TRABALHO DO GRUPO Nansai 1

Xos Manuel Carreira Rodrguez, n 1400957, Emmanuel Pereso Aliceu Jovo, n 1402550, Agostinho Alberto
Queba, n 1501082 e Sheila Joaquim Come, n 1500957.

Introduo.
O artigo em apreo apresenta um estudo efectuado no Japo para determinar os padres de consumo
domstico que permitam um equilbrio entre as necessidades econmicas e as ambientais. Alm disso, o artigo
revela quais as contribuies percentuais nos encargos ambientais que so devido, em primeiro lugar, a
emisso de CO2 por queima dos combustveis fsseis (sector industrial); seguindo lugar, por encargos
domsticos (cozinhas) e em terceiro lugar por outros servios. A tarefa do grupo Nansai 1 foi a de fazer anlise
do artigo (em termos da sua qualidade) e com base no artigo construir o modelo de anlise (V de Gowin).
1.a) Anlise formal do artigo: Titulo, introduo e objectivos.
a1. Ttulo.
Segundo o professor Donald Huisingh (Vdeo II- qualitative manuscript: article structure), um bom ttulo
deve ser especfico, conciso, completo e atraente para os leitores.
No caso deste artigo, o seu ttulo :
Coerente com o objectivo e pertinente.
No atractivo.
Falta a localizao de onde decorreu o estudo.
uma generalizao, ao invs do estudo de caso.
a2. Introduo.
Segundo Huisingh (ibidem), num bom artigo a introduo dever ser objectiva, significante, apresentar a
real inquietao e no deve conter mtodos ou concluses.
No caso do artigo que apresentado, a introduo:
Contm justificativa e referencial.
Porm, mais explicativa do que problematizadora.
Figuram elementos que deviam estar nas concluses, por exemplo: the model demonstrated multiple
optimal state, increase and decrease, of household consumption for each commodity, by setting
different objective function of minimizing nn environment burden).

a3. Objectivos:
Objectivos devem ser certeiros e avaliveis. Certeiros, no sentido de serem definidos de forma clara e
rigorosa. Avaliveis, de modo a que no final da investigao possa determinar com exatido se os atingiu ou
no, Carmo, (2013:11). Estes devem ser adequados a metodologia, coerentes e precisos (Assis et.al., s/d).
No caso deste artigo, os objectivos:
Adequam-se metodologia e so avaliveis.
So mais declarativos do que certeiros.
So apresentados no presente de indicativo.
1.b) Construo do modelo de anlise com base em V Gowin

2. Avaliao da qualidade cientfica

2.a) Enquadramento terico
Para alm doutras teorias prevalecentes, o artigo sustentado pelas seguintes teorias:
Teoria de dependncia de recursos: Reconhece a dependncia do ambiente, mas de maneira no
determinista. As alianas existem para controlar o ambiente. Quanto maior for o risco de ficar sem
recurso, mas formal ser o acordo (alianas, joint-ventures, fuses e aquisies). Um dos fatores-chave
2

de anlise a capacidade estratgica do grupo organizacional, ou seja, a sua capacidade poltica em

negociar e estruturar relaes de poder (Bauer, M. A. L., 2015).
Consumo e produo sustentveis.
Macroeconomia clssica. Lei da oferta e da procura.

