IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v37y2009i6p2205-2213.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Use of ecological footprinting to explore alternative domestic energy and electricity policy scenarios in an Irish city-region

Author

Listed:
  • Browne, David
  • O'Regan, Bernadette
  • Moles, Richard

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to measure the ecological footprint (EF) of energy and electricity consumption by the residents of an Irish city-region, in terms of the land area required to sequester carbon emissions from energy and electricity consumption and to support energy infrastructure and development. The EF was also used to analyse the impact of potential scenarios and policies and results were compared with the business as usual (BAU) projection in order to identify the optimal policy measure. It was found that the total EF for domestic energy and electricity consumption by Limerick residents increased by 7% from 0.125 global hectares (gha) per capita in 1996 to 0.134Â gha per capita in 2002. The EF was then used to assess different policy measures or scenarios. It was concluded that Scenario 2, which proposes reducing energy and electricity consumption, was the most preferable option, and Scenario 4, which proposes increasing the contribution of short rotation coppice (SRC), the least preferable option. This suggests that absolute reduction and demand management should be prioritised over renewables substitution in a policy hierarchy. Of the renewable energy scenarios, Scenario 4 has the highest EF as a result of land appropriation for biomass production.

Suggested Citation

  • Browne, David & O'Regan, Bernadette & Moles, Richard, 2009. "Use of ecological footprinting to explore alternative domestic energy and electricity policy scenarios in an Irish city-region," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(6), pages 2205-2213, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:37:y:2009:i:6:p:2205-2213
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301-4215(09)00077-9
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    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. David Browne & Bernadette O'Regan & Richard Moles, 2008. "Use of embodied energy and ecological footprinting to assess the global environmental impact of consumption in an Irish city-region," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(3), pages 447-470.
    2. Kok, Rixt & Benders, Rene M.J. & Moll, Henri C., 2006. "Measuring the environmental load of household consumption using some methods based on input-output energy analysis: A comparison of methods and a discussion of results," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(17), pages 2744-2761, November.
    3. Yohanis, Y.G. & Norton, B., 2002. "Life-cycle operational and embodied energy for a generic single-storey office building in the UK," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 77-92.
    4. Brown, M. T. & Herendeen, R. A., 1996. "Embodied energy analysis and EMERGY analysis: a comparative view," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 219-235, December.
    5. Bullard, Clark W. & Penner, Peter S. & Pilati, David A., 1978. "Net energy analysis : Handbook for combining process and input-output analysis," Resources and Energy, Elsevier, vol. 1(3), pages 267-313, November.
    6. Carlsson-Kanyama, Annika & Ekstrom, Marianne Pipping & Shanahan, Helena, 2003. "Food and life cycle energy inputs: consequences of diet and ways to increase efficiency," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(2-3), pages 293-307, March.
    7. Nishimura, Kazuhiko & Hondo, Hiroki & Uchiyama, Yohji, 1996. "Derivation of energy-embodiment functions to estimate the embodied energy from the material content," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 21(12), pages 1247-1256.
    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. Alipour, M. & Hafezi, R. & Amer, M. & Akhavan, A.N., 2017. "A new hybrid fuzzy cognitive map-based scenario planning approach for Iran's oil production pathways in the post–sanction period," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 851-864.
    2. Browne, David & O'Regan, Bernadette & Moles, Richard, 2010. "Use of multi-criteria decision analysis to explore alternative domestic energy and electricity policy scenarios in an Irish city-region," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 518-528.
    3. Xun Zhang & Yuehui Ma & Bin Ye & Zhang-Ming Chen & Ling Xiong, 2016. "Feasibility Analyses of Developing Low Carbon City with Hybrid Energy Systems in China: The Case of Shenzhen," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(5), pages 1-16, May.
    4. Dalia Štreimikienė & Vidas Lekavičius & Gintare Stankūnienė & Aušra Pažėraitė, 2022. "Renewable Energy Acceptance by Households: Evidence from Lithuania," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-17, July.
    5. Hafezi, Reza & Akhavan, AmirNaser & Pakseresht, Saeed & Wood, David A., 2019. "A Layered Uncertainties Scenario Synthesizing (LUSS) model applied to evaluate multiple potential long-run outcomes for Iran's natural gas exports," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 646-659.
    6. Browne, David & O'Regan, Bernadette & Moles, Richard, 2012. "Comparison of energy flow accounting, energy flow metabolism ratio analysis and ecological footprinting as tools for measuring urban sustainability: A case-study of an Irish city-region," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 97-107.
    7. STANKUNIENE Gintare, 2021. "Energy Saving in Households: A Systematic Literature Review," European Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, Bucharest Economic Academy, issue 01, March.

