In the Materials Selection and Performance subject What is i

In the Materials Selection and Performance subject

What is input/output analysis for assessing the embodied energy?

And why energy per unit of function should be used as the basis of comparison of materials?

Solution

The main methods of embodied energy accounting as they are used today grew out of Wassily Leontief\'s input-output model and are called Input-Output Embodied Energy analysis. Leontief\'s input-output model was in turn an adaptation of the neo-classical theory of general equilibrium with application to \"the empirical study of the quantitative interdependence between interrelated economic activities\". According to Tennenbaum Leontief\'s Input-Output method was adapted to embodied energy analysis by Hannon to describe ecosystem energy flows. Hannon’s adaptation tabulated the total direct and indirect energy requirements (the energy intensity) for each output made by the system. The total amount of energies, direct and indirect, for the entire amount of production was called the embodied energy.