[Emergy analysis of ecosystems]

The concept of emergy and its use for comparing with energy were discussed in this paper. Emergy was defined as the amount of available energy required directly and indirectly to make a product or services, and emergy analysis was based on the solar emergy units (solar emjoules). Emergy provided the methodology with a common basis for measuring the value of different kinds of energy, and for evaluating the contributions from nature and humanity. A comparison of emergy analysis with previous energy analysis was also performed.