Hummingbird_Darker
Bringing
the natural
sciences into
economics and
decision making.
Energy is the common denominator that
unites all living creatures. Those that succeed
in high-stakes natural competition – like the hummingbird – adapt their activities to the quality and availability of energy. These tiny birds, which have graced the earth for 22 million years, possess the highest metabolic rate of any warm-blooded animal. Even so, like everything that lives, they are able to obtain more energy from their environment than they use, by investing their resources wisely. To conserve energy when food is scarce, they slow their metabolism to a fraction of its usual frenetic pace, maximizing their Energy Return On Energy Invested.
Salmon making their way up the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest.
What can
nature teach
us about
economics?
People commonly view society through the
lens of industry, so wedded are we to modern technologies. Yet we are no less embedded in our natural surroundings than a school of salmon. These fish demonstrate extraordinary hydrodynamic efficiency as they traverse vast ocean distances before swimming upstream to their natal spawning grounds. Economy in the transformation and use of energy is critical to the survival of all living systems, including
ours. Neoclassical economics has ignored the fundamental role that physical resources – especially energy – have played in two
centuries of human progress.
READ DR. HALL'S SALMON STORY
Plant_Curl_long_SM
BPEI is putting
the ECO back
into economics.
It is essential that we incorporate the analysis
of energy into assessments of various strategies to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. Only by synthesizing the thermodynamic, ecological and financial tradeoffs involved in capturing energy from various sources, can we make a successful transition. Effective solutions must deliver to society more energy than they use.
Bringing
the natural
sciences into
economics and
decision making.
Energy is the common denominator that unites all living creatures. Those that succeed in high-stakes natural competition – like the hummingbird – adapt their activities to the quality and availability of energy. These tiny birds, which have graced the earth for 22 million years, possess the highest metabolic rate of any warm-blooded animal. Even so, like everything that lives, they are able to obtain more energy from their environment than they use, by investing their resources wisely. To conserve energy when food is scarce, they slow their metabolism to a fraction of its usual frenetic pace, maximizing their Energy Return On Energy Invested.
What can
nature teach
us about
economics?
People commonly view society through the lens of industry, so wedded are we to modern technologies. Yet we are no less embedded in our natural surroundings than a school of salmon. These fish demonstrate extraordinary hydrodynamic efficiency as they traverse vast ocean distances before swimming upstream to their natal spawning grounds. Economy in the transformation and use of energy is critical to the survival of all living systems, including ours. Neoclassical economics has ignored the fundamental role that physical resources – especially energy – have played in two centuries of human progress.
BPEI is putting
the ECO back
into economics.
It is essential that we incorporate the analysis of energy into assessments of various strategies to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. Only by synthesizing the thermodynamic, ecological and financial tradeoffs involved in capturing energy from various sources, can humanity succeed. Effective solutions must deliver to society more energy than they use.
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Invested in the Nature of Energy.