging economies' display rapid physical and economic growth. The section on policy uses of sociometabolic concepts and indicators shows that in particular indicators on resource use and the relation between resources use and economic growth have gained prominence; we ring a certain sceptical note as far as decoupling and maximizing resource productivity as policy strategies are concerned. Finally, we look into the question regarding how far sociometabolic theories can provide guidance for a sustainability transition. | Social metabolism: a metrics for biophysical growth and degrowth | Marina Fischer-Kowalski and Helmut Haberl | Journal Article | academic | 2015 |
EUROSTAT (must be removed)
Energy
Europe
Indicators - general
Method
Multi-scale
Practical Guides and Handbooks
Research and Analysis
Social Metabolism
Time series
Various Materials
|
| Global human appropriation of net primary production for biomass consumption in the European Union, 1986 - 2007 The ongoing globalization process strengthens the connections between different geographic regions through trade. Biomass products, such as food, fiber, or bioenergy, are increasingly traded globally, thereby leading to telecouplings between distant, seemingly unrelated regions. For example, restrictions for agricultural production or changes in bioenergy demand in Europe or the United States might contribute to deforestation in Latin America or Sub-Saharan Africa. One approach to analyze trade-related land-use effects of the global socioeconomic biomass metabolism is the 'embodied human appropriation of net primary production' or eHANPP. eHANPP accounts allocate to any product the entire amount of the human appropriation of net primary production (HANPP) that emerges throughout its supply chain. This allows consumption-based accounts to move beyond simple area-demand approaches by taking differences in natural productivity as well as in land-use intensity into account, both across land-use types as well as across world regions. In this article, we discuss the eHANPP related to the European Union's (EU) consumption of biomass products in the period 1986-2007, based on a consistent global trade data set derived from bilateral data. We find a considerable dependency of the EU on the appropriation of biological productivity outside its own boundaries, with increasing reliance on Latin America as a main supplier. By using the EU as an illustrative example, we demonstrate the usefulness of eHANPP for assessing land-use impacts caused by nations' socioeconomic activities and conclude that the eHANPP approach can provide useful information to better manage ecosystems globally in the face of an increasingly interconnected world. | Global human appropriation of net primary production for biomass consumption ... | Thomas Kastner, Karl-Heinz Erb, Helmut Haberl | Journal Article | academic | 2015 |
European Union
Global
Human Appropriation of Net Primary Production (HANPP)
Time series
|
| Global carbon benefits of material substitution in passenger cars until 2050 and the impact of the steel and aluminium industries Light-weighting of passenger cars using high-strength steel or aluminum is a common emissions mitigation strategy. We provide a first estimate of the global impact of light-weighting by material substitution on GHG emissions from passenger cars and the steel and aluminum industries until 2050. We develop a dynamic stock model of the global car fleet and combine it with a dynamic MFA of the associated steel, aluminum, and energy supply industries. We propose four scenarios for substitution of conventional steel with high-strength steel and aluminum at different rates over the period 2010-2050. We show that light-weighting of passenger cars can become a 'gigaton solution': Between 2010 and 2050, persistent light-weighting of passenger cars can, under optimal conditions, lead to cumulative GHG emissions savings of 9-18 gigatons CO2-eq compared to development business-as-usual. Annual savings can be up to 1 gigaton per year. After 2030, enhanced material recycling can lead to further reductions: closed-loop metal recycling in the automotive sector may reduce cumulative emissions by another 4-6 gigatons CO2-eq. The effectiveness of emissions mitigation by material substitution significantly depends on how the recycling system evolves. At present, policies focusing on tailpipe emissions and life cycle assessments of individual cars do not consider this important effect. | Global carbon benefits of material substitution in passenger cars until ... | Modarsi, Roja, and Pauliuk, Stefan, and Løvik, Amund N., and Müller, Daniel B. | Journal Article | academic | 2014 |
Emissions (must be merged with Emissions)
Future Scenario
Global
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
Metals
Substance Flow Analysis (SFA)
Time series
|
| Dynamic material flow analysis for PCBs in the Norwegian building stock Since their introduction in 1929, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) have been used in a wide range of applications, mainly in industrialized countries. Although production of PCBs was largely banned in the 1970s, they are still present in various applications as well as in the environment where they remain a potential threat to animal and human health. PCBs were applied in different building materials in Norway in the period between 1950 and 1980. This study attempts to estimate the use for various applications in buildings, and to distinguish between residential and non-residential buildings. The results are combined with a dynamic material flow analysis (MFA) to estimate past and future stocks and flows of building-related PCBs in Norway. Results indicate that PCBs in the building stock peaked around 1980, and have since decreased as PCBs have been banned and efforts made to remove the substance from existing applications. However, considerable amounts remain in the building stock and will be released in smaller amounts for many more decades. While current legislation focuses mainly on the applications with short lifetimes, the handling of building applications with long lifetimes represent the main unresolved challenges of the future. | Dynamic material flow analysis for PCBs in the Norwegian building ... | Bergsdal, Håvard, and Bratterbø, Helge, and Müller, Daniel B. | Journal Article | academic | 2014 |
Construction Materials
Norway
Physical input-output tables (PIOT) / Input-Output Assessment (IOA)
Policy
Substance Flow Analysis (SFA)
Time series
Uncertainty
e-Waste
|
| The global metabolic transition: Regional patterns and trends of global material flows, 1950--2010 Since the World War II, many economies have transitioned from an agrarian, biomass-based to an industrial, minerals-based metabolic regime. Since 1950, world population grew by factor 2.7 and global material consumption by factor 3.7-71 Gigatonnes per year in 2010. The expansion of the resource base required by human societies is associated with growing pressure on the environment and infringement on the habitats of other species. In order to achieve a sustainability transition, we require a better understanding of the currently ongoing metabolic transition and its potential inertia. In this article, we present a long-term global material flow dataset covering material extraction, trade, and consumption of 177 individual countries between 1950 and 2010. We trace patterns and trends in material flows for six major geographic and economic country groupings and world regions (Western Industrial, the (Former) Soviet Union and its allies, Asia, the Middle East and Northern Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Sub-Saharan Africa) as well as their contribution to the emergence of a global metabolic profile during a period of rapid industrialization and globalization. Global average material use increased from 5.0 to 10.3 tons per capita and year (t/cap/a) between 1950 and 2010. Regional metabolic rates range from 4.5 t/cap/a in Sub-Saharan Africa to 14.8 t/cap/a in the Western Industrial grouping. While we can observe a stabilization of the industrial metabolic profile composed of relatively equal shares of biomass, fossil energy carriers, and construction minerals, we note differences in the degree to which other regions are gravitating toward a similar form of material use. Since 2000, Asia has overtaken the Western Industrial grouping in terms of its share in global resource use although not in terms of its per capita material consumption. We find that at a sub-global level, the roles of the world regions have changed. There are, however, no signs yet that this will lead to stabilization or even a reduction of global resource use. | The global metabolic transition: Regional patterns and trends of global ... | Schaffartzik, Anke and Mayer, Andreas and Gingrich, Simone and Eisenmenger, Nina and Loy, Christian and Krausmann, Fridolin | Journal Article | academic | 2014 |
Economy-Wide Material Flow Analysis (EW-MFA)
Global
Sub-national
Time series
|
| Patterns of change in material use and material efficiency in the successor states of the former Soviet Union The successor states of the former Soviet Union present a unique opportunity to study the changes in the socio-metabolic profile of a cohort of nations which underwent a radical and contemporaneous shift in economic system. That change was from being regions within an economically integrated, centrally planned whole, to being independent nations left to find their own place in the global economic system. The situation of these nations since the dissolution of the Soviet Union provides a rare experiment, in which we might observe the influence of the different starting conditions of each nation on the development path it subsequently followed, and the attendant socio-metabolic profiles which resulted. Here we take the opportunity to examine patterns for the region as a whole, and for three individual countries. We also examine the relative importance of three different drivers of material consumption using a version of the IPAT framework. Finally, an area for follow-on investigation was suggested by a significant positive correlation observed between the economic growth of individual successor states, and the degree to which they improved their material productivity. This latter is of potential importance in assessing whether dematerialization acts primarily to accelerate or retard economic growth. | Patterns of change in material use and material efficiency in ... | Schandl, Heinz and West, James and Krausmann, Fridolin and Kovanda, Jan and Hak, Tomas | Journal Article | academic | 2014 |
Economy-Wide Material Flow Analysis (EW-MFA)
National
Sub-national
Time series
|
| A Material Flow Accounting Case Study of the Lisbon Metropolitan Area using the Urban Metabolism Analyst Model This article describes a new methodological framework to account for urban material flows and stocks, using material flow accounting (MFA) as the underlying method. The proposed model, urban metabolism analyst (UMAn), bridges seven major gaps in previous urban metabolism studies: lack of a unified methodology; lack of material flows data at the urban level; limited categorizations of material types; limited results about material flows as they are related to economic activities; limited understanding of the origin and destination of flows; lack of understanding about the dynamics of added stock; and lack of knowledge about the magnitude of the flow of materials that are imported and then, to a great extent, exported.To explore and validate the UMAn model, a case study of the Lisbon Metropolitan Area was used. An annual time series of material flows from 2003 to 2009 is disaggregated by the model into 28 material types, 55 economic activity categories, and 18 municipalities. Additionally, an annual projection of the obsolescence of materials for 2010–2050 was performed. The results of the case study validate the proposed methodology, which broadens the contribution of existing urban MFA studies and presents pioneering information in the field of urban metabolism. In particular, the model associates material flows with economic activities and their spatial location within the urban area. | A Material Flow Accounting Case Study of the Lisbon Metropolitan ... | Leonardo Rosado, Samuel Niza, Paulo Ferrão | Journal Article | academic | 2014 |
Biomass
Case Study
Chemicals and fertilizers
Fossil Fuels
Future Scenario
Metals
Minerals
Sub-national
Time series
UM review paper import
Urban
Urban Metabolism Analyst Model (UMan)
Various Materials
Zotero import
Zotero2
|
| Consumption-based Material Flow Accounting In 2007, imports accounted for approximately 34% of the material input (domestic extraction and imports) into the Austrian economy and almost 60% of the GDP stemmed from exports. Upstream material inputs into the production of traded goods, however, are not yet included in the standard framework of material flow accounting (MFA). We have reviewed different approaches accounting for these upstream material inputs, or raw material equivalents (RME), positioning them in a wider debate about consumption-based perspectives in environmental accounting. For the period 1995-2007, we calculated annual RME of Austria's trade and consumption applying a hybrid approach. For exports and competitive imports, we used an environmentally extended input-output model of the Austrian economy, based on annual supply and use tables and MFA data. For noncompetitive imports, coefficients for upstream material inputs were extracted from life cycle inventories. The RME of Austria's imports and exports were approximately three times larger than the trade flows themselves. In 2007, Austria's raw material consumption was 30 million tonnes or 15% higher than its domestic material consumption. We discuss the material composition of these flows and their temporal dynamics. Our results demonstrate the need for a consumption-based perspective in MFA to provide robust indicators for dematerialization and resource efficiency analysis of open economies. | Consumption-based Material Flow Accounting | Schaffartzik, Anke and Eisenmenger, Nina and Krausmann, Fridolin and Weisz, Helga | Journal Article | academic | 2014 |
Austria
Case Study
Economy-Wide Material Flow Analysis (EW-MFA)
National
Raw Materials Equivalent (RME)
Time series
Zotero import
|
| Global patterns of material flows and their socio-economic and environmental implications: a MFA study on all countries world-wide from 1980 to 2009 This paper assesses world-wide patterns of material extraction, trade, consumption and productivity based on a new data set for economy-wide material flows, covering used materials for all countries world-wide between 1980 and 2009. We show that global material extraction has grown by more than 90% over the past 30 years and is reaching almost 70 billion tonnes today. Also, trade volumes in physical terms have increased by a factor of 2.5 over the past 30 years, and in 2009, 9.3 billion tonnes of raw materials and products were traded around the globe. China has turned into the biggest consumer of materials world-wide and together with the US, India, Brazil and Russia, consumes more than 50% of all globally extracted materials. We also show that the per-capita consumption levels are very uneven, with a factor of more than 60 between the country with the lowest and highest consumption in 2009. On average, each human being consumed 10 tonnes of materials in 2009, 2 tonnes more than in 1980. We discuss whether decoupling of economies’ growth from resource use has occurred and analyse interrelations of material use with human development. Finally, we elaborate on key environmental problems related to various material groups. | Global patterns of material flows and their socio-economic and environmental ... | Giljum, Stefan and Dittrich, Monika and Lieber, Mirko and Lutter, Stephan | Journal Article | academic | 2014 |
Comparison
EUROSTAT (must be removed)
Economy-Wide Material Flow Analysis (EW-MFA)
Global
Time series
|
| Evaluating spatiotemporal differences and sustainability of Xiamen urban metabolism using emergy synthesis The need to create sustainable cities has led to increasing concern on achieving healthy spatial metabolic interactions and system sustainability. Based on emergy synthesis and an urban spatial conceptual framework, we employ a set of seven emergy-based indicators to evaluate the sustainability of spatiotemporal metabolism for Xiamen, southeast China, using 1987–2007 land use and socio-economic statistic data. The results show a general improvement in socio-economic performance (emergy intensity, GDP emergy ratio, and emergy turnover ratio), but a steady deterioration in environmental performance (emergy self-support ratio, emergy density, and waste density) during the period 1987–2007. An increasing environmental and socio-economic metabolic gap exists between the built-up urban sprawl region (USR) and urban footprint regions (UFRs) due to resource privation and environmental space occupation, potentially undermining system sustainability. Compared to other Chinese cities and provinces, Xiamen still exhibited relatively weaker sustainability in 2002 due to increasing pressure on ecosystem health. Environment-oriented, society-oriented and cross-boundary-oriented metabolic strategies should be incorporated into future city development to foster urban system sustainability. None | Evaluating spatiotemporal differences and sustainability of Xiamen urban metabolism using ... | Yang, Dewei; Kao, William Tze Ming; Zhang, Guoqin; Zhang, Nanyang | Journal Article | academic | 2014 |
Case Study
Emergy Analysis
Time series
UM review paper import
Urban
|
| Comptes des flux de matières à l'échelle de l'économie 2008-2012 | Comptes des flux de matières à l'échelle de l'économie 2008-2012 | Guy Vandille | Report | reports | 2014 |
Belgium
Domestic extraction (DE)
EUROSTAT (must be removed)
Economy-Wide Material Flow Analysis (EW-MFA)
Imports and Exports
National
Time series
|
| Analysis of the energy metabolism of urban socioeconomic sectors and the associated carbon footprints: Model development and a case study for Beijing Cities consume 80% of the world׳s energy; therefore, analyzing urban energy metabolism and the resulting carbon footprint provides basic data for formulating target carbon emission reductions. While energy metabolism includes both direct and indirect consumptions among sectors, few researchers have studied indirect consumption due to a lack of data. In this study, we used input–output analysis to calculate the energy flows among directly linked sectors. Building on this, we used ecological network analysis to develop a model of urban energy flows and also account for energy consumption embodied by the flows among indirectly linked sectors (represented numerically as paths with a length of 2 or more). To illustrate the model, monetary input–output tables for Beijing from 2000 to 2010 were analyzed to determine the embodied energy consumption and associated carbon footprints of these sectors. This analysis reveals the environmental pressure based on the source (energy consumption) and sink (carbon footprint) values. Indirect consumption was Beijing׳s primary form, and the carbon footprint therefore resulted mainly from indirect consumption (both accounting for ca. 60% of the total, though with considerable variation among sectors). To reduce emissions, the utilization efficiency of indirect consumption must improve. | Analysis of the energy metabolism of urban socioeconomic sectors and ... | Zhang, Yan; Zheng, Hongmei; Fath, Brian D. | Journal Article | academic | 2014 |
Carbon Footprint (CF)
Case Study
Ecological Network Analysis (ENA)
Energy
Energy Accounting
Input-Output Analysis (IOA)
Time series
UM review paper import
Urban
|
| Urban ecological footprint analysis: a comparative study between Shenyang in China and Kawasaki in Japan With the rapid urbanization, many cities are facing various environmental issues, resulting in local ecological degradation. It is critical to conduct a scientific assessment so that appropriate solutions can be found by considering the local realities. Many evaluation methods, such as emergy analysis, material flow analysis, data envelopment analysis and ecological footprint analysis, have been proposed. Among them, ecological footprint analysis has been applied as a useful policy and planning tool for evaluating urban sustainability. The aim of this paper is to evaluate two industrial cities by using ecological footprint method in Shenyang, China and Kawasaki, Japan. The two cities have been “friendship cities” for over 30 years and have similar industrial structures. In order to present a holistic evolution picture on their ecological footprints, we collected all the relevant data for the period of 1997–2009. The results show that Shenyang's ecological footprints experienced a significant increase, while such figures in Kawasaki were quite stable, but per capita figures in Shenyang were much less than those in Kawasaki, indicating that a gap between the two cities still exist. In order to further improve its sustainable development, Shenyang should closely collaborate with Kawasaki, learning Kawasaki's eco-town experiences and other environmental management experiences. In addition, Shenyang should also learn from other leading cities and try to optimize its industrial and energy structure and improve their citizens' environmental awareness so that it can move toward a more sustainable development direction. | Urban ecological footprint analysis: a comparative study between Shenyang in ... | Geng, Yong; Zhang, Liming; Chen, Xudong; Xue, Bing; Fujita, Tsuyoshi; Dong, Huijuan | Journal Article | academic | 2014 |
Case Study
Comparison
Ecological Footprint (EF)
Time series
UM review paper import
Urban
Zotero2
|
