The Human Flux Unit (EFU) 118.2.ENG

Abstract

The Human Flux Unit (EFU) framework introduces a flow-based metric for describing human, infrastructural and ecological activity within a shared metabolic space. Rather than treating people or systems as static entities, EFU conceptualises them as patterns of material and energy throughput, normalised to the average daily metabolic flux of a human being. This enables direct, scale-consistent comparison across individuals, populations, infrastructures and sectors, and reframes sustainability questions in terms of flux intensity, direction and efficiency rather than presence or absence.

This document presents the current state of an ongoing research project. The EFU framework is not proposed here as a finished standard, licence or certification scheme, but as a developing analytical approach. Its purpose is to invite further investigation, critique and refinement, including empirical validation, methodological extensions and ethical discussion. Researchers, practitioners and institutions interested in flux-based accounting and sustainability metrics are explicitly encouraged to engage, test, challenge and contribute to the framework’s evolution.

The development of this work has involved the use of artificial intelligence tools as part of an iterative research and writing process, under human direction and critical oversight. All conceptual choices, assumptions and interpretations remain the responsibility of the author(s).