Energy and resource basis of an Italian coastal resort region integrated using emergy synthesis

Journal of Environmental Management 91 (2009) 277–289

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Energy and resource basis of an Italian coastal resort region integrated using emergy synthesis Paolo Vassallo a, *, Chiara Paoli a, David R. Tilley b, Mauro Fabiano a a b

Department for the Study of Territory and its Resources, University of Genoa, C.so Europa 26, 16132 Genoa, Italy Department of Environmental Science and Technology, University of Maryland, 1421 An Sci./Ag. Engr. Bldg., College Park, MD 20742, USA

a r t i c l e i n f o

a b s t r a c t

Article history: Received 2 September 2008 Received in revised form 6 August 2009 Accepted 31 August 2009 Available online 24 September 2009

Sustainable development of coastal zones must balance economic development that encourages human visitation from a larger population with desires that differ from the local residents with the need to maintain opportunities for the local resident society and conserve ecological capital, which may serve as the basis for residents. We present a case study in which the sustainability level of a coastal zone (Riviera del Beigua), located along the Ligurian coast of north-western Italy, was assessed through the lens of systems ecology using emergy synthesis to integrate across economic, social and environmental sub-systems. Our purposes were (1) to quantify the environmental sustainability level of this coastal zone, (2) to evaluate the role of tourism in affecting the economy, society and environment, and (3) to compare emergy synthesis to Butler’s Tourism Area Life Cycle model (TALC). Results showed that 81% of the total emergy consumption in the coastal zone was derived from external sources, indicating that this touristheavy community was not sustainable. Tourism, as the dominant economic sub-system, consumed 42% of the total emergy budget, while local residents used the remaining 58%. The progressive stages of the TALC model were found to parallel the dynamic changes in the ratio of external emergy inputs to local emergy inputs, suggesting that emergy synthesis could be a useful tool for detecting a tourist region’s TALC stage. Use of such a quantitative tool could expedite sustainability assessment to allow administrative managers to understand the complex relationship between a region’s economy, environment and resident society so sound policies can be developed to improve overall sustainability. Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Sustainability assessment Riviera del Beigua Tourism Ligurian Sea TALC Butler Equity Emergy

1. Introduction Coastal zone management is an urgent issue of interest to industrialized and developing countries around the globe. The direct and indirect environmental and social impacts of tourism on coastal zones are of particular interest due to their economic and social benefits. These impacts are in part derived from increased human habitation, expanded recreational structures, beach erosion, and more air, land and water pollution. Often, the coast is subjected to a high concentration of anthropic pressures, which causes socioeconomic development problems. For example, high rates of tourism can mean high levels of urbanization which alter land use and compromise the ecological balance of land and sea based ecosystems (Lomas et al., 2008). On the other hand, tourism plays a fundamental role in driving the coastal economy, especially for Mediterranean

* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ39 010 3538069; fax: þ39 010 3538066. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (P. Vassallo), [email protected] (C. Paoli), [email protected] (D.R. Tilley), [email protected] (M. Fabiano). 0301-4797/$ – see front matter Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2009.08.017

countries. Thus, there are competing interests of economic development, ecological conservation, and social opportunities. Too much economic development increases the risks of exceeding the limits of the coastal ecosystems and local population to withstand drastic transformation. When sustainability is a goal of coastal zone management, all three aspects (i.e. economy, society and environment) must be evaluated and balanced in relation to their ability to drive and maintain the integrated coastal system over a long period of time (Cicin-Sain, 1993). In the 1980s H.T. Odum introduced the emergy synthesis method which takes a holistic and quantitative view of what is required to operate a human-nature system (i.e. one that includes people’s economic production and nature’s ecological production). It solves the problem of multiple types of inputs derived from economic, social and environmental systems by transforming each input to the ultimate amount of solar energy required for its existence. Emergy synthesis provides, not only a reliable evaluation of a system’s or region’s performance, but a comparison of the system’s or region’s performance in relation to other systems or regions (Lei and Wang, 2008). Moreover, emergy synthesis allows for the comparison of the

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different contributions made by the environment, society and economy using a single quantitative metric. This integrative method enables a decision-maker to see the relative importance of each system driver (i.e. how much economic production was there relative to ecological production?). 1.1. Emergy synthesis Emergy is defined as the ultimate amount of energy of one type that was required to make another type of energy (Odum, 1996). When dealing with the biosphere and environmental systems the convention in emergy synthesis has been to determine the ultimate amount of solar energy embodied in each type of energy, material or currency used to operate the system of interest. Thus, emergy synthesis has the unique ability to place all of the inputs necessary to operate a human-nature system on a single quantitative basis. Regardless of whether a key system driver is commonly measured in energy, mass or money, emergy synthesis can convert all to their ultimate amount of solar energy. Thus, the valuation of environmental inputs that are usually regarded as free in economic analysis can be compared with inputs measured in money. Emergy synthesis is performed by converting the energy, mass or monied-value of the different inputs required directly or indirectly to make a good to the ultimate amount of solar energy required for their generation, which is called solar emergy Joules (sej) (Odum, 1988a). Solar energy is used as the base form of energy because it is the most important energy involved in all biogeochemical processes of the earth (Brown and Herendeen, 1996). In emergy synthesis the solar emergy required per unit energy produced (sej/J) is defined as the solar transformity, which becomes a measurement of where an energy form falls in the globe’s energy hierarchy (Odum, 1988a,b), but more importantly can be used to ease computations in emergy synthesis. That is, multiplying a form of energy by its most probable solar transformity provides the best estimate of its solar emergy. From a practical standpoint computation of the solar emergy of a system input cannot always be easily determined based on its energy flow. In some cases it is easier, computationally, to account for the solar emergy of a resource input based on its mass or money flow. In these cases inputs quantified in money are multiplied by the mean ratio of solar emergy flow to dollar-denominated economic activity (sej/V) and those quantified in mass are multiplied by their specific emergy (sej/g).