| 2008-2012 economy-wide material flow account (Belgium) No abstract available. | 2008-2012 economy-wide material flow account (Belgium) | Guy Vandille | Report | reports | 2014 |
Belgium
Economy-Wide Material Flow Analysis (EW-MFA)
Time series
|
| Ecological network analysis of an urban metabolic system based on input-output tables: Model development and case study for Beijing If cities are considered as 'superorganisms', then disorders of their metabolic processes cause something analogous to an 'urban disease'. It is therefore helpful to identify the causes of such disorders by analyzing the inner mechanisms that control urban metabolic processes. Combining input-output analysis with ecological network analysis lets researchers study the functional relationships and hierarchy of the urban metabolic processes, thereby providing direct support for the analysis of urban disease. In this paper, using Beijing as an example, we develop a model of an urban metabolic system that accounts for the intensity of the embodied ecological elements using monetary input-output tables from 1997, 2000, 2002, 2005, and 2007, and use this data to compile the corresponding physical input-output tables. This approach described the various flows of ecological elements through urban metabolic processes and let us build an ecological network model with 32 components. Then, using two methods from ecological network analysis (flow analysis and utility analysis), we quantitatively analyzed the physical input-output relationships among urban components, determined the ecological hierarchy of the components of the metabolic system, and determined the distribution of advantage-dominated and disadvantage-dominated relationships, thereby providing scientific support to guide restructuring of the urban metabolic system in an effort to prevent or cure urban 'diseases'. | Ecological network analysis of an urban metabolic system based on ... | Zhang, Yan and Zheng, Hongmei and Fath, Brian D. and Liu, Hong and Yang, Zhifeng and Liu, Gengyuan and Su, Meirong | Journal Article | academic | 2014 |
Case Study
Ecological Network Analysis (ENA)
Input-Output Analysis (IOA)
Physical Input-Output Table (PIOT)
Time series
UM review paper import
Urban
|
| Resource Use in Small Island States: Material Flows in Iceland and Trinidad and Tobago, 1961-2008 Iceland and Trinidad and Tobago are small open, high‐income island economies with very specific resource‐use patterns. This article presents a material flow analysis (MFA) for the two countries covering a time period of nearly five decades. Both countries have a narrow domestic resource base, their economy being largely based on the exploitation of one or two key resources for export production. In the case of Trinidad and Tobago, the physical economy is dominated by oil and natural gas extraction and petrochemical industries, whereas Iceland's economy for centuries has been based on fisheries. More recently, abundant hydropower and geothermal heat were the basis for the establishment of large export‐oriented metal processing industries, which fully depend on imported raw materials and make use of domestic renewable electricity. Both countries are highly dependent on these natural resources and vulnerable to overexploitation and price developments. We show how the export‐oriented industries lead to high and growing levels of per capita material and energy use and carbon dioxide emissions resulting from large amounts of processing wastes and energy consumption in production processes. The example of small open economies with an industrial production system focused on few, but abundant, key resources and of comparatively low complexity provides interesting insights of how resource endowment paired with availability or absence of infrastructure and specific institutional arrangements drives domestic resource‐use patterns. This also contributes to a better understanding and interpretation of MFA indicators, such as domestic material consumption. | Resource Use in Small Island States: Material Flows in Iceland ... | Krausmann, Fridolin and Richter, Regina and Eisenmenger, Nina | Journal Article | academic | 2014 |
Economy-Wide Material Flow Analysis (EW-MFA)
Iceland
Island
National
Time series
Trinidad and Tobago
|
| Rapid growth in agricultural trade: effects on global area-efficiency and the role of management. Cropland is crucial for supplying humans with biomass products, above all, food. Globalization has led to soaring volumes of international trade, resulting in strongly increasing distances between the locations where land use takes place and where the products are consumed. Based on a dataset that allows tracing the flows of almost 450 crop and livestock products and consistently allocating them to cropland areas in over 200 nations, we analyze this rapidly growing spatial disconnect between production and consumption for the period from 1986 to 2009. At the global level, land for export production grew rapidly (by about 100 Mha), while land supplying crops for direct domestic use remained virtually unchanged. We show that international trade on average flows from highyield to lowyield regions: compared to a hypothetical notrade counterfactual that assumes equal consumption and yield levels, trade lowered global cropland demand by almost 90 Mha in 2008 (3year mean). An analysis using yield gap data (which quantify the distance of prevailing yields to those attainable through the best currently available production techniques) revealed that differences in land management and in natural endowments contribute almost equally to the yield differences between exporting and importing nations. A comparison of the effect of yield differences between exporting and importing regions with the potential of closing yield gaps suggests that increasing yields holds greater potentials for reducing future cropland demand than increasing and adjusting trade volumes based on differences in current land productivity. | Rapid growth in agricultural trade: effects on global area-efficiency and ... | Kastner, Thomas, Karl-Heinz Erb, Helmut Haberl | Journal Article | academic | 2014 |
Food and agriculture
Global
Time series
|
| Human Appropriation of Net Primary Production: Patterns, Trends, and Planetary Boundaries. Economic and population growth result in increasing use of biophysical resources, including land and biomass. Human activities influence the biological productivity of land, altering material and energy flows in the biosphere. The human appropriation of net primary production (HANPP) is an integrated socioecological indicator quantifying effects of human-induced changes in productivity and harvest on ecological biomass flows. We discuss how HANPP is defined, measured, and interpreted. Two principal approaches for constructing HANPP assessments exist: (a) In an area-specific approach, HANPP serves as an indicator of land-use intensity, gauging impacts on terrestrial ecosystems in a defined area; and (b) the consumption-based 'embodied HANPP' approach allows assessment of impacts related to individual products or the aggregate consumption of nation-states. The HANPP framework can help to estimate upper limits for the biosphere's capacity to provide humanity with biomass for food, fiber, and bioenergy and to analyze systemic feedbacks between the delivery of these resources. We outline HANPP's global patterns and trajectories and how HANPP relates to planetary boundaries, global resource use, and pressures on biodiversity. | Human Appropriation of Net Primary Production: Patterns, Trends, and Planetary ... | Helmut Haberl, Karl-Heinz Erb, Fridolin Krausmann | Journal Article | academic | 2014 |
Biomass (must be merged with other Biomass)
Human Appropriation of Net Primary Production (HANPP)
Research and Analysis
Social Metabolism
Time series
|
| Recycling Rates of Aluminum in the United States Recycling rates of aluminum are defined in different (sometimes inconsistent) ways and poorly quantified. To address this situation, the definitions and calculation methods of four groups of indicators are specified for the United States: (1) indicators used to measure recycling efficiencies of old aluminum scrap at the end‐of‐life (EOL) stage, including EOL collection rate (CR), EOL processing rate, EOL recycling rate, and EOL domestic recycling rate; (2) indicators used to compare generation or use of new with old scrap, including new to old scrap ratio, new scrap ratio (NSR), and old scrap ratio; (3) indicators used to compare production or use of primary aluminum with secondary aluminum, including four recycling input rates (RIRs); and (4) indicators used to track the sinks of aluminum metal in the U.S. anthroposphere. I find that the central estimate of EOL CR varies between 38% and 65% in the United States from 1980 to 2009 and shares a relatively similar historical trend with the primary aluminum price. The RIR is shown to be significantly reduced if excluding secondary aluminum produced from new scrap resulting from the relatively high NSR. In 2003, a time when approximately 73% of all of the aluminum produced globally since 1950 was considered to still be “in service,” approximately 68% to 69% of all metallic aluminum that had entered the U.S. anthroposphere since 1900 was still in use: 67% in domestic in‐use stock and 1% to 2% exported as scrap. Only 6% to 7% was definitely lost to the environment, although the destination of 25% of the aluminum was unknown. It was either exported as EOL products, was currently hibernating, or was lost during collection. | Recycling Rates of Aluminum in the United States | Wei-Qiang Chen | Journal Article | academic | 2013 |
Case Study
Metals
National
Substance Flow Analysis (SFA)
Time series
United States
|
| The Biophysical Performance of Argentina (1970–2009) The biophysical features of the Argentinean economy are examined using a social metabolism approach. A material flow analysis (MFA) for this economy was conducted for the period 1970–2009. Results show that Argentina follows a resource‐intensive and export‐oriented development model with a persistent physical trade deficit. Also, Argentina's terms of trade (the average weight in tonnes of imports that can be purchased through the sale of 1 tonne of exports) show a declining trend in the period of study.Argentina's economy shows a pattern typical of countries whose economies are based primarily on exports. Comparisons between Argentina's metabolic profile and the metabolic profile of other countries in Latin America and of Australia and Spain show that the Argentinean economy presents the same pattern as other Latin American exporting economies, and its terms of trade are opposite to those of industrialized economies. | The Biophysical Performance of Argentina (1970–2009) | Pedro Luis Perez Manrique | Journal Article | academic | 2013 |
Argentina
Case Study
National
Time series
|
| Re-estimating the decoupling effect: Is there an actual transition towards a less energy-intensive economy? The historical issue of the natural resources scarcity is revived currently through the empirical investigation into the dependence of the modern economy on the inputs of material and energy. The contemporary debate on de-growth and a-growth feeds on the empirical assessments of the relationship between energy-material use and current growth trends. In this context, the present study attempts a re-estimation of the energy-economic growth decoupling effect taking into account the physiology and, hence, the dimensionality that economic goods have. The Energy/GDP per Capita ratio is proposed as an indicator that approximates better than the Energy/GDP ratio the real world properties of production and, therefore, its energy requirements. The resulting estimations of decoupling effect are less 'optimistic' than those based on Energy/GDP ratio and prevalent in the relevant contemporary literature. | Re-estimating the decoupling effect: Is there an actual transition towards ... | Bithas, K. and Kalimeris, P. | Journal Article | academic | 2013 |
Decoupling
Global
Time series
|
| Development and dematerialization: An international study Economic development and growth depend on growing levels of resource use, and result in environmental impacts from large scale resource extraction and emissions of waste. In this study, we examine the resource dependency of economic activities over the past several decades for a set of countries comprising developing, emerging and mature industrialized economies. Rather than a single universal industrial development pathway, we find a diversity of economic dependencies on material use, made evident through cluster analysis. We conduct tests for relative and absolute decoupling of the economy from material use, and compare these with similar tests for decoupling from carbon emissions, both for single countries and country groupings using panel analysis. We show that, over the longer term, emerging and developing countries tend to have significantly larger material-economic coupling than mature industrialized economies (although this effect may be enhanced by trade patterns), but that the contrary is true for short-term coupling. Moreover, we demonstrate that absolute dematerialization limits economic growth rates, while the successful industrialization of developing countries inevitably requires a strong material component. Alternative development priorities are thus urgently needed both for mature and emerging economies: reducing absolute consumption levels for the former, and avoiding the trap of resource-intensive economic and human development for the latter. | Development and dematerialization: An international study | Steinberger, Julia K and Krausmann, Fridolin and Getzner, Michael and Schandl, Heinz and West, Jim | Journal Article | academic | 2013 |
Case Study
EUROSTAT (must be removed)
Economy-Wide Material Flow Analysis (EW-MFA)
National
Time series
|
| Centennial Evolution of Aluminum In-Use Stocks on Our Aluminized Planet A dynamic material flow model was developed to simulate the evolution of global aluminum stocks in geological reserve and anthropogenic reservoir from 1900 to 2010 on a country level. The contemporary global aluminum stock in use (0.6 Gt or 90 kg/capita) has reached about 10% of that in known bauxite reserves and represents an embodied energy amount that is equivalent to three-quarters of the present global annual electricity consumption. The largest proportions of in-use stock are located in the U.S. (28%), China (15%), Japan (7%), and Germany (6%) and in sectors of building and construction (40%) and transportation (27%). Industrialized countries have shown similar patterns of aluminum in-use stock growth: once the per-capita stocks have reached a threshold level of 50 kg, they kept a near linear annual growth of 5-10 kg/capita; no clear signs of saturation can yet be observed. The present aluminum in-use stocks vary widely across countries: approximately 100-600 kg/capita in industrialized countries and below 100 kg/capita in developing countries. The growing global aluminum in-use stock has significant implications on future aluminum demand and provides important recycling opportunities that will be critical for greenhouse gas emissions mitigation in the aluminum industry in the coming decades. | Centennial Evolution of Aluminum In-Use Stocks on Our Aluminized Planet | Gang Liu, and Müller, Daniel B. | Journal Article | academic | 2013 |
Construction Materials
Global
Metals
Substance Flow Analysis (SFA)
Time series
Transportation
Uncertainty
|
| Industrial metabolism of PVC in China: A dynamic material flow analysis In China, the rapid development of the polyvinylchloride (PVC) industry will inevitably lead to various environmental problems. This paper studies the PVC metabolism further by (1) constructing dynamic models based on material flow analysis (MFA), (2) introducing calculation on detailed lifetime distribution of different types of products and recycling, and (3) obtaining the performances of waste emissions and accumulation as a function of raw material input and time. Based on system evolution theory and population development models, the developing trend of the PVC industry is studied, and annual consumptions in future years are predicted. The annual emission and accumulation after metabolism can be calculated by tracking the amount of raw material input, existing form and process flow for a single year (2003), as well as over a longer period (from 1958 to 2048) in China. Analysis indicates that over 0.6 billion tons of PVC waste will have accumulated in the environment by the end of 2050. In this scenario analysis, the effects of product structure, lifetime distribution, mechanical recycling, chemical recycling and incineration on waste output are all taken into consideration. The product metabolism process can be decelerated by changing these factors appropriately. However, mechanical recycling and chemical recycling are the most effective solutions. | Industrial metabolism of PVC in China: A dynamic material flow ... | Zhou, Yucheng; Yang, Ning; Hu, Shanying | Journal Article | academic | 2013 |
China
Economy-Wide Material Flow Analysis (EW-MFA)
Future Scenario
PVC
Research and Analysis
Substance Flow Analysis (SFA)
Time series
Waste
|
| Steel all over the world: Estimating in-use stocks of iron for 200 countries Industrialization and urbanization in the developing world have boosted steel demand during the recent two decades. Reliable estimates on how much steel is required for high economic development are necessary to better understand the future challenges for employment, resource management, capacity planning, and climate change mitigation within the steel sector. During their use phase, steel-containing products provide service to people, and the size of the in-use stock of steel can serve as an indicator of the total service level. We apply dynamic material flow analysis to estimate in-use stocks of steel in about 200 countries and identify patterns of how stocks evolve over time. Three different models of the steel cycle are applied and a full uncertainty analysis is conducted to obtain reliable stock estimates for the period 1700-2008. Per capita in-use stocks in countries with a long industrial history, e.g., the U.S, the UK, or Germany, are between 11 and 16 tons, and stock accumulation is slowing down or has come to a halt. Stocks in countries that industrialized rather recently, such as South Korea or Portugal, are between 6 and 10 tons per capita and grow fast. In several countries, per capita in-use stocks of steel have saturated or are close to saturation. We identify the range of saturation to be 13 ± 2 tons for the total per capita stock, which includes 10 ± 2 tons for construction, 1.3 ± 0.5 tons for machinery, 1.5 ± 0.7 tons for transportation, and 0.6 ± 0.2 tons for appliances and containers. The time series for the stocks and the saturation levels can be used to estimate future steel production and scrap supply. | Steel all over the world: Estimating in-use stocks of iron ... | Pauliuk, Stefan, and Wang, Tao, and Müller, Daniel B. | Journal Article | academic | 2013 |
Economy-Wide Material Flow Analysis (EW-MFA)
Global
Material Stock Analysis (MSA)
Multi-scale
National
Time series
Uncertainty
|
| Material use and material efficiency in Latin America and the Caribbean Different world regions have followed very different trajectories for natural resources use over the recent decades. Latin America has pursued a development path based largely on exports of primary resources. Adopting this path has characteristic environmental and social impacts. In this paper, we provide the first broad based estimate of material use and material efficiency for the region, beginning in 1970 and extending to the onset of the global financial crisis in 2008. The results show a region with rapidly growing primary materials consumption, which is simultaneously becoming less efficient at converting those resources into national income. Using an IPAT framework, we found that population growth and rising per-capita incomes made comparable contributions to growing material use, while technological change as reflected in material intensity, did not moderate consumption. Increasing materials intensity, observed for the region as a whole, is also observed for most individual countries. This contrasts with some other world regions, and implies that many countries in Latin America and the Caribbean will confront higher environmental pressures than expected when expanding their extractive industries to take advantage of new demand from other world regions, while simultaneously supplying the requirements for their own domestic industrial transformations and urbanization. | Material use and material efficiency in Latin America and the ... | Schandl, Heinz and West, James | Journal Article | academic | 2013 |
Economy-Wide Material Flow Analysis (EW-MFA)
Island
Time series
|
| The importance of raw material equivalents in economy-wide material flow accounting and its policy dimension This article presents a comparison of indicators based on an economy-wide material flow analysis, namely imports, exports, domestic material consumption, raw material equivalents of imports, raw material equivalents of exports and raw material consumption. These indicators were calculated for the Czech Republic for 1995-2010 using, besides an economy-wide material flow analysis, the hybrid input-output life cycle assessment method, which allows for a calculation of raw material equivalents of imports and exports. The results show that a calculation of indicators, which include raw material equivalents, is useful, as it provides some important information which is not obvious from imports, exports and domestic material consumption indicators. We have proved that the latter group of indicators provide the incorrect information regarding the environmental pressure trend related to material flows, underestimate the overall pressure related to foreign trade and provide incorrect information on the importance of various material categories in particular indicators. Consequently, in the case of the Czech Republic, the implications stemming from these points such as the very high dependency of the Czech production system on metal ores from abroad and a rather unequal distribution of environmental pressures between the Czech Republic and its trading partners have not been more thoroughly addressed by Czech economic, environmental and sustainability policies so far and present unresolved issues which will have to be dealt with in the future. | The importance of raw material equivalents in economy-wide material flow ... | Jan Kovanda and Jan Weinzettel | Journal Article | academic | 2013 |
