Environmental overhead of labor (EOL) embodied in trade: The case of 2002 China-U.S. trade

Ming Xu, Eric Williams, Braden Allenby

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

Previous studies on environmental impacts embodied in trade have paid little attention on the impacts of labor, or environmental overhead of labor (EOL). In particular, EOL can occur in both the household consumption of fuels and electricity by workers and in the delivery of products and services consumed by workers. This research defines EOL and quantifies energy and carbon dioxide (CO2) EOL embodied in the 2002 China-U.S. trade using an integrated environmental input-output model. The results find that the eastbound trade from China to the U.S. uses 28.80 million worker-years in China. This trade corresponds to, an EOL of 466.98 petajouless (PJ) of energy use and 42.50 million metric tons (MMt) of CO2 emissions. The westbound trade from the U.S. to China on the other hand requires 0.28 million worker-years, associated with an EOL of 87.48 PJ energy and 5.71 MMt of total CO2 emissions. Further analysis shows China's EOL is dominated by manufacturing while EOL on the U.S. side is primarily from household consumption.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publication2009 IEEE International Symposium on Sustainable Systems and Technology, ISSST '09 in Cooperation with 2009 IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society, ISTAS
DOIs
StatePublished - 2009
Event2009 IEEE International Symposium on Sustainable Systems and Technology, ISSST '09 in Cooperation with 2009 IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society, ISTAS - Tempe, AZ, United States
Duration: May 18 2009May 20 2009

Publication series

Name2009 IEEE International Symposium on Sustainable Systems and Technology, ISSST '09 in Cooperation with 2009 IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society, ISTAS

Other

Other2009 IEEE International Symposium on Sustainable Systems and Technology, ISSST '09 in Cooperation with 2009 IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society, ISTAS
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityTempe, AZ
Period5/18/095/20/09

Keywords

  • Consumption
  • Environmental input-output analysis
  • Labor
  • Trade

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Information Systems
  • Control and Systems Engineering
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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