ABSTRACT
CHAPTER 10 This chapter focuses on the use of thermodynamics on systems far from thermodynamic equilibrium. It applies entropy and exergy calculations to these systems. Equation (10) for entropy is essential in these calculations. Equation (12) is used for exergy. This latter equation can be used to interpret the contributions to exergy, namely, from the total biomass and from Kullback's measure of information. This implies again that the exergy maximum principle (also named ELT in Chapter 9, the Ecological Law of Thermodynamics) is an increase of biomass and/or an increase of the information contained in a biomass unit. There are limitations to how much the biomass can increase, while the information contained in the biomass in principle can increase to an unlimited extent. The author shows that the adoption of the maximum exergy principle implies that a certain level of diversity is maintained.