Case Study
Economy-Wide Material Flow Analysis (EW-MFA)
Indicators - general
Input-Output Analysis (IOA)
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
National
Raw Materials Equivalent (RME)
Time series
hybrid
|
| Efficiency Through Proximity: Changes in Phosphorus Cycling at the Urban–Agricultural Interface of a Rapidly Urbanizing Desert Region In tightly coupled socioecological systems, such as cities, the interactions between socio-economic and biophysical characteristics of an area strongly influence ecosystem function. Very often the effects of socioeconomic activities on ecosystem function are unintended, but can impact the sustainability of a city and can have irreversible effects. The food system in its entirety, from production to treatment of human waste, is one of the most important contributors to the way phosphorus (P) cycles through cities. In this article we examined the changes in P dynamics at the urban–agricultural interface of the Phoenix, Arizona, USA, metropolitan area between 1978 and 2008. We found that the contribution of cotton to harvested P decreased while the contribution of alfalfa, which is used as feed for local dairy cows, increased over the study period. This change in cropping pattern was accompanied by growth in the dairy industry and increased internal recycling of P due to dairy cow manure application to alfalfa fields and the local recycling of biosolids and treated wastewater. The proximity of urban populations with dairies and feed production and low runoff in this arid climate have facilitated this serendipitous recycling. Currently P is not strongly regulated or intentionally managed in this system, but farmers' behaviors, shaped largely by market forces and policies related to water recycling, unintentionally affect P cycling. This underscores the need to move from unintentional to deliberate and holistic management of P dynamics through collaborations between practitioners and researchers in order to enhance urban sustainability. | Efficiency Through Proximity: Changes in Phosphorus Cycling at the Urban–Agricultural ... | Metson, Geneviève; Aggarwal, Rimjhim; Childers, Daniel L. | Journal Article | academic | 2012 |
Case Study
Food
Material Flow Analysis (MFA)
Phosphorus
Sub-national
Time series
UM review paper import
Urban
|
| A City and Its Hinterland: Vienna's Energy Metabolism 1800-2006 Cities are centres of resource consumption and urban resource use has a considerable influence on both the economy and the environment in the resource-providing hinterland. This chapter looks at cities from a socio-ecological perspective and investigates the evolution of the energy metabolism of the city of Vienna since the beginning of industrialisation. Based on time series data on the size and structure of energy consumption in Vienna in the period from 1800 to 2006, it analyses the energy transition and how it relates to urban growth. It shows that during the last 200 years, a multiplication of energy use and a shift from renewable biomass towards coal and finally oil and natural gas as the dominating energy source have been observed. This energy transition was not a continuous process, but different phases in the energy transition can be distinguished. Also the spatial relations between the city and its resource-supplying hinterland changed. But growth in urban resource use was not simply causing an equal growth of the spatial imprint of urban consumption. Our results show that the size and spatial location of the resource-supplying hinterland is the combined result of various dynamic processes, including transport technology and agricultural productivity. The paper shows how energy and transport revolution abolished barriers of growth inherent to the old energy regime. Book: Long Term Socio-Ecological Research, https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-94-007-1177-8 | A City and Its Hinterland: Vienna's Energy Metabolism 1800-2006 | Fridolin Krausmann | Book Section | academic | 2012 |
Austria
Case Study
Energy/Emergy
Time series
UM review paper import
Urban
Vienna
|
| Integrated modelling and scenario building for the Nicobar Islands in the aftermath of the Tsunami In this chapter, we present preliminary results of a model of an SES of Kamorta Island (henceforth referred to as the K-SES model) belonging to the Nicobar archipelago in the Bay of Bengal. It is one of the very few attempts to link input–output metabolic modelling with an agent-based land-use change model rooted in the complex adaptive system approach. The modelled system includes the island of Kamorta with its human population and the surrounding reefs and shallow waters. | Integrated modelling and scenario building for the Nicobar Islands in ... | Wildenberg, Martin; Singh, Simron | Book Section | academic | 2012 |
Island
Sub-national
Sustainable production and consumption
Time series
|
| Scenario Analysis of Sulfur Dioxide Emissions Reduction Potential in China's Iron and Steel Industry Acid rain remains an important environmental problem. The Chinese steel industry is becoming a key domestic emitter of sulfur dioxide (SO2), the central molecular component of acid rain. In this study SO2 emission potential is assessed by developing a material flow analysis (MFA) model and generating four different SO2 industry emission scenarios from 2006 to 2030, with each scenario representing a possible development path for the industry. When SO2 emission factors in every unit of steel production are presumed to remain constant through 2030, scenario analysis results show that under a business‐as‐usual (BAU) scenario SO2 emissions will experience sustained growth to a peak value of 1.73 million metric tons (megatons, Mt) through 2020, approximately 52% higher than that in 2006, and that this trend is unlikely to be reversed. The high scenario and medium scenario demonstrate that it is difficult to control SO2 emissions to an acceptable level by only upgrading technology and making industrial structural adjustments. Yet through the incorporation of sintering gas desulfurization, the low scenario can smoothly bridge the gap between the simulative SO2 emissions and the envisioned value, since sintering is the biggest emitter in this industry. Once the desulfurization rate of sintering gas reaches 60%, SO2 emissions will be less than the level of 0.60 Mt in 2030 and will also meet the reduction goals. Moreover, scenario analysis suggests that single terminal control cannot solve the problem of high SO2 emissions. Therefore, in order to control the total SO2 emissions of the steel industry it is imperative that two or more measures be combined. | Scenario Analysis of Sulfur Dioxide Emissions Reduction Potential in China's ... | Shuhua Ma | Journal Article | academic | 2012 |
Case Study
China
Metals
National
SO2
Substance Flow Analysis (SFA)
Time series
|
| Effects of planning and policy decisions on residential land use in Singapore A study of current land use in Singapore shows that through effective long-term space planning, the island city-state has maintained an adequate stock of developable residential land to meet its most ambitious maximum population projections. Two indicators of residential land use efficiency are defined: Residential Land Use Footprint, [Lambda]r, measures the per-capita residential land requirement; Mean Residential Redevelopment Time, [Tau]r, defines the weighted average time for the government to redevelop a typical plot of residential land. A dynamic stock-and- ow model is described to calculate the historical residential land use footprint and mean residential redevelopment time between 1990 and 2011. Finding that the primary driver of residential land use footprint is the change in household occupant density, a System Dynamics model is developed to simulate the historical housing price, supply response, and occupant density. Using a stock management structure to modulate housing supply and commodity dynamics structures to determine housing prices, the calibrated model is used to forecast the behavior trends of several housing policy and population growth scenarios. | Effects of planning and policy decisions on residential land use ... | Davis, N.R. | Thesis | theses | 2012 |
Singapore
Singapore: City
Time series
Urban
|
| Aluminium Recycling - Raw material supply from a volume and quality constraint system The limited availability of energy and raw materials as well as the ambitious emission reduction targets are of big concern in the metallurgical industry as in other base materials industries. Consequently resource efficiency targets are set under EU's Raw Material Initiative, measures are taken to reduce GHG-emissions and there is a focus on carbon footprint of products and companies. For example legislators and stakeholders request a high recycled content in downstream products. Due to missing knowledge about the relative availability of secondary raw materials in growing markets the debate of recycling content vs. end-of-life recycling is still ongoing. In case of the European aluminium industry the remaining primary smelters suffer from high costs of energy and the emission trading system. A survival is depending on acceptable power contracts and their role as active player in the electricity grid modulation. Furthermore restructuring and consolidation of the recycling industry is not finalized. On the other hand collected aluminium scrap volumes are expected to increase significantly and therefore, remelters and integrated cast houses prepare themselves to remelt different kinds of scrap to minimize the use of primary ingots. But depending on the final product properties the chemical composition of aluminium alloys has to fulfil strict specifications. Consequently the usability of secondary raw materials can be limited or would require costly up-grading and sorting processes. In order to analyse and forecast the scrap availability the use of Material Flow Analysis gains increasing importance. A high accuracy is requested from MFA calculations when quantity and quality of particular material flows are of major concern. Applying existing models, two major issues become obvious, which are discussed in this paper on a global scale: The limited availability of end-of-life scrap and possible quality constraints of the current recycling system. | Aluminium Recycling - Raw material supply from a volume and ... | Rombach, Georg, and Modaresi, Roja, and Muller, Daniel B. | Journal Article | academic | 2012 |
Data Quality
Economy-Wide Material Flow Analysis (EW-MFA)
Future Scenario
Global
Metals
Policy
Time series
|
| Resource Use in Growing China Natural resources provide the basis for our life on Earth. This article presents the accounts of China's direct material input (DMI) during 1998–2008. Using decomposition, we examine factors that have influenced changes in recent resource use in China. China's resource demand in 2011–2015 is projected, based on China's 12th Five‐Year Plan. Finally, effective policies to restrain China's resource demand are discussed with the following conclusions: (1) During 1998–2008, China's DMI doubled, from 11 gigatons (Gt) to 22 Gt. Metallic minerals had the strongest growth, quadrupling; nonmetallic minerals and fossil fuels more than doubled, but biomass remained stable. In relative terms, nonmetallic minerals dominated, with more than 60% of total DMI. (2) Factors of affluence (A) and material use intensity (T), respectively, contributed most to the increase and decrease of DMI, but the overall decrease effect is much smaller. Factors of population (P) and recycling (R) only slightly affected changes in China's DMI. (3) During 2008–2015, China's DMI is expected to increase by 27% to 38%, from 22 Gt to 28 to 31 Gt. The average annual rate of increase of DMI would drop to 3% to 5%, from 7% during 1998–2008. (4) Designing new products and infrastructure that use less energy and materials and changing consumption patterns to be more sustainable are crucial to the future resource strategy of China. More policies are expected to improve China's material use intensity and recycling levels. | Resource Use in Growing China | Heming Wang | Journal Article | academic | 2012 |
Case Study
China
EUROSTAT (must be removed)
National
Time series
|
| The Physical Economy of the United States of America The United States is not only the world's largest economy, but it is also one of the world's largest consumers of natural resources. The country, which is inhabited by some 5% of the world's population, uses roughly one‐fifth of the global primary energy supply and 15% of all extracted materials. This article explores long‐term trends and patterns of material use in the United States. Based on a material flow account (MFA) that is fully consistent with current standards of economy‐wide MFAs and covers domestic extraction, imports, and exports of materials for a 135‐year period, we investigated the evolution of the U.S. industrial metabolism. This process was characterized by an 18‐fold increase in material consumption, a multiplication of material use per capita, and a shift from renewable biomass toward mineral and fossil resources. In spite of considerable improvements in material intensity, no dematerialization has happened so far; in contrast to other high‐income countries, material use has not stabilized since the 1970s, but has continued to grow. This article compares patterns and trends of material use in the United States with those in Japan and the United Kingdom and discusses the factors underlying the disproportionately high level of U.S. per capita resource consumption. | The Physical Economy of the United States of America | Sylvia Gierlinger and Fridolin Krausmann | Journal Article | academic | 2012 |
Case Study
EUROSTAT (must be removed)
National
Time series
United States
|
| Comparison of energy flow accounting, energy flow metabolism ratio analysis and ecological footprinting as tools for measuring urban sustainability: A case-study of an Irish city-region This paper seeks to apply a number of biophysical sustainability metrics to an Irish city-region in order to evaluate the effect of methodological pluralism when measuring urban sustainability and to determine the outcome of using more than one method when measuring the sustainability of the same system boundary at a city-region level. It is concluded that a ‘toolkit’ approach can be useful in highlighting commonalities and differences between different metrics as well as capturing some of the deficiencies inherent in using a single biophysical metric. In addition, this paper develops an approach to measuring energy metabolism by outlining and applying the ‘energy flow metabolism ratio analysis’ methodology, which is used to measure the ratio of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as a function of energy material inputs. | Comparison of energy flow accounting, energy flow metabolism ratio analysis ... | Browne, David and O'Regan, Bernadette and Moles, Richard | Journal Article | academic | 2012 |
Case Study
Comparison
Ecological Footprint (EF)
Energy Balance
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
Material Flow Analysis (MFA)
Multi-scale
Sub-national
Time series
Urban
|
| Material flows and material productivity in China, Australia, and Japan This article presents material flows and material productivity data and indicators for Australia, China, and Japan for the period 1970 to 2005. The main data used come from a new material flows database for the Asia-Pacific region that was assembled using up-to-date standardized methodologies of material flow accounting and significantly extends the knowledge base available for studies on resource use dynamics in the region. We show that the three nations studied here have diverging patterns of resource use, and that these patterns can be linked to interdependencies between them and the very different roles each nation plays within a globalized system of natural resource exploitation. We also conduct a brief analysis of the most important drivers of changes in their resource use over the period, using an IPAT framework (Impact = Population × Affluence × Technology). The fundamentally different economic structures and trading roles of each country, that is, primary resource provider (Australia), mature and advanced manufacturer (Japan), and rapidly industrializing developing country (China), lead to starkly different contexts in which appropriate policies to encourage sustainable resource use must be formulated. | Material flows and material productivity in China, Australia, and Japan | Schandl, Heinz and West, James | Journal Article | academic | 2012 |
Australia
Case Study
China
EUROSTAT (must be removed)
Economy-Wide Material Flow Analysis (EW-MFA)
Japan
National
Time series
|
| The physical dimension of international trade, part 2: Indirect global resource flows between 1962 and 2005 Global trade is increasingly being challenged by observations of growing burden shifting, in particular of environmental problems. This paper presents the first worldwide calculations of shifted burden based on material flow indicators, in particular direct and indirect physical trade balances. This study covers the period between 1962 and 2005 and includes between 82 and 173 countries per year. The results show that indirect trade flow volumes have increased to around 41 billion tonnes in 2005. The traded resources with the highest share of associated indirect flows are iron, hard coal, copper, tin and increasingly palm oil. Regarding the burden balance between regions, Europe is the biggest shifter whereas Australia and Latin America are the largest takers of environmental burden due to resource extraction. To evaluate the findings from a global perspective, the results are analysed in terms of resource flow induced environmental pressure related to a country's land area in terms of total and per capita area. Resource endowment and population density seem to be more relevant in determining the physical trade balance, including indirect flows, than income level. | The physical dimension of international trade, part 2: Indirect global ... | Dittrich, Monika and Bringezu, Stefan and Schütz, Helmut | Journal Article | academic | 2012 |
Economy-Wide Material Flow Analysis (EW-MFA)
Global
Imports and Exports
Time series
|
| Toward a Low Carbon–Dematerialization Society Rapid industrialization and urbanization has been occurring in China since the introduction of the opening‐up policy in 1978. The demands of building and infrastructure construction have increased rapidly, especially in the transportation and housing sectors in China. Large amounts of construction materials have been required in building construction and maintenance of the railway and road systems, especially steel and cement. Continued cement and steel production will require heavy raw material resource consumption and will emit a great deal of carbon dioxide (CO2). This study forecasts future steel and cement demand and related resource consumption and CO2 emissions for building and transportation infrastructure based on a material flow analysis of China. Furthermore, the effect of prolonging the lifetime of building and transportation infrastructure is appraised. The results indicate that building and transportation infrastructure will increase sharply through 2030. Although the demand for new construction will then decrease, steel and cement consumption will remain at a high level through 2050 because these are needed to maintain roads and railways. In addition, prolonging the lifetime of buildings and infrastructure is a useful way to avoid more raw material consumption and to mitigate CO2 emissions. However, its main effect is to decrease the demolition of buildings and reduce material use for the maintenance of roads and railways. Currently not enough countermeasures have been implemented to realize a low carbon–dematerialization society in the building and transportation construction sector. Future comprehensive efforts should include the reuse of waste construction material and a reduction in raw material consumption intensity by applying technical innovations. | Toward a Low Carbon–Dematerialization Society | Feng Shi | Journal Article | academic | 2012 |
Carbon dioxide (CO2)
Case Study
China
National
Substance Flow Analysis (SFA)
Time series
|
| India's biophysical economy, 1961–2008. Sustainability in a national and global context India's economic growth in the last decade has raised several concerns in terms of its present and future resource demands for materials and energy. While per capita resource consumption is still extremely modest but on the rise, its sheer population qualifies India as a fast growing giant with material and energy throughput that is growing rapidly . If such national and local trends continue, the challenges for regional, national as well as global sustainability are immense in terms of future resource availability, social conflicts, pressure on land and ecosystems and atmospheric emissions. Using the concepts of social metabolism and material flow analysis, this paper presents an original study quantifying resource use trajectories for India from 1961 up to 2008. We argue for India's need to grow in order to be able to provide a reasonable material standard of living for its vast population. To this end, the challenge is in avoiding the precarious path so far followed by industrialised countries in Europe and Asia, but to opt for a regime shift towards sustainability in terms of resource use by building on a host of promising examples and taking opportunities of existing niches to make India a trendsetter. | India's biophysical economy, 1961–2008. Sustainability in a national and global ... | Singh, Simron and Krausmann, Fridolin and Gingrich, Simone and Haberl, Helmut and Erb, Karl-Heinz and Lanz, Peter and Martinez-Alier, Joan and Temper, Leah | Journal Article | academic | 2012 |
