Robert U. Ayres

Exergy, waste accounting, and life-cycle analysis

The authors argue that thermodynamics offers a means of accounting for both resource inputs and waste outputs in a systematic and uniform way. The new feature of the present work is to extend the applications of exergy analysis to resource and waste accounting and to present the results in an integrated analytical framework, namely, life-cycle analysis (LCA). We conclude that exergy is appropriate for general statistical use, both as a measure of resource stocks and flows and as a measure of waste emissions and potential for causing environmental harm.

Rationale for a physical account of economic activities

This article argues that quantification, selection and simplification of information helps to make analysis of problematic situations easy and to forecast with some degree of reliability. Neo-classical economics has attempted to quantify and simplify the real world, but some of its simplifications have severe limitations. For example, current growth theory does not recognise that the factors of production can change over time. Environmental services tend to be excluded. These simplifications cast doubt about the relevance of economic models as a forecasting tool.

A Non-Equilibrium Evolutionary Economic Theory

There are good arguments for asserting that the economic system evolves irreversibly, in some sense, at the macro-level. Not only is this notion consistent with the second law of thermodynamics (Georgescu-Roegen 1971); it is also suggested by the analogy with biological evolution that has been noted a number of times (Faber & Proops 1986; Ayres 1988b). Finally, it makes strong intuitive sense that economic progress should follow in parallel with the irreversible increase in human knowledge.