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 4 Gross v 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
| 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.