IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolec/v120y2015icp83-92.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Quantifying the relationship of resilience and eco-efficiency in complex adaptive energy systems

Author

Listed:
  • Korhonen, Jouni
  • Snäkin, Juha-Pekka

Abstract

The concepts of efficiency and resilience are important in complex adaptive systems. Efficiency and resilience have been compared in complex systems, but the data and materials have mainly been derived from natural ecosystems. The actual environmental impacts of this comparison with data and materials from human economic systems is an important research theme for ecological economics. Furthermore, efficiency defined as eco-efficiency is missing from resilience research. This paper studies resilience and eco-efficiency in societal energy systems. Eco-efficiency is defined as energy produced per CO2 emissions and incineration ash generated. For resilience, we use the diversity of fuel types in energy systems, in particular the evenness of fuels in each fuel type category. Empirical materials from the district heating energy system of Southern Lapland in Finland encompassing six municipalities are presented. What if-scenarios show that, in general, diversity and eco-efficiency seem to support each other, i.e., there is a correlation. This is different from food web studies in ecology where the material flows are primarily biomass. In human energy systems, lithosphere derived materials are used alongside biomass, in our case study fossil coal, oil as well as peat, which is a semi-fossil fuel. The difference might also be explained due to the role of technology in human economic systems. For policy and business strategy implications, it is important to study the case system with two interdependent system boundaries; the subsystem level of the capital city Rovaniemi and the larger six municipality regional system to which Rovaniemi belongs. Policy planning and business strategy development would gain if the actors involved would approach the system with enlarged spatial and temporal system boundaries. Long-term strategic thinking and inter-municipality cooperation may help the region to mitigate the risks related to the development of the district heating energy system.