Case Study
Economy-Wide Material Flow Analysis (EW-MFA)
India
National
Time series
|
| Materials embodied in international trade - Global material extraction and consumption between 1995 and 2005 Production and consumption activities in industrialized countries are increasingly dependent on material and energy resources from other world regions and imply significant economic and environmental consequences in other regions around the world. The substitution of domestic material extraction and processing through imports is also shifting environmental burden abroad and thus extends the responsibility for environmental impacts as well as social consequences from the national to the global level. Based on the results of the Global Resource Accounting Model, this paper presents the first trade balances and consumption indicators for embodied materials in a time series from 1995 to 2005. The model includes 53 countries and two world regions. It is based on the 2009 edition of the input-output tables and bilateral trade data published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and is extended by physical data on global material extraction. The results quantify the global shift of embodied material resources from developing and emerging countries to the industrialized world. In addition to the level of industrialization and wealth, population density is identified as an important factor for the formation of physical trade patterns. Exports of embodied materials of less densely populated countries tend to surpass their imports, and vice versa. We also provide a quantitative comparison between conventionally applied indicators on material consumption based on direct material flows and indicators including embodied material flows. We show that the difference between those two indicators can be as much as 200%, calling for an adjustment of conventional national material flow indicators. Multi-regional input-output models prove to be a useful methodological approach to derive globally consistent and comprehensive data on material embodiments of trade and consumption. | Materials embodied in international trade - Global material extraction and ... | Martin Bruckner and Stefan Giljum and Christian Lutz and Kirsten Svenja Wiebe | Journal Article | academic | 2012 |
Global
Physical input-output tables (PIOT) / Input-Output Assessment (IOA)
Raw Materials Equivalent (RME)
Time series
|
| Dynamic modeling of Singapore's urban resource flows: Historical trends and sustainable scenario development The process of urbanization is one that is inextricably linked with the consumption of material, energy, and water resources. Urban metabolism provides a framework for characterizing the magnitudes of these urban resource requirements by considering the extended analogy of the biological metabolic process. In this study we propose a System Dynamics approach for linking the stocks and flows of urban metabolism with the socioeconomic activities of cities. We also present initial results from its application to the island city-state of Singapore. In the long term, we intend this technique of dynamic urban metabolism to be both descriptive and predictive, the former to better understand different historical modes of urban resource consumption, and the latter to inform strategies for resource efficient urban development in an increasingly resource-scarce world. Conference: Proceedings of the 2011 IEEE International Symposium on Sustainable Systems and Technology | Dynamic modeling of Singapore's urban resource flows: Historical trends and ... | Abou-Abdo, T. and Davis, N.R. and Krones, J.S. and Welling, K.N. and Fernández, J.E. | Conference Paper | None | 2011 |
Case Study
Singapore
Singapore: City
Time series
UM review paper import
Urban
|
| Urban Water Mass Balance Analysis Planning for “water‐sensitive” cities has become a priority for sustainable urban development in Australia. There has been little quantification of the term, however. Furthermore, the water balance of most cities is not well known. Following prolonged drought, there has also been a growing need to make Australian cities more water self‐reliant: to source water from within. This article formalizes a systematic mass‐balance framework to quantify all anthropogenic and natural flows into and out of the urban environment. Quantitative performance indicators are derived, including (1) degree of system centralization; (2) overall balance; potential of (3) rainfall, (4) stormwater, and (5) wastewater to offset current demand; and (6) water cycle rate. Using the method, we evaluate Sydney, Melbourne, South East Queensland and Perth using reported and modeled data. The approach makes visible large flows of water that have previously been unaccounted and ignored. It also highlights significant intercity variation. In 2004–2005, the cities varied 54% to 100% in their supply centralization, 257% to 397% in the ratio of rainfall and water use, 47% to 104% in their potential stormwater recycling potential, and 26% to 86% in wastewater recycling potential. The approach provides a practical, water‐focused application of the urban metabolism framework. It demonstrates how the principles of mass balance can help foster robust water accounting, monitoring, and management. More important, it contributes to the design and quantitative assessment of water‐sensitive cities of the future. | Urban Water Mass Balance Analysis | Steven Kenway, Alan Gregory, Joseph McMahon | Journal Article | academic | 2011 |
Case Study
Material Flow Analysis (MFA)
Method
Sub-national
Time series
Urban
Wastewater
Water
Water mass balance analysis
|
| Analysis of the indicators between urban metabolism and land use change in Guangzhou The study on the interaction between land use change and urban metabolism, which is the core of Global Change Programme, has currently come into lively discussion in the field of ecological research. On the whole ecologic-economic-social system of Guangzhou, this paper analyzes the emergy-based urban metabolism in the past 17 years with reference to the resource flows from 1990 to 2006 and investigates this interaction of the metabolism and land-change of Guangzhou. It finds out the truth that various types of land-use changes had remarkable influence on the material and energy flows during the metabolic course, especially the fast rise of the construction land. The more construction land the city increases, the more total solar emergy it consumes, which makes a decline in the emergy sustainable indices. The per unit area energy consumption also increases in the process of urban expansion with a large amount of depletion of minerals, fuels and building resources. Because of the growing environmental load, the emergy yield ratio is decreasing year by year. At the same time, the emergy efficiency of farmland has been enhanced while there has been a decrease in the amount of farmland and a downward trend of emergy density since 1990. The results can provide an important basis and new ideas for the land planning and management of Guangzhou. | Analysis of the indicators between urban metabolism and land use ... | WU Yu-qin, YAN Mao-chao; WU Yu-qin, YAN Mao-chao | Journal Article | academic | 2011 |
Case Study
Emergy Analysis
Time series
UM review paper import
Urban
|
| Methodology and Indicators of Economy-wide Material Flow Accounting This contribution presents the state of the art of economy-wide material flow accounting. Starting from a brief recollection of the intellectual and policy history of this approach, we outline system definition, key methodological assumptions, and derived indicators. The next section makes an effort to establish data reliability and uncertainty for a number of existing multinational (European and global) material flow accounting (MFA) data compilations and discusses sources of inconsistencies and variations for some indicators and trends. The results show that the methodology has reached a certain maturity: Coefficients of variation between databases lie in the range of 10% to 20%, and correlations between databases across countries amount to an average R2 of 0.95. After discussing some of the research frontiers for further methodological development, we conclude that the material flow accounting framework and the data generated have reached a maturity that warrants material flow indicators to complement traditional economic and demographic information in providing a sound basis for discussing national and international policies for sustainable resource use. | Methodology and Indicators of Economy-wide Material Flow Accounting | M. Fischer-Kowalski, F. Krausmann, S. Giljum, S. Lutter, A. Mayer, S. Bringezu, Y. Moriguchi, H. Sch¨utz, H. Schandl, and H. Weisz | Journal Article | academic | 2011 |
Biomass (must be merged with other Biomass)
Construction Materials
Direct Material Consumption (DMC)
Domestic extraction (DE)
Economy-Wide Material Flow Analysis (EW-MFA)
Europe
Fossil Fuels
Future Scenario
Imports and Exports
Indicators - general
Metals
Method
Minerals
National
Single point in time
Time series
|
| Global Rare Earth In-Use Stocks in NdFeB Permanent Magnets The rare earth elements are indispensible in modern technology, especially in the applications of permanent magnets. Very little quantitative information is available on rare earth elements used in permanent magnets, however. This study looks back to 1983, when neodymium‐iron‐boron (NdFeB) permanent magnets were first manufactured, and reaches to 2007, when the market of permanent magnets was well developed. We draw on the historical data on permanent magnets from China, Japan, the United States, and Europe to provide the first estimates of global in‐use stocks for four rare earth elements—praseodymium (Pr), neodymium (Nd), terbium (Tb), and dysprosium (Dy)—in NdFeB permanent magnets. In‐use stocks amount to 62.6 gigagrams (Gg) Nd, 15.7 Gg Pr, 15.7 Gg Dy, and 3.1 Gg Tb; these stocks, if efficiently recycled, could provide a valuable supplement to geological stocks as they are almost four times the 2007 annual extraction rate of the individual elements. | Global Rare Earth In-Use Stocks in NdFeB Permanent Magnets | Du, Xiaoyue and Graedel, T. E. | Journal Article | academic | 2011 |
Case Study
Global
Material Stock Analysis (MSA)
Metals
Substance Flow Analysis (SFA)
Time series
|
| The Material Consumption of Singapore’s Economy: An Industrial Ecology Approach In a world deeply concerned about future accessibility of physical resources, especially materials, water and energy, the young field of industrial ecology brings resolute attention to tracking the flows of these resources through systems at different scales. Material flow analysis is an industrial ecology tool used to examine system metabolism by tracking the input, output, conversion and accumulation of materials, water, energy or selected substances, helping to inform decisions about resource availability, waste management and pollution reduction at local, regional or global levels. With the exception of several nature reserves, the island city-state of Singapore is highly urbanized, and has been dependent upon industrial and manufacturing activities for its national standing and economic growth. As such, mapping Singapore’s ‘urban metabolism’ through a material flow analysis (MFA) approach, with a particular focus on materials catalogued by international trade databases, is useful for understanding the island’s level of sustainable resources use within the context of the global economy and ecosystem. This study compares relevant data describing Singapore’s material flows for the years 2000, 2004 and 2008. Domestic material consumption on the island is found to be highly variable across the three study years. This primarily reflects Singapore’s levels of construction activity, including considerable additions of actual land area to the island. The flux in the quantity of sand imports to Singapore illustrates the volatility that one category of goods can introduce to the material record of an otherwise stable economy. For countries that are becoming increasingly dependent on imported products, the implication is that a growing share of the impact is taking place in other countries. Global economic trends are also determined to have an effect on Singapore’s additions to stock vs. its exports, as its gross domestic product is highly reliant on trade activity. | The Material Consumption of Singapore’s Economy: An Industrial Ecology Approach | Chertow, Marian; Choi, Esther S; Lee, Keith | Book Section | academic | 2011 |
Direct Material Consumption (DMC)
Economy-Wide Material Flow Analysis (EW-MFA)
National
Time series
Urban
|
| Material flow accounting in an Irish city-region 1992-2002 This paper aims to measure raw material inputs and waste flows in an Irish city-region in order to analyse (i) whether there was absolute dematerialisation in the particular case study over the period 1992-2002 and (ii) whether material consumption and waste generation were decoupled from economic growth and increases in disposable income over the same period. It was found that the selected material flow indicators showed no evidence of absolute dematerialisation over the given study period, although more recent evidence at the national level suggests that a decline in construction activity and extraction of non-metallic minerals has resulted in an absolute reduction in material consumption and it is likely that this will be mirrored at the system boundary level. It was found that Domestic Material Consumption (DMC) per capita and Direct Material Input (DMI) per capita increased at a faster rate than Domestic Processed Output (DPO) per capita and Direct Material Output (DMO) per capita between 1992 and 2002, which indicates relative decoupling of consumption from waste generation. In addition, it was found that there was relative decoupling of consumption and waste generation from disposable income growth over the study period. Finally, it was found that average DMC and DMI figures for the selected case study were lower than the national averages but broadly similar to results for other city-regions in the European Union (EU). On a methodological note, it was concluded that material flow accounting (MFA) for city-regions in Ireland is constrained due to a lack of disaggregated data for material flows, with the exception of local waste data, and it is recommended that bottom-up analysis should be used to complement disaggregated top-down data. | Material flow accounting in an Irish city-region 1992-2002 | Browne, David; O'Reagan, Bernadette; Moles, Richard | Journal Article | academic | 2011 |
Case Study
Decoupling
Direct Material Consumption (DMC)
Economy-Wide Material Flow Analysis (EW-MFA)
Time series
UM review paper import
Urban
Waste
Zotero import
|
| The Development and Practice in City Level of Material Flow Analysis (MFA) in China On the basis of reviewing and summarizing the experience of MFA in china and abroad, the research framework of regional MFA are proposed, meanwhile the method was applied in city level, and analyzing the material flows in Tianjin city from 1998 to 2007. The results indicated that the total material consumption of Tianjin was 97.25 million tons in 2007. The amount of imported materials accounted for 46 percent of direct material input, and 40 percent of it was coal; it indicated that Tianjin largely depended on external resource. Moreover, the environmental capacity of Tianjin was at the saturated state, with water seriously polluted. The material productivity was being improved, but the efficiency of resources utilization was in a lower level. Finally, accordingly measures and suggestions were proposed to resolve the existing problems. | The Development and Practice in City Level of Material Flow ... | Wei, Liu; Wenxin, Tian; Chaofan, Chen; Liang, Liu; Yun, Liu | Journal Article | academic | 2011 |
Case Study
Material Flow Analysis (MFA)
Time series
UM review paper import
Urban
|
| The Metabolic Transition in Japan The notion of a (socio-) metabolic transition has been used to describe fundamental changes in socioeconomic energy and material use during industrialization. During the last century, Japan developed from a largely agrarian economy to one of the world's leading industrial nations. It is one of the few industrial countries that has experienced prolonged dematerialization and recently has adopted a rigorous resource policy. This article investigates changes in Japan's metabolism during industrialization on the basis of a material flow account for the period from 1878 to 2005. It presents annual data for material extraction, trade, and domestic consumption by major material group and explores the relations among population growth, economic development, and material (and energy) use. During the observed period, the size of Japan's metabolism grew by a factor of 40, and the share of mineral and fossil materials in domestic material consumption (DMC) grew to more than 90%. Much of the growth in the Japanese metabolism was based on imported materials and occurred in only 20 years after World War II (WWII), when Japan rapidly built up large stocks of built infrastructure, developed heavy industry, and adopted patterns of mass production and consumption. The surge in material use came to an abrupt halt with the first oil crisis, however. Material use stabilized, and the economy eventually began to dematerialize. Although gross domestic product (GDP) grew much faster than material use, improvements in material intensity are a relatively recent phenomenon. Japan emerges as a role model for the metabolic transition but is also exceptional in many ways. | The Metabolic Transition in Japan | Fridolin Krausmann | Journal Article | academic | 2011 |
Case Study
EUROSTAT (must be removed)
Japan
National
Time series
|
| The physical dimension of international trade: Part 1: Direct global flows between 1962 and 2005 The physical dimension of international trade is attaining increased importance. This article describes a method to calculate complete physical trade flows for all countries which report their trade to the UN. The method is based on the UN Comtrade database and it was used to calculate world-wide physical trade flows for all reporting countries in nine selected years between 1962 and 2005. The results show increasing global trade with global direct material trade flows reaching about 10 billion tonnes in 2005, corresponding to a physical trade volume of about 20 billion tonnes (adding both total imports and total exports). The share from European countries is declining, mainly in favour of Asian countries. The dominant traded commodity in physical units was fossil fuels, mainly oil. Physical trade balances were used to identify the dominant resource suppliers and demanders. Australia was the principal resource supplier over the period with a diverse material export structure. It was followed by mainly oil-exporting countries with varying volumes. As regards to regions, Latin America, south-east Asian islands and central Asia were big resource exporters, mostly with increasing absolute amounts of net exports. The largest net importers were Japan, the United States and single European countries. Emerging countries like the ‘Asian Tigers' with major industrial productive sectors are growing net importers, some of them to an even higher degree than European countries. Altogether, with the major exception of Australia and Canada, industrialized countries are net importers and developing countries and transition countries are net exporters, but there are important differences within these groups. | The physical dimension of international trade: Part 1: Direct global ... | Dittrich, Monika and Bringezu, Stefan | Journal Article | academic | 2010 |
Economy-Wide Material Flow Analysis (EW-MFA)
Global
Imports and Exports
Time series
|
| Resource use and resource efficiency in the Asia-Pacific region Over the last few decades, the Asia-Pacific region has experienced the most dynamic economic development of any of the world's regions, leading to a rapid increase in resource use and associated emissions. The region is now a major driver towards overshooting global resource use limits. In this paper, we provide an estimate of material use and resource efficiency in the Asia-Pacific region and its sub-regions for the first time, to complement existing knowledge on global resource use. We show that the Asia-Pacific has become the single largest user of resources globally, and that the efficiency of resource use in the region decreased over the period 1970-2005. Furthermore we show that the region's share of total resource use is now so significant that decreasing resource efficiency there has driven a decrease in overall global resource efficiency, for the first time in a century. Using an IPAT framework we found that rising per capita incomes contributed more strongly to growing material use than did population growth. Technology did not moderate material use growth to the extent expected. We argue that a failure to make these issues a central and immediate focus of public policy in the Asia-Pacific region would compromise competitiveness, resource security, and poverty reduction in the region over the medium to long term. | Resource use and resource efficiency in the Asia-Pacific region | Schandl, Heinz and West, Jim | Journal Article | academic | 2010 |