O artigo comea por revelar que a questo dos padres de produo e consumo ao nvel global sempre
estive na manga para a sua discusso, sendo uma preocupao para a sociedade contempornea; por isso, a
Agenda 21 no seu captulo 4 faz meno da questo de produo e consumo sustentveis. Com base no
pargrafo seguinte; today, it is important that we examine ideal patterns of Japanese household consumption
so that Japan can maintain a sustainable balance between economic and environmental needs, verifica-se que
o artigo identifica a finalidade da pesquisa. Embora haja a fundamentao do problema, porm, o artigo no
faz referncia a outros estudos similares sobre esta matria.
2.b) Metodologia.
b1. Estratgicas metodolgicas.
No estudo apresentado o mtodo usado para entrada e sada dos dados para a sua anlise (modelo
input-output de programao linear).
Estudo de base populacional, porm no acompanhado pelo tamanho da amostra.
No se faz meno ao respaldo tico (questes ticas) e nem faz referncia do seu acautelamento.
No faz aluso aos instrumentos usados para a recolha dos dados e nem se quer aborda a sua
validao.
Estudo quantitativo.
b2. Recolha e tratamento de dados.
Os dados so apresentados de forma sequencial.
Apoia-se das tabelas dos estudos anteriores, por exemplo, a tabela 1.
Na fig.1 peca-se por trazer duas situaes (waste e NOx) com representao de barras da mesma corisso dificulta a sua distino;
No referenciao das grandes tabelas de entrada e sada.
b3. Limitaes do mtodo utilizado.
Uso de valores substitutos e/ou estimados;
No permite uma interpretao clara dos resultados;
No usa mdias e desvio padro para facilitar a anlise dos resultados;
Dificuldades em estimar os coeficientes de capital adequados.
2.c) Apresentao e discusso dos resultados.
O artigo explica a significncia dos resultados e compara os resultados encontrados com as previses
tericas;
Contudo, nos grficos (fig. 2 e 3) h dificuldades em distinguir os resultados referentes ao lixo e/ou
resduos (waste) dos de oxido de nitrognio (NOx).
Em algumas situaes difcil fazer uma extrapolao para a leitura rigorosa dos resultados
percentuais e das frequncias acumuladas.
Os comentrios das figuras e tabelas so apresentados muito a posterior e isso no permite o seu
relacionamento para sua melhor compreenso.
O uso do termo commodities, que nos remete para matrias-primas ou mercadorias bsicas, em
lugar de bens e servios, d lugar a alguma confuso.
3

3. Concluses.
A avaliao da sustentabilidade da produo e o consumo mediante um nico indicador baseado na
anlise input-output foi investigado em vrios artigos por Nansai et al. (2007). Noutro artigo coetneo dos
mesmos investigadores japoneses, por exemplo, o consumo de electricidade foi escolhido como medida da
eco-velocidade, com base na analogia com a noo de velocidade na fsica.
A anlise input-output uma ferramenta quantitativa de alto nvel macroeconmico. Consiste no uso de
tabelas de insumo-produto e emisses por sector para calcular os impactos ambientais. Schaltegger (1996)
critica que este mtodo no tem a dupla perspectiva (de cima para baixo e de baixo para cima) que seria
necessria para uma medio completa da sustentabilidade.
Outras crticas anlise input-output esto relacionadas com as enormes necessidades de dados de boa
qualidade, bem como os pressupostos simplificadores necessrios no tratamento de dados, que devem ser
explicitados (Paloviita, A., 2004). P.ex. as restries K**, L** e GDP** ficam constantes e no caso de GDP** os
autores assumem o valor do ano 1995, o que pode gerar dvidas no leitor. Os autores fazem um ajuste de
dados e indicam simplesmente se a correlao positiva ou negativa, mas os intervalos de confiana da
classificao no se encontram disponveis no artigo analisado. Em ausncia de dados desagregados, a
alocao de impactos para produtos e servios diferentes torna-se difcil (Paloviita, A., 2004). Tudo isto faz com
que o modelo seja dificilmente replicvel por outros investigadores como exige o editor Donald Huisingh.
Entrando nos resultados, a segmentao de bens e servios escolhida pelos autores no equilibrada e
resulta pouco eficaz. Da amostra de 94 bens e servios analisados, na categoria 1 -inaceitveis- esto 47,
enquanto na categoria 2 -aceitveis- esto apenas 9 deles. Nas categorias que no do um juzo nem positivo
nem negativo -3 (depende das circunstncias) e 4 (inclassificveis) - ficam classificados 38 elementos. Por
outras palavras, a maior parte so items perniciosos ou no se podem avaliar.
Hertwitch (2010) aponta que este tipo de anlise seria vlido para as circunstncias locais de consumo e
produo. Cada pas ou regio ter uma seleco diferente de factores determinantes, pelo que a
generalizao dos resultados fora do mbito japons no imediata. Assim, concordamos com Schaltegger
(1996) que chama para o uso de ferramentas mais simples.
Finalmente, muitas iniciativas de indicadores de sustentabilidade como o presente estudo podem ser
criticadas por causa da ausncia da dimenso social (Veleva, V. et al., 2000). A fragmentao de disciplinas no
permite uma viso holstica. Uma caracterstica comum de muitos modelos quantitativos o facto de que eles
continuem dominados pela disciplina onde se originaram (Todorov, V. et al., 2011). Hertwitch (2010), por
exemplo, reconhece que os estudos quantitativos de optimizao de cenrios sustentveis como o de Nansai et
al. (2007) ainda no esto bem desenvolvidos, que a sua importncia precisa ser colocada em perspectiva, mas
podem oferecer vises valiosas de polticas interessantes para o futuro.

