Environmental and economic sustainability of key sectors in China's steel industry chain: An application of the Emergy Accounting approach

Increasing urbanization day–by–day requires new housing and transportation infrastructures. As a consequence, demand for steel – a basic material for buildings construction as well as for vehicles and railroads – would also increases. This study applies Emergy Accounting (EMA) to assess the Chinás...

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Autores principales:	Yanxin Liu, Huajiao Li, Haizhong An, Remo Santagata, Xueyong Liu, Sergio Ulgiati
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Elsevier 2021
Materias:	Steel application sectors Emergy accounting Steel recycling and reusing Sustainability assessment Ecology QH540-549.5
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/920dcca05ec24e499824b4e1fc837294
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id	oai:doaj.org-article:920dcca05ec24e499824b4e1fc837294
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:920dcca05ec24e499824b4e1fc8372942021-12-01T04:57:56ZEnvironmental and economic sustainability of key sectors in China's steel industry chain: An application of the Emergy Accounting approach1470-160X10.1016/j.ecolind.2021.108011https://doaj.org/article/920dcca05ec24e499824b4e1fc8372942021-10-01T00:00:00Zhttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X21006762https://doaj.org/toc/1470-160XIncreasing urbanization day–by–day requires new housing and transportation infrastructures. As a consequence, demand for steel – a basic material for buildings construction as well as for vehicles and railroads – would also increases. This study applies Emergy Accounting (EMA) to assess the Chinás steel industry environmental performance and to identify key application sectors. Subsequently, this study calculates emergy–based indicators capable to assess the present economic performance, environmental sustainability, and land resource appropriate utilization. Building on these indicators, changes of sustainability scenarios in key application sectors are also investigated, with special focus on increased use of recycled steel. The results show that the environmental impacts of steel use in downstream sectors, specially in the Housing and Vehicles Sectors, are significantly higher. Furthermore, the downstream sectors also have a very large requirement for embodied land. Additionally, the Emergy Benefit Ratio (EBR) shows non-negligible advantages to China derived from importing raw iron from abroad at international market prices. Finally, when the recycling rate of scrap steel increases, the performance of downstream sectors improves, with the Vehicle sector showing the most significant changes. Although the benefits of steel-based economy to society are clear, multidimensional sustainability concerns and international competition for primary resources necessitate a transition towards increased recycling and innovative materials within a strictly enforced “circular economy” policy.Yanxin LiuHuajiao LiHaizhong AnRemo SantagataXueyong LiuSergio UlgiatiElsevierarticleSteel application sectorsEmergy accountingSteel recycling and reusingSustainability assessmentEcologyQH540-549.5ENEcological Indicators, Vol 129, Iss , Pp 108011- (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Steel application sectors Emergy accounting Steel recycling and reusing Sustainability assessment Ecology QH540-549.5
spellingShingle	Steel application sectors Emergy accounting Steel recycling and reusing Sustainability assessment Ecology QH540-549.5 Yanxin Liu Huajiao Li Haizhong An Remo Santagata Xueyong Liu Sergio Ulgiati Environmental and economic sustainability of key sectors in China's steel industry chain: An application of the Emergy Accounting approach
description	Increasing urbanization day–by–day requires new housing and transportation infrastructures. As a consequence, demand for steel – a basic material for buildings construction as well as for vehicles and railroads – would also increases. This study applies Emergy Accounting (EMA) to assess the Chinás steel industry environmental performance and to identify key application sectors. Subsequently, this study calculates emergy–based indicators capable to assess the present economic performance, environmental sustainability, and land resource appropriate utilization. Building on these indicators, changes of sustainability scenarios in key application sectors are also investigated, with special focus on increased use of recycled steel. The results show that the environmental impacts of steel use in downstream sectors, specially in the Housing and Vehicles Sectors, are significantly higher. Furthermore, the downstream sectors also have a very large requirement for embodied land. Additionally, the Emergy Benefit Ratio (EBR) shows non-negligible advantages to China derived from importing raw iron from abroad at international market prices. Finally, when the recycling rate of scrap steel increases, the performance of downstream sectors improves, with the Vehicle sector showing the most significant changes. Although the benefits of steel-based economy to society are clear, multidimensional sustainability concerns and international competition for primary resources necessitate a transition towards increased recycling and innovative materials within a strictly enforced “circular economy” policy.
format	article
author	Yanxin Liu Huajiao Li Haizhong An Remo Santagata Xueyong Liu Sergio Ulgiati
author_facet	Yanxin Liu Huajiao Li Haizhong An Remo Santagata Xueyong Liu Sergio Ulgiati
author_sort	Yanxin Liu
title	Environmental and economic sustainability of key sectors in China's steel industry chain: An application of the Emergy Accounting approach
title_short	Environmental and economic sustainability of key sectors in China's steel industry chain: An application of the Emergy Accounting approach
title_full	Environmental and economic sustainability of key sectors in China's steel industry chain: An application of the Emergy Accounting approach
title_fullStr	Environmental and economic sustainability of key sectors in China's steel industry chain: An application of the Emergy Accounting approach
title_full_unstemmed	Environmental and economic sustainability of key sectors in China's steel industry chain: An application of the Emergy Accounting approach
title_sort	environmental and economic sustainability of key sectors in china's steel industry chain: an application of the emergy accounting approach
publisher	Elsevier
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/920dcca05ec24e499824b4e1fc837294
work_keys_str_mv	AT yanxinliu environmentalandeconomicsustainabilityofkeysectorsinchinassteelindustrychainanapplicationoftheemergyaccountingapproach AT huajiaoli environmentalandeconomicsustainabilityofkeysectorsinchinassteelindustrychainanapplicationoftheemergyaccountingapproach AT haizhongan environmentalandeconomicsustainabilityofkeysectorsinchinassteelindustrychainanapplicationoftheemergyaccountingapproach AT remosantagata environmentalandeconomicsustainabilityofkeysectorsinchinassteelindustrychainanapplicationoftheemergyaccountingapproach AT xueyongliu environmentalandeconomicsustainabilityofkeysectorsinchinassteelindustrychainanapplicationoftheemergyaccountingapproach AT sergioulgiati environmentalandeconomicsustainabilityofkeysectorsinchinassteelindustrychainanapplicationoftheemergyaccountingapproach
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Environmental and economic sustainability of key sectors in China's steel industry chain: An application of the Emergy Accounting approach

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