Abstract
The need for global comparability has led to the recent standardization of ecological footprint methods. The use of global averages and necessary methodological assumptions has questioned the ability of the ecological footprint to represent local or national specific concerns. This paper attempts to incorporate greater national relevancy by expanding the sequestration estimate used to calculate the annual carbon footprint of domestic Irish energy use. This includes expanding existing study boundaries to include additional carbon pools such as the litter, dead and soil pools. This generated an overall estimate of 4.38 tonnes of carbon per hectare per year (t C/ha/yr), resulting in an ecological footprint estimate of 0.49 hectares per capita (ha/cap) The method employed in this paper also incorporated the potential role of grassland as a carbon sink. The caveat that the resultant value is dependent on the choice of study boundary is discussed. Including the lateral movement of carbon embodied in farm products (effectively placing the boundary around the farm gate) reduces the estimate of grassland carbon sequestration by approximately 44% to 1.82 t C/ha/yr. When a footprint calculated using an overall sequestration estimate (based on the distribution of Irish grassland and forestry) is translated into global hectares (gha), the standardized value is reduced by 35%.
Highlights
The recent Footprint of Nations World Wildlife Fund [1] shows that Ireland’s energy footprint is the single largest contributor to the overall footprint
A value of 10.5 tonnes of dry matter (t DM)/ha/yr for average grass yields was estimated based on data from [15] and [41], while an average forest increment of 9.9 m3/ha/yr was estimated based on the British Forestry Commission (BFC) yield tables [21] and the national species distribution [17]
The direct energy footprint was recalculated using an overall sequestration estimate measured in global hectares
Summary
The recent Footprint of Nations World Wildlife Fund [1] shows that Ireland’s energy footprint is the single largest contributor to the overall footprint. As the forest area allocated globally for carbon sequestration is negligible, there is little capacity for sufficient land area to be made available. This highlights the finite nature of natural capital and reinforces that only a reduction in energy demand can reduce the ecological deficit. Kitzes et al [2] suggest a number of means of improving the ecological footprint These include incorporating other land types into the energy sequestration estimate, as well as calculating footprints using local hectares as opposed to global hectares (often termed ‘actual’ footprinting). This study presents a number of alternatives for the inclusion of specific Irish conditions into the energy footprint method. The main objective of this study is add to the debate began in [2], the extent to which footprint results are dependent on choices of land type identified as a carbon sink
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