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Energy, Information, Feedback, Adaptation, and Self-organization pp 489–534Cite as

Energy in Life and Society

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Part of the book series: Intelligent Systems, Control and Automation: Science and Engineering ((ISCA,volume 90))

Abstract

This chapter is concerned with the use and impact of energy on life and society. All activities of life and society are energy-based and energy-handling processes. The energy for all life on Earth comes from the Sun. Living organisms consume the available high-quality energy and return lower quality energy as specified by thermodynamics. Nonliving entities also consume energy over time, but life processes are more efficient in consuming energy. The three dominant stages of energy domestication in human societies are the survival stage, the stage of increased energy depletion, and the present stage of more efficient use of Earth’s energy resources (exhaustible and non-exhaustible). This chapter starts with a discussion of the three primary biochemical pathways, i.e., full series of energy-handling chemical reactions that take place in living organisms, namely, photosynthesis, respiration, and metabolism (catabolism, anabolism). Then, it examines the energy flow (food chains, food webs) in ecosystems including the efficiency of this flow. This chapter continues with a number of issues of the energy role in human society, namely the evolution of energy resources, the relation of energy with economy, the management of energy such that to achieve energy saving, the demand management which leads to “peak demand” minimization, and the use (consumption) of energy including relevant statistical data for the different parts of the Earth. The above issues and problems show the critical role of energy both for the life and the society, by providing the fuel needed for their existence, activity, and sustainability.

The history of energy demonstrates that human societies have not escaped its implacable laws. The more complex a society, the more it will need significant quantities of energy to maintain itself.

Joël de Rosnay

Energy is efficiently used when the quality of the source is matched to the quality demanded by the task.

Ralph Torrie

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  1. School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, Athens, Greece

    Spyros G. Tzafestas

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Tzafestas, S.G. (2018). Energy in Life and Society. In: Energy, Information, Feedback, Adaptation, and Self-organization. Intelligent Systems, Control and Automation: Science and Engineering, vol 90. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66999-1_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66999-1_10

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