Thermoeconomics, also referred to as
biophysical economics, is a school of
heterodox economics that applies the
laws of thermodynamics to economic theory.
[1] The term "thermoeconomics" was coined in 1962 by American engineer
Myron Tribus,
[2][3][4] and developed by the
statistician and
economist Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen.
[5] Thermoeconomics can be thought of as the
statistical physics of
economic value.
[6]
Thermoeconomics is based on the proposition that the role of
energy in
biological evolution should be defined and understood through the
second law of thermodynamics but in terms of such economic criteria as
productivity,
efficiency, and especially the costs and benefits (or profitability) of the various mechanisms for capturing and utilizing available energy to build biomass and do work.
[7][8]
[edit] Thermodynamics
Thermoeconomists maintain that human
economic systems can be modeled as
thermodynamic systems. Then, based on this premise, theoretical economic analogs of the
first and
second laws of thermodynamics are developed.
[9] In addition, the thermodynamic quantity
exergy, i.e. measure of the useful work energy of a system, is one measure of
value. In thermodynamics,
thermal systems exchange energy by
heat, and
work, and exchange
mass with their surroundings; in this direction, relations between the
energy associated with the
production,
distribution, and
consumption of
goods and
services can be determined.
[10]
[edit] Economic systems
Thermoeconomists argue that economic systems always involve
matter,
energy,
entropy, and
information.
[11] Moreover, the aim of many economic activities is to achieve a certain structure. In this manner, thermoeconomics applies the theories in
non-equilibrium thermodynamics, in which structure formations called
dissipative structures form, and
information theory, in which
information entropy is a central construct, to the modeling of economic activities in which the natural flows of energy and materials function to create scarce resources.
[1] In thermodynamic terminology, human economic activity may be described as a
dissipative system, which flourishes by consuming free energy in transformations and exchange of resources, goods, and services.
[12][13]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b Sieniutycz, Stanislaw; Salamon, Peter (1990). Finite-Time Thermodynamics and Thermoeconomics. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 0-8448-1668-X.
- ^ Yehia M. El-Sayed (2003). The Thermoeconomics of Energy Conversions (pg. 4). Pergamon.
- ^ A. Valero, L. Serra, and J. Uche (2006). Fundamentals of Exergy Cost Accounting and Thermoeconomics. Part I: Theory, Journal of Energy Resources Technology, Volume 128, Issue 1, pp. 1-8.
- ^ Gong, Mei, Wall, Goran. (1997). On Exergetics, Economics and Optimization of Technical Processes to Meet Environmental Conditions. Exergy Studies.
- ^ Georgescu-Roegen, Nicholas (1971). The Entropy Law and the Economic Process. Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-25781-2.
- ^ Chen, Jing (2005). The Physical Foundation of Economics - an Analytical Thermodynamic Theory. World Scientific. ISBN 981-256-323-7.
- ^ Peter A. Corning 1*, Stephen J. Kline. (2000). Thermodynamics, information and life revisited, Part II: Thermoeconomics and Control information Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Apr. 07, Volume 15, Issue 6 , Pages 453 – 482
- ^ Corning, P. (2002). “Thermoeconomics – Beyond the Second Law”
- ^ Burley, Peter; Foster, John (1994). Economics and Thermodynamics – New Perspectives on Economic Analysis. Kluwer Academic Publishers. ISBN 0-7923-9446-1.
- ^ http://telstar.ote.cmu.edu/environ/m3/s3/05account.shtml Environmental Decision making, Science and Technology
- ^ Baumgarter, Stefan. (2004). Thermodynamic Models, Modeling in Ecological Economics (Ch. 18)
- ^ Raine, Alan; Foster, John; and Potts, Jason (2006). "The new entropy law and the economic process". Ecological Complexity 3: 354–360. doi:10.1016/j.ecocom.2007.02.009.
- ^ Annila, A. and Salthe, S., Arto; Salthe, Stanley (2009). "Economies evolve by energy dispersal". Entropy 11 (4): 606–633. doi:10.3390/e11040606. http://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/11/4/606/pdf.
[edit] Further reading
[edit] External links
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