to dollar units is made possible using the ratio of energy consumption to dollar
value of c1 dodities produced (in 1975) or about 70,000 Btu's per dollar
(99.6 x 10 Btu's/$1437 x 109).

 In summary, evaluating nature's services in energy units requires
establishing and equivalency among energy forms. Any energy form may be chosen
as the standard to which other forms are related. For convenience, fossil
fuel is chosen and used in this paper as the standard. The other energy forms
considered in the Capitol Park analysis are equated to one unit of fossil fuel
using the following coefficients: 2000 units of solar energy, 2 to 10 units of
gross primary production, 1 to 5 units of net primary production, 1 unit
of natural gas, and 0.28 units of electricity. Conversion of energy units
to dollar units uses the ratio of 70,000 Btu's per dollar where the energy forms
must be in fossil fuel equivalent units prior to applying the ratio.


 Results: Energy Analysis of Capitol Park


 The Capitol Park complex is comprised of approximately 40 acres located
in downtown Sacramento, California. Five acres are buildings which house the
Governor's Office and staff and the Legislative offices and chambers. The
remaining 35 acres constitute an open botanical garden of 350 different species
of mature trees. The park is visited yearly by about 264,000 persons. In
addition, the park has become a haven for city workers in Sacramento, a spot
frequented by many at noontime.

 The analysis focused on two kinds of assessments:

 1. The capital asset value of the structure in the vegetation and
 the annual value of the services provided by the park were evaluated
 in energy and dollar units using the methods described above.

 2. Using traditional economic methods, the cost of providing
 some of those services by technological means was evaluated. Both
 the dollar cost of and the fuel consumed by those replacement
 technologies were analyzed.

 The first assessment computes energy values directly and money values
indirectly using the energy to dollar ratio (Table 1). The second assessment
computes money-values directly and fossil fuel values indirectly using
traditional economic methods (Table 2).

 Table 1 presents the results of the energy analysis. The capital asset
value of the vegetation represents the stock of standing biomass accrued as
the trees reach maturity. It is analogous to the fuel consumed to construct
a facility or manufacture equipment. In either case, the capital structure
must be in place for the system (the trees or the facility) to provide services
or produce a commodity. For example, if the park space is allocated to air
pollution control, then either trees or a control facility must be in place.
The energy and dollar amounts are hypothesized to represent the capital asset
value of the park to the city. The energy value (which is in fossil fuel
equivalent units) is also thought to represent the quantity of fossil fuel