the ecological integrity, structure, and function of ecosystems across multiple generations, balancing the needs of today with the needs of the future. Their idea was based on principles developed in the field of general systems theory (Odum, 1971; Von Bertalanffy, 1968), which states that a sub-system must contribute to its larger system (e.g. economy, society) in an amount commensurate with parallel sub-systems and in proportion to the feedback it receives from the larger system of which it is a part, if it is to remain a viable component of the system. If, due to non-use or extremely low intensity use, a system provides little value to its larger system, it increases the risk that the larger system will consider it to have little value and discard it (Region 1 in Fig. 1). On the other hand, highly intensive use will likely degrade the ecosystem’s structure and function, affecting its ability to perform satisfactorily in the future (Region 3 in Fig. 1). Sustainable management aims to be in Region 2 of Fig. 1 where development intensity is neither too low nor too high (Tilley and Swank, 2003). In other words, sustainable management cannot only be concerned with minimizing the intensity of resource use; it is a balancing act between low intensity use and high intensity use; the former conserves local ecological integrity, while the latter diminishes the risk of being banished from the larger system (Fig. 1). Taking these appraisals into account, it becomes clear that, as far as concerns coastal zones, the real challenge resides in finding the development intensity that is sustainable. In fact coastal zone management is nowadays approached as a dynamic process aiming at a development regulation able to manage human activities preventing damages both to environmental and economic resources (Clark, 1994). This consists in ensuring optimum sustainable use of coastal natural resources but also in aiming at tangible objectives as, for example, supporting fisheries or attracting tourists. Troubles in pursuing these targets may arise when stakeholders interested in coastal zones have different and often competing goals. The limited coastal space, relatively high population densities, diverse marine and terrestrial habitats in close proximity, and the many economic and social interests all increase the potential for conflicts over coastal space and resources (Suman, 2001). Consequently, coastal zone managers must attempt to achieve equity among competing users. That is, they must satisfy the multiple demands of the larger public who want to use the coastal zone for beach sun-bathing, marinas, wild and farmed fishing, or other recreational desires. Emergy synthesis, by measuring the

1.2. Sustainability and equity Emergy considers a system with larger boundaries and realizes the environmental inventory together with the evaluation of the human impact on them (Siche et al., 2007). This inventory includes the sorting of fluxes according to their origin and/or renewability. That is, emergy allows evaluating the quantity and quality of resources employed in a process (Vassallo et al., 2006) and this is why we could refer to it as an environmental sustainability indicator. In fact, the greater the emergy flow necessary to sustain a process, the greater the quantity of solar energy consumed or, in other words, the greater the environmental cost (Bastianoni et al., 2001). Moreover, in Daly’s (1990) perspective a process is sustainable only if the resources consumed are used at a rate that does not exceed the rate at which they are renewed. As a consequence one gauge of system sustainability is its ability to support itself for an extended period of time. Long term sustainability means to rely solely upon indigenous, renewable energy sources (Tilley, 1999). In this context, Tilley and Swank (2003) offered a systems-based definition of sustainability. Although this definition was pertinent to ecosystem management, it can also deal with human influenced systems. They wrote that ecosystem sustainability is about securing

Fig. 1. Likelihood of achieving sustainability is highest when the intensity of land use is intermediate (based on Tilley and Swank, 2003).

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relative value of coastal zone amenities and services in common units, can measure how well equity of use is achieved. 1.2.1. Tourism sustainability Tourism development is adding to the already existing pressures in coastal areas. One particular problem is that population densities increase drastically during peak tourist seasons. In the Mediterranean, densities increase by 765% in Monaco, 383% in Malta, 207% in France, and 157% in Italy. Negative impacts of tourism development in coastal areas include degradation of water quality, land pollution caused by inappropriate disposal of solid waste, marine pollution caused by discharges of untreated waste water, loss of space that could be used for other productive activities, biodiversity degradation, loss of habitats, coastal erosion caused by the construction of inappropriate marine structures and increased urbanization. Many negative social impacts are evident too (Trumbic, 2005). Socio-ecological tourism-based systems are usually described through Butler’s life cycle of resorts (Butler, 1980). Butler’s theory, also called Tourism Area Life Cycle (TALC), states that the economy of resort regions follows a life cycle characterized by some fixed and alternative stages. Fixed phases are: exploration, involvement, development, consolidation and stagnation. These are followed by two alternative phases namely decline or rejuvenation. During the exploration stage, tourism facilities do not exist and tourists have to share them with residents. This condition makes contacts with local people frequent and likely positive even if the economic return to the region from tourism is insignificant. In the involvement stage, locals are more and more involved in the provision of tourism facilities as the popularity of the area increases. Residents advertise to attract visitors and their lives are affected by tourism. New tourism infrastructures such as transport and local amenities are constructed. A tourism ‘‘season’’ starts to develop. The next stage is called the development stage, during which local ownership and control declines and is superseded by externally owned and controlled facilities. It implies a leakage of money to people outside the area. At the same time, local attractions are marketed specifically, but these are also supplemented more and more by artificial attractions. The landscape starts to change, particularly in terms of new development and buildings. At this stage conflicts between tourists and residents start to arise. During peak periods, the number of tourists may start to exceed the local population and the use of imported labour will commence. During consolidation stage the rate of increase in visitor numbers declines even if the total number of visitors exceeds local residents. The bulk of the economy is tied to tourism. Despite the reliance on tourism, a significant proportion of local people during this stage resent tourists. The industry responds to the decline in the growth rate by efforts to extend the tourism season and market area. Butler’s (1980, 2006) fifth stage, known as the stagnation stage, is when peak visitor number has been reached and capacity levels are exceeded for many variables resulting in environmental, social and economic problems. The region is well known and well established, but no longer fashionable. As a result, there will be some diversification into conventions and conferences tourism and manufactured attractions start to outnumber the natural and cultural attractions. During this stage the type of tourists will change to the organized mass tourism market. In the final stage, the area can either decline or be rejuvenated. In the decline stage people do not wish to holiday in the area and use the region for day trips; previously tourism related structures get converted to nontourism uses as the economy switches to other areas. Local people

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become customers because they are able to buy in at very depressed prices and tourism attractions also attract permanent residents. In the end, the tourism industry offers a very low level of facilities or dies completely. Instead of the decline stage, it is possible that the region go through a process of rejuvenation. This requires a turn in resort’s attractions. Butler (1980, 2006) described two ways for the achievement of rejuvenation: first using manmade attractions (elite-type tourism) and second taking advantage of previously untapped natural resources (eco-tourism). Some authors suggested that the renewal phase could follow the decline in a Holling’s cycle perspective. They named this phase reorganization (Petrosillo et al., 2006; Patterson, 2005; Patterson et al., 2007). Since reorganization follows the complete destruction of the previous tourism industry, it represents a brand new exploration stage and then resources fluxes follow the same behavior of first cycle phases. These phases will be tentatively translated in emergy terms taking into account overall tourism emergy amount together with modifications in the balance between local and external fluxes maintaining tourist activities. 1.3. Objectives In general our goal was to quantitatively assess the environmental sustainability of six municipalities, located in Northwestern Italy, representing typical Mediterranean coastal resorts. Our specific aims were: 1) To compare the resource consumption and sustainability of an Italian coastal territory to the nation and two other non-coastal Italian territories using total solar emergy consumption and related indices as metrics of environmental sustainability; 2) For each municipality compare the total resource consumption of tourists to the local residents since national and regional official statistics and reports characterized tourism as one of the main forcing functions driving the Riviera del Beigua economy and activities (Marchello et al., 2006; Colla, 2005; Osservatorio Economico camera di commercio industria artigianato agricoltura di Savona, 2004, 2006); 3) To determine the equity among ecological, economic and social benefits of the tourism sub-system by making a comparison between Butler’s (1980) model and the tourism consumption of total, local and imported resources. 2. Methods 2.1. Study area The present study analyzed six coastal neighboring municipalities: Arenzano, Cogoleto, Varazze, Celle Ligure, Albisola Superiore and Albissola Marina (Fig. 2). They stand along the western coastal zone of the Ligurian region in Italy and compose the so-called Riviera del Beigua. The area well characterizes the Ligurian coast with a very narrow watershed parallel to the coastline. Mountain chains abruptly sloping down squeeze the Riviera del Beigua territory and the steep gradient between mountains and sea produces a rocky coastline with periodic, but rare, beaches. An 8 km strip along the coastline defines the analyzed territory. Since Environmental European Agency (EEA, 2006) stated that the terrestrial portion of the coastal zone is defined by an area extending 10 km landwards from the coastline, the whole Riviera del Beigua territory fully pertains to the coastal area.

