Abstract This paper discusses unsustainable consumption patterns and the laws of thermodynamics. It discusses the relationship between thermodynamics and the study of neo-classical economics and free-market society and its importance in the current economic model. Finally, the paper examines why ecological economics is antithetical to neo-classical economists and free market advocates and then discusses the need for further research on the topic.
Table of Contents:
Overview
Thermodynamics in Economics
Current Importance
Objections
Further Research
From the Paper "The first law of thermodynamics is the law of conservation and this law is critical in the establishment of sustainable consumption patterns within a free-market economy that rejects all forms of constraints (Lawn pars.2-5). Although this law states that energy cannot be destroyed or created it illustrates that materials that result in energy can be depleted through transformation processes that result in forms of energy that cannot be harvested in an economic sense. Entropy is essentially the second law of thermodynamics and as such is central to thermodynamics as it is applied to ecological economics. Entropy is the concept in ecological economics that describes the state of potential energy as being less than the initial energy contained within an item or unit (Finch & McMaster 135). It describes the necessity of continually introducing new energy into economic activity to produce ever greater results or outcomes at the risk of economic shutdown."
