Energy and environment in terms of evolutionary economics
- Swiss Federal Inst. of Tech., Zurich (Switzerland). Centre for Economic Research
Based on general principles of evolution, the flow of free energy between and within the economic system is analyzed. It is shown that at present levels of energy flows, mankind is physically in the position to organize the economic system in such a way that it becomes compatible with the overall environment without violating the Second Law. In order to achieve this goal, two kinds of sinks are required: (1) terrestrial, non-dissipative sinks in which non-usable material is deposited, and (2) the universal sink represented by the space which serves as an unlimited deposit for waste heat. The efficient organization of proper ordered states (negentropy) is feasible over a wide range of technical options. The bottlenecks are not of physical but rather of political nature, i.e., they concern the ability to find the right passways within the available time. Special consideration is given to electricity in the context of development of a technologically advanced, information rich society. Finally, a non-linear model is presented serving as an illustration of phase transitions from the energy state (e.g., electricity with high form value) to another energy regime (with low form value of electricity) identifying stable and non-stable equilibria.
- OSTI ID:
- 215681
- Journal Information:
- International Journal of Energy-Environment-Economics, Vol. 3, Issue 1; Other Information: PBD: 1996
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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