Advances of Footprint Family for Sustainable Energy and Industrial Systems

Book excerpt: This book presents various methodologies for determining the ecological footprint, carbon footprint, water footprint, nitrogen footprint, and life cycle environment impacts and illustrates these methodologies through various applications. In particular, it systematically and comprehensively introduces the concepts and tools of the ‘footprint family’ and discusses their applications in energy and industrial systems. The book begins by providing an overview of the effects of the economic growth dynamics on ecological footprint and then presents the definitions, concepts, calculation methods, and applications of the various footprints. The unique characteristic of this book is that it demonstrates the applications of various footprints in different systems including economic system, ecological system, beef production system, cropping system, building, food chain, sugarcane bioproducts, and the Belt and Road Initiative. Providing both background theory and practical advice, the book is of interest to energy and environmental researchers, graduate students, and engineers.