Abstract
Energy intensity, the ratio of total energy consumed during the manufacture of a product to the economic value of that product expressed in units of J/\$, is an inherently useful metric that describes the accumulation of energy consumption and economic value along the pathways traveled by products through an economy. It is a key piece of information that can help consumers and firms alike make wise consumption and investment decisions in the age of resource depletion. The Energy Input-Output (EI–O) method, developed by Bullard, Herendeen, and others as an extension to Leontief's groundbreaking work, has been used historically to develop static estimates of the energy intensity of products within economy. Unfortunately, energy intensity is not routinely estimated, and, if it is, it erroneously does not account for the energy embodied in our accumulating stock of manufactured capital. In this chapter, we extend the EI–O method to develop a mathematical technique to estimate energy intensity in a dynamic economy, one that can accumulate manufactured capital in its sectors. As in previous chapters, the equations are developed by example in increasingly-disaggregated model economies. We review several studies of energy intensity of the US auto industry in the literature and note a wide range of results from one study to the next. The estimates of energy intensity also vary with time. The range of energy intensities for the auto sector is \(0.83 \times 10^{4}\) kJ/$ to \(10.7 \times 10_{4}\) kJ/$.
Accounting systems change behavior.
—unknown NASA JPL accountant
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
The literature discusses the energy embodied in products. For example, “The data and methodologies described in this report permit calculation of five types of energy ‘embodied’ in a particular goods [sic] or service” [1, p. 268]. It can be meaningful to discuss the energy intensity of processes, too, and we switch between these two meanings of the word “embodied.”
- 2.
- 3.
The traditional primary factors of production (land, capital, and labor) are not flows into the production processes. Rather, they are stocks that, when present, allow factors of production (steel, rubber, and glass) to be transformed into final products (automobiles). The quantity and quality of these stocks determine the quantity and quality of their flow of productive services.
- 4.
Or, more precisely, the degradation of an exergetic gradient/destruction of exergy.
- 5.
- 6.
In our framework, solar energy flows could be accounted as short-term (\(\dot{S}\)) flows for agricultural and forestry sectors and for solar thermal, solar photovoltaic, wind, ocean thermal, hydro, and biomass renewable energy production sectors. Doing so would not account for longer-term storage of solar energy used to form fossil fuels, but fossil fuels are already accounted by the energy input vector (\(\mathbf{E}_{0}\)) in the framework presented in this book. See the introduction to Chap. 5 for a short discussion of another approach: emergy.
- 7.
The make-use method is sometimes also called the supply-use method.
- 8.
It is possible to pursue hybrid top-down and bottom-up analysis methods. The hybrid approach utilizes data from an EI–O analysis to supplement the missing data from truncation of a process analysis. The financial cost of goods and services identified by the process analysis are converted to energy (or material) flows via the EI–O method. The truncation error is replaced by a smaller aggregation error due to limitations of the EI–O method [1]. A variety of other hybrid methods exist which also aim to overcome the limitations of either process or I–O methods [1, 15–18].
- 9.
- 10.
The energy it took to create and emplace durable goods and infrastructure can be considered “embodied” within the built environment, a point to which we will return in detail later.
- 11.
See Sect. 6.1 for a discussion of theories of value.
- 12.
It may be instructive to consider energy intensity as the quotient of embodied energy (in units of J/kg) and price (in $/kg).
- 13.
If this approach is unsatisfactory, the sector may be divided into subsectors each with its own energy intensity.
- 14.
Oil spills and gas leaks notwithstanding. Remember also that waste heat outflows (\(\dot{Q}_{20}\)) are allocated to the product.
- 15.
The parenthetical terms on the right side of Eq. 7.36 are \((\mathbf{A}^{\mathrm{T}} - \mathbf{I})\) and \(\left[ \frac{\mathrm{d}\mathbf{B}_{K}}{\mathrm{d}t} + \mathbf{B}_{\dot{W}} + \hat{\boldsymbol{\gamma}}_{B} \mathbf{B}_{K} - \mathbf{E}_{0} - \mathbf{T}_{1} \right]\).
- 16.
Costanza’s analysis [3] was conducted using US data for 1963, 1967, and 1972.
- 17.
For a discussion of differences between Eq. 7.37 and similar equations in the literature, see Appendix E.
- 18.
See Sect. 5.5 for discussion of the Berry and Fels [30] paper.
- 19.
Values from Costanza and Herendeen’s DIRECT method are provided here. See Sect. 7.7 for discussion of the differences between DIRECT and DEC methods and justification for reporting DIRECT method values only.
- 20.
The US national accounts data has not been updated since 2002. The issue of national accounts data is discussed in more detail in Chap. 9.
References
Bullard CW, Penner PS, Pilati DA. Net energy analysis: handbook for combining process and input-output analysis. Resour Energy. 1978;1(3):267–313.
