An improved extended exergy accounting method for assessing the sustainability of the Chinese society

Abstract

This study presents an ecological accounting for the Chinese society using improved extended exergy accounting method. Based on the input–output table of China, we capture the economic linkages of societal labor and capital fluxes, and improve the equivalent exergy metrics of labor and capital to be consistent with the Chinese situation. Material and externalities-equivalent exergy structures are examined by the quantitative estimation and indicator assessment. Results show that the total resource consumption of the Chinese society amounted to 151.6 EJ in 2012, while the total equivalent exergetic values of labor, capital and environmental remediation cost were estimated at 67.0 EJ, 69.1 EJ and 411.5 EJ, respectively. The national total capital and labor input was close to its resource consumption, but only equal to one third of the environmental remediation cost, highlighting the contribution of ecosystem products and services. An overall system diagram covering major extended-exergy inflows and outflows within the society was designed to display the complex metabolism process and network relationship of resource use, economic production and environmental externalities in an integrative way. Exergy and extended exergy analyses of the Chinese society for a benchmark year contributes to understanding the operation of a socio-economic system from a biophysical perspective and establishing effective regulatory strategies of production and consumption activities to accelerate a shift towards sustainability.