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"Thermoeconomics": Time to move beyond the second law
1Institute for the Study of Complex Systems, 900 University Street, D-X, Seattle, WA, 98101, USA.
Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology
|September 25, 2020
Summary
Thermoeconomics redefines biological energy using economic principles like efficiency and profitability, offering a better evolutionary explanation than the Second Law of Thermodynamics.
Area of Science:
- Evolutionary Biology
- Bioenergetics
- Thermodynamics
Background:
- Traditional understanding of energy in evolution relies on the Second Law of Thermodynamics.
- This framework struggles to explain advances and recessions in bioenergetic mechanisms.
- A new perspective is needed to fully grasp energy's role in life and evolution.
Observation:
- Living systems and evolution can be better understood through an economic lens.
- Key economic criteria include productivity, efficiency, and the cost-benefit analysis of energy capture and utilization.
- This approach focuses on the 'profitability' of energy mechanisms for biomass production and work.
Findings:
- Thermoeconomics proposes energy in evolution is best defined by economic criteria, not solely the Second Law of Thermodynamics.
- This new paradigm, thermoeconomics, is fully consistent with contemporary evolutionary theory.
- Functional criteria derived from thermoeconomics offer superior explanations for bioenergetic technological changes in evolution.
Implications:
- Thermoeconomics provides a more accurate and comprehensive model for studying energy in biological systems.
- It offers new insights into evolutionary processes driven by energy acquisition and utilization.
- This framework can potentially guide future research in bioenergetics and evolutionary studies.
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