    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. Browne, David & O’Regan, Bernadette & Moles, Richard, 2009. "Use of carbon footprinting to explore alternative household waste policy scenarios in an Irish city-region," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 54(2), pages 113-122.
    2. Browne, David & O'Regan, Bernadette & Moles, Richard, 2012. "Comparison of energy flow accounting, energy flow metabolism ratio analysis and ecological footprinting as tools for measuring urban sustainability: A case-study of an Irish city-region," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 97-107.
    3. René M.J. Benders & Henri C. Moll & Durk S. Nijdam, 2012. "From Energy to Environmental Analysis," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 16(2), pages 163-175, April.
    4. Lixiao Zhang & Qiuhong Hu & Fan Zhang, 2014. "Input-Output Modeling for Urban Energy Consumption in Beijing: Dynamics and Comparison," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(3), pages 1-11, March.
    5. Annika Carlsson Kanyama & Jonas Nässén & René Benders, 2021. "Shifting expenditure on food, holidays, and furnishings could lower greenhouse gas emissions by almost 40%," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 25(6), pages 1602-1616, December.
    6. Zhang, L.X. & Wang, C.B. & Bahaj, A.S., 2014. "Carbon emissions by rural energy in China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 641-649.
    7. Lenzen, Manfred & Dey, Christopher, 2000. "Truncation error in embodied energy analyses of basic iron and steel products," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 25(6), pages 577-585.
    8. Vringer, Kees & Benders, René & Wilting, Harry & Brink, Corjan & Drissen, Eric & Nijdam, Durk & Hoogervorst, Nico, 2010. "A hybrid multi-region method (HMR) for assessing the environmental impact of private consumption," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(12), pages 2510-2516, October.
    9. Shao, Ling & Wu, Zi & Zeng, L. & Chen, Z.M. & Zhou, Y. & Chen, G.Q., 2013. "Embodied energy assessment for ecological wastewater treatment by a constructed wetland," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 252(C), pages 63-71.
    10. Dixit, Manish K., 2017. "Life cycle embodied energy analysis of residential buildings: A review of literature to investigate embodied energy parameters," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 390-413.
    11. Lenzen, M. & Treloar, G., 2002. "Embodied energy in buildings: wood versus concrete--reply to Borjesson and Gustavsson," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 249-255, February.
    12. Shi, Jianglan & Li, Huajiao & Guan, Jianhe & Sun, Xiaoqi & Guan, Qing & Liu, Xiaojia, 2017. "Evolutionary features of global embodied energy flow between sectors: A complex network approach," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 140(P1), pages 395-405.
    13. Li, Yilin & Chen, Bin & Li, Chaohui & Li, Zhi & Chen, Guoqian, 2020. "Energy perspective of Sino-US trade imbalance in global supply chains," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    14. Wu, X.D. & Guo, J.L. & Chen, G.Q., 2018. "The striking amount of carbon emissions by the construction stage of coal-fired power generation system in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 358-369.
    15. Stern, David I., 1997. "Limits to substitution and irreversibility in production and consumption: A neoclassical interpretation of ecological economics," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 197-215, June.
    16. Suh, Sangwon, 2004. "Functions, commodities and environmental impacts in an ecological-economic model," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(4), pages 451-467, April.
    17. Mohamed, Ahmed M.A. & Al-Habaibeh, Amin & Abdo, Hafez & Elabar, Sherifa, 2015. "Towards exporting renewable energy from MENA region to Europe: An investigation into domestic energy use and householders’ energy behaviour in Libya," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 247-262.
    18. Agostinho, Feni & Almeida, Cecília M.V.B. & Bonilla, Silvia H. & Sacomano, José B. & Giannetti, Biagio F., 2013. "Urban solid waste plant treatment in Brazil: Is there a net emergy yield on the recovered materials?," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 143-155.
    19. Risku-Norja, Helmi & Maenpaa, Ilmo, 2007. "MFA model to assess economic and environmental consequences of food production and consumption," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(4), pages 700-711, February.
    20. Pi-qin Gong & Bao-jun Tang & Yu-chong Xiao & Gao-jie Lin & Jian-yun Liu, 2016. "Research on China export structure adjustment: an embodied carbon perspective," 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. 84(1), pages 129-151, November.

    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:enepol:v:37:y:2009:i:6:p:2205-2213. 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/enpol .

    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.