I appreciate all the current discussions on climate change and our efforts to develop a sustainable human society on planet Earth.
I have yet to see, however, a definition of a sustainable system in any scientific journal or media source.
Allow me to propose this definition: A system is said to be sustainable when it produces more energy than it consumes so as to produce surplus that is enough to maintain and replace it (and its components) over its lifetime.
In other words, a system is sustainable if, over its lifetime, it captures and stores more energy than it consumes in its creation, operation and maintenance.
In practice, this definition requires that we measure the energy inputs to the system and the energy outputs from the system in all its facets (an “energy audit”).
I am open to commentary on and challenges to this definition – but let us not go blindly into any proposal for sustainability without conducting a thorough energy audit.
Derek Libby
Freeport
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.