Suggested Citation

  • Korhonen, Jouni & Snäkin, Juha-Pekka, 2015. "Quantifying the relationship of resilience and eco-efficiency in complex adaptive energy systems," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 83-92.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:120:y:2015:i:c:p:83-92
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2015.09.006
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800915003730
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2015.09.006?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mayumi, Kozo & Giampietro, Mario & Gowdy, John M., 1998. "Georgescu-Roegen/Daly versus Solow/Stiglitz Revisited," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 115-117, November.
    2. Fletcher, C.S. & Hilbert, David W., 2007. "Resilience in landscape exploitation systems," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 201(3), pages 440-452.
    3. Goerner, Sally J. & Lietaer, Bernard & Ulanowicz, Robert E., 2009. "Quantifying economic sustainability: Implications for free-enterprise theory, policy and practice," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 76-81, November.
    4. Matutinovic, Igor, 2002. "Organizational patterns of economies: an ecological perspective," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 421-440, March.
    5. Johan Rockström & Will Steffen & Kevin Noone & Åsa Persson & F. Stuart Chapin & Eric F. Lambin & Timothy M. Lenton & Marten Scheffer & Carl Folke & Hans Joachim Schellnhuber & Björn Nykvist & Cynthia , 2009. "A safe operating space for humanity," Nature, Nature, vol. 461(7263), pages 472-475, September.
    6. Martin L. Weitzman, 2000. "Economic Profitability Versus Ecological Entropy," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 115(1), pages 237-263.
    7. Crépin, Anne-Sophie & Biggs, Reinette & Polasky, Stephen & Troell, Max & de Zeeuw, Aart, 2012. "Regime shifts and management," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 15-22.
    8. O'Brien, Geoff & Hope, Alex, 2010. "Localism and energy: Negotiating approaches to embedding resilience in energy systems," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(12), pages 7550-7558, December.
    9. Strunz, Sebastian, 2012. "Is conceptual vagueness an asset? Arguments from philosophy of science applied to the concept of resilience," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 112-118.
    10. Derissen, Sandra & Quaas, Martin F. & Baumgärtner, Stefan, 2011. "The relationship between resilience and sustainability of ecological-economic systems," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(6), pages 1121-1128, April.
    11. AfDB AfDB, . "Zambia Country Office Annual Report 2012," Annual Report, African Development Bank, number 975.
    12. Ring, Irene, 1997. "Evolutionary strategies in environmental policy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 237-249, December.
    13. AfDB AfDB, . "Annual Report 2012 (Arabic Version)," Annual Report, African Development Bank, number 462.
    14. Hukkinen, Janne, 2003. "From groundless universalism to grounded generalism: improving ecological economic indicators of human-environmental interaction," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 11-27, February.
    15. Huppes, Gjalt & Ishikawa, Masanobu, 2009. "Eco-efficiency guiding micro-level actions towards sustainability: Ten basic steps for analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(6), pages 1687-1700, April.
    16. Matutinovic, Igor, 2001. "The aspects and the role of diversity in socioeconomic systems: an evolutionary perspective," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 239-256, November.
    17. R. J. Welford, 1998. "Editorial: Corporate environmental management, technology and sustainable development: postmodern perspectives and the need for a critical research agenda," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 7(1), pages 1-12, February.
    18. AfDB AfDB, . "Annual Report 2012," Annual Report, African Development Bank, number 461.
    19. Uehara, Takuro, 2013. "Ecological threshold and ecological economic threshold: Implications from an ecological economic model with adaptation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 374-384.
    20. Henrik Ny & Jamie P. MacDonald & Göran Broman & Ryoichi Yamamoto & Karl‐Henrik Robért, 2006. "Sustainability Constraints as System Boundaries: An Approach to Making Life‐Cycle Management Strategic," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 10(1‐2), pages 61-77, January.
    21. Catherine Hardy & Thomas E. Graedel, 2002. "Industrial Ecosystems as Food Webs," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 6(1), pages 29-38, January.
    22. Edward P. Lazear, 2000. "Economic Imperialism," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 115(1), pages 99-146.
    23. Figge, Frank & Hahn, Tobias, 2004. "Sustainable Value Added--measuring corporate contributions to sustainability beyond eco-efficiency," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 173-187, February.
    24. Templet, Paul H., 1999. "Energy, diversity and development in economic systems; an empirical analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 223-233, August.
    25. AfDB AfDB, . "Annual Report 2012 (Portuguese Version)," Annual Report, African Development Bank, number 463.
    26. Korhonen, Jouni & Snakin, Juha-Pekka, 2005. "Analysing the evolution of industrial ecosystems: concepts and application," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(2), pages 169-186, January.
    27. Berkhout, Peter H. G. & Muskens, Jos C. & W. Velthuijsen, Jan, 2000. "Defining the rebound effect," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(6-7), pages 425-432, June.
    28. WorldFish, 2013. "Annual report 2012/13," Monographs, The WorldFish Center, number 40306, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Xiaoping Qiu & Yiping Fang & Xueting Yang & Fubiao Zhu, 2017. "Tourism Eco-Efficiency Measurement, Characteristics, and Its Influence Factors in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-19, September.
