Exergy, ecology and democracy - concepts of a vital society or a proposal for an exergy tax 30 years after - Part 1: Generalities

Abstract

Goran Wall?s "exergy, ecology, and democracy ? concepts of a vital society or a proposal for an exergy tax? has come a long way since its presentation in 1992. Wall has extended the thermodynamics to the sustainability analysis of economic, environmental and societal models. The authors of this paper aim to discuss Wall?s intuitions in today?s scenario. Governments are assuming increasing measures against climate change and toward sustainability. However, these measures do not affect the concentration of GHG and global heating. It is an evident failure from a thermodynamic point of view. The economic indicators used by governments to measure the progress toward UN. Sustainability development goals and the Paris agreement reveal a scarce consistency. One of the most used is ?domestic material consumption?. It accounts for the mass balance of the materials entering or exiting a national economic system. However, it lacks consistency and delivers insufficient information because it neglects the impacts of import-export. As Wall shows, more effective and consistent indicators are necessary to account for sustainability. The most relevant is exergy, which has been presented and discussed widely.