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population density on the coastal strip (Touring Club Italiano, 1982). Since then, local economy has become strongly dependent on summertime, domestic, family-oriented and (sun-)bathing tourism thanks to Riviera del Beigua proximity to the most important North-Western Italian cities such as Milan and Turin. Nonetheless, Riviera del Beigua is suffering a continuous decrease in the number of visiting tourists in the last ten years. In a recent study performed by Savona Chamber of Commerce (Colla, 2005) some of the Riviera del Beigua municipalities have been compared with other similar resorts along the Ligurian coast, and they rank among the last in terms of tourists/resident ratio. This is caused by the fact that Riviera del Beigua tourism is mainly characterized by people owning a vacation home (IS.NA.R.T., 2005; Table 1) while arrivals at tourist facilities (i.e. hotels, bed and breakfast and camping) are suffering a continuous decrease in last years (Osservatorio Economico camera di commercio industria artigianato agricoltura di Savona, 2004, 2006). In Table 1 some basic statistics of the six municipalities are reported. Fig. 2. Location of the six municipalities studied in the Riviera del Beigua, Italy.

2.2. Emergy synthesis The six municipalities belong to two Ligurian provinces. Provinces are comparable to counties in the Anglo-Saxon context. They are at the intermediate level between Region and Municipality as organized by the Italian Constitutional Law. Arenzano and Cogoleto municipalities pertain to the Genoa Province, while the other municipalities are in the Savona Province. The two biggest cities of Genoa and Savona are adjacent to the east and the west ends of the Riviera del Beigua, respectively. As a consequence all of the Riviera del Beigua municipalities are highly populated. Even if Riviera del Beigua is not recognized as a whole at the administrative level its municipalities generally behave as a territorial district. A district is a non-administrative unit lying between a province and municipalities aiming at gaining recognition and identity of a local area. A district foresees to increase the efficiency of production and to promote the overall development of the local territory (wherein the territory can be identified with the municipality, the county or the region) (Candela et al., 2005). In this sense Riviera del Beigua is acting as a district since 1991 when the Riviera del Beigua coastal zone was affected by the Haven tanker oil spill (Sandulli et al., 1992). This event induced municipalities to develop a common management policy (i.e. promoting general environmental initiatives, such as ISO 14001 certification and Agenda 21 plans) towards restoration. Riviera del Beigua has undergone an impressive amount of development in the last century. This phenomenon has been mainly driven by the construction of massive infrastructures (commercial harbors, roads and railways) and later by an impressive increase (started in the 1960s) in tourism pressure and

The procedure sketched by Odum (1996) provides that all the resources exploited by the system are conventionally grouped into two types, depending on their origin and/or replacement rate. That is, resources imported from outside the system compose so-called purchased inputs (group F), while the remaining can be further split into renewable local resources (group R) and non-renewable local resources (group N) (Ridolfi et al., 2005). When purchased inputs are greater than renewable plus non-renewable (R þ N), the system is not self-sufficient. Alternatively, a huge consumption of non-renewable resources (N inputs) indicates a strong dependency upon resources that cannot be replaced at the current exploitation rate. A sustainable system will take most of its resources from renewable inputs (R group). A number of different indices can be obtained by the application of emergy synthesis to help assess the energy and resource basis, and sustainability of a system. These tools are able to give synthetic information regarding a more complex phenomenon within a wider sense; they work to make a trend or a process that is not immediately clear more visible and simplify information that is often relative to multiple factors enabling investigators to communicate and compare results (Pulselli et al., 2007). Indices employed in the present study are reported in Table 2 with their matching formulas. Emergy Use per Area is the emergy flow over some unit time into a specific unit area (empower density). It is useful for landscape evaluations of energy concentration. Emergy Use per Area identifies geographical hot spots and compares spatial organization at a landscape scale similar to measures of development density used by city planners.

Table 1 Basic statistics for the six Riviera del Beigua municipalities. Municipality

Area (km2)

Residents number

Pop. Density (pop/km2)

Number of overnight stays of tourists per year In hotels

In vacation home

Arenzano Cogoleto Varazze Celle Alb. sup. Alb. mar.

24.57 20.34 47.97 9.62 29.02 3.20

11,431 9095 13,458 5307 10,921 5623

465.2 447.1 280.6 551.7 376.3 1757.2

131,733 70,420 527,902 154,208 46,529 48,162

883,128 620,521 1,359,599 878,455 511,609 275,975

Tourists/residents ratio

0.24 0.20 0.38 0.53 0.14 0.15

P. Vassallo et al. / Journal of Environmental Management 91 (2009) 277–289 Table 2 Emergy indices employed in this study. Index

Formula

Total emergy [sej/year] Emergy Use per Area [sej/km2/year] Per Resident Emergy use [sej/resident/year] Percent renewable Environmental loading ratio Emergy investment ratio

U¼RþNþF U/area U/residents R/(R þ N þ F)  100 ELR ¼ (N þ F)/R ELR ¼ F/(R þ N)

