Emergy evaluation of the sustainability of Chinese steel production during 1998-2004

This paper deals with the application of eMergy analysis to the sustainability of Chinese steel production in 1998-2004. Emissions' impacts were quantified using eMergy synthesis and other methods (dilution method, disability adjusted life years (DALY) method and ecological cumulative exergy consumption (ECEC) method). The results show that its sustainability is very low and declining in this period, emissions obviously reduce the sustainability although their impacts are generally decreasing, and the main reasons lie in its low nonrenewable resources and energies' efficiencies. Finally, the related suggestions were put forward for improving its comprehensive performance. Crown Copyright (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.