SFA

Question 1

What does SFA stand for?

Answer 1

Substance Flow Analysis

Question 2

Defenition

Answer 2

A tool for quantifying pathways of a substance (or group of substances) in, out and through a system
- MFA the broader concept

Question 3

Aim and use

Answer 3

• Aims to provide relevant information for an overall management strategy with regards to one specific substance
• designed to support environmental decision making
• the economy here viewed in material flows

Question 4

Methodology for SFA, the 3 steps

Answer 4

1. System Defenition
2. Quantification of the overview of lows and stocks
3. Interpretation of results

Question 5

Describe step 1 in SFA methodology

Answer 5

1. System defenition
   - system defenition with regards to: space, function, time, material
   - space and function - often regional approach, geographical boundry
   - time - flows automatically inout a time dimension
   - materials - substance to be studied

Question 6

Describe step 2 in SFA methodology

Answer 6

2. Quantification of the overview of flows and stocks
   - accounting model tracking flows and stocks
   - collecting data
   - 3 model ways: accounting (trends), static modeling (steady state), dynamic modeling (time)

Question 7

Describe step 3 in SFA methodology

Answer 7

3. The interpretation of the results
   - communicate with policy makers
   - reduce complexity as well as establishing a better communication
   - see limits of the analysis
   - uses indicators - easier interpretation with limited numbers of measures

Question 8

Complexities with SFA

Answer 8

• Terminology is always a difficult issue - lack of coherence between the scientific and the political vocabulary
• usefulness is sometimes questioned
• complex results, gives an overview, sometimes hard to pinpoint relevant info

Question 9

Transfer Coeficient

Answer 9

TC
- procedure to investigate how much in going out from a system in relation to the total input of the system
TC = output/sum(input)
- different outputs and sum outputs