A. Sundkvist et al., Energy flow analysis as a tool for developing a sustainable society - a case study of a Swedish island, RESOUR CON, 25(3-4), 1999, pp. 289-299
Citations number
18
Categorie Soggetti
Environment/Ecology,"Environmental Engineering & Energy
In order to develop a sustainable society, tools are needed to analyze the
relationships between human activities and ecosystems and to estimate the c
arrying capacity of the natural resource base. In this paper, energy analys
is is applied in a study of the small island society Namdo in the Stockholm
archipelago, Sweden. Namdo has a permanent population of 41 persons and ca
. 1000 summer residents. We estimated the energy and material flows on the
island, including the primary and secondary production in natural and culti
vated ecosystems, human production and consumption of food, and production
of waste. Our results show that the island society's consumption exceeds th
e natural carrying capacity of the island. A great deal of food and energy
is imported while only a minor amount of local resources are utilized. The
island society is, at present, not constrained by the local resource base,
but instead depends heavily on functioning transport communications with th
e mainland. Based on our findings we make recommendations for greater self-
sufficiency, including use of locally available renewable resources and inc
reased recycling. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.