In recent years, the economy has determined the agenda when environmental issues are concerned using cost/benefit analyses. This inevitably leads to wrong decisions because the uncertainties of the cost/benefit analyses are often magnitudes higher than that estimated by the economists. Therefore, these analyses should be replaced or supplemented by the concept of sustainability to aid the decision-making process.
Eco-Exergy as Sustainability represents the first attempt to apply eco-exergy, a thermodynamic concept used to describe the development of ecosystems, to express sustainability and use it in a non-ecological context.
Chapter 1: Introduction
Part A - The basic concepts of thermodynamics and the use of thermodynamic variables as sustainability indices
Chapter 2: You cannot escape the thermodynamic laws
Chapter 3: Exergy
Chapter 4: Application of eco-exergy in human activities and ecosystems
Chapter 5: Eco-exergy as an ecosystem health indicator
Part B - The use of thermodynamic indicators
Chapter 6: Eco-exergy as an ecosystem health indicator for lakes
Chapter 7: Eco-exergy as an ecosystem health indicator for coastal areas
Chapter 8: Eco-exergy as an ecosystem health indicator for agricultural systems
Chapter 9: Eco-exergy losses and gains in the society
Part C - Basic properties of ecosystems and their application for a more sustainable management of man-made and man-controlled systems
Chapter 10: Properties of eco-systems
Chapter 11: Ecological and sustainable management of agricultural systems
Chapter 12: Ecological and sustainable management of industrial systems
Chapter 13: A society based on ecological principles
Part D - Conclusions and summary
Chapter 14: Conclusions and summary