8. Implications

The metabolism metaphor and the material, energy, and economic value accounting framework presented in the book have a number of implications for the manner in which we understand our economies. In this chapter, we discuss several of these implications. The first set of implications is for the Energy Input-Output method itself. We recommend a physical accounting framework that fully accounts for capital stock and energy input from society (final consumption) to the economy. We then discuss implications for economic “development,” namely that economic growth could be considered a “fully coupled” problem: understanding it requires breadth of knowledge and appreciation for interactions among many important and complementary factors, including financial capital, manufactured capital and associated embodied energy, natural capital, direct energy, and societal inputs. Each, alone, is necessary, but not sufficient, for economic development. We discuss implications for recycling and reuse of materials and for the concept of dematerialization. Finally, we view the concept of a steady-state economy through the lens of our framework. We find that there are many potential definitions of a steady-state economy, none of which are fully satisfying when compared against the ideal of sustainability.