Economy-Wide Material Flow Analysis (EW-MFA)
National
Time series
|
| Ecological network analysis of an urban water metabolic system: Model development, and a case study for Beijing Using ecological network analysis, we analyzed the network structure and ecological relationships in an urban water metabolic system. We developed an ecological network model for the system, and used Beijing as an example of analysis based on the model. We used network throughflow analysis to determine the flows among components, and measured both indirect and direct flows. Using a network utility matrix, we determined the relationships and degrees of mutualism among six compartments – 1) local environment, 2) rainwater collection, 3) industry, 4) agriculture, 5) domestic sector, and 6) wastewater recycling – which represent producer, consumer, and reducer trophic levels. The capacity of producers to provide water for Beijing decreased from 2003 to 2007, and consumer demand for water decreased due to decreasing industrial and agricultural demand; the recycling capacity of reducers also improved, decreasing the discharge pressure on the environment. The ecological relationships associated with the local environment or the wastewater recycling sector changed little from 2003 to 2007. From 2003 to 2005, the main changes in the ecological relationships among components of Beijing's water metabolic system mostly occurred between the local environment, the industrial and agricultural sectors, and the domestic sector, but by 2006 and 2007, the major change was between the local environment, the agricultural sector, and the industrial sector. The other ecological relationships did not change during the study period. Although Beijing's mutualism indices remained generally stable, the ecological relationships among compartments changed greatly. Our analysis revealed ways to further optimize this system and the relationships among compartments, thereby optimizing future urban water resources development. | Ecological network analysis of an urban water metabolic system: Model ... | Zhang, Yan; Yang, Zhifeng; Fath, Brian D. | Journal Article | academic | 2010 |
Case Study
Ecological Network Analysis (ENA)
Throughflow Analysis
Time series
UM review paper import
Urban
Water
Zotero2
|
| Dynamic Material Flow Analysis for Strategic Construction and Demolition Waste Management in Beijing Of all materials extracted from the earth's crust, the construction sector uses 50%, producing huge amounts of construction and demolition waste (CDW). In Beijing, presently 35 million metric tons per year (megatonnes/year [Mt/yr]) of CDW are generated. This amount is expected to grow significantly when the first round of mass buildings erected in the 1990s starts to be demolished. In this study, a dynamic material flow analysis (MFA) is conducted for Beijing's urban housing system, with the demand for the stock of housing floor area taken as the driver. The subsequent effects on construction and demolition flows of housing floor area and the concurrent consumption and waste streams of concrete are investigated for Beijing from 1949 and projected through 2050. The per capita floor area (PCFA) is a key factor shaping the material stock of housing. Observations in Beijing, the Netherlands, and Norway indicate that PCFA has a strong correlation with the local gross domestic product (GDP). The lifetime of dwellings is one of the most important variables influencing future CDWgeneration. Three scenarios, representing the current trend extension, high GDP growth, and lengthening the lifetime of dwellings, are analyzed. The simulation results show that CDW will rise, unavoidably. A higher growth rate of GDP and the consequent PCFA will worsen the situation in the distant future. Prolonging the lifetime of dwellings can postpone the arrival of the peak CDW. From a systematic view, recycling is highly recommended for long-term sustainable CDW management. | Dynamic Material Flow Analysis for Strategic Construction and Demolition Waste ... | Hu, Mingming; van der Voet, Ester; Huppes, Gjalt | Journal Article | academic | 2010 |
Beijing
Case Study
China
City
Construction Materials
Future Scenario
Material Stock Analysis (MSA)
Research and Analysis
Time series
Waste
Zotero import
Zotero2
|
| Material Flow Indicators in the Czech Republic in Light of the Accession to the European Union This article deals with the economy‐wide material flows in the Czech Republic in 1990–2006. It presents in brief the overall trends of the material flow indicators in 1990–2002. The major part of the article is focused on the years 2002–2006, which immediately preceded and followed the accession of the Czech Republic to the European Union in 2004. It is shown that this accession had quite a significant impact on the volume and character of the material flows of the Czech Republic. The accession was beneficial from an economic point of view, as it allowed for an increased supply of materials needed for economic growth. Furthermore, it was accompanied by an improvement in the efficiency of material transformation into economic output. From an environmental and broader sustainability point of view, however, this accession brought about some controversial outcomes. There was a significant increase in the net export of environmental pressure, on one hand, and an increase in net additions to the physical stock of the economy, on the other. Although the former is controversial from the viewpoint of equity in sharing area and resources, the latter places an additional burden on future generations because all physical stocks will turn into waste and emissions at some point, when their life span expires. | Material Flow Indicators in the Czech Republic in Light of ... | Jan Kovanda | Journal Article | academic | 2010 |
Case Study
Czech Republic
EUROSTAT (must be removed)
Economy-Wide Material Flow Analysis (EW-MFA)
Indicators - general
National
Time series
|
| Input, stocks and output flows of urban residential building system in Beijing city, China from 1949 to 2008 Urban residential buildings are formed, maintained and reformed by different external material and energy flows, and their behaviors of input, accumulation and output are characterized by their architectural factors and modes of use that usually determine the consumption of material and energy of a building at its overall life cycle. In this research, we took Beijing city, a rapid developing city as a case study, and examined material flows of urban residential building system based on a survey of typical residential buildings in the urban areas of Beijing city. The quantitative analysis were made to describe the input, transformation/accumulation, and output of building materials from the year 1949 to 2008, and a comparative analysis was done to identify the differences of material uses among the buildings with different architectural structures as masonry-concrete, and steel-concrete. During the period from 1949 to 2008, there were six main materials of cement, sand, gravel, steel, bricks and timber used in urban residential building system in Beijing. The total amount of material imported into the system was 5.1×108t, among which the accumulated amount was 4.7×108t, an accumulation rate of 92.5%, and the total of building wastes reached 3.9×107t. Among the buildings with two architectural structures, the total amount of material use for buildings with steel-concrete structure was larger than masonry-concrete. It was found that the buildings with steel-concrete structure experienced a rapid increase since the year 1979 in Beijing. As a result of rapid urban development, the large-scale reformation and demolishment of urban old buildings also led to a rapid growth of the amount of building wastes. And the building wastes generated in the process of reformation and demolition began to exceed that produced in the process of new buildings construction. The amount of building wastes generated from 2004 to 2008 accounted for 52.2% of the total that generated from 1949 to 2008. From this research, the rapid development of Beijing's residential building system in the past 60 years became a big ecological pressure for urban sustainable building development. It is important to change the traditional model of urban construction, and develop some sustainable or ecologically friendly construction technologies to enhance the capacity of recycling and reuse of residential building wastes for realizing a sustainable urban building construction and management in Beijing. | Input, stocks and output flows of urban residential building system ... | Hu, Dan; You, Fang; Zhao, Yanhua; Yuan, Ye; Liu, Tianxing; Cao, Aixin; Wang, Zhen; Zhang, Junlian | Journal Article | academic | 2010 |
Case Study
Concrete
Dwellings
Gravel
Material Flow Analysis (MFA)
Sand
Steel
Time series
UM review paper import
Urban
Wood
Zotero import
Zotero2
|
| Materials Metabolism Analysis of China's Highway Traffic System (HTS) for Promoting Circular Economy With the rapid growth of highway mileage and vehicles, the Chinese highway traffic system (HTS) has become one of the great resource consumers. This article attempts to evaluate the material metabolism of China's HTS during 2001–2005 using the approach of material flow analysis (MFA) and to explore possible measures to promote circular economy throughout HTS.We measured a set of indicators to illustrate the whole material metabolism of China's HTS. The results indicated that the direct material input (DMI) of China's HTS increased from 1181.26 million tonnes (Mt) in 2001 to 1,874.57 Mt in 2005, and about 80% of DMI was accumulated in the system as infrastructure and vehicles. The domestic processed output (DPO) increased by 59.0% from 2001 to 2005. Carbon dioxide and solid waste accounted for 80.5% and 10.4% of DPO, respectively. The increase of resource consumption and pollutant emissions kept pace with the growth of transportation turnover. All these suggest that China's HTS still followed an extensive linear developing pattern with large resource consumption and heavy pollution emissions during the study period, which brought great challenges to the resources and the environment. Therefore, it's high time for China to implement a circular economy throughout the HTS by instituting resource and energy savings, by reducing emissions in the field of infrastructure construction and maintenance, by reducing vehicles’ energy and materials consumption, and by recycling waste materials. | Materials Metabolism Analysis of China's Highway Traffic System (HTS) for ... | Zongguo Wen and Ruijuan Li | Journal Article | academic | 2010 |
Case Study
China
EUROSTAT (must be removed)
National
Time series
|
| A Material History of Australia This article presents an analysis of the material history of Australia in the period 1975–2005. The values of economy‐wide indicators of material flow roughly trebled since 1975, and we identify the drivers of this change through structural decomposition analysis. The purpose of this work is to delve beneath the top‐level trends in material flow growth to investigate the structural changes in the economy that have been driving this growth. The major positive drivers of this change were the level of exports, export mix, industrial structure, affluence, and population. Only improvements in material intensity offered retardation of growth in material flow. Other structural components had only small effects at the aggregate level. At a more detailed level, however, the importance of the mineral sectors became apparent. Improvements in mining techniques have reduced material requirements, but increased consumption within the economy and increased exports have offset these reductions. The full roll out of material flow accounting through Australian society and business and a systematic response to its implications will require change in the national growth focus of the last two generations, with serious consideration needed to reverse the current volume‐focused growth of the economy and also to recast neoliberal and globalized trade policies that have dominated the globe for the past decades. | A Material History of Australia | Richard Wood | Journal Article | academic | 2009 |
Australia
Case Study
EUROSTAT (must be removed)
National
Physical input-output tables (PIOT) / Input-Output Assessment (IOA)
Time series
|
| National material flow analysis: Cuba Material Flow Accounting (MFA) is a resource accounting tool based on the concept of social metabolism. This national MFA Cuba investigates the overall structure and dynamics of the Cuban physical economy and its material flows (domestic extraction, imports and exports) between 1970 and 2003 in four main material categories (biomass, non-metallic minerals, metal ores and fossil fuels). The derived material flow indicators domestic extraction (DE), domestic material consumption (DMC), material intensity (MI), physical trade balance (PTB) and their material composition are examined. Further, the interrelationship of material use with economic growth and human development in Cuba between 1970 and 2003 is evaluated. Special attention is given to the structure of its energy system and the disaggregated material flows nickel and sugar cane. Three phases are observed in the development of the physical economy in socio-economic and environmental terms, reflected in most economic and MFA-derived indicators: a period of growth (1970-1989), collapse (1989) and recovery (1990-2003). The structure of the Cuban physical economy is little diversified, specialized in the extraction and export of few raw materials, mainly sugar cane and nickel. Domestic extraction comprises mainly biomass (70%) and minerals (20%). Biomass accounts for 25% of the physical imports and 60%-90% of the physical exports between 1970 and 2003. The domestic primary energy supply is based on fossil fuel imports, mainly crude oil and oil products, comprising 70% of all physical imports. From a global perspective the ecological footprint and per capita energy consumption is relatively low. | National material flow analysis: Cuba | Susanna Eisenhut | Thesis | theses | 2009 |
Direct Material Consumption (DMC)
Domestic extraction (DE)
Economy-Wide Material Flow Analysis (EW-MFA)
National
Time series
|
| The food-print of Paris: long-term reconstruction of the nitrogen flows imported into the city from its rural hinterland Between the tenth and twentieth century the population of Paris city increased from a few thousand to near 10 million inhabitants. In response to the growing urban demand during this period, the agrarian systems of the surrounding rural areas tremendously increased their potential for commercial export of agricultural products, made possible by a surplus of agricultural production over local consumption by humans and livestock in these areas. Expressed in terms of nitrogen, the potential for export increased from about 60 kg N/km²/year of rural territory in the Middle Ages, to more than 5,000 kg N/km²/year from modern agriculture. As a result of the balance between urban population growth and rural productivity, the rural area required to supply Paris (i.e. its food-print) did not change substantially for several centuries, remaining at the size of the Seine watershed surrounding the city (around 60,000 km²). The theoretical estimate of the size of the supplying hinterland at the end of the eighteenth century is confirmed by the figures deduced from the analysis of the historical city toll data (octroi). During the second half of the twentieth century, the ‘food-print' of Paris reduced in size, owing to an unprecedented increase in the potential for commercial export associated with modern agricultural systems based on chemical N fertilization. We argue that analysing the capacity of territories to satisfy the demand for nitrogen-containing food products of local or distant urban population and markets might provide new and useful insights when assessing world food resource allocation in the context of increasing population and urbanization. | The food-print of Paris: long-term reconstruction of the nitrogen flows ... | Billen, Giles, and Barles, Sabine, and Garnier, Josette, and Rouillard, Josephine, and Benoit, Paul | Journal Article | academic | 2009 |
Case Study
Food
Material Flow Analysis (MFA)
Nitrogen
Sub-national
Time series
UM review paper import
Urban
|
| Aluminum Stock and Flows in U.S. Passenger Vehicles and Implications for Energy Use In this article, a methodology to model the annual stock and flows of aluminum in a key end‐use sector in the United States—passenger vehicles—from 1975-2035 is described. This dynamic material flow model has enabled analysis of the corresponding energy embodied in automotive aluminum as well as the cumulative aluminum production energy demand. The former was found to be significant at 2.6 × 109 gigajoules (GJ) in year 2008 under baseline assumptions. From 2008-2035, the cumulative energy required to produce aluminum to be used in vehicles is estimated at 7.8 × 109 GJ. Although the automotive aluminum stock is expected to increase by 1.8 times by 2035, the corresponding energy embodied is not expected to grow as rapidly due to efficiency improvements in aluminum processing over time. The model's robustness was tested by checking the sensitivity of the results to variations in key input assumptions, including future vehicle sales, lifetimes, and scrap recovery. Sensitivity of energy embodied in automotive aluminum to changes in aluminum production efficiency and aluminum applications within the vehicle were also explored. Using more recycled aluminum or improving the energy efficiency of aluminum production at a faster rate can lower production energy demands. However, aggressive and sustained changes are needed beginning today to achieve meaningful reductions. This may potentially be countered by increased use of stamped aluminum in vehicles. | Aluminum Stock and Flows in U.S. Passenger Vehicles and Implications ... | Lynette Cheah | Journal Article | academic | 2009 |
Aluminum
Energy
Material Flow Analysis (MFA)
Material Stock Analysis (MSA)
National
Time series
|
| Urban stock over time: spatial material stock analysis using 4d-GIS A huge amount of construction material is required in urban areas for developing and maintaining buildings and infrastructure. Ageing stocks, which were built during a period of rapid growth in Japan (1955-1973), will cause a new waste flow in the near future. In order to assess urban metabolism with regard to building and infrastructure, it is necessary to understand change in its material accumulation both ‘spatially' and ‘temporally'. In this analysis, material accumulation over time is elucidated using four-dimensional Geographical Information Systems (4d-GIS) data at an urban scale. An approximately 8 km2 urban area of Salford in Manchester, UK, and 11 km2 of Wakayama City centre, Japan, were selected as case study sites. In this analysis, the material stock of buildings, roadways and railways was estimated locally over time, using a 4d-GIS database: (1) to find the spatial distribution of construction materials over time, (2) to estimate the demolition curve of buildings based on characteristics of an area, and (3) to clarify material accumulation with vertical location, such as above and below ground, from the viewpoint of recyclability. By estimation of the demolition curve, the life span of buildings in an urban area was found to be shorter than the national average respectively at both sites: 81 years in the urban area of Salford compared with 128 years for the UK; and 28 years in Wakayama City centre compared with the Japanese national average of 40 years. In 2004, 47% of total construction material was stocked in underground infrastructure in Wakayama City centre. | Urban stock over time: spatial material stock analysis using 4d-GIS | Tanikawa, Hiroki; Hashimoto, Seiji | Journal Article | academic | 2009 |
Case Study
Geographic Information System (GIS)
Material Stock Analysis (MSA)
Time series
Urban
Zotero import
Zotero2
|
| Catalonia's energy metabolism: Using the MuSIASEM approach at different scales This paper applies the so-called Multi-Scale Integrated Analysis of Societal and Ecosystem Metabolism (MuSIASEM), based on Georgescu-Roegen's fund-flow model, to the Spanish region of Catalonia. It arrives to the conclusion that within the context of the end of cheap oil, the current development model of the Catalan economy, based on the growth of low-productivity sectors such as services and construction, must be changed. The change is needed not only because of the increasing scarcity of affordable energy and the increasing environmental impact of present development, but also because of the aging population. Moreover, the situation experienced by Catalonia is similar to that of other European countries and many other developed countries. This implies that we can expect a wave of major structural changes in the economy of developed countries worldwide. To make things more challenging, according to current trends, the energy intensity and exosomatic energy metabolism of Catalonia will keep increasing in the near future. To avoid a reduction in the standard of living of Catalans due to a reduction in the available energy it is important that the Government of Catalonia implement major adjustments and conservation efforts in both the household and paid-work sectors. | Catalonia's energy metabolism: Using the MuSIASEM approach at different scales | Jesús Ramos-Martín and Sílvia Cañellas-Boltà and Mario Giampietro and Gonzalo Gamboa | Journal Article | academic | 2009 |
Case Study
Multi-Scale Integrated Analysis of Societal and Ecosystem Metabolism (MuSIASEM)
