Ecological utility analysis of the Australian economic sectors based on embodied energy

The uncontrolled socioeconomic development through substantial consumptions and transfers of materials, energy and other natural resources plays a significant effect on the deterioration of the ecological environment. How to quantify these consumptions and transfers has been a difficult issue and attracted many researchers from various disciplines. The purpose of this research aims to reveal the ecological utility of the Australian economic sectors based on embodied energy. The research commences with the development of embodied energy input–output tables of Australia and then adopts the ecological network analysis (ENA) principles combined with the hypothetical extraction method (HEM) to investigate the interaction of sectoral embodied energy the economic system. A utility value matrix is used to determine the ecological relationship from one sector to another, the degree of mutualism of the entire economic system and its synergism, and the importance of a sector in the economic system. The ecological relationships of all pairs of economic sectors revealed from this research can be used to describe the Australian economic system from the perspective of embodied energy. The long-term development interests of various industries in Australia can be balanced and adjusted according to the positive and negative ecological relationship. The influence of the specific structure on the industry is measured by the connectivity and diversity of the energy network.