Public Societal Infrastructure and Methodology

This sector is highly diverse as it contains all structures and activities involved in establishing a society in a given region. This spans from an institutional level, that is structures and activities carried out by the municipality, to structures and activities established by and carried out the citizens. Thus, the word public refers more to common facilities and is used in the sense of Habermas (Habermas, 1992, original publication in German 1962).

The public sector is subdivided according to the same principles as given in section З.6.1.1. The terms applied to symbolize stocks, in- and outflows, energy vs. matter, renewable vs. non-renewable within the energy sector are designated by the terms listed in the following section.

Public Infrastructure and Work Energies

According to the basics layout given in Chapter 2, the energies of the public sector are divided into energy- and matter-bound energies and further divided into sustainable vs. non-sustainable components.

The Stocks:

Renewable Energy-Bound Exergy Stocks—REBES_PUBL Non-Renewable Energy-Bound Exergy Stocks—NEBES_PUBL Renewable Matter-Bound Exergy Stocks—RMBES_PUBL Non-Renewable Matter-Bound Exergy Stocks—NMBES_PUBL

The Inflows:

Renewable Energy-Bound Exergy Inputs—REBEI_PUBL Non-Renewable Energy-Bound Exergy Inputs—NEBEI_PUBL Renewable Matter-Bound Exergy Inputs—RMBEI_PUBL Non-Renewable Matter-Bound Exergy Inputs—NMBEI_PUBL

The Outflows:

Renewable Energy-Bound Exergy Outputs—REBEO_PUBL Non-Renewable Energy-Bound Exergy Outputs—NEBEO_PUBL Renewable Matter-Bound Exergy Outputs—RMBEO_PUBL Non-Renewable Matter-Bound Exergy Outputs—NMBEO_PUBL

In the following sections, an attempt is made to divide the structures and activities belonging to the public sector into the three respective groups, with a discussion as to whether they play an important role or whether they can be identified or defined at all.

Stocks Work Energy of Public Infrastructure

This section deals mainly with the amount of work energy contained in the infrastructure of the municipality.

a. Renewable Energy-Bound Exergy Stocks (REBES_PUBL)

Currently no permanent storage facilities exist (see Section 3.6.1.2).

b. Non-Renewable Energy-Bound Exergy Stocks (NEBES_PUBL)

The amount of non-renewable work energy stored is limited to the amounts of coal, oil and so on in the storage facilities in buildings owned by the municipality.

c. Renewable Matter-Bound Exergy Stocks (RMBES_PUBL)

The amount of work energy in buildings owned by the municipality or by citizens may be grouped here.

The stock may be calculated from information about the area of the buildings involved and their relative material composition and work energy content as discussed in Section 6 in this chapter:

d. Non-Renewable Matter-Bound Exergy Stocks (NMBES_PUBL)

The major stocks owned by the municipality and bound up in matter is the asphalt/bitumen products of tarmac roads. This has been estimated by the length of paved roads from the GIS maps of the municipality multiplied by an assumed average width of the roads.

No other significant stocks in this category have been identified, although minor storage of materials containing finite elements can occur in the storage facilities of the municipality; this is not likely to play a minor role.

Inflows of Work Energy to Public Infrastructure

A variety of inflows are needed to supply the public infrastructure with the work energies used to run the society. These may range from the erection of new structures or replacement of existing ones to the energies needed to run equipment, such as vehicles.

e. Renewable Energy-Bound Exergy Inputs (REBEI_PUBL)

If the energy supplied as electricity is mainly produced by wind turbines, the amount supplied is recorded here. Otherwise, it should be placed in the next grouping.

f. Non-Renewable Energy-Bound Exergy Inputs (NEBEI_PUBL)

Energy used by public or common ownership facilities for instance for running their heating systems by means of fossil fuels should be recorded here.

Likewise, vehicles owned by the municipality and running on gasoline and diesel fall in this group.

g. Renewable Matter-Bound Exergy Inputs (RMBEI_PUBL)

In principle, food entering the canteens and kitchens of retirement homes, kindergartens, schools and hospitals should be entered here.

The overall consumption of food by citizens was considered under private households so this flow is likely to have been included and accounted for there.

h. Non-Renewable Matter-Bound Exergy Inputs (NMBE1_PUBL)

All materials entering the public infrastructure for new construction or repairs should be entered here. As construction of new structures in the society is a very discontinuous process, the importance of this input is highly variable between years and is difficult to estimate.

Estimation of the replacement of existing structures can be based on rough estimates; for instance, for repair or remodelling of buildings and for bitumen for roads, a replacement rate of 1% is assumed.

Outflows of Work Energy from Public Infrastructure

Many components leave our society. Many of them are easy to comprehend because they are visible, for example solid wastes from our everyday consumption or the outflow of a wastewater treatment plant. Many others are not visible: this includes all the energy dissipation occurring in all our activities. Every time a unit of work energy is used it is usually also lost to our society.

i. Renewable Energy-Bound Exergy Outputs (REBEO_PUBL)

Work energy of this kind may be exported from the system if the energy production exceeds the local consumption. The values used in this study are all derived from the Samso energy budget elaborated by PlanEnergi.

j. Non-Renewable Energy-Bound Exergy Outputs (NEBEO_PUBL)

This will depend on the local production and export of coal, oil and gas, but the major part will be the amount of work energy broken down in the various processes.

It seems a valid assumption that all inputs of work energies are also reflected in a downgrading of the work energy content to approximately zero. Thus, many of the import values taken from PlanEnergi may also be taken as outputs of this kind.

k. Renewable Matter-Bound Exergy Outputs (RMBEO_PUBL)

Exported renewable raw materials under municipal or other public ownership would belong to this group. In the Samso study, only a part of the waste export—the organic fraction—would be considered here.

l. Non-Renewable Matter-Bound Exergy Outputs (NMBEO_PUBL)

The rest of the waste exported, burned or deposited and consisting mostly of non-renewable resources should be recorded here.

