Author(s)

V. Niccolucci, R. Ridolfi & A. Facchini

Abstract

The emergy analysis of the Province of Siena in the SPIn-Eco project V. Niccolucci, R. Ridolfi & A. Facchini Department of Chemical and Biosystems Sciences, University of Siena, Italy Abstract The assessment of environmental sustainability of ecosystems, productive processes and territorial systems requires a holistic approach, based on thermodynamic functions and able to consider all the complex mechanisms which are involved in a system. Many of the most used indicators focus their attention on single aspects and do not consider the system as a whole. The SPIn-Eco project uses a holistic and integrated approach so as to assess the sustainability of the Province of Siena with a set of environmental tools. One of these is the emergy analysis. This environmental accounting methodology is able to compare the value of human and natural systems on a common basis: the quantity of solar energy directly and indirectly required for a process. This quantity, called emergy, represents the memory of all t

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