    2. Korhonen, Jouni & Honkasalo, Antero & Seppälä, Jyri, 2018. "Circular Economy: The Concept and its Limitations," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 37-46.
    3. Yang Ban & Ying Wang & Xiaohong Chen & Liuqing Wei, 2022. "Synergistic Patterns of Urban Economic Efficiency and the Economic Resilience of the Harbin–Changchun Urban Agglomeration in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-21, December.
    4. Therese Fagerlind & Martin Stefanicki & Andreas Feldmann & Jouni Korhonen, 2019. "The Distribution of Sustainable Decision-Making in Multinational Manufacturing Enterprises," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-17, September.
    5. Qing Song & Shengyuan Zhong & Junyu Chen & Chuanming Yang & Yan Zhu, 2023. "Spatio-Temporal Evolution of City Resilience in the Yangtze River Delta, China, from the Perspective of Statistics," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-22, January.
    6. Federico Cuomo, 2022. "Urban Living Lab: An Experimental Co-Production Tool to Foster the Circular Economy," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-22, June.
    7. Zaijing Gong & Dapeng Liang, 2017. "A resilience framework for safety management of fossil fuel power plant," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 89(3), pages 1081-1095, December.
    8. Pedro L. Cruz & Diego Iribarren & Javier Dufour, 2019. "Life Cycle Costing and Eco-Efficiency Assessment of Fuel Production by Coprocessing Biomass in Crude Oil Refineries," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-17, December.
    9. Jouni Korhonen & Birk Granberg, 2020. "Sweden Backcasting, Now?—Strategic Planning for Covid-19 Mitigation in a Liberal Democracy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-15, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jouni Korhonen & Thomas P. Seager, 2008. "Beyond eco‐efficiency: a resilience perspective," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(7), pages 411-419, November.
    2. Korhonen, Jouni & Honkasalo, Antero & Seppälä, Jyri, 2018. "Circular Economy: The Concept and its Limitations," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 37-46.
    3. Jouni Korhonen, 2008. "Reconsidering the Economics Logic of Ecological Modernization," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 40(6), pages 1331-1346, June.
    4. Tarek Roshdy Gebba & Mohamed Gamal Aboelmaged, 2016. "Corporate Governance of UAE Financial Institutions: A Comparative Study between Conventional and Islamic Banks," Journal of Applied Finance & Banking, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 6(5), pages 1-7.
    5. Korhonen, Jouni & Snakin, Juha-Pekka, 2005. "Analysing the evolution of industrial ecosystems: concepts and application," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(2), pages 169-186, January.
    6. Flood, Mark D. & Lemieux, Victoria L. & Varga, Margaret & William Wong, B.L., 2016. "The application of visual analytics to financial stability monitoring," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 180-197.
    7. Molyneaux, Lynette & Wagner, Liam & Foster, John, 2016. "Rural electrification in India: Galilee Basin coal versus decentralised renewable energy micro grids," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 422-436.
    8. World Bank Group, 2015. "FYR Macedonia Public Expenditure Review," World Bank Publications - Reports 23808, The World Bank Group.
    9. Mahanta, Ratul & Chowdhury, Jayashree & Nath, Hiranya K., 2016. "Health costs of arsenic contamination of drinking water in Assam, India," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 30-42.
    10. García-Posada, Miguel & Marchetti, Marcos, 2016. "The bank lending channel of unconventional monetary policy: The impact of the VLTROs on credit supply in Spain," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 427-441.
    11. Yang, Daojian & Qi, Ershi & Li, Yajiao, 2015. "Quick response and supply chain structure with strategic consumers," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 1-14.
    12. Marshall, Jonathan Paul, 2016. "Disordering fantasies of coal and technology: Carbon capture and storage in Australia," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 288-298.
    13. Völker, Marc & Lienhoop, Nele, 2016. "Exploring group dynamics in deliberative choice experiments," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 57-67.
    14. Fawsitt, Christopher G. & Bourke, Jane & Greene, Richard A. & McElroy, Brendan & Krucien, Nicolas & Murphy, Rosemary & Lutomski, Jennifer E., 2017. "What do women want? Valuing women’s preferences and estimating demand for alternative models of maternity care using a discrete choice experiment," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 121(11), pages 1154-1160.
    15. Fisher, Anthony, 2014. "Climate Science and Climate Economics," Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley, Working Paper Series qt746627gz, Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley.
    16. Augustine Mulolwa, 2016. "Land Governance Assessment," World Bank Publications - Reports 28503, The World Bank Group.
    17. Bucher, R. & Jeffrey, H. & Bryden, I.G. & Harrison, G.P., 2016. "Creation of investor confidence: The top-level drivers for reaching maturity in marine energy," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 120-129.
    18. Salom, Jaume & Marszal, Anna Joanna & Widén, Joakim & Candanedo, José & Lindberg, Karen Byskov, 2014. "Analysis of load match and grid interaction indicators in net zero energy buildings with simulated and monitored data," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 119-131.
    19. Abdymomunov, Azamat & Gerlach, Jeffrey, 2014. "Stress testing interest rate risk exposure," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 287-301.
    20. Whyte, Randall & Lohmann, Gui, 2015. "The carrier-within-a-carrier strategy: An analysis of Jetstar," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 141-148.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:120:y:2015:i:c:p:83-92. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.