PDC+++ Module 4 Class 4 H. T. Odum

Energy & EcoTechnologyModule 4 of the PDC+++PDC

++

+We dedicate this Module to the

Mother & Father of Integral Permaculture: Dana Meadows &

Howard Odum, two original pioneers who helped humanity make great strides in understanding systemic

thinking, in all four quadrants.

Howard T. Odum studied in great detail the energy flows & interactions in complex life systems, creating a simple pattern-language that serves as a powerful model

for understanding how ecosystems work, in useful detail.

This model includes visible as well as invisible components of a system, & is so holistic that human economy as well as minerals & weather processes can be

accounted for.

He also proposed a new & provocative law of thermodynamics that includes Life.

In this class we will explore the basics of this work and explore how it is an essential base of Integral Permaculture.

Class M4.4

Energy

M4.4 Howard Odum * Systems Ecology Pioneer

Importance of Theory

Odum's Biography

Emergy

The 4th & 5th Principle

Corollaries & Applications

The Importance of Theory + Experience: Chefs & Recepy Followers

Because they know the THEORY (chemistry & physics of the ingredients) intimately + they have much, varies & detailed EXPERIENCE in applying it

Aristotle: The problem is that young people know the theory but don't have experience, & the old people have experience & have forgotten the theory.

The two TOGETHER are essential

Great chefs don't follow recepies, they create & improvise

7 Energetics Principles4 Laws of Thermodynamics + 3 Additional from Odum

1.Zeroth principle of energetics If two thermodynamic systems A and B are in thermal equilibrium, and B and C are also in thermal equilibrium, then A and C are in thermal equilibrium.

2.First principle of energetics The increase in the internal energy of a system is equal to the amount of energy added to the system by heating, minus the amount lost in the form of work done by the system on its surroundings.

3.Second principle of energetics The total entropy of any isolated thermodynamic system tends to increase over time, approaching a maximum value.

4.Third principle of energetics As a system approaches absolute zero of temperature all processes cease and the entropy of the system approaches a minimum value or zero for the case of a perfect crystalline substance.

7 Energetics Principles4 Laws of Thermodynamics + 3 Additional from Odum

1. Fourth principle of energetics There seem to be two opinions on the fourth principle of energetics:

In the field of ecological energetics H.T. Odum considered maximum power, the fourth principle of energetics. Odum also proposed the Maximum empower principle as a corollary of the maximum power principle, and considered it to describe the propensities of evolutionary self-organization.

1. Fifth principle of energetics The energy quality factor increases hierarchically. From studies of ecological food chains, Odum proposed that energy transformations form a hierarchical series measured by Transformity increase (Odum 2000, p. 246). Flows of energy develop hierarchical webs in which inflowing energies interact and are transformed by work processes into energy forms of higher quality that feedback amplifier actions, helping to maximise the power of the system" — (Odum 1994, p. 251)

2. Sixth principle of energetics Material cycles have hierarchical patterns measured by the energy/mass ratio that determines its zone and pulse frequency in the energy hierarchy. (Odum 2000, p. 246). M.T. Brown and V. Buranakarn write, "Generally, energy per mass is a good indicator of recycle-ability, where materials with high energy per mass are more recyclable" (2003, p. 1).

& Energy Theory is VERY important

because quite counter-intuitive ...

& what our society's practice is BASED ON

Ref: Chris Martenson's Crash Course

The Energy Lawsreview - in pictures

Conservation of Energy

Conservation of EnergyEntropy

The Energy Laws The Energy Laws review - in picturesreview - in pictures

Acceleration of EntropyBy

higher energy transformationsfrom one form to another

& more inefficiency (heat loss)in the transformations

(INDUSTRIAL processes are typically 'hot' - NATURE'Saren't - see biomimicry)

The Energy LawsThe Energy Lawsreview - in picturesreview - in pictures

Life?