Referncias bibliogrficas:
1. Agenda 21 (1992). United Nations Conference on Environment & Development Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 3
to 14 June 1992.
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/Agenda21.pdf
2. Assis, B., Morais, C. e Alves C. (s/d). In: Seminrio: Anlise crtica de artigo cientfico. Universidade
Federal de Gois, Brasil.
https://ppgnut.fanut.ufg.br/up/240/o/analise_artigo_cientifico_2.pdf
3. Bauer, M. A. L. (2015). Teorias Ambientais. Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. Brasil.
https://www.passeidireto.com/arquivo/2869730/teorias-ambientais
4. Caeiro, S., Ramos, T. B., & Huisingh, D. (2012). Procedures and criteria to develop and evaluate
household sustainable consumption indicators. Journal of cleaner production, 27, 72-91
5. Carmo, H, 2013, Sistemas de orientao na pesquisa: formulao de objetivos, hipteses e modelo de
anlise, in Manual de metodologia das cincias sociais e polticas, Lisboa, ISCSP/UTL, no prelo.
6. Hertwich, E. (2010). Assessing the environmental impacts of consumption and production: priority
products and materials. UNEP/Earthprint.
http://www.unep.org/resourcepanel/Portals/24102/PDFs/PriorityProductsAndMaterials_Report.pdf
7. Huisingh, D. (2014) Vdeos sobre como escrever um artigo. Universidade Aberta.
- Vdeo I: Before starting to write http://player.vimeo.com/video/84054629
- Vdeo II: Writing a Quality Manuscript: article structure http://player.vimeo.com/video/84054630
- Vdeo III: Writing a Quality Manuscript: language, technical issues, submission, revision and responses
to the reviewers http://player.vimeo.com/video/84756341
- Vdeo IV: Writing a Quality Manuscript: Accepting rejection, ethical, peer review, etc.
http://player.vimeo.com/video/84876893
8. Nansai K., Kagawa, S. & Moriguchi, Y. (2007). Proposal of a simple indicator for sustainable
consumption: classifying goods and services into three types focusing on their optimal consumption
levels. Journal of Cleaner Production, 15 (10), 879-885.
9. Nansai, K., Kagawa, S., Suh, S., Inaba, R., & Moriguchi, Y. (2007). Simple indicator to identify the
environmental soundness of growth of consumption and technology:Eco-velocity of consumption.
Environmental Science & Technology, 41(4), 1465-1472.
10. Paloviita, A. (2004). Matrix sustainability: applying input-output analysis to environmental and
economic sustainability indicators: case: Finnish Forest Sector. University of Jyvskyl.
https://jyx.jyu.fi/dspace/bitstream/handle/123456789/13193/9513919897.pdf
11. Schaltegger, S. (1996). Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)Quo vadis?. Springer Science & Business Media.
https://books.google.es/books?id=rXKN6OAa8dcC
12. Todorov, V., & Marinova, D. (2011). Modelling sustainability. Mathematics and Computers in
Simulation, 81(7), 1397-1408.
http://www.curtin.edu.au/research/cusp/local/docs/modeling-sustainability-marinova.pdf
13. Veleva, V. & Ellenbecker M. 2000. A proposal for Measuring Business Sustainability. Addressing
Shortcomings in Existing Frameworks. Greener Management International 31. Autumn 2000, 101-120.
http://www.ifba.edu.br/professores/armando/Eng531/Unid%20I/MIT%20Lowell%20Indicatorsustenab
leproduction.pdf

Journal of Cleaner Production 15 (2007) 879e885

www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro

Proposal of a simple indicator for sustainable consumption: classifying

goods and services into three types focusing on their optimal
consumption levels
Keisuke Nansai a,*, Shigemi Kagawa b, Yuichi Moriguchi a
a

Research Center for Material Cycles and Waste Management, National Institute for Environmental Studies, 16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba,
Ibaraki 305-8506, Japan
b
Graduate School of Information Sciences, Tohoku University, Aoba, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8579, Japan
Received 31 March 2005; accepted 27 February 2006
Available online 18 May 2006