Per Resident Emergy use is defined as the amount of emergy available for each resident. A high ratio indicates higher standard of living, but not necessarily a more developed area. Percent renewable is defined as the fraction of total emergy used derived from renewable inputs. It is linked to the stress applied by the system to the environment: the lower the fraction of renewable emergy used, the higher the pressure on the environment and the less sustainable and less self-sufficient a system is. Environmental Loading Ratio (ELR) is given by the ratio of nonrenewable resources (both local and imported) to renewable ones (Pulselli et al., 2008). It measures the accelerated rate of land activities relative to the environmental background and may be considered an indicator of ecosystem stress (Brown and Ulgiati, 1997). Emergy Investment Ratio (EIR) is the emergy purchased and contributed from the economy per unit of emergy contributed free from the environment whether renewable or non-renewable (Odum, 1996). It is useful for comparing how well two or more systems are using purchased emergy. The system with the lower EIR generally offers a better opportunity for investment of purchased inputs (Brown and Ulgiati, 1997). Generally greater values of cited indicators are coupled with lower sustainability levels. The adverse trend is shown by Percent renewable, in fact, in the long run, only processes with high values of this index are sustainable (Brown and Ulgiati, 1997). This means that higher values of this index match with better sustainability conditions. Tables with calculations involved in this study are here reported (Tables 3 and 4). Each item’s energy, mass or money value has been

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obtained from either direct survey or statistical collections. Statistics have been gathered from different sources including: Genoa and Savona Provinces reports and researches (Colla, 2005; Genoa OTA, 2003; Genoa TCP, 2002; IS.NA.R.T., 2005; Osservatorio Economico camera di commercio industria artigianato agricoltura di Savona, 2004, 2006; Savona OTA, 2003; Savona TCP, 2003), Ligurian Region statistics (http://www.regione.liguria.it) or the Italian institute for statistical production (http://www.istat.it). Emergy values for each item have been calculated by means of transformity multiplication; suitable transformities for each item where identified in previously performed studies (Table 3). Detailed calculations for emergy values reported in Tables 3 and 4 are reported in appendix.

3. Results 3.1. Solar emergy flows in a coastal district The diagram in Fig. 3 represents the energy structure and fluxes for a typical Ligurian coastal resort. All the major activities that take place in the coastal resorts were represented in the diagram and were considered in the emergy accountings (Table 3). The sum of all the represented fluxes, counting both renewable and non-renewable resources of the six municipalities, brought to the total emergy required by the Riviera del Beigua during a year (2.22 E21 sej/year). This value is mainly forced by contributions due to goods and services imported from abroad (36% of total emergy), gas and fuels consumption (27% of total emergy) and the renewable contribution of waves energy (16%) (Table 4). The contribution due to local non-renewable resources (Table 4) has irrelevant importance in total emergy budget summing up to 0.006% of total emergy budget. Table 5 compares emergy indices calculated for the Riviera del Beigua with three previous studies performed on the Italian territory: the nation itself (Ulgiati et al., 1994), an Italian coastal province (Pescara) that has a large urban centre with heavy industry (Di Donato et al., 2006) and finally to a small mountain territory (Metauro) that supports a strong tourist industry, but also mining activities (Pulselli et al., 2003).

Table 3 Energy, mass and money fluxes and list of transformities of the six Ligurian coastal municipalities and whole district. Item

Value per year Arenzano Cogoleto Varazze Celle

Sun 15.30 Wind (kinetic energy) 5.04 Rain (chemical potential) 12.20 Rain (geopotential energy) 193.00 Wave 26.00 Tide 10.50 Geothermal heat 23.10 Human labour 6.32 Soil erosion 10.10 Water 16.40 Electricity 1.64 Fuel Gasoline 2.26 Diesel 2.97 Oil and fuels 15.50 Gas 2.83 Import 4.58 Tourism facilities 2.03 Bathing facilities Small marinas 18.60 Beach nourishment 15.00

11.50 3.10 9.60 161.00 16.00 6.49 19.20 3.51 32.90 14.80 1.30

27.90 7.95 18.50 332.00 41.00 16.60 45.20 7.97 80.30 16.50 2.72

1.74 2.30 12.00 2.25 3.64

2.96 3.90 20.30 3.33 10.30

1.29 1.70 8.88 1.31 4.06

2.22 0.00 9.21

6.29 71.00 23.60

3.88 8.00 12.00

Units

Transformity (sej/unit) Transformity Reference

Alb Sup Alb Mar Riviera del Beigua

8.13 13.50 4.05 1.57 4.63 10.00 23.40 131.00 20.90 8.08 8.47 3.28 9.06 27.30 3.19 4.98 22.60 22.70 7.71 11.50 1.13 2.03

2.30 0.96 1.39 7.56 4.93 2.00 3.01 2.79 2.30 6.19 1.03

78.63 22.66 56.32 847.96 116.91 47.34 126.87 28.76 170.90 73.10 9.85

1Eþ16 J 1Eþ13 J 1Eþ13 J 1Eþ11 J 1Eþ14 J 1Eþ11 J 1Eþ12 J 1Eþ12 J 1Eþ10 J 1Eþ11 g 1Eþ14 J

1 2.45Eþ03 3.05Eþ04 4.70Eþ04 5.10Eþ04 7.39Eþ04 5.80Eþ04 4.50Eþ06 7.38Eþ04 1.95Eþ06 1.59Eþ05

Odum et al., 2000 Odum et al., 2000 Odum et al., 2000 Odum et al., 2000 Odum et al., 2000 Odum et al., 2000 Odum et al., 2000 Ulgiati et al., 1994 Ulgiati et al., 1994 Vassallo et al., 2006 Brown and Bardi, 2001

1.98 2.61 13.60 16.30 8.36

1.03 1.36 7.10 1.39 4.30

11.26 14.84 77.38 27.41 35.24

1Eþ14 J 1Eþ14 J 1Eþ13 J 1Eþ14 J 1Eþ07V

1.10Eþ05 1.10Eþ05 9.12Eþ04 8.11Eþ04 2.22Eþ12

Brown and Bardi, Brown and Bardi, Brown and Bardi, Brown and Bardi, Bastianoni, 2002

2.59 0.00 4.65

1.67 0.00 2.84

18.68 97.60 67.30

1Eþ06V 2.22Eþ12 1Eþ01num. 7.12Eþ15 1Eþ09 g 1.00Eþ09

2001 2001 2001 2001

Bastianoni, 2002 Paoli et al., 2008 Bjorklund et al., 2001

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Table 4 Renewability factors and solar emergy value of fluxes given in Table 3 for each of the six Ligurian coastal municipalities and whole district. Item

Sun Wind (kinetic energy) Rain (chemical potential) Rain (geopotential energy) Wave Tide Geothermal heat Human labour Soil erosion Water Electricity Fuel Gasoline Diesel Oil and fuels Gas Import Tourism facilities Bathing facilities Small marinas Beach nourishment Total renewable Total non-renewable (local) Total imported Total

%R

%N

%F

Emergy (1Eþ15 sej/year) Arenzano

Cogoleto

Varazze

Alb Sup

Alb Mar

1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 0.10 0.00 0.77 0.00

0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.00 0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.90 0.00 0.23 1.00