Thanatos

ErosThe Mother Goddess

in ancient times was a

representation of Life-Death

The Energy LawsThe Energy Lawsreview - in picturesreview - in pictures

mothers kill the weakest ...

AND ALSO

fiercely defend their young

Aristotle: The problem is that young people know the theory but don't have experience, & the old people have experience & have forgotten the theory.

But THEORY is often also WAY ahead in time

Life?Chaos Theory

Fractals,

attractors

The Energy Lawsreview - in picturesThe Energy Lawsreview - in pictures

A Natural Succession Pattern

Increase of Life / Efficiency / Fertility > Increase of Life / Efficiency / Fertility > general direction of Evolutiongeneral direction of Evolution

The work of ecologist Howard Odum

provided a theoretical framework and conceptual tool

which was critical in the development of the permaculture concept.

a Life & Deathstory

= an energy economics story


• Importance of Theory

Odum's Biography

Emergy



1924,Chapel Hill, North Carolina

2002, Gainesville, Florida

Howard T. Odum“As sometimes attributed to past

cultures, people may again find glory in being an agent of the earth”

Odum was a scientist, teacher, an agent of the earth, and an Integral

permaculturist

“If the bewildering complexity of human knowledge developed in the 20th century is to be retained and well used, unifying concepts are needed to consolidate the understanding of systems of many kinds and to simplify the

teaching of general principles”

Odum developed a large part of his work together

with his brother Eugene, a biologist an also a systems

ecology pioneer

They wrote the first EcologyTextbook ever

You can search for “Eugene Odum” in the e-book

www.PermaCultureScience.org and watch an interview with him

Odum left an incredible legacy in many fields associated with ecology,

systems, and energetics.

He studied ecosystems all over the world, and pioneered the study of several areas, some of which are now distinct

fields of research:

Ecological modeling (Odum 1960a);Ecological engineering (Odum et al. 1963);

Ecological economics (Odum 1971);Estuarine ecology (Odum and Hoskins 1958);

Tropical ecosystems ecology (Odum and Pidgeon 1970);General systems theory



• Odum's Biography

Emergy



EnergyThe ability to do work… and WORK is defined as any useful energy

transformation

one type of energy is transformed into another kind of energy, with some being turned into a non-usable form (no longer has the potential to do further work)

EnergyTransformation

Process

energy SOURCES

• Thermal energy• Chemical energy• Electric energy• Radiant energy• Nuclear energy• Magnetic energy• Elastic energy• Sound energy• Mechanical energy• Luminous energy• Mass (E=mc²)

• Solar energy• Wind energy• Bio energy• Geothermal energy• Tidal energy• Nuclear energy• Hydroelectric energy• Fossil fuels

Potential& Kinetic+ mixtures

FORMS of energy

In Class 4.6 we will go deeper into renewable sources of energy

Not all forms of energy are equivalents...

Thermic = electricity = quemical = …. X X X

In its ability to do work

Not all energy has the same quality

convertibilityflexibility

Ease of transportation concentration

In order to compare we need another concept of energy

Emergy: energy (of the same form) needed directly or indirectly to do something

Usually expressed in solar energy form

Units: Solar Joules or

emjoules

Emergy IntensitiesThe ratio between emergy input and

output

The lower the value

>> the more efficient is the

process

Expressed in: - sej/J ------> transformities - sej/g ------> specific emergy - sej/$ ----- > emergy dollars

300.000 emjoules are needed to produce a

joule of electric energy

An Eg.

An Eg.

Using a conversion factor we can express

emergy in its economic equivalent

Every dollar spent in the US economy has embodied in it 1xE12

sej.

Environmental support of human economy...

Trough the emergy evaluation (emergy synthesis) we can:

Evaluate the fitness and efficiency of a system

Compare between development alternatives

Find out which is the more efficient way to use a resource.

And it give us the ability to analyze complex systems integrating the human economic resources and the “free” natural resources.



