Physical Flow Accounts

From Open Risk Manual

Definition

Physical Flow Accounts are flows of materials or energy (measured in physical units) and are the subject of measurement in SEEA physical flow accounts.

Three generic types of physical flows are distinguished:

  • Natural Inputs, which refer to physical flows from the environment into the economy. The SEEA- CF defines natural inputs as all physical inputs that are moved from their location in the environment as a part of economic production processes or are directly used in production. They may be
    • (i) natural resource inputs, such as mineral and energy resources or timber resources,
    • (ii) inputs from renewable energy sources, such as solar energy captured by economic units, or
    • (iii) other natural inputs such as inputs from soil (e.g., soil nutrients) and inputs from air (e.g., oxygen absorbed in combustion processes)
  • Products (goods and services) that result from a process of production in the economy. Generally products are evidenced by a transaction of positive monetary value between two economic units. The scope of products flows included in physical flow accounts include also intra-establishment flows which are partly ignored in monetary flow accounts.
  • Residuals refer to flows of solid, liquid and gaseous materials, and energy, that are discarded, discharged or emitted to the environment (e.g., emission to air) by establishments and households through processes of production, consumption or accumulation but may also flow within the economy, as is the case when, for example, solid waste is collected as part of a waste collection scheme.

Measurement

Physical flows are recorded in physical measurement units. The energy flows recorded in PEFA are measured by their energy content (calorific value in joule) and not their mass or volume. This is to ensure the possibility of aggregation and reconciliation across all accounting entries.

For energy content the international physical measurement unit is Joule. The conventions of energy statistics ([1]) are applied with regards to the use of gross calorific value (GCV) versus net calorific value (NCV).

Usage

The recording of physical flows is arranged in Physical Supply and Use Tables

References

  1. Energy Statistics Manual
  • SEEA