TY - GEN
T1 - Understanding the implications of a thermo-economic perspective on sustainability
AU - Seager, T. P.
PY - 2009/12/1
Y1 - 2009/12/1
N2 - No two sciences have been more directly informative of sustainability than thermodynamics (the science of energy and material resources) and economics (the science of how those resources are allocated for production, distribution, and consumption). Both disciplines share a preoccupation with understanding efficiency, which is critical to many interpretations of sustainability and so it is not surprising to discover that investigative approaches to sustainability in one discipline can be analogous to the other. However, there are significant differences as well, such as the difference between price and value, the importance of time, the necessity of reference states and analysis of ecological systems. Both perspectives have important implications for understanding sustainability, including strong vs. weak formulations, and aggregation of data flows with different qualitative characteristics.
AB - No two sciences have been more directly informative of sustainability than thermodynamics (the science of energy and material resources) and economics (the science of how those resources are allocated for production, distribution, and consumption). Both disciplines share a preoccupation with understanding efficiency, which is critical to many interpretations of sustainability and so it is not surprising to discover that investigative approaches to sustainability in one discipline can be analogous to the other. However, there are significant differences as well, such as the difference between price and value, the importance of time, the necessity of reference states and analysis of ecological systems. Both perspectives have important implications for understanding sustainability, including strong vs. weak formulations, and aggregation of data flows with different qualitative characteristics.
KW - Eco-efficiiency
KW - Strong versus weak sustainability
KW - Thermoeconomics
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77951007044&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=77951007044&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/ISSST.2009.5156700
DO - 10.1109/ISSST.2009.5156700
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:77951007044
SN - 9781424434565
T3 - 2009 IEEE International Symposium on Sustainable Systems and Technology, ISSST '09 in Cooperation with 2009 IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society, ISTAS
BT - 2009 IEEE International Symposium on Sustainable Systems and Technology, ISSST '09 in Cooperation with 2009 IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society, ISTAS
T2 - 2009 IEEE International Symposium on Sustainable Systems and Technology, ISSST '09 in Cooperation with 2009 IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society, ISTAS
Y2 - 18 May 2009 through 20 May 2009
ER -