Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T02:10:24.079Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

6 - Ecosystems, the Environment, and Sustainability

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 March 2021

Efstathios Michaelides
Affiliation:
Texas Christian University
Get access

Summary

Energy usage by an exponentially increasing human population has created environmental problems that are stressing several ecosystems on earth. The concept of eco-exergy (which is not equivalent to mechanical work) has been used to explain the relationship between energy use and the formation of complex organisms in ecosystems. The harmonious co-existence in ecosystems has inspired the notion of industrial ecology as a paradigm for the improvement of exergetic efficiencies and complete utilization of resources. The exergy-environment nexus and the implications of exergy analyses on sustainable development are critically examined in this chapter. Environmental exergonomics, exergoenvironmental analysis that includes eco-indicators, life-cycle exergy analysis, and sustainability indices are theoretical tools that use exergy and other thermodynamic variables to define the state of the environment and to recommend industrial practices that would alleviate the detrimental effects of energy use and would promote global environmental stewardship and sustainability.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Gates, D. M., Energy and Ecology (Sunderland, MA: Sinauer, 1985).Google Scholar
Molina, M. J. and Rowland, F. S., Stratospheric Sink for Chlorofluoromethanes: Chlorine Atom-Catalysed Destruction of Ozone. Nature, 249 (1974), 810–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Michaelides, E. E., Energy, the Environment, and Sustainability (Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2018).Google Scholar
Vestreng, V., Myhre, G., Fagerli, H., Reis, S., and Tarrason, H., Twenty-Five Years of Continuous Sulphur Dioxide Emission Reduction in Europe. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 7 (2007), 3663–81.Google Scholar
Douglas, A. R., Newman, P. A., and Solomon, S., The Antarctic Ozone Hole: An Update. Physics Today, 67 (2014), 42–8.Google Scholar
International Energy Agency, Key World Statistics (Paris: IEA-Chirat, 2018).Google Scholar
Jorgensen, S. E., Nielsen, S. N., and Mejer, H., Emergy, Environ, Exergy and Ecological Modeling. Ecological Modeling, 77 (1995), 99109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jorgensen, S. E. and Marques, J. C., 2001, Thermodynamics and Ecosystem Theory, Case Studies from Hydrobiology. Hydrobiologia, 445, 110.Google Scholar
Susani, L., Pulselli, F. M., Jorgensen, S. E., and Bastianoni, S., Comparison Between Technological and Ecological Exergy. Ecological Modeling, 193 (2006), 447–56.Google Scholar
Lin, H., Thermodynamic Entropy Fluxes Reflect Ecosystem Characteristics and Succession. Ecological Modeling, 298 (2015), 7586.Google Scholar
Holdaway, R. J., Sparrow, A. D., and Coomes, D. A., Trends in Entropy Production During Ecosystem Development in the Amazon Basin. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 365 (2010), 1437–47.Google Scholar
Wiedmann, T. and Barrett, J., A Review of the Ecological Footprint Indicator–Perceptions and Methods. Sustainability, 2 (2010), 1645–93.Google Scholar
Frosh, D. and Gallopoulos, N., Strategies for Manufacturing, Scientific American, 261 (1989), 94102.Google Scholar
Ayres, R. U., and Ayres, L. W., eds. A Handbook of Industrial Ecology (Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2002).Google Scholar
Ao, Y., Gunnewiek, L., and Rosen, M. A., Critical Review of Exergy-Based Indicators for the Environmental Impact of Emissions. International Journal of Green Energy, 5 (2008), 87104.Google Scholar
Favrat, D., Marechal, F., and Epelly, O., The Challenge of Introducing an Exergy Indicator in a Local Law on Energy. Energy, 33 (2008), 130–36.Google Scholar
Frangopoulos, C. A. and Caralis, Y. C., A Method for Taking Into Account Environmental Impacts in the Economic Evaluation of Energy Systems. Energy Conversion and Management, 38 (1997), 1751–63.Google Scholar
Simpson, A. P. and Edwards, C. F., An Exergy-Based Framework for Evaluating Environmental Impact, Energy, 36 (2011), 1442–59.Google Scholar
Goldberg, A., Environmental Exergonomics for Sustainable Design and Analysis of Energy Systems. Energy, 88 (2015), 314–21.Google Scholar
Jorgensen, S. E. and Nielsen, S. N., Application of Exergy as Thermodynamic Indicator in Ecology. Energy, 32 (2007), 673–85.Google Scholar
Meyer, L., Tsatsaronis, G., Buchgeister, J. and Schebek, L., Exergoenvironmental Analysis for Evaluation of the Environmental Impact of Energy Conversion Systems. Energy, 34 (2015), 7589.Google Scholar
Lara, Y., Petrakopoulou, F., Morosuk, T., Boyano, A., and Tsatsaronis, G., An Exergy-Based Study on the Relationship between Costs and Environmental Impacts in Power Plants. Energy, 138 (2017), 920–28.Google Scholar
Goedkoop, M. and Spriensma, R., The Eco-Indicator 99: A Damage Oriented Method for Life-Cycle Impact Assessment, 3rd ed., Methodology Report (Amersfoort, Netherlands, 2000).Google Scholar
Wall, G., On Exergy and Sustainable Development in Environmental Engineering. The Open Environmental Engineering Journal, 3 (2010), 2132.Google Scholar
Maes, D.. and Van Passel, S., Advantages and Limitations of Exergy Indicators to Assess Sustainability of Bioenergy and Biobased Materials. Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 45 (2014), 1929.Google Scholar
Edgerton, R.H., Available Energy and Environmental Economics (Toronto: D. C. Heath, 1992).Google Scholar
Singh, R. K., Murty, H. R., Gupta, S. K., and Dikshit, A. K., An Overview of Sustainability Assessment Methodologies. Ecological Indicators, 15 (2012), 281–99.Google Scholar
Ecological Indicators, Published by Elsevier since 2001.Google Scholar
United Nations, Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future. www.un-documents.net/our-common-future.pdf, last visited on September 20, 2019.Google Scholar
US Interagency Working Group on Sustainable Development Indicators. Sustainable development in the United States: An experimental set of indicators (Washington, DC, December 1998).Google Scholar
International Institute for Sustainable Development, Compendium of Sustainable Development Indicator Initiatives. www.iisd.org/library/compendium-sustainable-development-indicator-initiatives, last visited February 9, 2019.Google Scholar
Parris, T. M. and Kates, R.W., Characterizing and Measuring Sustainable Development. Annual Review of Environmental Resources, 28 (2003), 13.113.28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Romero, C. J. and Linares, P., Exergy as a Global Energy Sustainability Indicator. A review of the State of the Art. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 33 (2014), 427–42.Google Scholar
Sciubba, E., From Engineering Economics to Extended Exergy Accounting: A Possible Path from “Monetary” to “Resource-Based” Costing. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 8 (2004), 1940.Google Scholar
Lior, N., Quantifying Sustainability for Energy Development. Energy Bulletin No. 19, Intern. Sustainable Energy Development Center under the Auspices of UNESCO, (2015), 8–24.Google Scholar
Michaelides, E. E., Fossil Fuel Substitution with Renewables for Electricity Generation – Effects on Sustainability Goals. European Journal of Sustainable Development Research, 4 (1), (2020), em0111.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×