Proposing a general energy accounting scheme with indicators for responsible development: Beyond monism

Abstract Our approach, Multi-Scale Integrated Analysis of Societal and Ecosystem Metabolism (MuSIASEM for short) has been developed to get out of the traditional monistic methodology. In this paper we propose a general energy accounting scheme and its indicators based on MuSIASEM framework characterizing the performance of the energy and mining sector. This represents an elaboration of the supply side of energy accounting within our scheme, a subject that has not been fully investigated so far. Section 2 briefly illustrates the fundamental limitations of purely thermodynamic approach to energy accounting. Section 3 presents a general energy accounting scheme and its derived set of indicators. This section first presents the basic assumptions and the energy transformation process using the flow–fund representation originally developed by Georgescu-Roegen. Section 4 concludes the paper providing ten mottoes about energy accounting that are justified by the experience made with the MuSIASEM scheme.

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