Biosphere dynamic empower: Howard T. Odum’s contributions to open systems thermodynamics

Mark T. Brown

Ecological Modelling, 2025, vol. 509, issue C

Abstract: Howard T. Odum’s work in open systems thermodynamics (OST) revolutionized our understanding of energy flow within ecosystems and economies. Through concepts such as energy quality (emergy), the Maximum Power Principle, and hierarchical organization, he demonstrated how systems self-organize to maximize useful energy transformation. This paper reviews Odum’s foundational contributions to OST—through emergy accounting, energy systems modeling, and systems ecology—and extends his vision by introducing a dynamic, matrix-based method for calculating transformities. This approach incorporates feedback, internal cycling, and flow structure, allowing unit emergy values to reflect system behavior and remain additive across components. The resulting framework—Biosphere Dynamic Empower (BDE)—captures the realized renewable empower structured by biospheric organization. By linking thermodynamic principles with systems modeling, this method advances emergy analysis and provides new tools for evaluating sustainability and energy dynamics in complex ecological systems.

Keywords: Systems ecology energy systems theory emergy analysis maximum empower principle open systems thermodynamics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecomod:v:509:y:2025:i:c:s0304380025002364

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2025.111250

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