• Odum's Biography

Emergy



Systems maximize power by: 1) developing storages of high-quality energy, 2) feeding back work from storages to increase inflows, 3) recycling materials as needed, 4) organizing control mechanisms that keep the system adapted and stable, 5) setting up exchanges for needed materials, 6) Contributing work to the next larger system

4th Law of ThermodynamicsThe Maximum

Empower Principle<<< Can you figure out what this diagram might represent by the next class?

>> 5th Law: All Systems are organized hierarchically

This is HD Odum's work



Empower Principle

• Fourth Principle of Energetics

• In the field of ecological energetics H.T. Odum considered maximum power, the fourth principle of energetics.

• Odum also proposed the Maximum empower principle as a corollary of the maximum power principle, and considered it to describe the propensities of evolutionary self-organization.



Empower Principle

More Flowers, more larvae Honey, Wax

Pollen, nectar, > fruit

Recycle, Hibernate, Swarm

4th Law of ThermodynamicsThe Maximum Empower Principle

“In time, through the process of trial and error, complex patterns of structure and processes have evolved...

the successful ones surviving because they use materials and energies wellin their own maintenance,

and compete well with other patterns that chance interposes.”

H.T. Odum

5th Law of EnergeticsThe Energy Quality Factor increases

hierarchicallyFrom studies of ecological food chains,

Odum proposed that energy transformations

form a hierarchical series measured by Transformity increase

(Odum 2000, p. 246).

Flows of energy develop hierarchical webs

in which inflowing energies interact and are transformed

by work processes into energy forms of higher quality

that feedback amplifier actions,

helping to maximize the power of the system"

— (Odum 1994, p. 251)

In 1987 Scienceman proposed that the phrases,

> "energy quality",

> "energy quality factor", and

> "energy transformation ratio", all used by H.T.Odum, be replaced by the word "transformity" (p. 261).

That is to say that it aims to quantify quality.

5th Law…All systems are organized hierarchically

Energy flows of the universe are organized into energy transformation hierarchies.

The position in the energy hierarchy can be measured by the amount of energy required to produce something

Example:

The techno–human “food-chain”

HierarchyHolarchy

herbs

rabbit

eagle

3) & sub-systems organize themselves into nested hierarchies (holarchies)

2) complex systems in turn are made up of sub-systems

More about Systems Structures

Holons

EnergyQuality

EnergyQuantity

Energy Transformation Hierarchy

Spatial view of units and their territories

Energy networks including transformation and feedbacks

Aggregation of energy network into an energy chain

Bar graph of the energy flows of the levels in the energy hierarchy

Bar graph of solar transformities


Importance of Theory

Odum's Biography

Emergy



There are lots of Fertile Connectionsyet to make!!

Odum's Work is not yet applied to designing Economies >> & this is a very important job for the next generation of Integral Permaculture Designers

eg. What would an integration of the work of Silvio Gessell (M5.2) & Howard Odum's + Dana Meadow's (M4.5) work look like? Because it will be very likely produce important break-throughs ....

“If the bewildering complexity of human knowledge developed in the 20th century is to be retained and well used, unifying concepts are needed to consolidate the understanding of systems of many kinds

and to simplify the teaching of general principles." knowledge >> general principles

DavidHolmgre

n

Creative DescentPost-Industrial Sustainable

Culture

Indu

strial

As

cent

Use of Energy & ResourcesExponential Growth of the EconomyLoss of BioDiversityPopulationPollution knowledge >> general principles

Could it be that we

needed all this excess

energy to get to truly

understand sustainability engineering

AS A SPECIES?

To maximize power of an economic activity,

local resources > used & exchanged for additional resources.

Ej. Good land planted with addition of fertilizers > people buy lots of produce.

> Good profits > buy more inefficient land > repeat process many times.

> Successful management survives + copied by others.

> Because their work helps to increase energy consumption of the whole economy

> this behavior sustained by the economy & survives > keeps 'feeding' off others ..