Abstract
We calculated optimal consumption patterns of Japanese households using a linear programming model, taking into account the different
environmental burdens to be minimized. Ninety-four industrial sectors and 94 commodities were defined in the model. In terms of environmental
burdens to be minimized, this study considered energy consumption, CO2 emission, waste, and NOx emission. According to the direction
(increase or decrease) of adjusted final demand for a commodity in the household, commodities were classified into three types: (1) a commodity
for which optimal demand should be decreased in all cases of reducing various environmental burdens; (2) a commodity whose optimal demand
should be increased in all cases; and (3) a commodity whose optimal demand depends on the type of environmental burden. Among 63
commodities whose final demand was assumed to be adjustable, 47 were categorized as commodity type 1, nine were categorized as commodity
type 2, and seven belonged to commodity type 3. This work also characterized each type of commodity from the viewpoint of economic and
environmental properties.
2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Indicator; Consumption pattern; Multiple-environmental burdens; Household consumption; Linear programming model

1. Introduction
In recent years, ideal patterns of consumption have been
discussed under the concept of sustainable consumption.
This concept has been incorporated into international policies
[1]. In 1992, for example, Chapter 4 of Agenda 21 referred to
sustainable consumption and production, and the United Nations has compiled guidelines for consumer protection that
provide governments with a comprehensive framework for setting policy for more sustainable consumption and production.
At the World Summit on Sustainable Development held in
Johannesburg in 2002, the agenda called for the development

* Corresponding author. Tel.: 81 29 850 2889; fax: 81 29 850 2917.

E-mail address: nansai.keisuke@nies.go.jp (K. Nansai).
0959-6526/$ - see front matter 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2006.02.009

of a 10-year framework of programs to promote the shift

toward sustainable consumption and production patterns.
In Japan, approximately 48% of the total domestic CO2
emissions in 1995 originated from household consumption.
Fuels directly consumed for car and house heating accounted
for 25% of CO2 emissions, electric power use and mains gas
use accounted for about 17%, and the rest of the emissions
were attributed to production and provision of goods and services consumed by households. However, we must consider
that household consumption is an important driving force behind the Japanese economy. About 46% of gross domestic production (GDP) is induced by the expenditure of household
consumption [2].
Today, it is important that we examine ideal patterns of
Japanese household consumption so that Japan can maintain
a sustainable balance between economic and environmental

K. Nansai et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 15 (2007) 879e885

880

needs. To accomplish this goal, it is interesting to evaluate which

commodities consumption should be reduced for environmental
gains and which commodities consumption should be increased
for economic gains. When investigating environmental effects,
we should consider various types of environmental burdens to be
mitigated.
This study compiled the linear programming model based on
an inputeoutput system using an economic inputeoutput table.
The model demonstrated multiple optimal states (increase or decrease) of household consumption for each commodity, by setting
different objective function of minimizing an environmental burden. According to the type of change in the demand, we classified
commodities into three types: (1) a commodity for which optimal
demand should be decreased in all cases of reducing various environmental burdens; (2) a commodity whose optimal demand
should be increased in all cases; and (3) a commodity whose optimal demand depends on the type of environmental burden. We
also identified commodity types, while considering both their
economic and environmental properties.
We used energy consumption, CO2 emission (global warming), waste emission, and NOx (air pollutant) emission as
environmental burdens in our model, because reliable environmental data on these parameters were available.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. The linear programming model
2.1.1. Inputeoutput system
This study employed a linear programming model based on
the von Neumann inputeoutput system or SNA inputeoutput
system [3]. This inputeoutput system identifies the primary
and secondary products of an industrial sector; it permits joint
production, so that a single production activity can have more
than one output, and relaxes the assumption of a fixed ratio of
inputs to output. Table 1 is the make-use table used in our
model. The letters used in the table are explained below.
2.1.2. Objective function
Household consumption directly and indirectly causes environmental burdens. Direct environmental burdens result from,
for example, the use of fuels for driving and cooking and the
emission of CO2 and air pollutants from burning these fuels.
Indirect environmental burdens of household consumption encompass the energy or fuels consumed in, for example, car
production and provision of services, which are also accompanied by CO2 and pollutant emissions.
Table 1
Intraregional make-use table of primary and secondary products

