Thermodynamic entropy as an indicator for urban sustainability?
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 q...
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| Format: | Article |
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Elsevier
2017
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46996/ |
| _version_ | 1848797445208670208 |
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| author | Purvis, Ben Mao, Yong Robinson, Darren |
| author_facet | Purvis, Ben Mao, Yong Robinson, Darren |
| author_sort | Purvis, Ben |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | 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. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:03:59Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-46996 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:03:59Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-469962020-05-04T19:05:43Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46996/ Thermodynamic entropy as an indicator for urban sustainability? Purvis, Ben Mao, Yong Robinson, Darren 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. Elsevier 2017-09-11 Article PeerReviewed Purvis, Ben, Mao, Yong and Robinson, Darren (2017) Thermodynamic entropy as an indicator for urban sustainability? Procedia Engineering, 198 . pp. 802-812. ISSN 1877-7058 entropy ; sustainability ; thermodynamics ; city ; indicators ; exergy ; second law http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877705817329788 doi:10.1016/j.proeng.2017.07.131 doi:10.1016/j.proeng.2017.07.131 |
| spellingShingle | entropy ; sustainability ; thermodynamics ; city ; indicators ; exergy ; second law Purvis, Ben Mao, Yong Robinson, Darren Thermodynamic entropy as an indicator for urban sustainability? |
| title | Thermodynamic entropy as an indicator for urban sustainability? |
| title_full | Thermodynamic entropy as an indicator for urban sustainability? |
| title_fullStr | Thermodynamic entropy as an indicator for urban sustainability? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Thermodynamic entropy as an indicator for urban sustainability? |
| title_short | Thermodynamic entropy as an indicator for urban sustainability? |
| title_sort | thermodynamic entropy as an indicator for urban sustainability? |
| topic | entropy ; sustainability ; thermodynamics ; city ; indicators ; exergy ; second law |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46996/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46996/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46996/ |