153 123 3718 908 79,154 78 1342 28,426 7 3193 26,084

115 76 2929 758 48,794 48 1111 15,810 24 2879 20,741

279 195 5653 1558 125,005 123 2621 35,848 59 3215 43,190

81 99 1411 110 63,664 63 526 14,361 17 1503 17,902

135 38 3053 616 24,629 24 1586 22,427 17 2235 32,243

23 23 425 36 15,025 15 175 12,549 2 1208 16,421

786 555 17,189 3986 356,272 351 7361 129,422 126 14,233 156,582

0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00

24,813 32,673 14,143 22,931 101,630

19,192 25,275 10,935 18,263 80,861

32,537 42,849 18,540 27,020 228,577

14,201 18,696 8097 10,636 90,136

21,757 28,660 12,390 132,484 185,487

11,374 14,981 6480 11,296 95,503

123,876 163,134 70,585 222,630 782,194

0.00 0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00 0.00

1.00 1.00 1.00

4516 1325 14,962

4929 0 9215

13,954 5057 23,612

8619 570 12,022

5748 0 4649

3697 0 2841

41,463 6952 67,300

90,700 7 269,000 359,707

57,600 24 204,000 261,624

141,000 59 468,000 609,059

68,500 17 194,000 262,667

34,100 17 444,000 478,117

17,900 2 174,000 191,902

409,800 126 1,753,000 2,162,926

The Riviera del Beigua had the highest Emergy Use per Area which was approximately four times greater than national value and the mountain tourist area (Table 5). This metric showed that the Riviera del Beigua was an emergy hot-spot on a national basis even though it did not support any industrial or mining activities like Pescara Province or Metauro. On the other hand the Riviera del Beigua’s Per Resident Emergy use was less than Pescara’s, similar to Metauro’s, but 75% greater than the national average. In

Celle

Riviera del Beigua

Table 5 Riviera del Beigua showed the greatest Percent Renewable value being more than twofold greater than national value. EIR index, which was twice as big as the national value, showed that the Riviera del Beigua was more dependent on imported resources in comparison with the other territories. Finally, all systems compared in Table 5 exerted high loads on their local renewable resources as indicated by the ELR but Riviera del Beigua ranked as the lowest.

Fig. 3. Systems diagram of energy structure and fluxes in the coastal municipalities of Riviera del Beigua.

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Table 5 Comparison of emergy metrics for Italy, Pescara (Italian province), Metauro (Italian mountain tourist area) and Riviera del Beigua. Flow or index

Italy

Pescara

Metauro

Riviera del Beigua

Emergy Use per Area (1E18 sej/km2/year) Emergy use per Resident (1E16 sej/year) Percent Renewable Emergy Investment Ratio (EIR) Environmental Loading Ratio (ELR)

4.20 2.20 9.55 1.65 9.47

13.42 6.30 0.93 1.12 106.65

3.72 3.78 5.05 0.39 18.80

16.07 3.88 18.95 4.28 4.28

In general Riviera del Beigua showed a greater availability of renewable resources even though it proved to be a dissipative system with high Emergy Use per Area and mostly dependent on purchased sources. 3.2. Analysis of tourism sub-system 3.2.1. Comparison between emergy of tourists and residents Tourism in the Riviera del Beigua plays a pivotal role in driving the economy and society making up 26% of total emergy use. Fig. 4 displays a comparison of tourists’ and residents’ emergy fluxes in the municipalities of Riviera del Beigua. The emergy of tourists reached its maximum level in Celle and Varazze (42% and 34% of total emergy U respectively) while Albisola superiore and Albissola marina had the lowest values reaching 14% and 16% respectively. The authors evaluated the emergy effort spent per tourist in each municipality, this value (called Per Tourist Emergy Use) is the ratio between tourists emergy and tourists number. In this case tourists’ number coincides with the number of equivalent residents that is the total number of all tourism days in the municipality (arrivals multiplied by length of stay) divided by 365 days per year. An equivalent resident signifies, then, a ‘‘fulltime’’ inhabitant which consumes resources and creates waste (Patterson, 2005; Patterson et al., 2007). The Emergy used by a tourist ranges from 3.00Eþ16 sej/year in Cogoleto to 4.50Eþ16 sej/year in Albisola superiore. Per Tourist Emergy Use values follow the trend shown by Per Resident Emergy Use, as confirmed by the correlation index (r ¼ 0.94, n ¼ 6, p < 0.001; Fig. 5). In all Riviera del Beigua municipalities, the Per Tourist Emergy Use was both higher than the Per Resident Emergy Use in each municipality (black dots in Fig. 5) and than the national value (black line in Fig. 5). This showed that tourists consumed more emergy than a person living in the Riviera del Beigua and than the average Italian when they spend time in the Riviera del Beigua. This supports the idea that tourism in Riviera del Beigua is more emergy intense endeavor than the common day life of a resident.

Fig. 4. Share of total solar emergy flux going to tourists and residents in each of six Riviera del Beigua municipalities.

3.2.2. Tourism sub-system resources assessment Fig. 6 displays the percentages of different resources types composing tourism emergy in Riviera del Beigua. Results proved tourism to be almost completely driven by ‘‘foreign’’ sources, which was in accord with Riviera del Beigua general trends. Imported fluxes (F) accounted for 83% of total tourism emergy budget in the Riviera del Beigua (Fig. 6). Percentage contribution of renewable sources shows moderate variations in Arenzano, Cogoleto, Varazze and Celle (from 17% to 21% of tourism emergy budget). On the contrary in Albisola superiore and Albissola marina, renewable sources were significantly lower; equaling less than half in comparison with the other resort communities (6% and 8% respectively, Fig. 6). 4. Discussion We analyzed a coastal district by means of emergy to investigate its resource consumption in a sustainability perspective. This procedure allowed for the assessment of economic and environmental costs on a unique basis and to quantify the most important resource fluxes driving the territorial system. The resource flux was assessed investigating not only the absolute intensity, but also in terms of renewability and origin (local or foreign). Moreover as the measure of sustainability is a comparative issue, missing an absolute scale, it requires to be set in some context to be intelligible. For this purpose we compared Riviera del Beigua with other Italian case studies. The Riviera del Beigua district consumed emergy more intensely than the nation and two other Italian territories (Emergy per Area Use, Table 5). The considered system is acting as a hot spot at a national level with higher resource requirements. Despite the highest value of Emergy Use per Area, Riviera del Beigua displayed Per Resident Emergy Use lower than Pescara and close to Metauro. That is, the concentrated use of emergy per unit area is lightened by the high population density in Riviera del Beigua (414.5 pers/km2 in Riviera del Beigua in comparison with 297.2 pers/km2 in Ligurian region and 196.5 pers/km2 in Italy) implying the lowering of Per Resident Emergy Use value. The high population density is a common feature of Ligurian coastal region. In fact, coastal region acts as a residential magnet with a lot of population living close to the coast due to favorable weather conditions, and better quality of life (UNEP – EEA, 2005). This is not the case of Metauro, a mountain territory which attracts less residents and where emergy consumption is for a smaller population. On the other hand, Pescara province, although including coastal areas, is an industrial-based territory where the huge exploitation of resources per unit area is due to the greater development of primary and secondary economic sectors but is associated with a lower population density (255 pers/km2). For the index based on the percentage of total emergy derived from renewable inputs (percent renewable) Riviera del Beigua was the territory with the greatest use of internal renewable resources among those compared. This is due to the fact that all municipalities of Riviera del Beigua strictly pertain to coastal zone and benefited from a rich marine resource in wave energy (it provided

