Energy as a Metric of Sustainability

François E. Cellier
Department of Computer Science
ETH Zürich
CH-8092 Zürich
Switzerland
Email: FCellier@Inf.ETHZ.CH
Rodrigo Castro
Departamento de Computación
Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales
Universidad de Buenos Aires
Ciudad Universitaria
Pabellón I
C1428EGA Buenos Aires
Argentina
Email: RCastro@DC.UBA.AR

Keywords

Emergy
ERoEI
Export land model
Gray energy

Abstract

Under what conditions will a technology be able to survive the energy contraction associated with the depletion of fossil fuels? Which types of technologies are sustainable in a world that can only make use of resources that it is producing on its own rather than relying on resources that it inherited from the past? This article, co-authored by Dr. Rodrigo Castro of the University of Buenos Aires, proposes emergy as a physically sound metric of sustainability. Without taking emergy into account, long-term energy analysis may lead to erroneous conclusions with potentially catastrophic consequences.

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