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| 1 |
ID:
168338
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| Summary/Abstract |
I live in Burlington (pop. 43,600), state of Vermont (pop. 624,000), USA (pop. 326,000,000). We are the first U.S. city to become 100% renewable in electricity. We get hydro electricity from as far away as 700 km. (in Quebec, Canada) and as close as 1 km. Our wind electricity comes from sources 25–250 km distant. Our 50 MWe biomass plant burns forestry residues harvested within 160 km. Burlington now plans to become a “net-zero energy” city by 1. providing this renewable electricity (more) locally, and 2. extending coverage to present uses of fuel oil, petrol, and natural gas, with the notable exception of airplane fuel. This spatial reach has historically been de-emphasized in waves of enthusiasm for energy efficiency, sustainability (often loosely defined), and now renewability-especially in confronting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. I briefly review this history, and then present quantitative spatial impacts of Burlington's plans.
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| 2 |
ID:
111452
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| Publication |
2012.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Sustainability involves aspects of society, economy, and environment. Environmental sustainability is one of the most important factors to support global energy consumption and to absorb the pollution generated by human activities. Because emergy can be used to measure both money and energy flows in the same units, it provides a way to measure the real wealth of both natural and economic systems and the impact of human activities on these systems. A comparison of the carrying capacity of natural resources with the consumption of these resources at regional or global scales can provide a clear image of sustainability. To assess sustainability around the world, we used the National Environmental Accounting Database data for 102 nations (2008 data) to evaluate the resource consumption by 17 mainstream countries. Our results revealed that most of the countries consumed too many resources, thereby decreasing the overall global sustainability of the natural resources that sustain human society. Our results confirm previous predictions that to ensure long-term sustainability, it will be necessary to control population increases, reduce emergy consumption, and promote emergy efficiency.
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