Environmental sustainability indicators: Thermodynamic aspects

The assessment of environmental sustainability of ecosystems, economic poli cies, productive processes requires an holistic approach, based on thermody namic functions and able to consider all the complex mechanisms that are in volved in a system. Many of the proposed indicators(1,2), focus their atten tion on single aspects, thus their use is not sufficient. In this study the emergy methodology is used(3), to assess the sustainability of three diffe rent process for production of DOC wine in the Siena Province (Italy): Chia nti, Brunello di Montalcino e Nobile di Montepulciano. Emergy analysis is b ased on the concept of solar emergy that is the solar energy that is direct ly and indirectly required to obtain a,product; emergy represents the memor y of all that the environment has supplied to support a process. Other indi cators desumed by the emergy concept are use for a complete emergy analysis . The three farms appear to be very sustainable repect to the national aver age and the one in Montepulciano is the most sutainable one from a strict e nvironmental viewpoint, while the one in the Chianti zone is more efficient for quantities of grapes and wine.