Commodity
Industry
Imports
Value added
Total supply

Commodity

Industry

Household
consumption

Other
final
demands

Total
demand

X
V
M

q
g

qT

V
gT

Representing the total demand of each industrial sector by

vector g, the final demands of each commodity, h and f satisfy:
h f C  Bg;

where C is the product mix matrix, with coefficients showing

the amount of commodity supplied by unit total output of industry, and B is the input matrix, with coefficients representing
the amount of commodity required for the unit total output of
industry. Matrices U and V represent the absorption matrix indicating the values of purchase of commodities by industries
and the make matrix showing the values of commodities produced by industries (Table 1) and are related to matrices B and
C according to the following equations:
U Bb
g;

and
g;
VT Cb

where b
g denotes a diagonal matrix with the vector g, whose
element number is the same as the number of commodity
and VT is the transposed matrix of V.
We express the direct environmental burden factor of each
commodity by vector ec, which represents the amount of direct
environmental burden accompanied by the unit commodity
consumption. The total direct environmental burden caused
by commodity consumption can be calculated as follows:
direct ec h f ec C  Bg:

The indirect environmental burden factor of each commodity,

or the environmental burden from industrial production activity, is calculated as:
indirect ei g;

where ei is a vector with environmental burden per unit output

of industrial sector as its element.
The objective of this model is to minimize the sum of direct
and indirect environmental burdens:
direct indirect ec C  Bg ei g
fec C  B ei gg/min:

The model calculates the optimal state of vector g. Hereafter, we describe it as vector g*.
2.1.3. Constraints
2.1.3.1. Commodity supplyedemand balance. We assumed
an adjustable range for the final demand for household
consumption. Representing the upper range of the household
consumption as vector hU and the lower range as vector hL, the
commodity supplyedemand balance should meet these criteria:
hU f  Cg  Bg  hL f:

That is, the difference between the total supply Cg and the
intermediate demand Bg is more than the sum of hL and the

K. Nansai et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 15 (2007) 879e885

881

Table 2
Sector numbers and names of commodity and industrial sectors
Sector
number

Sector name

Final
demanda

Sector
number

Sector name

Final
demanda

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47

Coal mining and lignite

Crude petroleum and natural gas
Petroleum refinery products
Coal products
Electricity
Gas supply, steam and hot water supply
Agriculture
Livestock-raising and sericulture
Agricultural services
Forestry
Fisheries and culture
Metal ores
Non-ferrous metal ores
Slaughtering and meat processing
Livestock-raising foods
Seafood
Grain milling and flour
Preserved agricultural foodstuffs
Sugar and other foods
Beverages
Feeds and organic fertilizers
Tobacco
Fabricated textile products
Wearing apparel and other textile products
Timber and wooden products
Furniture and fixtures
Pulp and paper
Processed paper products
Printing and publishing
Chemical fertilizer
Industrial inorganic chemicals
Industrial organic chemicals
Resins
Chemical fibers
Final chemical products
Plastic products
Rubber products
Leather, leather products and fur skins
Glass and glass products
Cement and cement products
Pottery, china and earthenware
Miscellaneous ceramic, stone and clay products
Pig iron and crude steel
Steel
Steel products
Non-ferrous metals
Non-ferrous metal products

e
no
e
e
e
e
un
un
un
e
un
no
e
un
un
un
un
un
un
un
un
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
no
no
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
no
no
e
e
e

48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94

Metal products for construction, architecture

Other metal products
General industrial machinery
Special industrial machinery
Other general machines
Office machines and machinery for service industry
Household electric appliance
Electrical and communications equipment
Heavy electrical equipment
Other electrical equipment
Motor vehicles
Ships and its repair
Other transport equipment and its repair
Scientific instruments
Miscellaneous manufacturing products
Construction
Repair of construction
Civil construction
Water supply
Waste disposal services
Wholesale trade and retail trade
Financial service and insurance
Real estate rental service
House rental
Railway transport
Road transport
Ocean transport and coastal transport
Air transport
Storage facility service
Services relating to transport
Telecommunication
Broadcasting
Education
Research
Medical services, health and hygiene
Other public services
Advertising services
Information services
Goods rental and leasing
Repair of motor vehicles and machinery
Other business services
Amusement and recreation services
Eating and drinking places
Hotels and other places of accommodation
Other personal services
Activities not elsewhere classified
Administration

e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
no
e
e
e
e
e
e
no
no
no
un
e
e
e
e
e
un
un
un
un
e
un
e
e
e
no
un
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
un
e

un, Unadjustable final demand commodity; no, commodity with no final demand by households.

