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Inventory of the exergy resources on earth including its mineral capital

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  • Valero, Alicia
  • Valero, Antonio
  • Martínez, Amaya

Abstract

This paper makes an inventory of the natural capital on earth in terms of exergy, which includes not only renewable and non-renewable energy resources, but also non-fuel minerals. The exergy method is very suitable for the accounting of our natural capital because all kinds of resources can be assessed with a single property. For the case of minerals, exergy allows to unify properties tonnage and grade. Furthermore, the exergy replacement costs of minerals includes additional information of the state of technology. The aggregation capacity of the exergy and exergy replacement cost indicators increases the analysis potential of the results. This way, the non-fuel mineral's wealth can be compared to that of fuel minerals or even to other natural resources. The results of this study reveal that the real scarcity problems that humankind are facing are not based on the lack of energy sources, but on the lack of minerals.

Suggested Citation

  • Valero, Alicia & Valero, Antonio & Martínez, Amaya, 2010. "Inventory of the exergy resources on earth including its mineral capital," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 989-995.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:35:y:2010:i:2:p:989-995
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2009.06.036
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    Cited by:

    1. Qi, Hai & Dong, Zhiliang & Dong, Shaohui & Sun, Xiaotian & Zhao, Yiran & Li, Yu, 2021. "Extended exergy accounting for smelting and pressing of metals industry in China," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    2. An, Qier & An, Haizhong & Wang, Lang & Huang, Xuan, 2014. "Structural and regional variations of natural resource production in China based on exergy," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 67-77.
    3. Jean-François Fagnart & Marc Germain & Benjamin Peeters, 2020. "Can the Energy Transition Be Smooth? A General Equilibrium Approach to the EROEI," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-29, February.
    4. Piekarczyk, Wodzisław & Czarnowska, Lucyna & Ptasiński, Krzysztof & Stanek, Wojciech, 2013. "Thermodynamic evaluation of biomass-to-biofuels production systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 95-104.
    5. Brown, Mark T. & Campbell, Daniel E. & De Vilbiss, Christopher & Ulgiati, Sergio, 2016. "The geobiosphere emergy baseline: A synthesis," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 339(C), pages 92-95.
    6. Brown, Mark T. & Ulgiati, Sergio, 2010. "Updated evaluation of exergy and emergy driving the geobiosphere: A review and refinement of the emergy baseline," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 221(20), pages 2501-2508.
    7. Valero, Alicia & Valero, Antonio & Vieillard, Philippe, 2012. "The thermodynamic properties of the upper continental crust: Exergy, Gibbs free energy and enthalpy," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 121-127.
    8. Valero, Alicia & Valero, Antonio, 2010. "Physical geonomics: Combining the exergy and Hubbert peak analysis for predicting mineral resources depletion," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 54(12), pages 1074-1083.
    9. 'Eric Herbert & and Gael Giraud & Aur'elie Louis-Napol'eon & Christophe Goupil, 2022. "Macroeconomic Dynamics in a finite world: the Thermodynamic Potential Approach," Papers 2204.02038, arXiv.org, revised May 2022.
    10. Valero, Al. & Valero, A., 2011. "A prediction of the exergy loss of the world's mineral reserves in the 21st century," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 1848-1854.
    11. Damien Giurco & Anna Littleboy & Thomas Boyle & Julian Fyfe & Stuart White, 2014. "Circular Economy: Questions for Responsible Minerals, Additive Manufacturing and Recycling of Metals," Resources, MDPI, vol. 3(2), pages 1-22, May.
    12. Khoshgoftar Manesh, M.H. & Navid, P. & Blanco Marigorta, A.M. & Amidpour, M. & Hamedi, M.H., 2013. "New procedure for optimal design and evaluation of cogeneration system based on advanced exergoeconomic and exergoenvironmental analyses," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 314-333.
    13. Valero, Alicia & Domínguez, Adriana & Valero, Antonio, 2015. "Exergy cost allocation of by-products in the mining and metallurgical industry," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 128-142.
    14. Domínguez, Adriana & Czarnowska, Lucyna & Valero, Alicia & Stanek, Wojciech & Valero, Antonio, 2014. "Thermo-ecological and exergy replacement costs of nickel processing," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 103-114.

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