Emergetic analysis and experience of its use for the assessment of anthropogenic and natural systems

The article deals with the issues of foundations and development of emergetic analysis (EMAN), the conceptual framework and methods for calculating the main emergetic indicators. An "emergy" is the amount of exergy of one type that is directly or indirectly necessary to maintain a process or store energy of another type or substance. As the system becomes more complex, the amount of energy contained in the object (service) decreases, and the degree of its transformation increases. The emergy is measured in solar units, which can be estimated using three different emergy units – the degree of transformation, specific emergy and emergy of the monetary unit. In published Russian-language works, the term "transformation" is used as the equivalent of the English term transformity. More adequate is the term "degree of transformation", which combines transformation, specific emergy and emergy of money. G. Odum's approach to the assessment of enterprises for the protection of the environment from pollution is based on the understanding of wastewater as a highly valuable resource. But, in the absence of cost-effective technologies for returning waste to production cycles, wastewater, for example, is now mostly neutralized, rather than disposed of. The purpose of the creation and operation of sewage treatment plants is currently to reduce environmental pollution. A number of researchers (Vassalo, Zuo, Chen) include ecosystem expenses for neutralizing the negative impact of the generated waste in the emergetic cost of operating a conservation facility. Polyakova and Semenov proposed an emergetic index for assessing the environmental efficiency of nature protection enterprises, which characterizes a reduction (increase) of the load on the biosphere due to the creation and operation of sewage treatment plants. In the methodology of emergetic analysis, there is no assessment of some ecosystems by others. Therefore, further development of the analysis should include the development of a special apparatus for such an assessment.