final demand by others (government, capital investment and

exports), f, and is less than the sum of hU and f.
2.1.3.2. Capital constraint. Eq. (8) accounts for a limitation of
capital stock availability, or capital constraint:
kg  K  ;

where k is capital utilization vector showing the sectoral

capital requirement per unit total output of industry and
K** is the total capital stock. It was difficult to estimate

actual stock accumulated in the past and capital utilization

rate by industry, so we used surrogate values: the present
annual total capital depreciation was used for K**, and capital depreciation rate by industry was used as the capital
requirement.
2.1.3.3. Labor constraint. The number of workers was included in the constraints:
lg  L ;

K. Nansai et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 15 (2007) 879e885

882

Table 3
Economic and environmental changes from the present state in Japan by each
minimization of environmental burdens (Maximum adjustable range of the household consumption for each commodity is assumed as 10% of the present state)
State items

Type of environmental burden to be minimized

(%change from the present state)

from the 1995 make-use table, we estimated matrix B by using

matrix A, and then determined matrix U by Eq. (2):
X Ab
g;

11

and

Energy

CO2

Waste

NOx

Economy
GDP
Labor
Capital

0.00
0.43
0.00

0.00
0.43
0.00

0.00
0.37
0.00

0.00
0.43
0.00

Environment
Energy
CO2
Waste
NOx

2.37
1.99
1.27
1.10

2.37
1.99
1.27
1.10

1.35
1.08
1.34
0.98

2.37
1.99
1.27
1.10

B AC;

where l is the labor coefficient vector, which represents the

number of workers needed for a unit total output of industry,
and L** is the current total number of workers.
2.1.3.4. GDP constraint. To maintain the current economic
scale, GDP constraint must meet the criterion
vg  GDP ;

10

where v is the value-added coefficient vector, which indicates

the value added by the unit total output of each industry.
GDP** is the present value of GDP.
2.2. Data compilations
2.2.1. Economic data
To obtain matrix V in Eq. (3), we employed the 1995
Japanese make-use table of primary and secondary products
(Table 1; [2]). Because matrix U (Eq. (2)) couldnt be obtained

12

where matrix X is the commodity-by-commodity flow matrix

showing the values of purchases of commodities by commodities (Table 1). The industry and commodity areas together
contained 94 sectors (Table 2).
Considering the likelihood of change in consumption, the
adjustable range of final demand by household consumption
was assumed to be 10% of the present value of final demand.
We also assumed that final demands for some commodities
are unadjustable, however, because they are fundamental
commodities required for daily life, such as foods and
medical care. (These unadjustable commodities are noted in
Table 2.)
For the other final demand vector, f, we used the current
value in the make-use table. The total capital stock, K**,
and the capital depreciation rate, k, were derived from the
make-use table. Labor coefficients, l, were calculated by dividing the total output of industry into the sectoral total labor provided in the labor table, one of the supplementary tables in the
Japanese inputeoutput table [2]. Total labor, L**, was also
provided in the labor table. Value-added coefficients of vector
v were estimated from the make-use table; for the constant
GDP** we used the 1995 value [2].
2.2.2. Environmental data
This model requires us to input environmental burden factors for each commodity and industry, ec and ei. We calculated

40
Energy

CO2

Waste

NOx

Change in final demand for commodity

30

20

10

0
-10

-20

-30

-40

11

16

21

26

31

36

41

46

51

56

61

66

71

76

81

86

91

Commodity sector number

Fig. 1. Optimal changes in Japanese household consumption for commodities by each minimization of four environmental burdens: Commodities whose bar chart
extend only to the minus side can be identified as type 1 commodity, commodities whose bar chart extend only to the plus side can be identified as the type 2, and
others are the type 3. Here, the maximum adjustable range of household consumption for each commodity is assumed as 10% of the present level.