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P. Vassallo et al. / Journal of Environmental Management 91 (2009) 277–289

Fig. 5. Emergy per person and emergy per tourist values. Black line identifies the national average value of Per Resident Emergy Use. Black dots identify the per resident emergy use value in each municipality.

up to 88% of the total renewable emergy). This free contribution from the marine environment provides for a larger emergy base for the territory to support more economic activity but remain sustainable. That is, for a similar ELR, the one with the larger renewable component can support more activity than those based on non-renewable or purchased resources. Pescara and Metauro proved to be able to exploit internal resources (i.e. extractive activities) as shown by EIR values lower than the nation. This is not the case in Riviera del Beigua where EIR displayed the highest value. This mirrors a strong dependence on purchased resources of Riviera del Beigua district. The analysis of the Riviera del Beigua economy allows the full understanding of this picture. The traditional economic production of Riviera del Beigua, characterized by olive oil and wine manufacture, traditional fishing and some industrial activities (i.e. ceramic and chemicals productions) have been neglected in the last years. Meanwhile the tertiary sector kept growing due to the increasing human pressure (both from residents and tourists) becoming the main sector of Riviera del Beigua economy (Callegari, 2003). This made Riviera del Beigua strongly tourism tied (mainly to bathing tourism) and centered on a thin coastal strip. The neglect of Riviera del Beigua local productive system caused the shortage in N sources as well as the boost to commerce and services asked for higher F sources. That is why EIR value displayed such a great value.

Fig. 6. Contributions of different resource categories to overall tourism budget in Riviera del Beigua municipalities.

4.1. Tourism analysis Percentage of emergy devoted to tourism in comparison with total emergy is here interpreted as an index of a municipality’s tourism propensity. Those with higher emergy budgets for tourism will have a stronger dependency on tourism revenue and the lower the importance of other activities (i.e. primary and secondary sectors). Celle and Varazze showed the maximum percentage values (Fig. 4) proving themselves as the municipalities having an economy strongly tied to tourism. On the other hand, the Albissola (marina and superiore) devoted a greater percentage of emergy to activities other than tourism. Resource allocation per single tourist (Fig. 5) has been interpreted as a measure of the efficiency of the tourism sub-system. Per Tourist Emergy Use in all municipalities is higher than the national Per Resident Emergy Use (Fig. 5), indicating that tourists exploit more resources in general than residents. However, Per Resident Emergy Use in the municipalities was greater than the national value, indicating that both tourists and residents enjoy higher consumption than the average Italian does during a year. This also indicates that Italian tourists will temporarily enjoy a higher standard of living during their stay in Riviera del Beigua than they do while not vacationing. Three main reasons can explain this gap: 1) the municipality is pushing on its accommodation and hospitality capability trying to attract tourists with a boost in recreational facilities; 2) the tourism pressure is decreasing but the supporting infrastructure still are affecting the emergy budget of tourism subsystem; 3) tourists behave in a dissipative way consuming more than an average resident leading in the end to an elite type of tourism; in general, in this scenario tourists visit the municipality and require more intense emergy fluxes due to the availability of artificial facilities. Elite-type tourism developed in only a few cases in Liguria (Salmona and Verardi, 2001). On the contrary Riviera del Beigua embraced the trend followed by the great majority of Ligurian resorts where, during the 1950s and 1960s, mass tourism based on (sun-)bathing activities (during summertime) intensified to such an extent that the local economy became highly dependent on it. The municipalities of Riviera del Beigua pertain, as a consequence, to first and second scenarios listed above. In Albissola marina, Albisola superiore, Celle and Varazze the imbalance between Per Tourist Emergy Use and Per Resident Emergy Use may

P. Vassallo et al. / Journal of Environmental Management 91 (2009) 277–289

285

Fig. 7. A) The Life Cycle of a tourist resort as proposed by Butler (1980). B) Sustainability trends in function of intensity of use modified from Fig. 1.

be due to an overestimate of facilities devoted to attract guests in response to tourism pressure as they are facing a crisis in tourism sub-system recording a continuous decrease in the number of tourists (Statistical reports of Ligurian region). On the contrary, the second scenario better represents Arenzano and Cogoleto that are pushing on their hospitality capabilities and attractiveness. In fact, Cogoleto and Arenzano are recently facing a new tourism era. Cogoleto has recently started to dismantle industrial installations and to embrace a tourism oriented management. This in turn consisted of refurbishing municipal facilities and a strong advertising campaign that resulted in increasing the number of tourists. Arenzano’s attractiveness takes advantages of its proximity with Genoa. Genoa boosted, in the last twenty years, its tourism industry with the construction of new facilities (i.e. aquarium), the reassessment of disused areas and the organization of tourism events (Genoa was European Capital of Culture in 2004).

