Thermodynamic entropy as an indicator for urban sustainability?

Purvis, Ben; Mao, Yong; Robinson, Darren

Abstract

As foci of economic activity, resource consumption, and the production of material waste and pollution, cities represent both a major hurdle and yet also a source of great potential for achieving the goal of sustainability. Motivated by the desire to better understand and measure sustainability in quantitative terms we explore the applicability of thermodynamic entropy to urban systems as a tool for evaluating sustainability. Having comprehensively reviewed the application of thermodynamic entropy to urban systems we argue that the role it can hope to play in characterising sustainability is limited. We show that thermodynamic entropy may be considered as a measure of energy efficiency, but must be complimented by other indices to form part of a broader measure of urban sustainability.

Citation

Purvis, B., Mao, Y., & Robinson, D. (in press). Thermodynamic entropy as an indicator for urban sustainability?. Procedia Engineering, 198, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proeng.2017.07.131

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 1, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Sep 11, 2017
• Deposit Date: Oct 4, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 4, 2017
• Journal: Procedia Engineering
• Print ISSN: 1877-7058
• Electronic ISSN: 1877-7058
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 198
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proeng.2017.07.131
• Keywords: entropy ; sustainability ; thermodynamics ; city ; indicators ; exergy ; second law
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/881966
• Publisher URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877705817329788