Evaluation of the benefits of leisure agriculture park based on emergy analysis

As an effective means to coordinate cost–benefit allocation of ecological protection between upstream and downstream cities, ecological compensation is often used to improve collaborative basin-wide freshwater resources management. Yet, due to the complex relationships between upstream and downstream ecosystem services, calculating eco-compensation is not an easy task. We used ecological spillover (the amount of local ecosystem services not used in the region and thus flows to downstream areas) and emergy analysis to determine the amount of eco-compensation that the city of Xuchang should pay to the upstream city of Xinzheng (Qingyi River Basin, China) from 2010 to 2014. Eco-compensation was determined by deducting the emergy of the local, self-supplied ecosystem services of Xuchang City, calculated using an ecological-water-footprint-based analysis, from the emergy of the total ecosystem services used in Xuchang, and monetized accordingly. The results showed that the self-supplied ecosystem services decreased from 2010 to 2014 and, thus, Xuchang relied more on the ecological spillover services flowing from Xinzheng. As a result, eco-compensation increased from 990 million Chinese Yuan (¥) in 2010 to ¥509 billion in 2014, mostly due to increased demands for water purification and reduced precipitation around Xuchang. This method can be further enhanced by introducing larger datasets and can be replicated elsewhere to accurately determine ecological compensation, ensuring basin-wide collaboration towards the sustainable management of freshwater resources.

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Performance comparison of cement production before and after implementing heat recovery power generation based on emergy analysis and economic evaluation: A case from China

Journal of Cleaner Production ◽

10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.125901 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 290 ◽

pp. 125901

Author(s):

Xiaohong Zhang ◽

Ni Xiang ◽

Hengyu Pan ◽

Xiangdong Yang ◽

Jun Wu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Power Generation ◽

Economic Evaluation ◽

Heat Recovery ◽

Performance Comparison ◽

Emergy Analysis ◽

Cement Production ◽

Before And After

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Integration of Emergy Analysis with Building Information Modeling

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13147990 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (14) ◽

pp. 7990

Author(s):

Suman Paneru ◽

Forough Foroutan Jahromi ◽

Mohsen Hatami ◽

Wilfred Roudebush ◽

Idris Jeelani

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle ◽

Building Materials ◽

Building Information Modeling ◽

Energy Analysis ◽

Information Modeling ◽

Environmental Cost ◽

Emergy Analysis ◽

Modeling Tools ◽

Building Information

Traditional energy analysis in Building Information Modeling (BIM) only accounts for the energy requirements of building operations during a portion of the occupancy phase of the building’s life cycle and as such is unable to quantify the true impact of buildings on the environment. Specifically, the typical energy analysis in BIM does not account for the energy associated with resource formation, recycling, and demolition. Therefore, a comprehensive method is required to analyze the true environmental impact of buildings. Emergy analysis can offer a holistic approach to account for the environmental cost of activities involved in building construction and operation in all its life cycle phases from resource formation to demolition. As such, the integration of emergy analysis with BIM can result in the development of a holistic sustainability performance tool. Therefore, this study aimed at developing a comprehensive framework for the integration of emergy analysis with existing Building Information Modeling tools. The proposed framework was validated using a case study involving a test building element of 8’ × 8’ composite wall. The case study demonstrated the successful integration of emergy analysis with Revit®2021 using the inbuilt features of Revit and external tools such as MS Excel. The framework developed in this study will help in accurately determining the environmental cost of the buildings, which will help in selecting environment-friendly building materials and systems. In addition, the integration of emergy into BIM will allow a comparison of various built environment alternatives enabling designers to make sustainable decisions during the design phase.

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