Going beyond energy accounting for sustainability: Energy, fund elements and the economic process

The main purpose of this paper is to examine to what extent the widely used energy accounting schemes are useful for dealing with sustainability issues in view of Georgescu-Roegen’s production process and its implications for the evolutionary aspects of the economic process. The first part critically examines the concept of “net energy” in relation to material elements produced and consumed in the economic process in light of Georgescu-Roegen’s bioeconomics. The first part also considers the issue of what is produced in the economic process and emphasizes the importance of matter in bulk. The second part first compares the theoretical basis of embodied energy analysis (EEA) from the point of view of Piero Sraffa, a point of view not examined by Georgescu-Roegen. The second part also examines EEA critically in terms of Georgescu-Roegen’s flow-fund model and compares Sraffa’s analysis and Georgescu-Roegen’s flow-fund model.

► We critically examine to what extent net energy or embodied energy is useful for dealing with sustainability issues.
► We compare the theoretical basis of embodied energy analysis (EEA) from the point of view of Piero Sraffa (SA).
► We examine EEA critically in terms of Georgescu-Roegen’s flow-fund model and compares SA and Georgescu-Roegen’s flow-fund model.