Materials Count The Case for Material Flows Analysis (2004) / Chapter Skim
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7 Research Challenges for Material Flows Accounting
7 Research Challenges for Material Flows Accounting
Pages 83-92
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program focusing on the need for "environmental synthesis to frame integrated interdisciplinary research questions and activities and to merge data, approaches, and ideas across spatial, temporal, and societal scales" (NSF Advisory Committee for Environmental Research and Education, 2003~. The most common and simplest material flows analysis is one performed for a single geographical region, for a single material, and at a specific point in time, for example, the amount of steel entering the United States in one year.
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SPATIALLY DISCRETE MATERIAL FLOWS ACCOUNTS A spatially discrete material flows account is one that quantifies stocks and/or flows for a specific geographic area and also locates those stocks and/or flows at specific spatial locations within the area. Most current material flows accounts refer to a specific geographical area (usually a country)
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MATERIAL FLOWS ACCOUNTS OF LINKED SYSTEMS A substantial complexity in material cycle analyses arises if two or more cycles are closely coupled that is, if a change in stocks or flows, for example, in the cycle of one chemical species significantly influences the cycle of another. In such cases, accounting approaches that treat the cycles as completely independent will not capture the complexity of the actual situation.
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DYNAMIC MATERIAL FLOWS ACCOUNTING Dynamic material flows accounting examines changes in stocks and flows rather than the stocks and flows themselves. Dynamic material flows accounts look to historical information on materials generation and use to study trends over time.
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Environmental, resource, and technology issues clearly intersect at different levels, as when energy use in rural Alabama contributes to the potential for global climate change or when the rate of extraction of metal ores is dramatically changed by population migration to rapidly evolving cities. The stocks and flows project at Yale University has recently completed a contemporary copper cycle on several spatial levels (Graedel et al., 2003)
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The fact that material flows accounts can be constructed for any system also makes them good candidates for comprehensive analysis of linked natural and human systems (e.g., Isard et al., 1972~. The most common type of natural system material flows account has been the type that traces a single element though the various compartments of the system.
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The data collected via these ongoing sites could be integrated into ongoing material flows accounting efforts for natural and human-natural systems to yield significant new insights. Coupling material and energy flows data, including emissions to air, land, and water, with biological and physical information could help focus public policy making on the following key issues, which concern people and governments: (1)
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, the report defined "what should be measured, counted and reported so that decision makers and the public can understand the changes that are occurring in the American landscape." A material flows accounting system would be a significant source of data for the full development of indicators across ecosystems. SUMMARY AND FINDINGS Clearly the research agenda for material flows accounting and material flows analysis is rich and exciting, and further development would likely enhance the traditional materials accounting structure and its related analytical outputs in useful ways.
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The committee concludes that a comprehensive material flows accounting program requires a research component that explores tools and analytical approaches to studying stocks and flows that vary over space and time, that treats multiple organizational levels, and that explores the complexities and benefits of cycles linked by nature, by technology, or by a combination of the two. The committee recommends that relevant government agencies support research related to material flows accounting.
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