4.1.1. Equity and sustainability of tourism sub-system Several previous studies described socio-ecological tourismbased systems through Butler’s life cycle (i.e. Butler, 1980, 2006; Hovinen, 2002; Russell and Faulkner, 2004; Patterson, 2005; Patterson et al., 2008; Petrosillo et al., 2006). Here authors attempt to interpret Butler’s model phases in terms of total, local and imported resources exploited by tourism sub-system. Butler suggested to draw the ‘‘S’’-shaped TALC curve using the tourist numbers through time to describe cycle’s phases (Fig. 7A, Berry, 2001). Here authors put the TALC model into an emergy perspective by considering the type and quantity of exploited resources. Table 6 shows a schematic comparison between TALC phases and the tourism total emergy and exploited resources contributions (EmTALC model). Adopting Tilley and Swank perspective (section 1.2), the main goal to sustainability resides in achieving equity across the

Table 6 Parallel between main TALC phases and the corresponding contributions of different categories to overall tourism budget (Em-TALC). Stage

Tourism emergy fluxes Percent renewable

Percent local not renewable

Percent imported

Tourism emergy

Exploration Involvement Development Consolidation Stagnation Rejuvenation

Dominant Intermediate Intermediate Intermediate Scarce Scarce Intermediate Dominant Intermediate

Scarce Dominant Intermediate Scarce Scarce Scarce Intermediate Scarce Intermediate

Scarce Scarce Intermediate Dominant Dominant Dominant Scarce Scarce Scarce

Increasing Increasing Increasing Increasing Increasing Unpredictable

Decline Reorganization

Elite type Eco-tourism

Decreasing Increasing

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P. Vassallo et al. / Journal of Environmental Management 91 (2009) 277–289

ecological, social, and economic services. Theoretically, it means that, if the total benefit derived from tourism is a linear function of the product of these three categories, then maximum benefit is achieved when the three are equal in terms of solar emergy. This means that in case of non-use or extremely low intensity use, a system provides little value to its larger system, increasing the risk to be discarded (Region 1 in Fig. 7b). On the other hand, highly intensive use will likely degrade the ecosystem’s structure and function, affecting its ability to perform satisfactorily in the future (Region 3 in Fig. 7b). We assumed intensity of use as the total number of tourists through time and authors drafted a parallel between Tilley’s and Butler’s curves (Fig. 7). Middle phases (from involvement to consolidation) represent the maximum levels of sustainability. In the left side of both curves tourism is enhancing itself fruitfully, as residents are getting more and more involved and sustainability is increasing till reaching the maximum. In middle phases, use intensity is increasing together with revenues; residents still participate in tourism business and conflicts among tourists and inhabitants are acceptable. The right side of diagrams refers to decaying process during which there is a leaking out of benefits. Alternative stages are possible at this point (in TALC decline, rejuvenation or reorganization). Tourism decline matches with a decline of both sustainability and intensity of use representing a progressive dismantling of the tourism industry. At the end of the decline path there is no intensity of use because the tourism industry offers a very low level of facilities or, more likely, dies completely. Here, assuming possible the tourism rises again, a new cycle begins. It will not result in the restoration of the previous system but it will be in a new form and this is the reorganization path (Farrell and Twining-Ward, 2004). When rejuvenation happens it can be addressed to mass or elite-type tourism as well as to an eco-tourism or, finally in an intermediate way (Fig. 7A). Elite-type tourism would found on artificial attractions and consequently sustainability would continue to declines. In fact although revenues would be high, social conflicts would continue to arise and ecosystem would be jeopardized. This is the lowest curve among the rejuvenation ones in Fig. 7B. Eco-tourism addresses to a turn towards more sound tourism management that appreciates the local and natural attractiveness by promoting the use of renewable resources. If renewable resources are used more effectively by, for example, protecting reefs and beaches, reducing water pollution, or improving fishing opportunities, the increased intensity in use can allow the sustainability level to rise. This is the highest rejuvenation curve in Fig. 7B. Within this newly presented ‘‘Em-TALC’’ model we describe here the evolution of the sustainability of the Riviera del Beigua’s municipalities. During the last century Riviera del Beigua municipalities endured a huge building development. This was coupled to an impressive increase in tourism (Section 2.1), which lead, during the 1960s to the mass tourism phase. This meant that Riviera del Beigua’s tourism exploration phase occurred at the beginning of the century before the establishment of an effective road and railway system that linked up the district with the main North Italian cities.

Since purchased resources are completely dominant in the tourism emergy budget of each municipality of Riviera del Beigua, we assume that Riviera del Beigua belongs to the second-last phase of the TALC cycle, which is stagnation. However, considering the analysis of tourism economy previously expounded (Section 2.1) Arenzano and Cogoleto are probably opening a rejuvenation phase since tourists’ arrivals and stays are now showing an increasing trend. This first try to merge the TALC model with emergy synthesis can be improved with more evaluations of tourist related regions. This would allow one to track the development of tourism as a subsystem from both an economic and an emergy perspective. 5. Conclusions We used emergy synthesis to evaluate the environmental sustainability of a coastal district called Riviera del Beigua. Comparison of the emergy indices in Italy, and two other districts in Italy showed that Riviera del Beigua is a hot-spot for resource consumption according to its per area emergy use value. It displays selfsufficiency problems because it is highly dependent on external nonrenewable resource fluxes, obtains a small percentage of its energy and resources from renewable sources, and has a high environmental loading ratio. This low self-sufficiency indicates that the system is fragile; its economy is mainly dependent on tourism and has neglected its traditional production capabilities of agriculture and fishing. The large amount of emergy expended to support tourists and their activities represents a remarkable share of each municipality’s emergy budget (i.e. more than 25% of total emergy budget). The emergy evaluations showed that tourists enjoy a higher living standard than the local residents and that these tourists were also consuming more resources than the average Italian citizen. This supports the idea that coastal tourism is an expensive, resource intense endeavor. Butler’s model has been interpreted adopting Tilley and Swank’s perspective targeting at the identification of different phases in terms of sustainability intended as equity among social, economic and environmental benefits or issues. Intermediate phases (from involvement to consolidation) of Butler’s curve have been identified as the maximum level of sustainability. Moreover, a parallel between Butler’s model and different resources categories percent contribution to overall tourism budget allowed interpreting Butler’s phases in emergy terms. This allows to immediately locate a resort into Butler’s cycle and may help administrative managers to address sound management practices to improve sustainability of tourism sub-system. Acknowledgements Partial financial support to this study was provided by the EU community programme INTERREG III-C, BEACHMED-e – Subproject ICZM-MED concerted actions, tools and criteria for the integrated coastal zone management in Mediterranean areas.

Appendix. Notes to Tables Sun [J/y] ¼ (land area + marine area) * Solar radiation * (1  albedo) * J/kcal Land area Marine area Albedo Solar radiation J/kcal

m2 m2 % kcal/m2/y

Arenzano

Cogoleto

Varazze

Celle

Alb. Sup.

Alb. Mar.

Riviera del Beigua

24,570,000 9,469,704 0.2 1,220,879 4186

20,340,000 5,832,191

47,970,000 14,944,622

9,620,000 7,608,742

3,200,000 2,942,597

29,020,000 1,798,144

134,720,000 42,596,000

1,220,879

1,220,879

1,220,879

1,220,879

1,220,879

1,220,879

P. Vassallo et al. / Journal of Environmental Management 91 (2009) 277–289

287

Wind [J/y] ¼ drag coefficient * air density * wind velocity^3 * (land area + marine area) * s/year * J/kcal m2 m2 m/s kg/m3

Land area Marine area Wind velocity Air density Drag coefficient s/year J/kcal

Arenzano

Cogoleto

Varazze

Celle

Alb. Sup.

