Analysis of Environmental Carrying Capacity with Emergy Perspective of Jeju Island

Jeju Island experienced an approximately 42% increase in energy consumption from 2006 to 2015 and the demand for energy consumption is expected to continue to increase. Thus, Jeju Island is planning a project entitled “Carbon Free Island by 2030” to promote sustainable development and is required to estimate the environmental carrying capacity for future energy demand changes. The purpose of this study was to calculate the emergy inherent in Jeju Island’s energy, materials, and information in 2015 using the emergy analysis method and local characteristics. In addition, this study aimed to estimate the emergy indices to evaluate the environmental carrying capacity for sustainable development in 2005, 2015, and 2030 considering the future energy demand. This study’s outputs provide the environmental carrying capacity with emergy indices, such as the percent renewable (%Renew), emergy yield ratio (EYR), environmental loading ratio (ELR), sustainability index (SI), and carrying capacity of the population (CCP) for social and economic activities on Jeju Island, which are expected to be saturated. These findings show regions with heavy tourism require development strategies, including the concept of environmental carrying capacity.