4604.0 - Energy Account, Australia, 2015-16 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 23/02/2018   
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FEATURE ARTICLE: SEEA Energy – Flow accounts for energy in Australia

WHAT IS SEEA ENERGY?

The System of Environmental Economic Accounting 2012 Central Framework (SEEA CF) was adopted by the United Nations Statistical Commission in 2012 as the international statistical standard for environmental-economic accounts. The System of Environmental-Economic Accounts (SEEA) for Energy records flow accounts of energy, in physical units, from the initial extraction or capture of energy resources from the environment into the economy; the flows within the economy in the form of supply and use of energy by industries and households; and, finally, the flows of energy back to the environment.

This year, for the first time, the ABS has introduced the full SEEA presentation for the physical supply and use tables. This presentation allows full consistency with the published net supply and use tables, while providing additional information relating to energy flows across the Australian economy.


ELEMENTS OF SEEA PHYSICAL FLOW ACCOUNTS FOR ENERGY

The SEEA supply and use presentation shows three types of flows: (i) energy from natural inputs, (ii) energy products, and (iii) energy residuals (see Figures 1 and 2).

This presentation explicitly identifies the flows between the environment and the economy, as well as showing the variety of ways and multiple times, that a natural input can be transformed, supplied to the economy, used in production processes, consumed by final users, or returned to the environment.

Energy from natural inputs encompasses flows of energy resulting from the extraction and capture of energy from the environment. These flows include energy from mineral and energy resources (e.g. oil, natural gas, coal, uranium etc), and inputs from renewable energy sources (e.g. solar, wind, hydro etc).

In addition to the supply (extraction + imports) and use (end-use + exports) provided in the net supply and use tables, the (gross) SEEA presentation also: 1) records the amount of produced energy products (e.g. electricity; petroleum products) that are supplied to the economy, in addition to the natural mineral and energy resources extracted (Figure 1); and 2) separately records both the amount of energy used in the transformation of energy products, as well as end-use by industries, households, and export (Figure 2).

Energy residuals in physical terms comprise energy losses and other energy residuals. Particular examples of energy losses include flaring and venting of natural gas and losses during transformation in the production of primary energy products from natural inputs and in the production of secondary energy.


Figure 1 Physical Supply Table for Energy (petajoules), 2015-16

Energy from natural inputs; production of energy products; supply of residuals
Agriculture(a)
Mining
Manufacturing
Elect, gas(b)
Transport
Commercial & Other services(c)
Total production; residuals
Of which direct extraction by households
Imports
Flows from the environment
TOTAL SUPPLY
Energy from natural inputs:
Natural resource inputs
21 111
21 111
of which: renewables
362
362
Production of energy products
Black coal
-
12 157
-
-
-
-
12 157
-
-
12 157
Brown coal
-
-
-
635
-
-
635
-
-
635
Coke
-
2
73
-
-
-
75
-
-
75
Coal by-products
-
-
46
-
-
-
46
-
-
46
Briquettes
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Natural gas
-
3 522
-
-
-
-
3 522
-
125
3 647
LNG
-
2 025
-
-
-
-
2 025
-
-
2 025
Crude oil and feedstocks
-
708
-
-
-
-
708
-
768
1 476
Petrol
-
-
398
-
-
-
398
-
233
631
Diesel
-
-
347
-
-
-
347
-
687
1 034
Other refined fuels and products
-
-
294
-
-
-
294
-
294
588
LPG
-
100
26
-
-
-
126
-
25
150
Renewables
74
-
139
148
-
1
362
68
-
362
Electricity
-
36
12
876
1
2
927
-
-
927
Uranium
-
3 603
-
-
-
-
3 603
-
-
3 603
Energy residuals
-
277
309
1 440
-
-
2 026
2 026
Total supply (gross)
74
22 429
1 644
3 099
1
3
27 249
68
2 132
21 111
50 492
Total supply (net)
2 132
21 111
23 244

null by definition
- nil or rounded to zero
(a) Includes Forestry and Fishing
(b) Includes Waste and Water services
(c) Includes Construction


