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The Exergy Footprint as a Sustainability Indicator: An Application to the Neanderthal–Sapiens Competition in the Late Pleistocene

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  • Enrico Sciubba

    (Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, University Roma Sapienza, 185 Rome, Italy)

Abstract

A thermodynamic analysis of population dynamics and of sustainability provides rigor to many important issues. In this work, the “system society” is analysed in connection with the “system environment” using an exergy metric, and the method includes an internalization of the externalities (capital, labour, environmental effects) conducted on the basis of a “system + environment” balance. In this perspective, this study investigates the Late Pleistocene extinction of the Homo neanderthalensis , which took place in a geologically short time and in the presence of a competing species, the Homo sapiens . The case in study is not trivial, and its choice not casual: in those times, the only factor that could lead to an advantage of one group over the other was their respective resource use intensity. A specific indicator, the exergy footprint (EF), is here applied to measure the total amount of primary resources required to produce a certain (material or immaterial) commodity, including the resources needed for the physical survival of the individuals. On the basis of the available data, the results of a steady-state analysis show that the EF of the Neanderthal was higher than that of the Sapiens, and that with both species sharing the same ecological niche in a time of dwindling resources, the less frugal of the two was also more fragile in an evolutionary sense.

Suggested Citation

  • Enrico Sciubba, 2019. "The Exergy Footprint as a Sustainability Indicator: An Application to the Neanderthal–Sapiens Competition in the Late Pleistocene," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-20, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:18:p:4913-:d:265449
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Ricardo Manso & Tânia Sousa & Tiago Domingos, 2018. "The Way Forward in Quantifying Extended Exergy Efficiency," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-32, September.
    2. Jean-Jacques Hublin & Abdelouahed Ben-Ncer & Shara E. Bailey & Sarah E. Freidline & Simon Neubauer & Matthew M. Skinner & Inga Bergmann & Adeline Le Cabec & Stefano Benazzi & Katerina Harvati & Philip, 2017. "New fossils from Jebel Irhoud, Morocco and the pan-African origin of Homo sapiens," Nature, Nature, vol. 546(7657), pages 289-292, June.
    3. Sciubba, Enrico, 2011. "A revised calculation of the econometric factors α- and β for the Extended Exergy Accounting method," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 222(4), pages 1060-1066.
    4. Rocco, M.V. & Colombo, E. & Sciubba, E., 2014. "Advances in exergy analysis: a novel assessment of the Extended Exergy Accounting method," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 1405-1420.
    5. Enrico Sciubba, 2004. "From Engineering Economics to Extended Exergy Accounting: A Possible Path from Monetary to Resource‐Based Costing," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 8(4), pages 19-40, October.
    6. Willi Haas & Fridolin Krausmann & Dominik Wiedenhofer & Markus Heinz, 2015. "How Circular is the Global Economy?: An Assessment of Material Flows, Waste Production, and Recycling in the European Union and the World in 2005," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 19(5), pages 765-777, October.
    7. La Barbera, A & Spagnolo, B, 2002. "Spatio-temporal patterns in population dynamics," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 314(1), pages 120-124.
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