Exergy, waste accounting, and life-cycle analysis

The authors argue that thermodynamics offers a means of accounting for both resource inputs and waste outputs in a systematic and uniform way. The new feature of the present work is to extend the applications of exergy analysis to resource and waste accounting and to present the results in an integrated analytical framework, namely, life-cycle analysis (LCA). We conclude that exergy is appropriate for general statistical use, both as a measure of resource stocks and flows and as a measure of waste emissions and potential for causing environmental harm.