A CRONYMS AND A BBREVIATIONS
Chapter 6: This Chapter briefly sums up the research and dwells upon the answers to the research questions, lists briefly the policy implications and the new contribution of the study in
2.6 Entropy and Economic Process: Summing up the Conceptual Framework
2.7.4 Interactions of the Economic Sub System as part of the Whole Earth system
The economic subsystem is a part of the larger earth system both of which are governed by the laws of thermodynamics as can be seen from the discussions from the preceding sections. Here it would be pertinent to mention, that the present Thesis is limited in scope to examine application of thermodynamics, especially the Entropy Law, to the development process in as much as that development process is a function of a set of economic processes which in turn are functions of, what NGR calls elementary processes, physical, chemical and biological in nature and have their own energy matter interactions. The application of thermodynamics in relation to production of
“low entropy” resource i.e. energy and matter (and their relations with low entropy energy received from the sun and further interactions), the manner of interactions of “high entropy”
waste in the biosphere (through complex cycles of material circulation such as hydrological or carbon cycles or atmospheric processes etc.) are beyond the scope of the Thesis as the same entails empirical large scale calculations of energy use and entropy in the various feedback loops of several subsystems that are operating continuously in nature and the economic process. The Thesis assumes that on the source side there exist “low entropy” matter and energy that are getting transformed at rates much faster than the rates of their rejuvenation, and that “high entropy” waste accumulate in the biosphere on the sink side at rates faster than they can be assimilated by the various natural cycles. However, these arguments shall be used in the subsequent chapters to understand sustainability and its relationship with entropy law.
Therefore, within the limited scope of this study, it can be concluded from the arguments put forth in this Chapter that the economic processes, which are comprised of production and consumption processes, are part of a larger earth system which is closed system in the larger sun- earth-space universe (receiving only solar energy from the sun, and releasing equivalent amount of entropy back into space, lest the system gets heated or cooled); and the economic production and consumption systems are open systems exchanging energy and matter from the larger earth system. This is depicted in Fig. No. 2.2 by revisiting the Fig No. 2.1. It shows that the earth system36, being a closed system, receives solar energy (E) from the sun at 5760 K temperature, and sends back energy to the space at 273 K. The earth system is shown at temperature 298 K37.
36 Earth received short wavelength solar energy from the sun (at a rate of ~238 WM-2 , and emits the same amount back to the space (Kleidon & Lorenz, 2004). This is an ideal situation. However, the NASA (2014, 2016) indicate that the earth system receives at the top of the atmosphere an insolation of 340.4 Wm-2, and is able to send back only 339.8 Wm-2, thus, retaining 0.6 Wm-2 flux into the earth system which would be causing warming of the system. Another study indicated net retention by the earth system to be 0.9 WM-2 (Trenberth, Fasullo, and Kiehl, 2008)
37 The mean surface temperature is taken to be 150C, which is 288 K. Research showed that the global mean temperature is 287 K (Trenberth, Fasullo, and Kiehl, 2008). However, in this study, temperature of the surrounding has been taken to be 298K (which is normally considered room temperature)
Since earth is a closed system and has its own internal energy, it must send back to space all energy that it receives from the sun constantly. If it sends back more energy than it receives, the system would start getting cooler, while if it sends back less energy, the system would start getting warmer. Since it would be nigh impossible to calculate the internal energy of the earth system, one needs to look at energy balance to see if there is any excess energy getting retained by the system or any excess of energy emitted into space. The earth system is complex, as one needs to consider energy at the top of the atmosphere, in the atmosphere and at the earth's surface (NASA, 2014). The earth system's energy balance, in absence of any living organisms would continue unperturbed till the solar energy lasts. However, if living organisms (including humans in pre-industrial age) are introduced in the earth system, and they live off the primary production alone (barring the waste emissions that might change the atmospheric conditions38,39), there might be negligible perturbations in the energy balance at various levels in the earth system.
Now if post industrial revolution modern man (Homo economicus) are introduced into the earth system, the huge mass of locked energy in form of fossil fuels would get unlocked and produce significant perturbations in the energy balance.
38 Refer to Wilkinson, Nisbet, and Ruxton (2012) for an alternate theory for extinction of dinosaurs, and Mojzsis (2001) and Yamaguchi (2003) to see how early earth atmosphere evolved from anaerobic to aerobic.
39 Perturbations can also be brought about by mass extinction and loss of biodiversity. Refer Ceballos, Ehrlich &
Dirzo (2016) who argue that “beyond global species extinctions Earth is experiencing a huge episode of population declines and extirpations, which will have negative cascading consequences on ecosystem functioning and services vital to sustaining civilization”, and the authors term it as “biological annihilation”.
Fig. No. 2.2: The Economic Sub System
Though there are claims in literature that entropy generated through anthropogenic sources are only a negligible fraction of the entropy generated from the sun (Weiss, 1996), such studies do not seem to explain the evolution of the earth's atmosphere, or a possibility of species extinction due to waste emission. Since the earth's atmosphere (surrounding for the economic sub system) has its own internal energy, being the sum of translational, rotational, vibrational and potential energies of all the molecules held by it, any release of additional matter and energy into the atmospheric system is likely to cause perturbations in the atmospheric system, the rule of energy balance applies there. The pumping of additional waste material from the economic sub system is likely to upset the energy balance of the atmosphere causing it to either to get cooled or warmed. Studies indicate the earth system is retaining part of the incoming solar energy, transmitting about 0.6 to 0.9 Wm-2 lessthan what it receives from the sun. (NASA, 2014, 2016, Trenberth, Fasullo, and Kiehl, 2008).
The economic production and consumption processes40 generate high entropy in the surroundings (by virtue of energy matter interactions). Though the source of energy might have originated from solar energy million years ago, it is matter nevertheless, and “matter matters too”
40 According to Baumgartner (2002) economic process consists of production, consumption and reduction – reduction meaning recycling of waste; and if we add distribution to it, the system may be called production, distribution, consumption and reduction, PDCR, as a complete description of the economic process
The Sun-Earth-Space Universe Sun
5760 K E
Economic Sub System Earth System (298 K)
E & M E & M
Space (273 K) E Ecological Economics
(NGR, 1979), and its exploitation adds additional flux to the energy balance of the earth system.
Since the earth is a closed system, the high entropy generated through rapid anthropogenic transformations, in form of waste heat and CO2 emissions would add to the normal budget of the earth system's energy and entropy, resulting in inefficient transfer of energy/entropy back to space. NASA (2014) and other studies (Trenberth, Fasullo, and Kiehl, 2008), in conclusion, can be used to vet this approach proposed here. The attempt here is to bring the economic subsystem directly within the fold of the earth system through the interplay of the metabolic processes in nature and the economy and the resultant entropy generation and waste heat accumulation that could lead to rise in ambient temperature and climate change.