Private Households and Methodology

The people on the island have their own private lives—a sphere that partly builds on the infrastructure and facilities made available by the public authorities but also demands the establishment of additional structures such as housing facilities and the equipment needed to meet the requirements of everyday life.

The facilities have lifetimes that vary considerably, ranging from the lifetimes of houses, cars or other vehicles, kitchens with domestic appliances, electronic equipment, food and "short-lived consumable goods".

Unfortunately, many of the possible stocks and flows are difficult to account for since no data are readily available, and if they are, the consumption estimates have been accounted for in terms of money.

Energy and Private Households

The private household sector is subdivided using the same principles as given in Section З.6.1.1. The terms applied to symbolize stocks, in- and outflows, energy vs. matter, renewables vs. non-renewables within the energy sector are designated as follows:

The Stocks:

Renewable Energy-Bound Exergy Stocks—REBES_PRIV Non-Renewable Energy-Bound Exergy Stocks—NEBES_PRIV Renewable Matter-Bound Exergy Stocks—RMBES_PRIV Non-Renewable Matter-Bound Exergy Stocks—NMBES_PRIV

The Inflows:

Renewable Energy-Bound Exergy Inputs—REBEI_PRIV Non-Renewable Energy-Bound Exergy Inputs—NEBEI_PRIV Renewable Matter-Bound Exergy Inputs—RMBEI_PRIV Non-Renewable Matter-Bound Exergy Inputs—NMBEI_PRIV

The Outflows:

Renewable Energy-Bound Exergy Outputs—REBEO_PRIV Non-Renewable Energy-Bound Exergy Outputs—NEBEO_PRIV Renewable Matter-Bound Exergy Outputs—RMBEO_PRIV Non-Renewable Matter-Bound Exergy Outputs—NMBEO_PRIV

Stocks of Work Energy in Private Households

As mentioned earlier, the stocks of private households are highly variable, and most likely the stock proper is dominated by the housing units themselves.

a. Renewable Energy-Bound Exergy Stocks (REBES_PRIV)

These are treated similarly to those in Section 3.6.2.2.

b. Non-Renewable Energy-Bound Exergy Stocks (NEBES_PRIV)

Houses using fossil-fuel-based systems for heating will possess such a stock that may vary a lot over time. Probably when considered over an entire year this storage can be assumed to be held at a minimum level.

c. Renewable Matter-Bound Exergy Stocks (RMBES_PRIV)

According to the values given earlier, much of the structure of the house appears to be renewable: this applies to the stones, bricks, cement and wood and so on. Here we ignore the fact that the production of cement is rather expensive in terms of work energy, taking the view that the material—in principle—is recyclable.

The figure may be calculated as for the public facilities (see Section 3.3.6.2):

where the sector is composed of i types of buildings, with each building type occupying a standardized area and being composed of a standardized mixture of compounds (see Sections 3.2-3.4).

d. Non-Renewable Matter-Bound Exergy Stocks (NMBES_PRIV)

The products entering the house in the form of electrical machinery and other electronic facilities are recorded here. Again, the time scale differs considerably, as some fractions exist on the time-scale of the house while others have a turn-over time much more dependent on the arrival of new technology: radio and television, PCs, mobile phones, tools and kitchen equipment, to mention but a few major items.

Calculation of many of the preceding fractions is limited by lack of data or data that are available only in the form of monetary consumption.

Inflows of Work Energy to Private Households

Inflows are needed in order to sustain everyday life—but some inflows are more important than others, food and clothes for example, in addition to the housing facilities (already covered in the previous section).

e. Renewable Energy-Bound Exergy Inputs (REBEI_PRIV)

The electricity consumed, when provided by wind turbines (municipal or private), photovoltaics or photo-thermal installations must be considered in this group.

f. Non-Renewable Energy-Bound Exergy Inputs (NEBEI_PRIV)

The amount of work energy necessary to heat houses by use of coal, oil and gas (except biogas) is accounted for here.

g. Renewable Matter-Bound Exergy Inputs (RMBE1_PRIV)

Maintenance is an issue here and the need for this input may be estimated as earlier by multiplying a replacement or repair rate with the work energy of the housing facilities.

One of the major items is food and clothes consumed as they are all mostly derived more or less directly from biomass.

h. Non-Renewable Matter-Bound Exergy Inputs (NMBEI_PRIV)

Most other inputs to the stocks mentioned earlier are of a non-sustainable kind, including cars and metals in kitchen utilities or in electronic equipment.

The increasing consumption and the gradual increase in material stocks poses an emerging problem as items stay here until they eventually leave as waste to be recovered or deposited.

Outflows of Work Energy from Private Households

Most of the energy or matter consumed from private households ends up as dissipations (lost work energy) or solid wastes.

i. Renewable Energy-Bound Exergy Outputs (REBEO_PRIV)

In principle, houses producing electricity in excess of their own consumption should be accounted for in this group.

So far, no data for this have been identified, and it is assumed that in this case study such energy production (from photovoltaics or small "domestic" wind turbines) was of little or no importance in 2011.

j. Non-Renewable Energy-Bound Exergy Outputs (NEBEO_PRIV)

None identified in this case study.

k. Renewable Matter-Bound Exergy Outputs (RMBEO_PRIV)

If organic materials are sorted and exported in a separate fraction to be used, for instance, in the production of biofuels or composting this activity would clearly belong to this group.

l. Non-Renewable Matter-Bound Exergy Outputs (NMBEO_PRIV)

While most wastes are sorted on the island some fractions are exported, mainly to other municipalities and waste treatment facilities in Jutland.