Sub-national
Time series
|
| Evaluation of urban metabolism based on emergy synthesis: A case study for Beijing (China) Cities (“urban superorganisms”) exhibit metabolic processes. Disturbance of these processes results from the high throughput of the socioeconomic system as a result of the flow of resources between it and its surroundings. Based on systematic ecology and emergy synthesis, we developed an emergy-based indicator system for evaluating urban metabolic factors (flux, structures, intensity, efficiency, and density), and evaluated the status of Beijing's environment and economic development by diagramming, accounting for, and analyzing the material, energy, and monetary flows within Beijing's metabolic system using biophysically based ecological accounting. We also compared the results with those of four other Chinese cities (Shanghai, Guangzhou, Ningbo, and Baotou) and China as a whole to assess Beijing's development status. From 1990 to 2004, Beijing's metabolic flux, metabolic intensity, and metabolic density increased significantly. The city's metabolic processes depend excessively on nonrenewable resources, but the pressure on resources from outside of the city decreased continuously. The metabolic efficiency increased by around 12% annually throughout the study period. Beijing had a highest metabolic fluxes and density compared with the four other cities; its metabolic efficiency was lower, and its metabolic intensity was higher. Evaluating these metabolic indicators revealed weaknesses in the urban metabolic system, thereby helping planners to identify measures capable of sustaining these urban metabolic processes. | Evaluation of urban metabolism based on emergy synthesis: A case ... | Zhang, Yan and Yang, Zhifeng and Yu, Xiangyi | Journal Article | academic | 2009 |
Case Study
Construction Materials
Emergy Analysis
Food
Time series
Urban
|
| Lead In-Use Stock The 20th century was a time of rapidly escalating use of lead (Pb). As a consequence, the standing stock of lead is now substantial. By linking lead extraction and use to estimates of product lifetimes and recycling, we have derived an estimate of the standing stock of lead throughout the century by top‐down techniques. We find that the stock of in‐use lead is almost entirely made up of batteries (68%), lead sheet (10%), and lead pipe (10%). Globally, about 200 teragrams (Tg) Pb was mined in the 20th century, and about 25 Tg Pb now makes up the in‐use stock, so some 87% has been lost over time. Nonetheless, about 11% of all lead entering use was added to in‐use stock in 2000, so the stock continues to increase each year. Currently, most of the stock is in Europe (32%), North America (32%), and Asia (24%). On a per capita basis, the global stock is about 5.6 kilograms (kg) Pb, and regional in‐use stock ranges from 2.0 kg Pb (Africa) to 19.7 kg Pb (Europe). From a sustainability perspective, we estimate that the global lead resource is around 415 Tg Pb. Were the entire world to receive the services of lead at the level of the developed countries, some 130 Tg Pb would be needed, so there do not appear to be significant long‐term limitations to the lead supply. | Lead In-Use Stock | Mao, Jiansu and Graedel, T. E. | Journal Article | academic | 2009 |
Case Study
Global
Material Stock Analysis (MSA)
Metals
Substance Flow Analysis (SFA)
Time series
|
| Combined MFA-LCA for Analysis of Wastewater Pipeline Networks Oslo's wastewater pipeline network has an aging stock of concrete, steel, and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipelines, which calls for a good portion of expenditures to be directed toward maintenance and investments in rehabilitation. The stock, as it is in 2008, is a direct consequence of the influx of pipelines of different sizes, lengths, and materials of construction into the system over the years. A material flow analysis (MFA) facilitates an analysis of the environmental impacts associated with the manufacture, installation, operation, maintenance, rehabilitation, and retirement of the pipelines. The forecast of the future flows of materials—which, again, is highly interlinked with the historic flows—provides insight into the likely future environmental impacts. This will enable decision makers keen on alleviating such impacts to think along the lines of eco‐friendlier processes and technologies or simply different ways of doing business. Needless to say, the operation and maintenance phase accounts for the major bulk of emissions and calls for energy‐efficient approaches to this phase of the life cycle, even as manufacturers strive to make their processes energy‐efficient and attempt to include captive renewable energy in their total energy consumption. This article focuses on the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions associated with the wastewater pipeline network in the city of Oslo. | Combined MFA-LCA for Analysis of Wastewater Pipeline Networks | G. Venkatesh, Johanne Hammervold, and Helge Brattebø | Journal Article | academic | 2009 |
Case Study
Concrete
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
Hybrid MFA-LCA
Material Stock Analysis (MSA)
PVC
Steel
Time series
Urban
Various Materials
Wastewater
|
| A Product-Level Approach to Historical Material Flow Analysis Studies of material cycles, which have a solid history in biogeochemistry, include characterization of technological materials cycles that quantify the way in which materials move through the economy and environment of a region. One of the most important aspects of historical technological materials cycles is determining how much material goes into various uses over time and modeling its lifetime in each use. A material flow analysis methodology is presented by which a historical (i.e., 1975 to 2000) study of tungsten use in the United States was constructed. The approach utilized in this study is twofold: the traditional approach by which material going into end‐use sectors is approximated (the “end‐use sector model”), and a second approach by which end‐use products are specifically addressed (the “finished product model”). By virtue of the latter method, a detailed historical account of a material's end uses was developed. This study shows that (1) both models present a detailed treatment of trade of finished products over time for a variety of highly disaggregated products, (2) the end‐use sector model provides a method to combine quantitative and qualitative data about products in various sectors to estimate domestic production for a metal about which little is known in terms of its end uses, and (3) the finished product model produces detailed estimates of domestic production for a large number of highly disaggregated products. | A Product-Level Approach to Historical Material Flow Analysis | Harper, Ermelinda M. | Journal Article | academic | 2008 |
Case Study
Metals
Method
National
Substance Flow Analysis (SFA)
Time series
United States
|
| The Direct Material Inputs into Singapore's Development Because human population and socioeconomic activity are both increasingly concentrated in cities, an improved understanding of the environmental consequences of urbanization is needed. A 41-year annual time series of direct material flows was compiled for Singapore, representing a case of fast, export-driven industrialization. Results show that the spectacular economic growth of Singapore by a factor of 20 was associated with a similar expansion of domestic material consumption (DMC). DMC remained closely coupled to economic activity, increasing from below 4 tonnes per capita annually in 1962 to more than 50 tonnes annually in 2000. Despite economic structural changes and a growing service sector, no significant improvements in overall material productivity have been observed. | The Direct Material Inputs into Singapore's Development | Schulz, Niels B. | Journal Article | academic | 2008 |
Direct Material Consumption (DMC)
National
Time series
Urban
|
| In-Use Stocks of Metals: Status and Implications The continued increase in the use of metals over the 20th century has led to the phenomenon of a substantial shift in metal stocks from the lithosphere to the anthroposphere. Such a shift raises social, economic, and environmental issues that cannot be addressed without quantifying the amount of stock of ″metal capital″ utilized by society. Estimation of the inuse stock of metals has occurred for at least 70 years, with over70%of the publications occurring after the year 2000. Despite the long history, this is the first critical review to consolidate current findings, critique methods, and discuss future avenues of research. Only aluminum, copper, iron, lead, and zinc have been studied to any extent. Nonetheless, it is clear that for the more-developed countries, the typical per capita in-use metal stock is between 10 and 15 t (mostly iron). Comparison of the per capita stocks in more-developed countries with those in less-developed countries suggests that if the total world population were to enjoy the same per capita metal stock levels as the more-developed countries, using a similar suite of technologies, the amount of global in-use metal stocks required would be 3-9 times those existing at present. | In-Use Stocks of Metals: Status and Implications | M. Gerst and T.E. Graedel | Journal Article | academic | 2008 |
Geographic Information System (GIS)
Global
Material Stock Analysis (MSA)
Multi-scale
National
Time series
|
| Urban Metabolism: The Case of Budapest At the period of economic globalisation and speedy urbanization, in the most developed countries the sustainable uses of natural resources have become more and more important and policy relevant. Exploring urban metabolism applying material flow analysis could help to better understand the complex features of input-output processes, and the material consumption of the society. Hungary's capital, Budapest together with its surroundings is one of the highly developed metropolitan regions in Central Europe where the concentration of economic and financial resources and technical and social infrastructure have made it possible to support about 2.5 million people (25 per cent of the country's total population) on about 2,500 km2 land area. This population of capital region depends on a continual supply of materials, energy and information to maintain function and everyday life. Economic activities are highly concentrated in Budapest agglomeration producing roughly 40 per cent of the national Gross Domestic Product. The economic and social changes in Budapest between 1950 and 1990, coupled with a large population increase, brought with them greater material and energy consumption needs and unprecedented waste generation habits. After the political and economic transformation in 1990, radical economic, demographic and social changes have occurred which had altogether a great impact on different resource uses (e.g. water, energy, land and food), and resource efficiency. The case study highlights the economic, social and environmental transformation of Budapest by emphasizing the following most important aspects: development and transformation of the economy and society; material resource consumption and waste generation and related environmental impacts. The main findings and recommendations of the case study can contribute to underpin both more resource efficient urban policy and design, as well as enhancing sustainable consumption and production in Budapest. | Urban Metabolism: The Case of Budapest | István Pomázi and Elemér Szabó | Report | reports | 2008 |
Budapest
Carbon dioxide (CO2)
City
Electricity
Hungary
Metals
NOx
Paper
Plastics
SO2
Time series
Waste
Water
|
| Economy-wide material flow indicators in the Czech Republic: trends, decoupling analysis and uncertainties Material and energy flows (together with human appropriation of land) are considered the key cause of environmental problems. This paper describes the application of economy-wide material flow accounting and analysis to the economy of the Czech Republic for 1990-2002. The results show a decrease of material intensity and decoupling of the economic growth from environmental pressure. The second part of the paper treats an important issue of uncertainties related to economy-wide material flow indicators in the Czech Republic. The results point out that the high uncertainties related to some material flow indicators may be an obstacle to their applicability. | Economy-wide material flow indicators in the Czech Republic: trends, decoupling ... | Kovanda, Jan and Hak, Tomas and Janacek, Jiri | Journal Article | academic | 2008 |
Case Study
Czech Republic
Economy-Wide Material Flow Analysis (EW-MFA)
National
Time series
|
| Dynamic Modeling of In-Use Cement Stocks in the United States A dynamic substance‐flow model is developed to characterize the stocks and flows of cement utilized during the 20th century in the United States, using the generic cement life cycle as a systems boundary. The motivation for estimating historical inventories of cement stocks and flows is to provide accurate estimates of contemporary cement in‐use stocks in U.S. infrastructure and future discards to relevant stakeholders in U.S. infrastructure, such as the federal and state highway administrators, departments of transportation, public and private utilities, and the construction and cement industries. Such information will assist in planning future rehabilitation projects and better life cycle management of infrastructure systems. In the present policy environment of climate negotiations, estimates of in‐use cement infrastructure can provide insights about to what extent built environment can act as a carbon sink over its lifetime. The rate of addition of new stock, its composition, and the repair of existing stock are key determinants of infrastructure sustainability. Based upon a probability of failure approach, a dynamic stock and flow model was developed utilizing three statistical lifetime distributions—Weibull, gamma, and lognormal—for each cement end‐use. The model‐derived estimate of the 'in‐use' cement stocks in the United States is in the range of 4.2 to 4.4 billion metric tons (gigatonnes, Gt). This indicates that 82% to 87% of cement utilized during the last century is still in use. On a per capita basis, this is equivalent to 14.3 to 15.0 tonnes of in‐use cement stock per person. The in‐use cement stock per capita has doubled over the last 50 years, although the rate of growth has slowed. | Dynamic Modeling of In-Use Cement Stocks in the United States | Amit Kapur | Journal Article | academic | 2008 |
Case Study
Material Stock Analysis (MSA)
National
Substance Flow Analysis (SFA)
Time series
United States
Various Materials
Zotero import
Zotero2
|
| The flow of phosphorus in food production and consumption — Linköping, Sweden, 1870–2000 Phosphorus is an important substance for agricultural production of food. Being a limited resource, it is of great interest for regional, as well as global food security. At the same time it presents a pollution problem for the aquatic environment in Sweden since it contributes to eutrophication of surface waters and the Baltic Sea. This study analyses the flow of phosphorus based on consumption and production of food for an average inhabitant of a Swedish city, Linköping, from 1870 until 2000. The study shows the changes in flows within the system of production and consumption of food, as well as between the different processes in this system, such as agriculture, food processing, consumption and waste handling, and output flows to the environment. The main changes in this system over time are a) the increasing flow of phosphorus reaching the consumer and hence the waste handling system, b) the increase in the flow of products from animal production, which mainly causes the increase in (a), and most notably c) the increased input of chemical fertilizer. | The flow of phosphorus in food production and consumption — ... | Tina-Simone Schmid Neset, Hans-Peter Bader, Ruth Scheidegger, Ulrik Lohm | Journal Article | academic | 2008 |
Case Study
Food
Infra-urban
Material Flow Analysis (MFA)
Phosphorus
Time series
Urban
|
| Emergy synthesis and simulation for Macao Macao is a tourist city with a dense population and has a shortage of natural resources. Almost all of the city's life-support systems thus depend on imports of external resources. During the past 20 years, Macao has experienced an economic boom accompanied by rapid social development, in which the gambling industry and related tourism services have become the main economic activity. This paper employs emergy flow analysis to investigate and characterize the evolution and development of Macao from 1983 to 2003. In addition, Macao has experienced six periods of land reclamation since 1866, supported by large-scale importation of sand and rocks from China. By simulating the emergy trends using the STELLA dynamic modeling software, we predicted the evolution of Macao's development and trends in the coming 20 years. In 2025, the city's economy is estimated to be 15 times its current size as a result of Macao's territorial expansion. The exported emergy will increase slowly and then stabilize, the population will reach 593185, and the area covered by Macao will expand to 38.91km2. | Emergy synthesis and simulation for Macao | Kampeng Lei and Zhishi Wang | Journal Article | academic | 2008 |
Case Study
Emergy Analysis
Future Scenario
Time series
UM review paper import
Urban
|
| The energy and mass balance of Los Angeles County We conducted an urban “metabolic” study of inputs and outputs of food, water, energy, and pollutants from Los Angeles County, USA. This region has been the subject of recent debate about the nature of population density and distribution as it relates to urban form and associated environmental impacts. We found that with the exception of food imports and wastewater outputs, inputs of resources and outputs of pollutants generally declined on a per capita basis from 1990 to 2000. Reductions likely reflected a combination of changes in public policy, improvements in technology and public infrastructure, and impacts of increases in population density. However, in comparison to other municipalities and urban regions, resource consumption per capita was still relatively high in some categories, particularly inputs of water and transportation energy. Per capita greenhouse gas emissions were lower in Los Angeles County than for the average of the USA as a whole but higher than previous analyses of urban areas internationally, largely due to comparatively high emissions from the transportation sector. Wastewater discharge accounted for less than 40% of water inputs excluding precipitation; however the partitioning of water outputs through other potential losses, specifically evapotranspiration, runoff, and groundwater recharge, remains highly uncertain. We suggest that more detailed information about water losses will greatly improve future mass and energy accounting for analyses of urban environmental sustainability in this semi-arid region. | The energy and mass balance of Los Angeles County | Ngo, N. S. and Pataki, D. E. | Journal Article | academic | 2008 |
Case Study
Energy
Energy Balance
Food
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
Material Flow Analysis (MFA)
Time series
UM review paper import
Urban
Water
|
| A method for regional-scale material flow and decoupling analysis: A demonstration case study of Aichi prefecture, Japan We have developed a method to analyse the annual material flow in a prefecture and have calculated environmental indicators for a prefecture. Material flow analysis (MFA) is important to clarify the structure of a regional society and obtain environmental indicators for a circular society. However, MFA has not advanced in local governments because of few local statistics. We have developed a method to analyse the annual material flow in Aichi prefecture from 1980 to 2000 using an input–output (I–O) table and statistics of Aichi. We have verified the accuracy of this method by comparing its results for 2000 which calculated on the basis of official I–O table for 1995 with the I–O table data for 2000; the correlation coefficient obtained in this case is greater than 0.95. Moreover, by performing MFA, we have estimated the resource consumption and decoupling indicator of each industry in Aichi prefecture from 1980 to 2000. We could obtain more detailed and accurate environmental indicators by using our method. From these results, we could estimate the progress of Aichi prefecture towards a circular society. | A method for regional-scale material flow and decoupling analysis: A ... | Tachibana, Junzo; Hirota, Keiko; Goto, Naohiro; Fujie, Koichi | Journal Article | academic | 2008 |
Case Study
Circular Economy
Input-Output Analysis (IOA)
Material Flow Analysis (MFA)
Method
Sub-national
Time series
UM review paper import
Various Materials
|
| Australia's Resource Use Trajectories Australia's export‐oriented large natural resources sectors of agriculture and mining, the ways large‐scale services, such as nutrition, water, housing, transport and mobility, and energy are organized, and the consumption patterns of Australia's wealthy urban households, create a unique pattern of overall resource use in Australia. In an attempt to contribute to a new environmental information system compatible with economic accounts, we represent Australia's resource use by employing standard biophysical indicators for resource use developed within the Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development (OECD) context. We look at the last 3 decades of resource use and the economic, social, and environmental implications. We also discuss scenarios of future resource use patterns based on a stocks and flows model of the Australian economy. We argue that current extractive economic patterns have contributed to the recent economic boom in Australia but will eventually lead to negative social and environmental outcomes. Although there is currently little evidence of political support for changing the economic focus on export‐oriented agriculture and mining industries, there is significant potential for improvements in socio‐technological systems and room for more sustainable household consumption. | Australia's Resource Use Trajectories | Heinz Schandl, Franzi Poldy, Graham M. Turner, Thomas G.Measham, Daniel H. Walker,and Nina Eisenmenger | Journal Article | academic | 2008 |
