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Book Cover
E-book
Author Hall, Charles A. S.

Title Energy and the wealth of nations : understanding the biophysical economy / Charles A.S. Hall, Kent A. Klitgaard
Published New York, NY : Springer, ©2012

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Description 1 online resource (xiv, 407 pages) : color portraits
Contents pt. 1. Energy and the origins of wealth -- pt. 2. Energy, economics, and the structure of society -- pt. 3. Energy and economics : the basics -- pt. 4. The science behind how real economics work -- pt. 5. Understanding how real-world economics work
Summary Annotation For the past 150 years, economics has been treated as a social science in which economies are modeled as a circular flow of income between producers and consumers. In this perpetual motion of interactions between firms that produce and households that consume, little or no accounting is given of the flow of energy and materials from the environment and back again. In the standard economic model, energy and matter are completely recycled in these transactions, and economic activity is seemingly exempt from the Second Law of Thermodynamics. As we enter the second half of the age of oil, and as energy supplies and the environmental impacts of energy production and consumption become major issues on the world stage, this exemption appears illusory at best. In Energy and the Wealth of Nations, concepts such as energy return on investment (EROI) provide powerful insights into the real balance sheets that drive our petroleum economy. Hall and Klitgaard explore the relation between energy and the wealth explosion of the 20th century, the failure of markets to recognize or efficiently allocate diminishing resources, the economic consequences of peak oil, the EROI for finding and exploiting new oil fields, and whether alternative energy technologies such as wind and solar power meet the minimum EROI requirements needed to run our society as we know it. This book is an essential read for all scientists and economists who have recognized the urgent need for a more scientific, unified approach to economics in an energy-constrained world, and serves as an ideal teaching text for the growing number of courses, such as the authors own, on the role of energy in society
Analysis Engineering
Engineering economy
Sustainable development
Environmental economics
Energy Economics
Energy Policy, Economics and Management
Socio- and Econophysics, Population and Evolutionary Models
duurzame ontwikkeling
milieueconomie
thermodynamica
thermodynamics
energiebeleid
energy policy
modellen
models
Engineering (General)
Techniek (algemeen)
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Subject Power resources.
Environmental economics.
Sustainable development.
Energy-Generating Resources
energy resources.
sustainable development.
Ingénierie.
Environmental economics
Power resources
Sustainable development
Form Electronic book
Author Klitgaard, Kent A
ISBN 9781441993984
1441993983
1441993975
9781441993977