In this important new work, Howard T. Odum, widely acknowledged as the father of systems ecology, lucidly explains his concept of emergy, a measure of real wealth that provides a rational,science-based method of evaluating commodities, services, and environmental goods. Using specific real-world examples, Dr. Odum clearly demonstrates the revolutionary role of emergy in environmental management and policy making.

Environmental Accounting: Emergy and Environmental Decision Making offers environmental professionals--policymakers, managers,ecologists, planners, developers, and activists--a systematic approach to environmental and economic valuation that will eliminate much of the rancor and adversarial decision making that often plagues environmental issues. Specifically, this book:
* Describes the theoretical basis, calculation procedures, and applications of emergy
* Introduces the concept of "transformity," the ratio of emergy (work put into a product) and energy (value received from the product)
* Provides formulas for emergy calculations, procedures for making an emergy evaluation table, and parameters for updating evaluations
* Demonstrates the use of emergy to evaluate environments,minerals, waters, primary energy sources, economic developments,and international trade
* Compares the emergy approach to environmental evaluation with others

Table of contents

Introduction: EMERGY and Real Wealth.
EMERGY and the Energy Hierarchy.
Earth EMERGY.
Environmental Production and Economic Use.
EMERGY Evaluation Procedure.
Empower Through Networks: EMERGY Algebra.
Evaluating Environmental Resources.
Net EMERGY of Fuels and Electricity.
Evaluating Alternatives for Development.
EMERGY of States and Nations.
Evaluating International Exchange.
Evaluating Information and Human Service.
EMERGY Over Time.
Comparison of Methods.
Policy Perspectives.
An Emergy Glossary.
Appendices.
References.
Index.