Emergy Synthesis and Regional Sustainability Assessment: Case Study of Pan-Pearl River Delta in China

Guomin Li, Yaoqiu Kuang, Ningsheng Huang and Xiangyang Chang
Additional contact information
Guomin Li: Sustainable Development Research Center, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China
Yaoqiu Kuang: Sustainable Development Research Center, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China
Ningsheng Huang: Sustainable Development Research Center, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China
Xiangyang Chang: School of Environment Science and Engineering, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China

Sustainability, 2014, vol. 6, issue 8, 1-28

Abstract: In this paper, emergy analysis is used in association with the ternary diagrams and geographic information system (GIS) tools to improve the evaluation of sustainability for the Pan-Pearl River Delta (PPRD) region. Emergy accounting of PPRD is estimated, and various emergy-based indicators are reported. Ternary diagrams are drawn to provide a graphical representation of the emergy accounting data. Finally, the GIS tools are employed to assist in the emergy-based spatial analysis, and emergy density based on flat land area is mapped to reflect the intensity of emergy use in human activity areas. Results show the following: (1) the current development path of the PPRD region, with the value of emergy sustainability index (ESI = 0.227) significantly lower than one, is unsustainable in the long run; (2) Guangdong has the lowest ESI value (0.071), and the ESI values of Fujian, Guangxi, Hunan and Jiangxi are lower than 0.5, indicating that the economy in these provinces overly relies on non-renewable and imported resources; (3) Guizhou has a high emergy yield rate and is thus the main energy supplier in PPRD; and (4) among the nine provinces in PPRD, only Hainan has an ESI value (2.145) higher than one.

Keywords: emergy synthesis; ternary diagram; regional sustainability assessment; pan-pearl river delta (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/6/8/5203/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/6/8/5203/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:6:y:2014:i:8:p:5203-5230:d:39108

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().