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Energy and Emission Accounts
Subregional Training Workshop on Environmental Statistics, May 2000, Bangkok
Prepared by the Australian Bureau of Statistics
1. What are energy and emission accounts?
An energy account provides detailed physical information on energy resources,production, conversion and consumption. Having a good set of energy accountsfacilitates the development of a reliable set of air emission flow accounts. These canthen be used in conjunction with corresponding monetary data.The environmental accounting framework allows for a consistent relationship betweenenergy and emissions to be derived. This enables further analysis of the economy-environment relationship.The use of energy is of critical importance for the economic process because nearlyevery economic activity (production, consumption, etc) is connected either directly orindirectly with the consumption of energy. Energy accounts provide answers to simplequestions such as:
•
What is the level of direct energy consumption of industries (regarding theirproduction) and of private households (regarding their consumption)?
•
How energy intensive are particular industries (energy use compared to output) andhow is this changing? This shows the macro level impacts of new technologies andof eco-efficiency measures and behavioural changes.The energy accounts can also provide the basis for the part of the emissions flowaccounts which are related to energy use. Many countries have now signed the KyotoProtocol and this requires the monitoring of greenhouse gas emissions in order todevelop and evaluate policies associated with, and progress towards, emissiontargets. For some pollutants, like CH
4
or N
2
O, the major part of the total emissions arenot related to energy use. Emissions accounts thus be supplemented with other data togive the full picture for all greenhouse gases.
2. Stock accounts for energy
An energy stock account can be developed in the environmental or economic sphere.In the economic sector a stock account for energy would measure the levels of energyrelated commodities. The following discussion deals only with the environment sector inwhich the stock account for energy demonstrates the level or amount of a primaryenergy resource in physical units at a point in time. The SEEA stock framework inSEEA consists of an opening stock level, ending with a closing stock level, andpresents quantified reasons for the change between the two levels. Energy resourcescomprise of:
•
mineral resources (eg black coal, brown coal and uranium); and
•
petroleum resources (eg oil, condensate, gas and LPG).
 
2
 
2.1 Stock table framework
Similar concepts exist between the minerals and energy accounts in terms of definingresources. In Australia the Bureau of Resource Sciences (BRS) uses an adaptedMcKelvey Box (figure 1) as the basis of classifying mineral resources and reserves. Themain features of the McKelvey Box is a cross-classification of subsoil assets accordingto two characteristics:
•
the degree of geological assurance (horizontal axis); and
•
the degree of economic feasibility of reserves (vertical axis).
 2.1.1 Degree of geological assurance
The degree of geological assurance categorises resources as: undiscovered; oridentified (measured, indicated or inferred).
 
A particular commodity may change froman undiscovered to identified (discovered) resource as a result of exploration anddevelopment, and/or technological improvements.
2.1.2 Degree of economic feasibility of reserves
The degree of economic feasibility splits subsoil assets into economic and sub-economic resources according to current economic and technological conditions.The category of inferred resources is not used in reference to petroleum resources(see figure 2). Inferred relates to known resources that have a low degree of geologicalassurance of their existence. Undiscovered resources refer to what may be discoveredin an area, independent of there being a known accumulation of the resource.Undiscovered petroleum resources have a lower geological assurance, and arepresented with an associated probability.
Figure 1. McKelvey Box as adapted by BRS
Decreasing degree of geological assurance
IdentifiedUndiscovered
DemonstratedInferredHypotheticalSpeculativeMeasuredIndicated
EconomicEconomicDemonstrated Resources
Decreasingdegree of
Sub-
Para-marginal
Sub-economic
economicfeasibility
Economic
Sub-marginal
Demonstrated Resources
 
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2.2 Australian examples
Tables 1 to 3 demonstrate the framework which will be used in the upcoming edition ofthe Energy Account for Australia. Resources are defined as:
•
economically exploitable deposits are known as EDR;
•
known mineral assets that are not economically exploitable are known as sub-economic demonstrated resources SDR; and
•
inferred resources IFR; and
•
undiscovered resources (i.e. what may be discovered in an area).
EDR-
those resources with a very high degree of geological assurance and for whichextraction is expected to be profitable at the price and technology prevailing at the timeof assessment.
SDR-
those resources with a very high degree of geological assurance but for whichextraction is not expected to be profitable over the life of the mine due to highproduction costs relative to the prevailing commodity price.
IFR-
resources for which quantitative estimates are based largely on broad knowledgeof the geological character of the deposits and for which there are few, if any samplesor measurements.Other volume changes (OVC) tables were compiled to show resource changes throughtime. Other volume changes (OVC) can be split into a number of categories describethe reasons for change for mineral and petroleum resources. This reflects the differentdata sources used to derive resource estimates.There are six OVC categories for mineral resources:
•
production;
•
discoveries;
Figure 2. McKelvey Box adapted for petroleum resources
Decreasing degree of geological assurance
IdentifiedUndiscovered
DemonstratedInferred
Economic95%probabilityaverageestimate5%probability
Decreasingdegree of
Sub-
economicfeasibility
Economic
of 00

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