Reiner Kümmel, born in 1939, is a retired professor of theoretical physics. His fields of work are the theory of superconductivity, semiconductor theory and energy science. Before his appointment at the University of Würzburg in 1974, he studied/researched/taught at the TH Darmstadt (physics diploma), the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana (research assistant to John Bardeen), the University of Frankfurt/M.. (doctorate and habilitation) and the Universidad del Valle in Cali, Colombia. From 1996 to 1998 he was chairman of the Energy Working Group of the German Physical Society.

PD Dr. Dietmar Lindenberger studied economics and physics in Stuttgart, Würzburg and Albany (USA), received his doctorate in 1999 on questions of energy and economic growth and habilitated in 2005 at the University of Cologne. At the ­Institute of Energy Economics ­(EWI) in Cologne, he is active in teaching, research and consulting, among others for the EU Commission, the Federal Chancellery, federal and ­state ministries, national and international energy companies ­and research funding institutions­. ­He has ­published ­widely on energy issues ­and is, among other things, lead author of the energy ­scenarios for the ­German government's ­energy concept.

Apl. Prof. Dr. Niko Paech studied economics, received his doctorate in 1993, habilitated in 2005 and held the Chair of Production and Environment at Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg from 2008 to 2016. He currently researches and teaches at the University of Siegen in the Master's programme in Plural Economics. His main research interests are post-growth economics, climate change mitigation, sustainable consumption, sustainable supply chain management, sustainability communication and innovation management. He is active in various sustainability-oriented research projects, networks and initiatives as well as in the supervisory board of two cooperatives.

Reconsiders economics from the perspective of natural laws

Shows how energy and its conversion into physical work accounts for most of the growth that mainstream economics attributes to technological progress and related concepts

Describes energy needs and options for the future

Explores consequences for economic growth and environmental sustainability

Includes supplementary material: [...]

Chapter 1: PROLOGUE: Time Travel with Abel


From Big Bang to Sun


Light on Earth


As Life Goes


Fire and Grain


Ancient Empires


Wind Power, Gunpowder and Wood


Industrial Revolution


Golden Age


Outlook


References

Chapter 2: ENERGY


2.1 Understanding the Prime Mover


2.1.1 How the Energy Concept Evolved


2.1.2 Energy for All and Forever


2.1.3 Energy Quantity and Quality


2.2 Sun and Earth


2.2.1 Energy Production in the Sun


2.2.2 The Natural Greenhouse Effect


2.2.3 Solar Activity and Climate


2.2.4 Photosynthesis, Respiration and Food Production


2.3 Amplifiers of Muscles and Brain


2.3.1 Heat Engines


2.3.2 Transistors


2.4 Energy Services


2.4.1 Freedom from Toil


2.4.2 Comfort, Mobility, Information


2.4.3 Political Power


2.5 Consumption - and What is Left


2.5.1 Consumption of Energy Carriers


2.5.2 Reserves and Resources of Fossil and Nuclear Fuels


2.5.3 Renewable Energies


2.5.4 Energy Conservation


2.6 Technological Perspectives


2.6.1 Fission


2.6.2 Fusion


2.6.3 Solar Power from Deserts and Space


2.7 Appendix A: Basic Forms of Energy


2.7.1 System Energies


2.7.2 Work and Heat


2.7.3 Enthalpy and Exergy


2.7.4 Thermodynamic Potentials


2.8 Appendix B: Energy Units References

Chapter 3: ENTROPY


3.1 No Free Lunch


3.2 Equipartition, the Toddler and Entropy


3.3 States of Systems


3.4 The Way Things Change


3.4.1 Driving Towards Disorder


3.4.2 Haste Makes Waste: Irreversible Processes


3.5 Arrow of Time


3.6 Entropy Production and Emissions


3.6.1 Sources and Substances


3.6.2 Anthropogenic Greenhouse Effect


3.6.3 Pollution Control and Heat Equivalents of NO
X

, SO
2
, CO
2
, and Nuclear Waste


3.7 Appendix:Non-equilibrium Thermodynamics and Second Law


3.7.1 Gibbs' Fundamental Equation


3.7.2 Balance Equations


3.7.3 Density of Entropy Production References

Chapter 4: ECONOMY


4.1 Complementary Perspectives on the Economy


4.2 Energy, Entropy and the Growth Paradigm


4.3 Pre-Analytic Vision: The Law of Diminishing Returns


4.4 How Technological Constraints Change Economic Equilibrium


4.4.1 Output Elasticities


4.4.2 Shadow Prices


4.4.3 Appendix 1: Maximizing Profit


4.4.4 Appendix 2: Maximizing Overall Welfare


4.5 The Second Law of Economics


4.5.1 Levels of Wealth Creation


4.5.2 The Technological Constraints on Capital, Labor and Energy


4.5.3 Modeling Production


4.5.4 Economic Growth in German, Japan, and the USA


4.5.5 The Productive Powers of Capital, Labor, Energy, and Creativity


4.5.6 Cointegration


4.5.7 The "Useful Work" Approach


4.5.8 Pollution, Recycling and Perspectives on Growth


4.5.9 Appendix 3: Aggregating Output and Factors in Physical Terms


4.5.10 Appendix 4: Explicit Constraint Equations


4.5.11 Appendix 5: Empirical Data of Output and Inputs


4.5.12 Appendix 6: Determining Technology Parameters


4.6 Distribution of Wealth


4.6.1 Adam Smith's Concepts and Karl Marx' Error


4.6.2 Rich and Poor


4.6.3 Taxes and Debts


4.6.4 Discounting the Future


4.7 Summary and Discussion References

Chapter 5: EPILOGUE: Decisions under Uncertainty


Ethics


Reason


References

GLOSSARY

INDEX