Figure 2 Physical Use table for Energy (petajoules), 2015-16


Use of energy from natural inputs; transformation and end use of energy products
Agriculture(a)
Mining
Manufacturing
Electricity, gas(b)
Transport
Commercial and other services(c)
Total use by industry
Consumption by households
Changes in inventories
Exports
Flows to the environment
TOTAL USE
Energy from natural inputs
Natural resource inputs
74
20 089
165
783
-
1
21 111
21 111
of which: renewables
74
-
139
148
-
1
362
362
Transformation of energy products
Black coal
-
-
116
1 100
-
-
1 216
1 216
Brown coal
-
-
-
635
-
-
635
635
Coke
-
np
np
-
-
-
48
48
Coal by-products
-
-
46
-
-
-
46
46
Briquettes
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Natural gas
-
2 330
47
417
-
1
2 796
2 795
LNG
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Crude oil and feedstocks
-
-
991
-
-
-
991
991
Petrol
-
-
np
-
-
-
np
-
Diesel
-
10
2
10
-
2
24
24
Other refined fuels and products
-
-
143
5
-
-
147
147
LPG
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Renewables
-
np
np
147
-
-
233
233
Electricity
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Uranium
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
End use of energy products
Black coal
-
3
108
-
-
-
111
-
-172
11 001
10 941
Brown coal
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Coke
-
np
np
-
-
-
9
-
-2
20
27
Coal by-products
-
-
2
-
-
-
2
-
-2
-
-
Briquettes
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-1
-
-
Natural gas
3
73
411
14
11
58
571
161
115
5
852
LNG
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
2 025
2 025
Crude oil and feedstocks
-
2
31
-
-
-
34
-
-90
541
485
Petrol
7
1
6
2
5
43
65
555
-9
20
631
Diesel
92
257
21
19
232
145
766
219
22
3
1 010
Other refined fuels and products
-
5
42
2
340
1
390
-
32
19
440
LPG
2
1
4
-
3
9
20
68
-1
63
150
Renewables
-
np
np
2
6
-
40
89
-
-
128
Electricity
6
122
298
111
16
159
714
207
-
7
927
Uranium
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-81
3 683
3 603
Energy residuals
2,026
2 026
Total use (gross)
183
22 896
2 606
3 250
614
420
29 969
1 299
-190
17 388
2 026
50 492
Total use (net)
109
467
962
151
614
417
2 720
1 299
-190
17 388
2 026
23 244
null by definition
- nil or rounded to zero
np not available for publication but included in totals where applicable, unless otherwise indicated
(a) Includes Forestry and Fishing
(b) Includes Waste and Water services
(c) Includes Construction and Consumption by government


CHANGES TO THE ABS’ ENERGY ACCOUNT PUBLICATION

The ABS’ Energy Account, Australia will continue to publish net physical flow tables to allow comparison with previous years.

It is also possible to derive elements of the net physical flow tables from the gross tables - exports, imports and household use stay the same in both the net and gross presentations, and the ‘End use of energy products’ by industry (component of the Use table) is fully consistent with the published ‘Net use of energy’ tables (see datacubes 9 and 10 in the downloads tab).

Figures 3 and 4 illustrate the additional information that can be extracted from the gross SEEA presentation (Figures 1 and 2 above), compared with the information provided in the net supply and use tables.


Figure 3 Gross v Net Energy Supply, Australia, 2015-16

Figure 3 shows Gross versus Net Energy Supply, Australia, 2015-16

Figure 4 Gross v Net Energy Use, Australia, 2015-16

Figure 4 shows Gross versus Net Energy Use, Australia, 2015-16



INTERPRETING THE SEEA (GROSS) TABLES

Figure 5 is a diagrammatic representation of the energy flows that occur from the extraction of natural inputs from the environment, to the production of coal as an energy product ready for trade or use, transformation of energy products, through to end use and returns to the environment. Using coal and electricity as a simple example, it shows where each of these flows is allocated within the supply and use table.


Figure 5 Example: Supply and use flows of energy, SEEA (gross) presentation

Use
Industries
Imports
Environment
Total
Mining
Electricity generation
Other industries
Energy from Natural inputsCoal
100
100
Electricity
Energy productsCoal
100
100
Electricity
50
50
Residuals
30
30
Use
Industries (intermediate consumption)
Households, exports, inventories, etc
Environment
Total
Mining
Electricity generation
Other industries
Energy from Natural inputsCoal
100
100
Electricity
Transformation of energy productsCoal
80
80
Electricity
End use of energy productsCoal
20
20
Electricity
10
10
10
20
50
Residuals
30
30
Mining extracts 100 units of coal from the Environment
Mining supplies 100 units of coal to the economy
Of those 100 units, Electricity generation uses 80 units of coal (to transform into electricity), and 20 units of coal are exported
Electricity generation produces 50 units of electricity, with 30 units lost to the environment in conversion
Industries and households are final end-users of the 50 units of electricity

This simple example demonstrates how the presentation of physical energy flows in gross terms allows for more detailed analysis of the use of energy within the economy and for flows between the economy and the environment. A net presentation of these physical flows would estimate total supply as the 100 units of energy extracted from the environment as coal and total use as the end use of this energy by industry (in the form of electricity) exports and returns back to the environment. The gross presentation adds detail about how the electricity industry transforms 80 units of energy from coal to electricity generating return flows in the process.