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ISSN:2325-6192 (print)
ISSN:2325-6206 (online)
Journal of Environmental Accounting and Management
António Mendes Lopes (editor), Jiazhong Zhang(editor)
António Mendes Lopes (editor)

University of Porto, Portugal

Email: aml@fe.up.pt

Jiazhong Zhang (editor)

School of Energy and Power Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province 710049, China

Fax: +86 29 82668723 Email: jzzhang@mail.xjtu.edu.cn

Assessing the Energy Metabolism of Urban Systems: A Comparison of Napoli and Hong Kong Through the MuSIASEM Approach

Journal of Environmental Accounting and Management 7(2) (2019) 185--196 | DOI:10.5890/JEAM.2019.06.005

Renato F. Rallo, Amalia Zucaro

Department of Science and Technology, Parthenope University, Napoli, Italy

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Abstract

Urbanization, that is the expansion of cities and the emptying of the countryside, has been the trend of the last decades and does not seem to stop. In light of this phenomenon, quantitatively analyzing cities through shared and standardized methods has become a scientific urgency. Nevertheless, the efforts made so far have proved to be insufficient, and a science of cities is still far from being constituted. In this paper we present a first attempt to evaluate the energy metabolism of Napoli and Hong Kong through the Multi-Scale Integrated Analysis of Societal and EcosystemMetabolism (MuSIASEM) and its End-Use Matrix, that is connecting produced and consumed flows to their users. The comparative analysis provides interesting results and potentially allows for useful policy recommendations.

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support received from the EU Project ‘EUFORIE - European Futures for Energy Efficiency’, funded under H2020-EU.3.3.6. - Robust decision making and public engagement. Authors would also like to thank Maria Iaccarino, from the Sustainable Development Office Bureau at the Municipality of Napoli, and the Planning Department of Hong Kong, for their kind help in supplying data.

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