Publications

@article{P\'{e}rez-S\'{a}nchez2022,

title = {Factors and actions for the sustainability of the residential sector. The nexus of energy, materials, space, and time use},

author = {L. P\'{e}rez-S\'{a}nchez and R. Velasco-Fern\'{a}ndez and M. Giampietro},

url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85128882096&doi=10.1016%2fj.rser.2022.112388&partnerID=40&md5=ff89900a620130ae7bc3c14e21cb0bff},

doi = {10.1016/j.rser.2022.112388},

issn = {13640321},

year  = {2022},

date = {2022-01-01},

journal = {Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews},

volume = {161},

publisher = {Elsevier Ltd},

abstract = {Residential end-uses represent a significant share of final energy consumption and material stocks. However, approaching sustainability of the residential sector merely as an environmental technical problem is insufficient. Home is the center of daily life providing essential functions to people. Household metabolism is not a matter of the sum of individual behaviors, typologies of buildings, or energy uses stripped out of context, but the system that emerges from the historical combination of these elements and the functions it performs. The residential sector comprises both families (units of organized individuals) and dwellings (within municipalities/urban forms). To analyze these dynamics, we draw upon practice theory and Multi-Scale Integrated Analysis of Societal and Ecosystem Metabolism (MuSIASEM) illustrating with data from Sweden and Spain in 2015. The objective is to establish an interdisciplinary framework for analyzing the sustainability of the residential sector. We also present a list of possible measures and their trade-offs in diverse dimensions: energy carrier consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, materials, floor area, human activity, social organization and institutions, finance and desirability. Even though the inclusion of all variables in a single model is not feasible, the holistic understanding of household metabolism can help build coherent anticipation scenarios by selecting plausible hypotheses. Ultimately, this allows making profound transformations to sustainability. © 2022 The Authors},

keywords = {Construction industry; Economic and social effects; Energy utilization; Gas emissions; Greenhouse gases; Housing; Physiology; Sustainable development, Construction sectors; Energy materials; Energy spaces; Energy use; Energy-time; Household metabolism; Nexus; Residential sectors; Social innovations; Sufficiency, Energy efficiency},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{Velasco-Fernandez2020a,

title = {Fallacies of energy efficiency indicators: Recognizing the complexity of the metabolic pattern of the economy},

author = {R. Velasco-Fern\'{a}ndez and T. Dunlop and M. Giampietro},

doi = {10.1016/j.enpol.2019.111089},

issn = {03014215},

year  = {2020},

date = {2020-02-01},

journal = {Energy Policy},

volume = {137},

pages = {111089},

publisher = {Elsevier Ltd},

abstract = {The strategy of energy efficiency to save energy is deceptively simple: the idea is to use less input for the highest amount of useful output. However, on a practical and conceptual level, efficiency is an ambiguous and problematic concept to implement. Of particular concern is the lack of contextual and qualitative information provided in energy efficiency measurements based on simple ratios. Oversimplification of efficiency measurements can have a detrimental effect on the choice of energy policies. Efficiency measurements are particularly problematic on a macroeconomic scale where a significant amount of meaningful information is lost through the aggregation of data into a simple ratio (economic energy intensity). First, practical examples are presented flagging conceptual problems with energy efficiency indicators, then an alternative accounting method\textemdashthe end-use matrix\textemdashbased on the concept of the metabolic pattern of social-ecological systems is illustrated to show the possibility of enriching efficiency indicators by adding qualitative and contextual information across multiple scales and dimensions. This method unpacks and structures salient energy input and output information in a meaningful and transparent way by generating a rich multi-level and multi-dimensional information space.},

keywords = {End-use matrix, Energy efficiency, Energy performance, Energy policy, Jevons paradox, Metabolic pattern},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{Velasco-Fernandez2018,

title = {Analyzing the energy performance of manufacturing across levels using the end-use matrix},

author = {Ra\'{u}l Velasco-Fern\'{a}ndez and Mario Giampietro and Sandra G. F. Bukkens},

url = {https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0360544218314191},

doi = {10.1016/j.energy.2018.07.122},

issn = {03605442},

year  = {2018},

date = {2018-10-01},

journal = {Energy},

volume = {161},

pages = {559--572},

abstract = {Within the context of the controversial use of the concept energy intensity to assess national energy performance, this paper proposes an innovative accounting framework: the energy end-use matrix. This tool integrates quantitative assessments of energy use of the various constituent compartments of socio-economic systems. More specifically it identifies, moving across levels of analysis, what compartments (or sub-compartments) are using what type of energy carriers for what type of end-use. This analysis is integrated with an assessment of labor requirements and the associated flows of value added. The end-use matrix thus integrates in a coherent way quantitative assessments across different dimensions and hierarchical scales and facilitates the development of integrated sets of indicators. In this way it contributes to a multi-criteria characterization of national or sectoral energy performance. The tool is illustrated with an analysis of three EU countries: Bulgaria, Finland and Spain. Challenges to improving the usefulness of biophysical analysis of the efficiency of the industrial sector are identified and discussed. Increasing the discriminatory power of quantitative analysis through better data standardization by statistical offices is the major challenge.},

keywords = {End-use matrix, Energy efficiency, Energy intensity, Industrial sector, Manufacturing, MuSIASEM},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{Giampietro2018,

title = {Unraveling the Complexity of the Jevons Paradox: The Link Between Innovation, Efficiency, and Sustainability},

author = {Mario Giampietro and Kozo Mayumi},

url = {http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fenrg.2018.00026/full},

doi = {10.3389/fenrg.2018.00026},

issn = {2296-598X},

year  = {2018},

date = {2018-04-01},

journal = {Frontiers in Energy Research},

volume = {6},

number = {APR},

pages = {26},

abstract = {textcopyright 2018 Giampietro and Mayumi. The term "Jevons Paradox" flags the need to consider the different hierarchical scales at which a system under analysis changes its identity in response to an innovation. Accordingly, an analysis of the implications of the Jevons Paradox must abandon the realm of reductionism and deal with the complexity inherent in the issue of sustainability: when studying evolution and real change how can we define "what has to be sustained" in a system that continuously becomes something else? In an attempt to address this question this paper presents three theoretical concepts foreign to conventional scientific analysis: (i) complex adaptive systems-to address the peculiar characteristics of learning and self-producing systems; (ii) holons and holarchy-to explain the implications of the ambiguity found when observing the relation between functional and structural elements across different scales (steady-state vs. evolution); and (iii) Holling's adaptive cycle-to illustrate the existence of different phases in the evolutionary trajectory of a complex adaptive system interacting with its context in which either external or internal constraints can become limiting. These concepts are used to explain systemic drivers of the Jevons Paradox. Looking at society's thermodynamic foundations, sustainability is based on a dynamic balance of two contrasting principles regulating the evolution of complex adaptive systems: the minimum entropy production and the maximum energy flux. The co-existence of these two principles explains why in different situations innovation has to play a different role in the "sustainable development" of society: (i) when society is not subject to external biophysical constraints improvements in efficiency serve to increase the final consumption of society and expand its diversity of functions and structures; (ii) when the expansion of society is limited by external constraints improvements in efficiency should be used to avoid as much as possible the loss of the existing diversity. It is concluded that sustainability cannot be achieved by technological innovations alone, but requires a continuous process of institutional and behavioral adjustment.},

keywords = {Complex adaptive system, Complexity theory, Energy efficiency, Holon, Innovation, Jevons paradox, MuSIASEM, Rebound effect},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}