Entropy, Environment and Resources: An Essay in Physico-Economics [Paperback]

0 Introduction: Starting Point, Objectives, and Content.- 0.1 Starting Point and Objectives.- 0.2 Content.- I. Environmental Protection.- 1 An Introduction to Dynamic Models of the Environment.- 1.1 The Relationships Between the Ecosystem and Its Economic Subsystem.- 1.2 Some Approaches to the Dynamic Analysis of the Use of the Environment.- 1.2.1 The Environment as a Source of Resources.- 1.2.1.1 The Optimal Use of a Non-Renewable Resource.- 1.2.1.2 The Optimal Use of a Renewable Resource.- 1.2.2 The Environment as a Recipient of Pollutants and as a Supplier of Public Goods.- 1.2.2.1 The Accumulation of Pollutants.- 1.2.2.2 An Optimization Model.- 1.2.3 Environmental Models with Capital Accumulation.- 1.2.3.1 Natural Purification.- 1.2.3.2 Recycling.- 2 A Disaggregated Environment-Capital Model.- 2.1 The Basic Model.- 2.1.1 The Technology.- 2.1.2 The Environmental Sector.- 2.1.2.1 The Transformation of Emissions into Pollutants: The Diffusion Function.- 2.1.2.2 The Effects of Pollutants on the Flow of Environmental Goods: The Damage Function.- 2.1.3 The Allocative Effects of Marginal Changes in the Production Program.- 2.2 Extending the Model.- 2.2.1 A Capital Good in the Waste Treatment Sector.- 2.2.1.1 The Technology.- 2.2.1.2 Optimality Conditions.- 2.2.2 Emissions in the Consumption Sector.- 2.2.3 The Case of Several Pollutants with Centralized Waste Treatment.- 2.2.3.1 The Assignment of Waste Treatment Costs.- 2.2.3.2 Private and Social Aspects of the Assignment of Waste Treatment Costs and of Environmental Damage.- 2.2.4 Local and Central Waste Treatment Measures.- Appendix: Constraints and Optimality Conditions for the Environmental Protection Model with Capital Formation in the Waste Treatment Sector.- II. Entropy and the Use of the Environment.- 3 The Notion of Entropy.- 3.1 Thermodynamics.- 3.2 Energy, GIBBS Fundamental Equation, Intensive and Extensive Quantities.- 3.3 An Example of Entropy: The Diffusion of Gases.- 3.4 The Second Law of Thermodynamics.lC3