Energy and entropy: a thermodynamic approach to sustainability

Thermodynamics is a basic science that formulates the rules for the conversion of energy and matter from one form into another. It sets the physical limits for the evolution of and the developments in the world around us. In contradiction to the mechanical approach, thermodynamics indicates that economic growth leads to increasing disorder. More speci®cally, increasing the ¯ows of energy and matter through society, as happens in the process of ongoing industrialization, leads to progressive depletion of available energy and matter or, otherwise stated, to increased entropy. Excessive entropy production is re¯ected in natural disorders such as the greenhouse effect, ozone holes, environmental pollution, etc. Sustainable development can only be approached by imposing a close to steady-state lifestyle on mankind.