Leontief W. Quantitative input-output study of the louisiana economy. Rev Econ Stat. 1936;18:105–25.
Costanza R. Embodied energy and economic valuation. Science. 1980;210(4475):1219–24.
Carter AP. Applications of input-output analysis to energy problems. Science. 1974;184(4134):325–30.
Bullard CW, Herendeen RA. The energy cost of goods and services. Energy Policy. 1975;3(4):268–78.
Bullard CW, Penner PS, Pilati DA. Net energy analysis: handbook for combining process and input-output analysis. Energy Research Group, Center for Advanced Computation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Ill.; 1976.
Herendeen RA. Input-output techniques and energy cost of commodities. Energy Policy. 1978;6(2):162–5.
Casler S, Wilbur S. Energy input-output analysis: a simple guide. Resour Energy. 1984;6(2):187–201.
Joshi S. Product environmental lifecycle assessment using inputoutput techniques. J Ind Ecol. 1999;3(23):95–120.
Suh S, Huppes G. Methods in the life cycle inventory of a product. In: Suh S, editor. Handbook of input-output economics in industrial ecology, volume 23 of Eco-efficiency in industry and science. Netherlands: Springer Netherlands; 2009. pp 263–82.
Costanza R. Energy costs of goods and services in 1967 including solar energy inputs and labor and government service feedbacks. Energy Research Group Document No. 262, Energy Research Group, Center for Advanced Computation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; September 1978.
Costanza R, Herendeen RA. Embodied energy and economic value in the United States economy: 1963, 1967 and 1972. Resour Energy. 1984;6(2):129–63.
Bullard CW , Herendeen RA. Energy impact of consumption decisions. Proc IEEE. 1975;63(3):484–93.
Soklis G. The conversion of the supply and use tables to symmetric input-output tables: a critical review. Bull Polit Econ. 2009;3(1):51–70.
Suh S, Lenzen M, Treloar GJ, Hondo H, Horvath A, Huppes G, Jolliet O, Klann U, Krewitt W, Moriguchi Y, Munksgaard J, Norris G. System boundary selection in life-cycle inventories using hybrid approaches. Environ Sci Technol. 2004;38(3):657–64
Suh S, Huppes G. Missing inventory estimation tool using extended input-output analysis. Int J Life Cycle Assess. 2002;7(3):134–40.
Crawford RH. Validation of a hybrid life-cycle inventory analysis method. J Environ Manage. 2008;88(3):496–506.
Zhai P, Williams ED. Dynamic hybrid life cycle assessment of energy and carbon of multicrystalline silicon photovoltaic systems. Environ Sci Technol. 2010;44(20):7950–55.
Hendrickson CT, Lave LB, Matthews HS. Environmental life cycle assessment of goods and services: an input-output approach. Washington: RFF Press; 2006.
Georgescu-Roegen N. Dynamic models and economic growth. World Dev. 1975;3(11–12):765–83.
Costanza R. Value theory and energy. In: Cleveland CJ, editor. Encyclopedia of energy. Vol. 6. Elsevier; March 2004. pp. 337–46.
Beyer WH. Standard mathematical tables and formulae. 29 edn. Boca Raton: CRC Press; 1991.
Carnegie Mellon University Green Design Institute. Economic Input-Output Life Cycle Assessment (EIO-LCA), US 1997 Industry Benchmark model. http://www.eiolca.net. Accessed 1 Jan 2014.
Herendeen RA. Energy cost of goods and services. Technical report, Oak Ridge National Lab., Tenn.(USA); 1973.
Herendeen RA, Bullard CW. Energy cost of goods and services: 1963 and 1967. Center for Advanced Computation, University of Illinois; 1974.
Herendeen RA. Use of input-output analysis to determine the energy cost of goods and services. Energy: Demand, Conservation, and institutional problems. Cambridge: MIT Press; 1974. pp. 140–58 (proceedings).
Wright DJ. Good and services: an input-output analysis. Energy Policy. 1974;2(4):307–15.
Lenzen M. Primary energy and greenhouse gases embodied in Australian final consumption: an input–output analysis. Energy policy. 1998;26(6):495–506.
Machado G, Schaeffer R, Worrell E. Energy and carbon embodied in the international trade of Brazil: an input–output approach. Ecol Econ. 2001;39(3):409–24.
Berry RS, Fels MF. The energy cost of automobiles. Sci Public Aff. 1973;29(10):11–7.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Heun, M., Carbajales-Dale, M., Haney, B. (2015). Energy Intensity. In: Beyond GDP. Lecture Notes in Energy, vol 26. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-12820-7_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-12820-7_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-12819-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-12820-7
eBook Packages: EnergyEnergy (R0)