Alb. Mar.

Riviera del Beigua

24,570,000 9,469,704 2.79E+00 1.30E+00 3.00E-03 31,536,000 4186

20,340,000 5,832,191

47,970,000 14,944,622

9,620,000 7,608,742

3,200,000 2,942,597

29,020,000 1,798,144

134,720,000 42,596,000

Rain (kin) [J/y] ¼ (land area) * rain * water density * runoff * mean elevation * g m2 m/y kg/m3 % m m/s2

Land area Rain Water density Runoff Mean elevation Gravity

Arenzano

Cogoleto

Varazze

Celle

Alb. Sup.

Alb. Mar.

Riviera del Beigua

24,570,000 1.017 1000 0.20 394.33 9.8

20,340,000 1.017

47,970,000 0.822

9,620,000 0.822

3,200,000 0.822

29,020,000 0.822

134,720,000 0.887

397.67

429

150.67

146.67

280.33

299.78

Rain (chem.) [J/y] ¼ (land area + marine area) * rain * water density * evapotraspiration * Gibbs num. m2 m2 m/y kg/m3 J/kg

Land area Marine area Rain Water density Gibbs num.

Arenzano

Cogoleto

Varazze

Celle

Alb. Sup.

Alb. Mar.

Riviera del Beigua

24,570,000 9,469,704 1.017 1000 4940

20,340,000 5,832,191 1.017

47,970,000 14,944,622 0.822

9,620,000 7,608,742 0.822

3,200,000 2,942,597 0.822

29,020,000 1,798,144 0.822

134,720,000 42,596,000 0.887

Waves [J/y] ¼ coast length * 1/8 * water density * gravity * wave height^2 * wave velocity * s/year Coast length Water density Gravity Wave height Wave velocity s/year

m kg/m3 m/s2 m m/s

Arenzano

Cogoleto

Varazze

Celle

Alb. Sup.

Alb. Mar.

Riviera del Beigua

5110 1000 9.8 1.31 7.34 31,536,000

3150

8070

4110

1590

970

23,000

Tide [J/y] ¼ marine area * 0.5 tide num * tide range * water density * gravity m2 num m kg/m3 m/s2

Marine area Tide num Tide range Water density Gravity

Arenzano

Cogoleto

Varazze

Celle

Alb. Sup.

Alb. Mar.

Riviera del Beigua

9,469,704 730 0.15 1025 9.8

5,832,191

14,944,622

7,608,742

2,942,597

1,798,144

42,596,000

Geothermal heat [J/y] ¼ land area * heat flow Land area Heat flow

m2 J/y

Arenzano

Cogoleto

Varazze

Celle

Alb. Sup.

Alb. Mar.

Riviera del Beigua

24,570,000 942033

20,340,000

47,970,000

9,620,000

3,200,000

29,020,000

134,720,000

Human labour [J/y] ¼ employees num * working days * daily consumption * J/kcal Num. Employees Working days kcal/day J/kcal

num day/y

Arenzano

Cogoleto

Varazze

Celle

Alb. Sup.

Alb. Mar.

Riviera del Beigua

2876 210 2500 4186

1597

3627

1452

2266

1270

13,087

Soil erosion [J/y] ¼ crop area * erosion rate * organic matter percentage * kcal/g/J/kcal Crop area Erosion rate OM% kcal/g J/kcal

m2 g/m2/anno %

Arenzano

Cogoleto

Varazze

Celle

Alb. Sup.

Alb. Mar.

Riviera del Beigua

743,100 200 0.03 5.4 4186

2,427,300

5,917,900

1,669,100

1,671,100

169,800

12,598,300

Water consumption [g/y] ¼ water consumption * water density Water cons Water density

m3/y g/m3

Arenzano

Cogoleto

Varazze

Celle

Alb. Sup.

Alb. Mar.

Riviera del Beigua

1,640,000 1.00E+06

1,480,000

1,650,000

771,000

1,150,000

619,000

7,310,000

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P. Vassallo et al. / Journal of Environmental Management 91 (2009) 277–289

Electricity consumption [J/y] ¼ electricity consumption * J/kwh Water cons Water density

kwh/y J/kwh

Arenzano

Cogoleto

Varazze

Celle

Alb. Sup.

Alb. Mar.

Riviera del Beigua

1,640,000 3.6E+06

1,480,000

1,650,000

771,000

1,150,000

619,000

7,310,000

Fuel consumption [J/y] ¼ fuel consumption * J/l Gasoline cons Diesel cons Oil cons Energy content gasoline Energy content diesel Energy content oil

l/y l/y l/y J/l J/l J/l

Arenzano

Cogoleto

Varazze

Celle

Alb. Sup.

Alb. Mar.

Riviera del Beigua

5,449,066 8,182,945 2,287,148 41,475,000 36,295,000 67,770,000

4,195,298 6,336,961 1,770,695

7,136,829 10,745,282 2,995,426

3,110,307 4,683,841 1,310,314

4,773,960 7,191,073 2,006,788

2,483,424 3,747,073 1,047,661

27,148,885 40,887,175 11,418,032

Gas consumption [J/y] ¼ gas consumption * J/m3 Gasoline cons Energy content gasoline

l/y J/m3

Arenzano

Cogoleto

Varazze

Celle

Alb. Sup.

Alb. Mar.

Riviera del Beigua

7,256,410 39,000,000

5,769,231

8,538,462

3,358,974

41,794,872

3,564,103

70,282,051

Import [V/y] ¼ imported goods cost Import

Euro/y

Arenzano

Cogoleto

Varazze

Celle

Alb. Sup.

Alb. Mar.

Riviera del Beigua

4.58E+07

3.64E+07

1.03E+08

4.06E+07

8.36E+07

4.30E+07

3.52E+08

Bathing facilities [V/y] ¼ cost per year Bathing facilities

Euro/y

Arenzano

Cogoleto

Varazze

Celle

Alb. Sup.

Alb. Mar.

Riviera del Beigua

2.03E+06

2.22E+06

6.29E+06

3.88E+06

2.59E+06

1.67E+06

1.87E+07

Small marinas [berth number] ¼ berth number in marinas Berth numbers

num

Arenzano

Cogoleto

Varazze

Celle

Alb. Sup.

Alb. Mar.

Riviera del Beigua

186

0

710

80

0

0

976

Beach nourishment [g/y] ¼ placed sand * sand density Placed sand Sand density

num kg/m3

Arenzano

Cogoleto

Varazze

Celle

Alb. Sup.

Alb. Mar.

Riviera del Beigua

9975 1500

6143

15741

8014

3099

1894

44,867

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