Australian Stocks and Flows Framework (ASFF)
Case Study
Future Scenario
Indicators - general
National
Scenario analysis
Time series
|
| Material Flows and Economic Growth in Developing China The concept of sustainable development concerns not only the natural environment but also human societies and economies. The method of economy‐wide materials flow accounting and analysis (EW‐MFA) is internationally recognized as a valuable tool for studying the physical dimensions of economies. EW‐MFA has been carried out in many industrialized countries, but very little work has been done for developing China; this article can be regarded as one of the first attempts to study China's economy in terms of materials flows. In this article we have compiled materials flow accounts for China during the time series 1990 to 2002 and derived indicators associated with international comparison. Results show that the annual material consumption of China's economy continuously increased except for a slump around 1998, whereas the material efficiency exhibited a three‐phase trend reflecting different macropolicies of the Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Five‐Year Plans implemented by the central government. Based on this experience with EW‐MFA for China, suggestions for methodology development and further research are given for improving EW‐MFA as a more effective tool for environmental management. | Material Flows and Economic Growth in Developing China | Ming XU and Tianzhu ZHANG | Journal Article | academic | 2007 |
Case Study
China
Economy-Wide Material Flow Analysis (EW-MFA)
National
Time series
|
| Nitrogen balance for the urban food metabolism of Toronto, Canada A nitrogen balance for the urban flow of food and pre- and post-consumption food wastes was developed to determine the impact of municipal waste management policies and programs on the recovery and recycling of imported nitrogen. A simple input, storage and output balance was used, with particular focus on the fate of waste outputs. The balance was done for the City of Toronto, Canada for 3 years in the 15-year period from 1990 to 2004. The balance revealed that at most, only 4.7% (in 2001) of food waste nitrogen in the urban system was recovered and/or recycled, despite several municipal waste diversion programs. The major losses of nitrogen occurred in the management of sewage wastes and potentially through in the landfill disposal of commercial food. The current focus of municipal waste management programs on the diversion of organic wastes from landfill rather than overall nutrient recovery, and the increasingly stringent regulation of land application of treated sewage wastes, has resulted a small decrease (from 3.35% in 1990 to 2.3% in 2004) in the percentage recovery and recycling of nitrogen in the flow of food and food wastes. Given the potential for the prevention of environmental problems caused by excessive nitrogen accumulation or mismanagement, and the opportunity for recycling food waste nitrogen to close the ecological nutrient cycle and reverse nutrient mining, the simple balance method provided a rapid assessment tool based on easily obtainable data to highlight the sources of major loss at which to target future municipal waste management strategies. | Nitrogen balance for the urban food metabolism of Toronto, Canada | Forkes, Jennifer | Journal Article | academic | 2007 |
Case Study
Food
Food Waste
Material Flow Analysis (MFA)
Nitrogen
Time series
UM review paper import
Urban
|
| Dynamic material flow analysis for Norway's dwelling stock The architecture, engineering and construction industry is a major producer of waste, and a major consumer of primary materials. This study presents a method for analysing the dynamics of both floor area and material use in residential housing. The population's demand for housing represents the driver in the system, and the subsequent effects on stocks and flows of residential floor area and building materials in Norway are investigated from 1900 to the projected demands for 2100. Results show that knowledge about past activity levels is important in projecting future levels. Scenarios are applied to the input parameters in the dynamic model to investigate the impacts of changes in these, including variations in material usage (concrete and wood) and material density. All but one scenario suggest a continued increase in the residential housing stock, although at diminishing growth rates, and a substantial increase in demolition, renovation and construction activity in the last half of the present century. | Dynamic material flow analysis for Norway's dwelling stock | Bergsdal, Håvard and Brattebø, Helge and Bohne, Rolf A. and Müller, Daniel B. | Journal Article | academic | 2007 |
Case Study
Construction Materials
Future Scenario
Material Stock Analysis (MSA)
National
Norway
Time series
Zotero import
Zotero2
|
| The ecological sustainability of regional metabolisms: Material flow analyses of the regions of Hamburg, Vienna and Leipzig The paper describes the material consumption in the regions of Hamburg and Leipzig for the years 1992-2001 and for the region of Vienna for the years 1995-2003. With a so called material flow analysis (MFA) the total consumption of materials has been accounted for and put into relation to economic development. Indicators of material consumption serve as measure for ecological sustainability and the relation to economic development allows an analysis of the material intensity of the economy and its eco-efficiency. The region of Hamburg shows a slightly fluctuating material consumption per capita on a constant level with a slightly decreasing material intensity. The region of Vienna shows a light decrease in per capita consumption and material intensity. Both material consumption and intensity are higher in the surrounding areas of the cities than in the cities themselves. The region of Leipzig is an exception concerning the level of material flows as well as the strongly decreasing trends in material consumption and intensity. The paper discusses the methodological problems in accounting regional MFAs and formulates improvements for regional statistics that help to develop sustainability indicators on a regional level. Der Text beschreibt den Materialverbrauch der Regionen Hamburg und Leipzig für die Jahre 1992-2001 sowie für Wien für die Jahre 1995-2003. Mit Hilfe einer Materialflussanalyse wurde der gesamtgesellschaftliche Materialverbrauch in den drei Regionen erhoben und in Beziehung zur wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung gesetzt. Indikatoren für den Materialverbrauch dienen als Maß für ökologische Nachhaltigkeit. Die Darstellung der Beziehung zur wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung erlaubt Rückschlüsse auf die Materialintensität der Ökonomie und ihre Ökoeffizienz. Neben der Darstellung der Ergebnisse beschreibt der Text die methodischen Probleme bei der Erstellung regionaler Materialflussanalysen, diskutiert die Auswirkungen von Materialflüssen hinsichtlich der Flächennutzung und formuliert Herausforderungen für die Regionalstatistik als Grundlage für die Entwicklung regionaler Nachhaltigkeitsindikatoren. | The ecological sustainability of regional metabolisms: Material flow analyses of ... | Mark Hammer, Stefan Giljum, Fred Luks, Matthias Winkler | Journal Article | academic | 2006 |
Case Study
Material Flow Analysis (MFA)
Sub-national
Time series
UM review paper import
Urban
|
| Food Consumption and Nutrient Flows: Nitrogen in Sweden Since the 1870s Changes in food consumption and related processes have a significant impact on the flow of nitrogen in the environment. This study identifies both flows within the system and emissions to the hydrosphere and atmosphere. A case study of an average inhabitant of the city of Linköping, Sweden, covers the years 1870, 1900, 1950, and 2000 and includes changes in food consumption and processing, agricultural production, and organic waste handling practices. Emissions to the hydrosphere from organic waste handling increased from 0.57 kilograms of nitrogen per capita per year (kg N/cap per year) to 3.1 kg N/cap per year, whereas the total flow of nitrogen to waste deposits grew from a negligible amount to 1.7 kg N/cap per year. The largest flow of nitrogen during the entire period came from fodder. The input of chemical fertilizer rose gradually to a high level of 15 kg N/cap per year in the year 2000. The total load per capita disposed of to the environment decreased during these 130 years by about 30%. | Food Consumption and Nutrient Flows: Nitrogen in Sweden Since the ... | Schmid Neset, Tina-Simone | Journal Article | academic | 2006 |
Case Study
Food
Nitrogen
Organic Waste (OW)
Substance Flow Analysis (SFA)
Time series
Urban
|
| Stock dynamics for forecasting material flows—Case study for housing in The Netherlands This article discusses the role of lifestyle in physical material accounting and introduces a new method for simultaneously determining national or regional resource demand and waste generation through estimations of the population and its lifestyle, which is manifested in the stocks of service providing goods, their composition and lifetimes. Improving our comprehension of the stocks in use is essential for environmental policy making because (1) they are becoming the most important resource providers, (2) they are important drivers for resource and energy consumption as well as waste and emission generation, and (3) their magnitudes and dynamics are the parts of the material cycles that is usually least understood. A generic dynamic material flow analysis model is presented and applied for the diffusion of concrete in the Dutch dwelling stock for the period of 1900–2100. Simulation results are illustrated for a standard scenario and a parameter variation. The results show that (1) construction and demolition flows follow a cyclical behaviour, (2) the cycles of construction and demolition flows are phase displaced in the first half of the 21st century, with decreasing construction and increasing demolition, and (3) growth of the dwelling stock is becoming increasingly more material intensive as a growing amount of material is used for replacements. The presented stock dynamics approach can principally be applied for any anthropogenic material stock; however, it is most useful for the examination of metabolic consequences of diffusion processes of durable and fixed capital stocks. | Stock dynamics for forecasting material flows—Case study for housing in ... | Müller, Daniel B. | Journal Article | academic | 2006 |
Case Study
Material Stock Analysis (MSA)
Time series
Urban
Zotero import
Zotero2
|
| The city in the middle of the marshes: dynamics between urban economy and wetlands in the Brussels region, 12th -16th century" The case that will retain us in this presentation is probably still atypical in the wetland research landscape. Indeed, on the contrary of most of the work that considers the development of these areas in the In this section, we will consider the exploitation of wetlands in the context of a rural economy, or the exceptional aspect of certain sites that have sometimes become relics (such as the Marais Poitevin), we will consider the exploitation of wetlands in the context of a rural economy, or the exceptional aspect of certain sites that have sometimes become relics (such as the Marais Poitevin). urban. Through the study of the evolution of the wetlands of the urban periphery of Brussels between about 1100 and 1550, we hope to highlight several issues that intimately link urban history to the history of the marshes for many medieval and modern cities. This study is a first sketch, the ambition of which is to explore the new This is the path that makes some cities the "children of the swamp". Le cas qui nous retiendra dans cet exposé est probablement encore atypique dans le paysage de la recherche sur les zones humides. En effet, au contraire de la plupart des travaux qui considèrent l’exploitation de ces zones dans le cadre d’une économie rurale, ou s’intéressent à l’aspect exceptionnel de certains sites parfois devenus reliques (comme le Marais Poitevin), nous allons ici envisager l’exploitation des zones humides dans le cadre d’une économie urbaine. À travers l’étude de l’évolution des zones humides de la périphérie urbaine de Bruxelles entre 1100 et 1550 environ, nous espérons mettre en évidence plusieurs problématiques qui lient intimement l’histoire urbaine à l’histoire des marais pour de nombreuses villes médiévales et modernes. Cette étude constitue une première esquisse, dont l’ambition est d’explorer cette nouvelle voie qui fait de certaines villes les « enfants du marais ». | The city in the middle of the marshes: dynamics between ... | Charruadas, Paulo; Deligne, Chloé | Working paper | academic | 2006 |
Time series
Water
|
| Plastics materials flow analysis for India Forecasting material flows is essential for sound policy making on issues relating to waste management. This paper presents the results of the plastics materials flow analysis (MFA) for India. In the recent past, India has witnessed a substantial growth in the consumption of plastics and an increased production of plastic waste. Polyolefins account for the major share of 60% in the total plastics consumption in India. Packaging is the major plastics consuming sector, with 42% of the total consumption, followed by consumer products and the construction industry. The relationship observed between plastic consumption and the gross domestic product for several countries was used to estimate future plastics consumption (master curve). Elasticities of the individual material growth with respect to GDP were established for the past and for the next three decades estimated for India thereby assuming a development comparable with that of Western Europe. On this basis, the total plastics consumption is projected to grow by a factor of 6 between 2000 and 2030. The consumption of various end products is combined with their corresponding lifetimes to calculate the total waste quantities. The weighted average lifetime of plastics products was calculated as 8 years. Forty-seven percent of the total plastics waste generated is currently recycled in India; this is much higher than the share of recycling in most of the other countries. The recycling sector alone employs as many people as the plastics processing sector, which employs about eight times more people than the plastics manufacturing sector. Due to the increasing share of long-life products in the economy, and consequently in the volume of waste generated, the share of recycling will decrease to 35% over the next three decades. The total waste available for disposal (excluding recycling) will increase at least 10-fold up to the year 2030 from its current level of 1.3 million tonnes. | Plastics materials flow analysis for India | Nitin H. Muthaa, Martin and Patela, V. Premnathb | Journal Article | academic | 2006 |
Case Study
India
National
Plastics
Substance Flow Analysis (SFA)
Time series
|
| Key drivers of the e-waste recycling system: Assessing and modelling e-waste processing in the informal sector in Delhi The management and recycling of waste electrical and electronic equipment WEEE was assessed in the city of Delhi, India. In order to do this, the personal computer was defined as the tracer for which a model was designed. The model depicts the entire life cycle of the tracer, from production through sale and consumption—including reuse and refurbishment—to the material recovery in the mainly informal recycling industry. The field work included interviews with the relevant stakeholders, transect walks and literature study, which was followed by a software-supported material flow analysis (MFA) of the whole life cycle chain of the tracer item. In addition to the MFA, several economic aspects of the recycling system were investigated. The study revealed that the life span of a personal computer has considerable influence upon the system, most notably in the following two aspects: (i) a prolonged life span creates value by means of refurbishing and upgrading activities, and (ii) it slows down the flow rate of the whole system. This is one of the simplest ways of preventing an uncontrolled increase in environmentally hazardous emissions by the recycling sector. The material recovery of the system is mainly driven by the precious metal content of personal computers. A first estimate showed that precious metal recovery contributes to over 80% of the personal computer materials' market value, despite the small quantity of them found in computers. | Key drivers of the e-waste recycling system: Assessing and modelling ... | Streicher-Porte, Martin and Widmer, Rolf and Jain, Amit and Bader, Hans-Peter and Scheidegger, Ruth and Kytzia, Susanne | Journal Article | academic | 2005 |
Case Study
Delhi
India
Informal
Substance Flow Analysis (SFA)
Time series
Urban
e-Waste
|
| Long-term Coordination of Timber Production and Consumption Using a Dynamic Material and Energy Flow Analysis A dynamic model for wood and energy flows is used to analyze regional timber management. The model combines a site quality‐dependent forest‐growth module with modules for the timber industry, timber products use, waste management, and energy supply. The model is calibrated with data of a Swiss lowland region for the period of 1900–1997. Scenarios are developed for the period until 2100 in order to discuss possible future roles of domestic timber.Model simulations show that, with present strategies, timber overproduction will further increase in the twenty‐first century because of an increase in forest site quality in the second half of the twentieth century, among other reasons. The increase in building gross floor area of the region by a factor of 5 during the twentieth century coincides with a reduction of timber use in building construction by a factor of 4.5, from 90 kg/m2 to 20 kg/m2. Increasing timber density in buildings could address overproduction; however, a strategy of timber construction could not be accomplished with domestic timber alone. A balance of production and consumption on the present level could also be achieved in a scenario in which the present building stock is gradually exchanged during the twenty‐first century with buildings that exclusively use a combination of solar panels on roofs and domestic firewood and used wood as heat‐energy sources. These replacement buildings would have density typical of late twentieth‐century buildings, and they would need to perform on a low‐energy standard of not more than 130 MJ/m2/yr. | Long-term Coordination of Timber Production and Consumption Using a Dynamic ... | Daniel B. Müller, Hans-Peter Bader, and Peter Baccini | Journal Article | academic | 2004 |
Case Study
Energy Accounting
Future Scenario
Material Flow Analysis (MFA)
Sub-national
Time series
Wood
|
| Trade, Materials Flows, and Economic Development in the South: The Example of Chile Materials flow analysis (MFA) is internationally recognized as a key tool to assess the biophysical metabolism of societies and to provide aggregated indicators for environmental pressures of human activities. Economy-wide MFAs have been compiled for a number of Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, but so far very few studies exist for countries in the South. In this article, the first materials-flow-based indicators for Chile are presented. The article analyzes the restructuring of the Chilean economy toward an active integration in the world markets from the perspective of natural resource use in a time series from 1973 to 2000. Special emphasis is placed on the assessment of materials flows related to Chile’s international trade relations. Results show that material inputs to the Chilean economy increased by a factor of 6, mainly as a result of the promotion of resource-intensive exports from the mining, fruit growing, forestry, and fishery sectors. At more than 40 tons, Chile’s resource use per capita at present is one of the highest in the world. The article addresses the main shortcomings of the MFA approach, such as weight-based aggregation and the missing links between environmental pressures and impacts, and gives suggestions for methodological improvements and possible extensions of the MFA framework, with the intent of developing MFA into a more powerful tool for policy use. | Trade, Materials Flows, and Economic Development in the South: The ... | Stefan Giljum | Journal Article | academic | 2004 |
Case Study
Chile
EUROSTAT (must be removed)
Economy-Wide Material Flow Analysis (EW-MFA)
National
Time series
|
| Material flow accounting of Spain Material throughput is a means of measuring the so-called social metabolism, or physical dimensions of a society's consumption, and can be taken as an indirect and approximate indicator of sustainability. Material flow accounting can be used to test the dematerialisation hypothesis, the idea that technological progress causes a decrease in total material used (strong dematerialisation) or material used per monetary unit of output (weak dematerialisation). This paper sets out the results of a material flow analysis for Spain for the period from 1980 to 2000. The analysis reveals that neither strong nor weak dematerialisation took place during the period analysed. Although the population did not increase considerably, materials mobilised by the Spanish economy (DMI) increased by 85% in absolute terms, surpassing GDP growth. In addition, Spain became more dependent on external trade in physical terms. In fact, its imports are more than twice the amount of its exports in terms of weight. | Material flow accounting of Spain | Cañellas, Sílvia and González, Ana Citlalic and Puig, Ignasi and Russi, Daniela and Sendra, Cristina and Sojo, Amalia | Journal Article | academic | 2004 |