Eg.2 - Multinationals as efficient predators

NOT inevitable, just a good use of pattern

1) developing storages of high-quality energy, 2) feeding back work from storages to increase inflows,

Each US $ is equivalent to some 1,000,000,000,000 Solar emergy joules

Small Businesses

Companies

Multinationals

3) & sub-systems are organized in nested hierarchies

2) complex systems have in turn sub-systems

Energy Hierarchies ...

1) have components> US at this level >

Odum's Contribution to Systems Science

Howard Odum “Energy Basis for Man and Nature”

A base of PermaCulture (diploma work) his contribution:

Ecosystems as flows of energy Ecosystems as flows of energy Incorporate living & non-living elementsIncorporate living & non-living elements Incorporating human systems & economies Incorporating human systems & economies

as an integral part of the natural worldas an integral part of the natural world

An un-comfortable fit

> sometime un-popular even with ecologists ...

Developed a "systems language" in symbols

P a t h w a y L i n e : a f l o w o f e n e r g y , o f t e n w i t h a f l o w

o f m a t e r i a l s .

S O U R C E : o u t s i d e s o u r c e o f e n e r g y ; a f o r c i n g f u n c t i o n..

S T O R A G E : a c o m p a r tm e n t o f e n e r g y s to r a g e w i th i n th e s y s te m

s to r i n g q u a n t i ty a s th e b a l a n c e o f i n f l o w s a n d o u t f l o w s

systems pattern language

I N T E R A C T I O N : p r o c e s s w h i c h c o m b i n e s d i f f e r e n t t y p e s

o f e n e r g y f l o w s o r m a t e r i a l f l o w s t o p r o d u c e a n

o u t f l o w i n p r o p o r t i o n t o a f u n c t i o n o f t h e i n f l o w s .

P R O D U C E R : u n i t t h a t c o l l e c t s a n d t r n a s f o r m s l o w - q u a l i t y

e n e r g y u n d e r c o n t r o l i n t e r a c t i o n s o f h i g h e r q u a l i t y f l o w s .

C O N S U M E R : u n i t t h a t t r a n s f o r m s e n e r g y q u a l i t y , s t o r e s i t ,

a n d f e e d s i t b a c k a u t o c a t a l y t i c a l l y t o i m p r o v e i n f l o w

.

47

Q ui ckTi me™ and aTI FF (LZW) decompressor

are needed to see thi s pi cture.

storageproducer consumer

source

process

Emergy Accountingshrimp harvest +1092*

losses to local region - 602

losses for Ecuador - 1100

gains for the USA + 710

* in millons of Em$ per yearQ ui ckTi me™ and a

TI FF (LZW) decompressorare needed to see thi s pi cture.

AccountingAccounting

There are lots of Fertile Connectionsyet to make!!Odum's Work is not yet applied to designing Ecologies, either >> which is crucial if we're to create really thriving, long-term sustainable Integral Permaculture Designs eg. What would a truly mature International "Permaculture" Community look like? >> "Permaculture" in the general sense: everyone who is working towards a sustainable culture.

>

Systems that maximize power are also systems that feed-back to a bigger system.Eg. a tree uses solar energy to increase leaf area ... in thisprocess the tree supports the vegetation system, increasing nutrients, creating astable micro-climate, cycling nutrients& providing animal food. Thus the treemaximizes own power & the powerof the system it belongs to.

The Big General Patternthat KILLS IDEAS-

BIODIVERSITY & connection seems to be our INABILITY

to Resolve ConflicsAvoidanceDemonizing

MinimizingDon't Listen

Get Impatient

Fear of Discussion

No adequate Technology &

Knowledgeknowledge >> general principles

& how will all this interactwith these other 'high energy stores' stories ..

Petrol


Money

Source: Wikipedia

Each country by gold and foreign currency reserves minus external debt. It is based on 2009 data from the CIA Factbook


¿Knowledge?

PDC+++ Module 4 Class 4 H. T. Odum

Technology

Transcript of PDC+++ Module 4 Class 4 H. T. Odum