K. Nansai et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 15 (2007) 879e885

883

Energy

Change in final demand for commodity

30

CO2

NOx

Waste

CFD

0.8
20

10

0.6

0
0.4

-10

-20
0.2
-30

Cumulative frequency of commodity type 1 (-)

1.0

40

0.0

-40
0.23

0.30

0.34

0.36

0.39

0.40

0.44

0.48

0.51

0.61

0.68

0.72

0.83

Value-added factor of commodity

Fig. 2. The relationship between value added factor of commodity and changes in household consumption by each minimization of four environmental burdens.
(The maximum adjustable range of household consumption for each commodity is assumed as 10% of the present level.)

ec and ei for energy consumption, CO2 emission, waste emission, and NOx emission. For energy consumption and CO2
emission, environmental burden factors or energy intensity
and CO2 emission factors for industrial sectors were estimated
by converting environmental burden factors for commodity
sectors [4]. In terms of waste, emission factors for industrial
sectors, ei, were obtained from Kagawa et al. [5], and those
for commodities were originally determined by using the total
quantity of municipal waste and its composition [6]. For emission factors of NOx, we used impact-based emission factors
expressed as the product of the emission amount and the number of its receptors per unit output [7].

3. Results and discussion

3.1. Comparison of economic and environmental values
We implemented the model by the type of environmental
burden to be minimized in Eq. (6) and obtained four types of
vector g*. Then, based on the vector g*, we calculated four different optimized states for economic and environmental items,
and determined changes of those items, which would occur between the present state and the optimized one (Table 3).
In terms of economic values, for all environmental targets
GDP and capital did not change, but total labor demand

Change in final demand for commodity

30

Energy
Waste
CFD

CO2
NOx

0.8
20
10

0.6

0
0.4

-10
-20

0.2
-30
-40
0.003

Cumulative frequency of commodity type 1 (-)

1.0

40

0.0
0.015

0.025

0.029

0.036

0.043

0.049

0.054

0.059

0.069

0.082

0.109

0.131

Labor factor of commodity

Fig. 3. The relationship between labor factor of commodity and changes in household consumption by each minimization of four environmental burdens. (The
maximum adjustable range of household consumption for each commodity is assumed as 10% of the present level.)

decreased, indicating that unemployment may increase by

0.37e0.43% in an optimized system. Every environmental
item in all minimized cases had a negative value. Thus, optimally minimizing an environmental burden with regard to
household consumption does not increase other environmental
burdens. In other words, a consumption pattern that is appropriate to the minimization of one environmental burden contributes to the reduction of all other environmental burdens.
Quantitatively, in terms of environmental values, energy consumption can be expected to decrease by 1.35e2.37%, CO2
emission by 1.08e1.99%, waste emission by 1.27e1.34%,
and NOx emission by 0.98e1.10%. Compared with other target environmental burdens, minimization of waste emission
shows less of an ability to decrease energy consumption and
CO2 emission, owing to differences in the mechanisms of
emission process between waste and other environmental
burdens.
3.2. Classifying commodities into three types
We compared four different optimal pattern vectors, h*, of
household consumption for each commodity, which were respectively converted from each vector g* by Eq. (13).
h C  Bg  f

13

Fig. 1 shows the optimized status of final demand from household for each commodity by respective minimizations of environmental burdens. The x-axis contains the commodity sector
number, and the y-axis represents accumulated values of respective changes in the optimized consumption (h*) from the current
level (h). Commodities can be classified into three types: (1)
a commodity for which optimal demand should be decreased
in all cases of reducing various environmental burdens; (2)
a commodity whose optimal demand should be increased in
all cases; and (3) a commodity whose optimal demand depends
on the type of environmental burden. Among 63 commodities,
47 commodities for which final demand was relaxed are classified as commodity type 1, nine are classified as commodity type
2, and seven are classified as commodity type 3. The type 3

The frequencies of being the type 1 or

type 2 commodity (-)

K. Nansai et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 15 (2007) 879e885

884

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
0.1

10

100

1000

Direct energy consumption per unit production (GJ/MY)

Fig. 4. Relationship between the probability of being classified as a type 1 or 2
commodity and direct energy consumption per unit production of commodity.

Type 2

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
10

100

1000

10000

Direct CO2 emission per unit production (kg-C/MY)

Fig. 5. Relationship between the probability of being classified as a type 1 or 2
commodity and direct CO2 emission per unit production of commodity.

