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Updated: Aug 22, 2025
06:02
A Low-Cost Method of Measuring the In Situ Primary Productivity of Periphyton Communities of Lentic Waters
Published on: December 16, 2022
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Global Embodied Energy Flow and Stock Analysis with Endogeneous Fixed Capital
Zhan-Ming Chen1, Peilin Chen1, Manfred Lenzen2
1School of Applied Economics, Renmin University of China, Beijing100872, China.
Environmental Science & Technology
|November 7, 2022
Summary
Fixed capital stock stores vast embodied energy, significantly exceeding direct energy use globally. Developing nations show larger discrepancies between dynamic and traditional energy footprints, highlighting consumption-based efficiency improvements.
Area of Science:
- Energy economics
- Environmental science
- Input-output analysis
Background:
- Fixed capital stock acts as a crucial embodied energy storage system, linking asynchronous economic activities.
- Understanding embodied energy flows and stocks is vital for assessing true energy consumption and environmental impact.
Purpose of the Study:
- To construct and apply a dynamic energy input-output model to analyze embodied energy flows and stocks.
- To investigate the temporal (2000-2014) and spatial dimensions of embodied energy.
- To compare dynamic energy footprints with traditional ones, particularly in developed versus developing economies.
Main Methods:
- Development of a dynamic energy input-output model.
- Analysis of embodied energy flows and stocks from 2000 to 2014.
- Calculation and comparison of dynamic and traditional energy footprints.
Main Results:
- Global fixed capital stock stored 2043 exajoules of embodied energy in 2014, thrice the direct energy use.
- Developing countries exhibited larger gaps between dynamic and traditional energy footprints.
- Net embodied energy flowed from high-intensity to lower-intensity economies, with depreciation contributing ~10% to trade-embodied energy.
Conclusions:
- Dynamic embodied energy indicators offer a more comprehensive view than traditional metrics.
- Findings provide insights for enhancing energy efficiency and addressing consumption-based environmental issues.
- Policy implications for managing embodied energy in international trade and capital stock are suggested.
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