MAINTENANCE ENERGY DEMAND
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 1985 ▶ |
| Object type | General information |
Any system needs energy to maintain its internal organization. This demand of energy is greater in proportion to the level of organization of the system, which is in accordance with the thermodynamics of dynamic equilibrium systems, as established by I. PRIGOGINE.
This has to see with the system's self-reproduction: Errors must be repaired and this process includes a cost, which in last resort is always an energy one. Even the plan to avoid errors has its own cost.
Strangely enough, economy is one discipline were this concept is nearly completely forgotten: repairs are generally accounted for as an increase of general product, and, at the national level, there exists no patrimonial accounting of natural resources, whose natural replacement cost — when replacement is possible is not taken into account (Save in New Zealand, which recently introduced such accounting).