Economy-Wide Material Flow Analysis (EW-MFA)
National
Time series
|
| Estimating the urban metabolism of Canadian cities: Greater Toronto Area case study An urban metabolism analysis is a means of quantifying the overall fluxes of energy, water, material, and wastes into and out of an urban region. Analysis of urban metabolism can provide important information about energy efficiency, material cycling, waste management, and infrastructure in urban systems. This paper presents the first urban metabolism of a Canadian urban region, and possibly the first for a North American city. It also makes a first attempt at comparing the urban metabolisms of a few cities worldwide. The most noticeable feature of the Greater Toronto Area metabolism is that inputs have generally increased at higher rates than outputs over the study years (1987 and 1999). The inputs of water and electricity have increased marginally less than the rate of population growth (25.6%), and estimated inputs for food and gasoline have increased by marginally greater percentages than the population. With the exception of CO2 emissions, the measured output parameters are growing slower than the population; residential solid wastes and wastewater loadings have actually decreased in absolute terms over the 12 year period from 1987 to 1999.Key words: urban metabolism, urban sustainability, Canadian cities, materials, food, water and energy consumption, waste outputs. | Estimating the urban metabolism of Canadian cities: Greater Toronto Area ... | Sahely, Halla R and Dudding, Shauna and Kennedy, Christopher A | Journal Article | academic | 2003 |
Case Study
Emissions
Energy
Energy Accounting
Food
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
Material Flow Analysis (MFA)
Time series
UM review paper import
Urban
Waste
Water
Zotero import
|
| Total material requirements in the Basque Country no abstract available https://www.mincotur.gob.es/Publicaciones/Publicacionesperiodicas/EconomiaIndustrial/RevistaEconomiaIndustrial/351/Economia07.pdf | Total material requirements in the Basque Country | Arto Olaizola, I | Journal Article | academic | 2003 |
Case Study
Sub-national
Time series
|
| Materials Flow Accounting in Sweden Material Use for National Consumption and for Export This article presents Swedish economy‐wide material flow accounts for the period 1987‐1998. It also shows possibilities for enhancing the international comparability of aggregated data on material use, by distinguishing between materials used for consumption and export purposes. The direct material input (DMI) is used as an aggregate measure to estimate the amounts of natural resources (except water and air) that are taken from nature into the economy within a year, including imports to and production within the region in question. The division of materials used for consumption and export purposes avoids double counting trade flows when DMI is applied to a group of countries.The annual DMI in Sweden for 1997‐1998, including production and imports, amounts to 24 to 27 metric tons per capita (t/c). The fossil fuel input varies only slightly over the period, from 3.2 t/c in 1991 to 3.6 t/c in 1996, a level deemed unsustainable by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency. The input of renewable raw materials varies between 8 and 9 t/c. Ores and minerals vary between 11 and 15 t/c. The DMI puts Sweden above estimates made for Germany, the United States, and Japan and in the same range as the Netherlands. The differences in these values can mainly be explained by the relative importance of exports as compared to the size of the economy and by the variation in system boundaries for the data on natural resources. The system boundaries and data sources for natural resources need to be further defined to make the measures fully comparable. Around 5 t/c is exported, whereas the rest, around 20 t/c, is national consumption.The aggregate direct material consumption (DMC), which is the DMI minus exports, communicates the magnitude of resource use. Comparisons of the input with solid waste statistics indicate that quantity of waste (excluding mining waste) in Sweden is equal to about 10% relative of the total resource use. Material collected for recycling by the waste management system is equal to about 5% of the amount of virgin resources brought into society each year. | Materials Flow Accounting in Sweden Material Use for National Consumption ... | Viveka Palm and Kristina Jonsson | Journal Article | academic | 2003 |
Case Study
Economy-Wide Material Flow Analysis (EW-MFA)
National
Sweden
Time series
|
| Total material requirement of the Basque Country Foreword from report: In the coming decade the Basque Country will have a great opportunity to produce more well-being using more human resources and less natural resources. It is essential that economic growth be decoupled from the use of resources and from contamination if sustainable development is to be achieved. A transformation can and must take place which will reduce the use of natural resources and increase productivity, thus generating lower environmental impacts in all sectors of the economy throughout the life cycle of products and services.This new document has been drawn up under the Environmental Framework Programme to analyse the progress made in this decoupling process. It looks at developments in the use of natural resources in the Basque Country between 1989 and 1998. It also presents a series of indicators which can be used to monitor the pressure exerted by the Basque production system on the environment year by year, to determine the sources of that pressure and to promote action to palliate them. Chief among these indicators is the Total Material Requirement, which indicates the accumulated volume (measured in tonnes per inhabitant per annum) of materials extracted from nature by economic activities.This study has been drawn up by the Environmental Economy Unit of the University of the Basque Country. This unit was set up jointly by the Basque Government Department of Land Use and the Environment and the Institute for Public Economics of the University of the Basque Country. Its main purpose is to analyse the relationship between economic activity in the Basque Country and the environment. | Total material requirement of the Basque Country | IHOBE | Report | reports | 2002 |
Case Study
Sub-national
Time series
UM review paper import
|
| Material use in the European Union 1980-2000: indicators and analysis Since the notion of sustainability began to gain influence in the environmental discourse a decade ago, the features of this discourse have changed remarkably. The focus moved from the output side of the production system to a complete understanding of the physical dimension of the economy. In this view, the economy was conceptualised as an activity, as a process of extracting materials from nature, transforming them, keeping them as society's stock for a certain amount of time and, at the end of the production-consumption chain, disposing of them again in nature. It has been recognised that environmental problems can arise at every step in this process. Furthermore, it has been understood that not only problematic substances but also problematic amounts of matter set in motion by society's activities result in environmental problems. These insights have induced new approaches to environmental accounting, in particular material flow accounting, which focuses on the „physical economy' in a comprehensive and integrative manner. Economy- wide material flow accounts (MFAs) are consistent compilations of the overall material throughput of economies. MFAs cover their focal subject completely and allow for extensive and flexible secondary analysis as well as for the compilation of aggregate summary indicators. For some years now, Eurostat and the Member States have been developing economy-wide material flow accounts (German Federal Statistical Office 1995, 2000, Schandl at al. 2000, Gerhold et al. 2000, Muukkonen 2000, Isacsson et al. 2000, DETR/ONS/WI 2001). Two international co-operations on material flow accounting under the leadership of the World Resources Institute (Adriaanse et al. 1997, Matthews et al. 2000) and the publication in 2001 of „Economy-wide material flow accounts and derived indicators - a methodological guide' (Eurostat 2001b) were major steps towards methodological harmonisation. The European Environmental Agency (EEA) published first estimates of aggregate material indicators (TMR and DMI) for the EU in its indicator report „Environmental signals 2000' (EEA 1999). The Wuppertal Institute produced a first estimate of aggregate material use in the EU covering the period 1980-1997 for Eurostat and DG Environment (Eurostat 2001a). The report „Environmental signals 2002 - Benchmarking the millennium' (EEA 2002) includes data on TMR for 1980-1997. An indicator for material consumption is included in the 2001 UN CSD List of Sustainable Development Indicators. The objectives of this report are: (1) to present the results of the revised and updated 1980-2000 version of the initial 1980-1997 economy- wide material flow account for the European Union compiled by the Wuppertal Institute (Eurostat 2001a). (2) (3) to take a first step towards identifying factors that explain the differences and changes in material use at an aggregate as well as detailed level, cross-country and cross-time. to describe the data sources and procedures applied, and to explain and justify the revisions made. The indicators for material use that were compiled include: § Domestic extraction (DE): all materials (biomass, fossil fuels, minerals) extracted for use in a country, § § § Direct material input (DMI): DE plus imported materials, Domestic material consumption (DMC): DMI less exported materials Physical trade balance (PTB): materials imported less materials exported (synonymous with net imports or net trade). The key goal of this revision and update was to improve data quality and comparability for the indicators considered most important and most developed in terms of data quality and meaningfulness for policy at present. These are DMC, DMI, and PTB (see Eurostat 2001b). TMR (Total material requirement), DPO (domestic processed output), and NAS (net additions to stock) were not compiled for the new estimate. | Material use in the European Union 1980-2000: indicators and analysis | Eurostat | Report | reports | 2002 |
Economy-Wide Material Flow Analysis (EW-MFA)
Time series
|
| Materials Flows in Finland: Resource Use in a Small Open Economy In this article, the development of natural resource use in Finland during the period 1970‐1997 is analyzed. In measuring natural resource use, the concept of total material requirement (TMR) is applied. The focus is on the linkages of resource use with the changing structures of the economy. The linkages are studied using input‐output analysis.Using input‐output analysis, the TMR is further partitioned into resources used for domestic final use or for total material consumption (TMC) and total material requirement of exports (TME). The analysis shows that TMR has the problem of double accounting: if the TMRs of all countries of the world are summed, then international trade would be accounted for twice in the world TMR, once in imports and once in exports of each country.The TMC concept does not have this kind of defect. In a small, open economy like that of Finland, where the share of foreign trade is large, the difference between the TMR and the TMC is also large. We show that by 1997, the TME comprised about half of Finland's TMR and that the growth of the TMR over the study period has been due to the TME only as the TMC has stayed rather constant. | Materials Flows in Finland: Resource Use in a Small Open ... | Ilmo Mäenpaää and Artti Juutinen | Journal Article | academic | 2001 |
Case Study
Finland
National
Physical input-output tables (PIOT) / Input-Output Assessment (IOA)
Time series
|
| Escalating trends in the urban metabolism of Hong Kong: 1971-1997 Urban metabolism measures quantitatively a city's load on the natural environment. We update the Newcombe et al. (3) pioneering study of Hong Kong's urban metabolism in 1971, highlighting trends in resource consumption and waste generation. Per capita food, water and materials consumption have surged since the early 1970s by 20%, 40%, and 149%, respectively. Tremendous pollution has accompanied this growing affluence and materialism, and total air emissions, CO2 outputs, municipal solid wastes, and sewage discharges have risen by 30%, 250%, 245%, and 153%. As a result, systemic overload of land, atmospheric and water systems has occurred. While some strategies to tackle deteriorating environmental quality have succeeded, greater and more far-reaching changes in consumer behavior and government policy are needed if Hong Kong is to achieve its stated goal of becoming “a truly sustainable city” in the 21st century. | Escalating trends in the urban metabolism of Hong Kong: 1971-1997 | Warren-Rhodes, Kimberley and Koenig, Albert | Journal Article | academic | 2001 |
Biomass
Case Study
Energy
Energy Balance
Food
Island
Material Flow Analysis (MFA)
Material Stock Analysis (MSA)
Nitrogen
Phosphorus
Time series
UM review paper import
Urban
Various Materials
Wastewater
Water
|
| Stockhome: A Spreadsheet Model of Urban Heavy Metal Metabolism Computer models for analysis, visualising and decision support in environmental research have become increasingly popular. The Stockhome project, where the urban metabolism of heavy metals in Stockholm was studied, resulted in a database with historical data of the use of goods containing cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr),copper (Cu), lead (Pb), mercury (Hg), nickel (Ni) and zinc (Zn). A spreadsheet model was developed to study flows and stocks of the metal consumption process and emissions. The model indicates uncertainties of the data, societal aspects such as field of use and rights of disposition of the goods. By considering goods as the drivers of the emissions, the model would be well suited for policy support. | Stockhome: A Spreadsheet Model of Urban Heavy Metal Metabolism | Hedbrant, J. | Journal Article | academic | 2001 |
Cadmium
Case Study
Chromium
Copper
Lead
Material Flow Analysis (MFA)
Mercury
Nickel
Time series
UM review paper import
Urban
Zinc
Zotero import
|
| Materials and Energy Flow Analysis of Paper Consumption in the United Kingdom, 1987-2010 This article presents the results of a life‐cycle materials and energy flow analysis for the pulp and paper cycle in the United Kingdom. Material flows are reconstructed for the period be‐tween 1987 and 1996 for all major processes associated with the paper cycle, and system energy requirements are calculated over this period using the best available data. Attention is drawn to the import dependence of U.K. paper demand, and the significant energy requirements associated with upstream forestry processes. The historical trend analysis is then used to model possible future developments in materials and energy consumption until 2010 under a variety of assumptions about process technology improvements, wastepaper utilization rates, and changing demand trends. The results indicate that policy options to increase recycling yield some energy benefits, but these are small by comparison with the benefits to be gained by reducing consumption of paper and improving process technology. The structure of the electricity supply industry in the United Kingdom means that global energy benefits could also be achieved by increasing the contribution from imported pulp. | Materials and Energy Flow Analysis of Paper Consumption in the ... | Erik Sundin | Journal Article | academic | 2001 |
Case Study
National
Paper
Substance Flow Analysis (SFA)
Time series
United Kingdom
|
| Decomposition Analysis of Finnish Material Flows: 1960–1996 To the extent that environmental impacts are the consequence of the magnitude of total material input into production in an economy, they can be lessened by reducing the use of materials—by concentrating on what has been called qualitative growth. This article presents a summary of Finnish resource use over the period 1960–1996 as a means of evaluating the trends in material use and providing a basis for assessments of sustainability. It adapts the technique of decomposition analysis developed in the field of energy studies to distinguish the effects of changes in aggregate economic activity (“activity effect”), composition of industrial activity (“structural effect”) and materials intensity of use (“intensity effect”) on a sectoral basis.pAccording to the analysis presented here, materials consumption in Finland has grown substantially between 1960 and 1996 in the electricity, gas and water supply, pulp and paper production, civil engineering, and mining and quarrying sectors. In the same period, the ratio of GDP/mass of material mobilized has improved by 175 percent. Economic growth has caused the largest increases in materials use in the building of infrastructures; for example roads, waterways, means of supplying electricity, gas, and water, and in the production of paper and paper products. The least growth took place in the transport, basic metals production, and mining and quarrying sectors. | Decomposition Analysis of Finnish Material Flows: 1960–1996 | Jukka Hoffrén | Journal Article | academic | 2000 |
Case Study
Finland
National
Time series
|
| Emission inventory for greenhouse gases in the City of Barcelona, 1987–1996 Emissions of greenhouse gases for the City of Barcelona are estimated for the period 1987–1994. The sources considered are: public and private transportation; industrial, commercial and domestic activities; and municipal solid waste disposal. The results show that the main source of CO2 emissions in Barcelona is private vehicle transportation, which accounts, as an average for the period studied, for 35% of total emissions. The second most important source is the municipal solid waste landfill facility of the city (24% of total emissions). The percentages for the remaining sources under consideration were: 14% electricity, 12% natural gas, 5% incineration, and 3% liquefied petroleum gases. However, the values for CO2 emissions per inhabitant over the period studied are lower than those for any other industrialized city available for comparison. This is closely related to the high percentage of electricity generation from nuclear power stations and hydro power facilities, and also to the extensive use of natural gas for domestic uses. | Emission inventory for greenhouse gases in the City of Barcelona, ... | Baldasano, José M.; Soriano, Cecilia; Boada, Lluı́s | Journal Article | academic | 1999 |
Carbon dioxide (CO2)
Case Study
Greenhouse Gas Accounting
Methane
Time series
UM review paper import
Urban
|
| Energy-economic theory and mathematical models for combining the systems of man and nature, case study: The urban region of Miami, Florida This paper presents a study of the urban region of Miami, Fla. with consideration of energy flow and the relationship between energy theory and economics. Much of this work is based on the theories and work of Dr Howard T. Odum at the University of Florida. A theory of energy quality is presented which is an attempt to relate energies of different concentrations in their ability to do work. This theory allows comparison of the systems of man and nature. Another theory is proposed which seeks to describe the ability of a region to compete based on its flows of natural and fossil fuel energies. Economic, natural system, and energy data were compiled for the Miami urban region from 1950-1972. Cross-correlation of this data showed significant levels of correlation between the rate of change of fossil fuel use and the rates of change of population, budget, sales tax, income, building structure, and number of telephones. Calculation of several urban indicators for 1972 showed a fossil fuel energy density of 300 kcal/m2/day in the urbanized area, a per capita energy consumption of 53.8 × 106 kcal/capita/year, a ratio of natural to fossil fuel energies of 0.25, a developed area of 260 miles2 (673.4 km2), and a rate of development of 6.5 miles2 (16.8 km2) per year. An overall model of Miami is presented with flows and storages quantified for 1972. Based on this model a simpler model was simulated on an analog computer. This model consisted of a system of first-order in time, non-linear differential equations which included fossil fuel energy flows, main economic flows, external price functions, building structure, natural energies, and population. This model was simulated for several linearly increasing future price functions and several sets of future energy functions. Natural energies within the region were calculated by determining the land areas associated with various ecosystem types. Estimating the productivities of these systems on a per area basis allowed calculation of total energy flows. The energies associated with winds, tides, waves, and fresh/salt water concentration gradients were also determined. It was found that the ratio of natural to fossil fuel energy changed from 1.77 in 1950 to 0.25 in 1972. | Energy-economic theory and mathematical models for combining the systems of ... | Zucchetto, James | Journal Article | academic | 1975 |
Case Study
Emergy Analysis
Energy
Miami
Time series
UM review paper import
United States
Urban
|