Suchergebnisse

Intro -- Foreword -- Acknowledgements -- Endorsements -- Four Book Blurbs -- Contents -- 1 Introduction: 'Paradigm Is a Tacit Agreement not to Ask Certain Questions' (Allen 2003) -- References -- 2 Scarcity, Promethean Technology, and Future Perspectives for Fossil Fuels and Uranium -- 2.1 Introduction -- 2.2 Reconsidering the Meaning of Scarcity for Sustainability -- 2.2.1 Reconsidering Scarcity in Relation to Limitless Wants -- 2.2.2 Reconsidering Scarcity in Relation to Resource Substation -- 2.2.3 Reconsidering Scarcity in Relation to Inter-generational and Intra-generational Equity -- 2.3 Energy Transformation, Promethean Technology and Reexamining the Transition of Energy and Materials During the Industrial Revolution -- 2.4 Coal, Oil, Natural Gas and Aviation Fuel: The Present Situation and Future Perspectives -- 2.4.1 Coal -- 2.4.2 Oil -- 2.4.3 Natural Gas -- 2.4.4 Aviation Fuel -- 2.4.5 The Future Perspectives for Shale Gas and Methane Hydrates -- 2.5 Uranium and Nuclear Technology -- 2.6 Conclusion -- References -- 3 Credibility of Scientific Analysis, and Assessment of PV Systems and Ethanol Production -- 3.1 Introduction -- 3.2 MuSIASEM Applied to the Evaluation of PV Systems -- 3.3 Large-Scale Ethanol Production from Corn and Sugarcane Reconsidered: The Case of the United States and Brazil -- 3.4 Scientific Analysis and Assessment in the Era of Post-normal Science -- 3.5 Conclusion -- References -- 4 Beyond the Conventional View: Reconsidering Money, Credit and Interest -- 4.1 Introduction -- 4.2 The Myth of Barter, Money and Credit -- 4.3 The Origin of Money Interest from the Perspective of Structural and Functional Decay -- 4.4 Debt Creation and Control: Miscellaneous Problems -- 4.5 Conclusion -- References -- 5 Capital Interest, the Financial Sector and Debt Expansion: Toward a More Sustainable and Equitable World Order.

The term "Jevons Paradox" flags the need to consider the different hierarchical scales at which a system under analysis changes its identity in response to an innovation. Accordingly, an analysis of the implications of the Jevons Paradox must abandon the realm of reductionism and deal with the complexity inherent in the issue of sustainability: when studying evolution and real change how can we define "what has to be sustained" in a system that continuously becomes something else? In an attempt to address this question this paper presents three theoretical concepts foreign to conventional scientific analysis: (i) complex adaptive systems—to address the peculiar characteristics of learning and self-producing systems; (ii) holons and holarchy—to explain the implications of the ambiguity found when observing the relation between functional and structural elements across different scales (steady-state vs. evolution); and (iii) Holling's adaptive cycle—to illustrate the existence of different phases in the evolutionary trajectory of a complex adaptive system interacting with its context in which either external or internal constraints can become limiting. These concepts are used to explain systemic drivers of the Jevons Paradox. Looking at society's thermodynamic foundations, sustainability is based on a dynamic balance of two contrasting principles regulating the evolution of complex adaptive systems: the minimum entropy production and the maximum energy flux. The co-existence of these two principles explains why in different situations innovation has to play a different role in the "sustainable development" of society: (i) when society is not subject to external biophysical constraints improvements in efficiency serve to increase the final consumption of society and expand its diversity of functions and structures; (ii) when the expansion of society is limited by external constraints improvements in efficiency should be used to avoid as much as possible the loss of the existing diversity. It is concluded that sustainability cannot be achieved by technological innovations alone, but requires a continuous process of institutional and behavioral adjustment.

The term "Jevons Paradox" flags the need to consider the different hierarchical scales at which a system under analysis changes its identity in response to an innovation. Accordingly, an analysis of the implications of the Jevons Paradox must abandon the realm of reductionism and deal with the complexity inherent in the issue of sustainability: when studying evolution and real change how can we define "what has to be sustained" in a system that continuously becomes something else? In an attempt to address this question this paper presents three theoretical concepts foreign to conventional scientific analysis: (i) complex adaptive systems—to address the peculiar characteristics of learning and self-producing systems; (ii) holons and holarchy—to explain the implications of the ambiguity found when observing the relation between functional and structural elements across different scales (steady-state vs. evolution); and (iii) Holling's adaptive cycle—to illustrate the existence of different phases in the evolutionary trajectory of a complex adaptive system interacting with its context in which either external or internal constraints can become limiting. These concepts are used to explain systemic drivers of the Jevons Paradox. Looking at society's thermodynamic foundations, sustainability is based on a dynamic balance of two contrasting principles regulating the evolution of complex adaptive systems: the minimum entropy production and the maximum energy flux. The co-existence of these two principles explains why in different situations innovation has to play a different role in the "sustainable development" of society: (i) when society is not subject to external biophysical constraints improvements in efficiency serve to increase the final consumption of society and expand its diversity of functions and structures; (ii) when the expansion of society is limited by external constraints improvements in efficiency should be used to avoid as much as possible the loss of the existing diversity. It is concluded that ...

This book reconsiders the privileged powers commercial banks hold, i.e., their ability to create money out of nothing and then have that money grow with a positive interest rate. Said powers defy the first and second laws of thermodynamics. The necessity of understanding the dual natures of money, wealth, and real capital, or, put differently, the reality that these three entities are simultaneously individual affluence and collective biophysical debt, is emphasized. The book culminates by proposing new foundations of money, wealth, and real capital for sustainability. Kozo Torasan Mayumi, the last student of Georgescu-Roegen, works at the Kyoto College of Graduate Studies for Informatics. Ansel Renner works at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and independently contracts on bioeconomics.