Integrated Environmental Assessment of Metal Industry in Taiwan
Date Issued
2014
Date
2014
Author(s)
Hsiao, Yu-Chen
Abstract
Will the country be able to sustain economic growth without making environmental pressures? That’s the only question we want to ask and respond to. Therefore, the objective of this thesis is to find out any possibility that economic growth and the environmental pressures could be decoupled. In our country, the consumption and production from the major industries play an important role in the domestic and foreign region, and also in the economy or environment. The metal industry is exactly one of those major industries, which are engergy intensive, material intensive, highly pollutoin, and high industrial linkage in economy and environment. To consider the ”decoupling”, it is necessary to investigate the metal industry, including sectors of iron and steel primary products, miscellaneous metals, fabricated metal products, mechanical equipment, crude steel and aluminum ingot, from the consumption and production perspective in Taiwan.
This study used Integrated Environmental Assessment Model for Metal Industry in Taiwan (TWMIEA) as a tool to analyze of the consumption and production from metal industry and other metal-related industries. This tool is based on Input-Output Tables in 2006 and Integrated Environmental Assessment Model for Public Policy in Taiwan (TWIEA) developed by (Chao, 2013). TWMIEA are somehow different from TWIEA. First, TWMIEA does not take the environmental impacts from using stage into consideration, because this study focuses on the stage of consumption and production. Second, this study establishes the hybrid multi-region metal inventory analysis model, because of its character. Third, this study only considers the environmental impacts which are relevant with metal industry, and then, use TWMIEA to analyze metal industry in the consumption and production perspective in Taiwan.
This thesis evaluates environmental impacts, including human health, eco-quality, climate change, and water resource, in all kinds of final demand related with metal industry. The highest impacts caused by consumption is mostly by export and a little by capital formation. Fursermore, the management of consumption should be focused on construction and metal industry, especially sectors of iron and steel primary products, fabricated metal products, and mechanical equipment. On the contrary, the main impacts from production is caused by other metal-related industries in various environmental impacts. As for impact of human health, the sectors of Other Land Transportation (TW), iron and steel primary products (TW), Minerals (Foreign), crude steel (TW) and Materials Recovery (TW) are important sectors in the metal related industriesin the impact. For the eco-quality, the main impact is caused by minerals (Foreign) and ferrous metals (USA&EU) sectors. For climate change, the sectors of crude steel (TW), electricity (Foreign), coal-fired power plant (TW), and ferrous metals (Foreign) are the major environmental pressures. For the water resource, sector of Oil (middleeast) caused massive environmental pressure of water resource. Except to major sectors in each environmental impacts, the result shows another issue that Taiwan makes the consumption, but foreign countries suffer from these consumptions.
As a result, this study emphasizes on consumption and production from a whole life cycle perspective. Although those two perspectives have different target of management, it still affects each other in the same life cycle. If we want to reach the goal of decoupling, it is necessary to manege the highly economic growth and environmental pressures industries like metal industry either in the consumption or production perspective.
Subjects
永續生產與消費
脫鉤
金屬產業
混合型投入產出盤查分析
生命週期評估
Type
thesis
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