commodities, whose optimal demand depends on the type of environmental burden, were petroleum refinery products, forestry,
tobacco, telecommunication, broadcasting, goods rental and
leasing, and administration. But unfortunately, it is difficult to
determine the truly optimal demand state of these commodities
without comprehensive environmental assessment methods for
proper weighting in the model. Accordingly, we focused on
type 1 and 2 commodities here, which contribute to all environmental reduction and economic sustainability factors. In an optimized household consumption system, households should
refrain from consuming type 1 commodities as a means to reduce environmental burdens and could shift the surplus money
raised by the refrainment to consumption of type 2 commodities.
In this study, our model considers only 94 commodity sectors,
however, and does not allow the classification of all commodities existing in Japan. Therefore, we attempted to characterize
commodities by their environmental and economic properties
and discover ways of distinguish the type (1 or 2) a commodity
can be classified into.
To identify the characteristics of type 1 commodities, we
looked into the relationships between the demand change and
primary properties of each commodity. Fig. 2 illustrates the

The frequencies of being the type 1 or

type 2 commodity (-)

The frequencies of being the type 1 or

type 2 commodity (-)

Type 2

Type 1

1
Type 1

1
Type 1
Type 2

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
0.001

0.01

0.1

10

100

1000

10000 100000

Direct waste emission per unit production (kg/MY)

Fig. 6. Relationship between the probability of being classified as a type 1 or 2
commodity and direct waste emission per unit production of commodity.

The frequencies of being the type 1 or type 2

commodity (-)

K. Nansai et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 15 (2007) 879e885

885

4. Conclusions

1
Type 1
Type 2
0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
1

10

100

1000

10000

Direct NOx impact-based emission per unit production

(Mt x person/MY)
Fig. 7. Relationship between the probability of being classified as a type 1 or 2
commodity and direct NOx impact-based emission per unit production of
commodity.

relationship between the optimized states of demand for commodities and their value-added factors (million yen [MY]/
MY). In general, type 1 commodities had small value-added factors: 80% of type 1 commodities can be identified by a valueadded factor of 0.50, as illustrated by the cumulative frequency
in Fig. 2. Most of the type 2 commodities have a value-added
factor above 0.62, whereas type 3 commodities have a valueadded factor above 0.53, making it difficult to distinguish these
two commodity types by their value-added factors.
It is also hard to confirm the specific characteristics of type
1 commodities from the relationship between demand fluctuation and the labor factor (Fig. 3). Compared with value-added
factors, type 2 commodities have a wide dispersion within the
range of labor factors. Thus, it would not be effective to characterize commodity type on the basis of labor factors.
Recently, for instance, from product environmental reports
and case studies of life cycle assessment, it is getting to be relatively easy for us to know an environmental performance value
for a commodity. Figs. 4e7 illustrate the relationship between
the direct environmental burdens imposed by unit production
(MY) of a commodity, which are elements of eiCT, and the frequency of the commodity being considered type 1 or 2. By
grouping the commodities by their direct environmental burden
per unit production, we calculated the ratios of type 1 and 2 commodities to the total commodities in the same range of direct environmental burden per unit production. The frequency of being
classified as a type 1 commodity increased sharply above certain values of direct environment burden per unit production.
For instance, to correctly identify a type 1 commodity with
a frequency of more than 80%, we should focus on commodities whose direct environmental burden per unit production is
more than 10 GJ/MY of energy, more than 100 kg-C/MY of
CO2, more than 100 kg/MY of waste emission, or more than
100 Mt  person/MY of NOx impact-based emission.

We calculated optimal patterns of household consumption

using a linear programming model, taking into account different environmental burdens to be minimized. According to the
direction (increase or decrease) of optimal final demand for
a commodity, the commodity was classified into one of three
types: (1) a commodity for which optimal demand should be
decreased in all cases of reducing various environmental burdens; (2) a commodity whose optimal demand should be increased in all cases; and (3) a commodity whose optimal
demand depends on the type of environmental burden. Among
63 commodities whose final demand was assumed to be adjustable, 47 were categorized as type 1 commodities, nine
were type 2 commodities, and seven were type 3 commodities.
Additionally, this work characterizes each type of commodity
from the viewpoint of its economic and environmental properties. Its result can be applied to identify the commodity types
of various commodities in our daily life. The classification of
commodities into three types can be useful for shifting Japans
present household consumption pattern toward a sustainable
pattern and for finding a contradiction in our consumption behaviors between promotion of waste management and prevention of global warming.
This paper emphasized on description of the concept of
commodity classifications as a simple indicator for our
consumptions, hence the number of considered environmental
burdens and sector classifications were very limited. Our future
work should set more detailed sector classifications in the
model, include other environmental burdens, especially water
pollutants and chemical emissions, and examine the dynamic
stability of commodity types e namely, determining whether
commodity types change over the years.

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