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The Energetic Metabolism of Societies: Part II: Empirical Examples

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  • Helmut Haberl

Abstract

Part I of this set of articles proposed methods to account for the energetic metabolism of societies. In this second part, the methods explicated in Part I are used to analyze the energy flows of societies with different “modes of subsistence”: hunter‐gatherers, a contemporary agricultural society in southeastern Asia, and a contemporary industrial society (Austria). The empirical examples are used to demonstrate differences in the “characteristic metabolism” of different modes of sub‐sistence. The energy system of hunter‐gatherers can be described as an “uncontrolled solar energy system,” based mainly upon harvesting biomass without attending to its reproduction. Hunter‐gatherers use only about 0.001% to 0.01% of the net primary production (NPP) of the territory they inhabit. Agricultural societies harness NPP to a much higher extent: Although agriculture often reduces NPP, the amount of biomass that agricultural societies use is much higher (about 20% of potential NPP). Because ecological energy flows are the main source of energy for agricultural societies, NPP strictly limits the energetic metabolism of agricultural societies. Industrial society uses area‐independent energy sources (fossil and nuclear energy), which, however, result in new sustainability problems, such as greenhouse gas emissions. By providing methods to account for changes in energy flows, the metabolism approach proves itself to be a useful concept for analyzing society‐environment interactions. The article demonstrates the difference between the metabolism approach and conventional energy statistics and discusses the significance of the proposed approach for sustainable development.

Suggested Citation

  • Helmut Haberl, 2001. "The Energetic Metabolism of Societies: Part II: Empirical Examples," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 5(2), pages 71-88, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:inecol:v:5:y:2001:i:2:p:71-88
    DOI: 10.1162/10881980152830141
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    1. Marull, Joan & Cattaneo, Claudio & Gingrich, Simone & de Molina, Manuel González & Guzmán, Gloria I. & Watson, Andrew & MacFadyen, Joshua & Pons, Manel & Tello, Enric, 2019. "Comparative Energy-Landscape Integrated Analysis (ELIA) of past and present agroecosystems in North America and Europe from the 1830s to the 2010s," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 46-57.
    2. Haberl, Helmut, 2006. "The global socioeconomic energetic metabolism as a sustainability problem," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 87-99.
    3. Andreas Mayer & Willi Haas & Dominik Wiedenhofer & Fridolin Krausmann & Philip Nuss & Gian Andrea Blengini, 2019. "Measuring Progress towards a Circular Economy: A Monitoring Framework for Economy‐wide Material Loop Closing in the EU28," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 23(1), pages 62-76, February.
    4. Schenk, Niels J. & Moll, Henri C., 2007. "The use of physical indicators for industrial energy demand scenarios," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(2-3), pages 521-535, August.
    5. Huang, Shu-Li & Lee, Chun-Lin & Chen, Chia-Wen, 2006. "Socioeconomic metabolism in Taiwan: Emergy synthesis versus material flow analysis," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 166-196.
    6. Kanianska, Radoslava & Gustafíková, Tatiana & Kizeková, Miriam & Kovanda, Jan, 2011. "Use of material flow accounting for assessment of energy savings: A case of biomass in Slovakia and the Czech Republic," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(5), pages 2824-2832, May.
    7. Haberl, Helmut & Gaube, Veronika & Díaz-Delgado, Ricardo & Krauze, Kinga & Neuner, Angelika & Peterseil, Johannes & Plutzar, Christoph & Singh, Simron J. & Vadineanu, Angheluta, 2009. "Towards an integrated model of socioeconomic biodiversity drivers, pressures and impacts. A feasibility study based on three European long-term socio-ecological research platforms," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(6), pages 1797-1812, April.
    8. Cusso, Xavier & Garrabou, Ramon & Tello, Enric, 2006. "Social metabolism in an agrarian region of Catalonia (Spain) in 1860-1870: Flows, energy balance and land use," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(1), pages 49-65, June.
    9. Willi Haas & Hailemariam Birke Andarge, 2017. "More Energy and Less Work, but New Crises: How the Societal Metabolism-Labour Nexus Changes from Agrarian to Industrial Societies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(7), pages 1-21, June.
    10. Habert, G. & Bouzidi, Y. & Chen, C. & Jullien, A., 2010. "Development of a depletion indicator for natural resources used in concrete," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 54(6), pages 364-376.
    11. Elke Pirgmaier & Julia K. Steinberger, 2019. "Roots, Riots, and Radical Change—A Road Less Travelled for Ecological Economics," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-18, April.
    12. Souhil Harchaoui & Petros Chatzimpiros, 2018. "Can Agriculture Balance Its Energy Consumption and Continue to Produce Food? A Framework for Assessing Energy Neutrality Applied to French Agriculture," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-14, December.
    13. Marull, Joan & Torabi, Parisa & Padró, Roc & Alabert, Aureli & La Rota, Maria José & Serrano, Tarik, 2020. "Energy-Landscape Optimization for Land Use Planning. Application in the Barcelona Metropolitan Area," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 431(C).
    14. Blair Fix, 2019. "Energy, hierarchy and the origin of inequality," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(4), pages 1-32, April.
    15. Antonio Barragán-Escandón & Julio Terrados-Cepeda & Esteban Zalamea-León, 2017. "The Role of Renewable Energy in the Promotion of Circular Urban Metabolism," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-29, December.
    16. Han, Wenyi & Geng, Yong & Lu, Yangsiyu & Wilson, Jeffrey & Sun, Lu & Satoshi, Onishi & Geldron, Alain & Qian, Yiying, 2018. "Urban metabolism of megacities: A comparative analysis of Shanghai, Tokyo, London and Paris to inform low carbon and sustainable development pathways," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 887-898.
    17. Marull, Joan & Pino, Joan & Melero, Yolanda & Tello, Enric, 2023. "Using thermodynamics to understand the links between energy, information, structure and biodiversity in a human-transformed landscape," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 476(C).
    18. Fix, Blair, 2019. "Energy, Hierarchy and the Origin of Inequality," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 14(4, April), pages 1-32.
    19. Liao, Wenjie & Heijungs, Reinout & Huppes, Gjalt, 2012. "Thermodynamic analysis of human–environment systems: A review focused on industrial ecology," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 228(C), pages 76-88.
    20. Bliss, Sam & Egler, Megan, 2020. "Ecological Economics Beyond Markets," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    21. Farreny, Ramon & Gabarrell, Xavier & Rieradevall, Joan, 2008. "Energy intensity and greenhouse gas emission of a purchase in the retail park service sector: An integrative approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 1957-1968, June.
    22. Paul Steenwyk & Matthew Kuperus Heun & Paul Brockway & Tânia Sousa & Sofia Henriques, 2022. "The Contributions of Muscle and Machine Work to Land and Labor Productivity in World Agriculture Since 1800," Biophysical Economics and Resource Quality, Springer, vol. 7(2), pages 1-17, June.
    23. Chen, Shaoqing & Chen, Bin, 2015. "Urban energy consumption: Different insights from energy flow analysis, input–output analysis and ecological network analysis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 99-107.
    24. Kostas Bithas & Panos Kalimeris & Eleni Koilakou, 2021. "Re‐estimating the energy intensity of growth with implications for sustainable development. The myth of the decoupling effect," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(2), pages 441-452, March.
    25. Zhang, Yan & Zheng, Hongmei & Fath, Brian D., 2014. "Analysis of the energy metabolism of urban socioeconomic sectors and the associated carbon footprints: Model development and a case study for Beijing," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 540-551.

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