Improving Environmentaland Ecological Management Through the Integration Of Exergy, Environment and Ecology: A Critical Review Of exergy-based Methods

摘要

In the analysis and improvement of ecological systems and environmental impact, techniques can be used which combine scientific disciplines (mainly thermodynamics) with environmental and ecological disciplines. In most analyses, assessments consider thermodynamics via energy quantities. Many researchers have recommended that ecological and environmental factors are better assessed using the thermodynamic quantity exergy, one rationale being that exergy, not energy, is often a measure of the potential for ecological and environmental impact. Several exergy-based ecological and environmental methodologies exist (e.g., environomics, exergy-based life cycle analysis and exergy-based ecological indicators). A brief summary is presented here of such methodologies. One approach identifies as important the exergy emitted from smokestacks and assesses its potential impact using exergy-based tolerance measures. Most such techniques seek to improve understanding of the impact on ecological systems and the environment of processes and to determine appropriate ecological and environmental improvement measures. This article focuses on the relations between exergy and ecological and environmental impacts and indicators. Several examples are considered, including electrical power generation, to illustrate how the insights can assist in integrating thermodynamics into ecological and environmental management. Thermodynamic, ecological and environmental data for various devices and systems are examined, and show that correlations exist between exergy and environmental and ecological parameters, implying that exergy factors into environmental improvement and ecological management.