The entropic waste problem in energy engineering, economy, and ecology

In ecology, economy and also in technology we are dealing with open dissipa tive systems. The long term stability of such systems in either cyclic proc esses or in stationary states is due to their ability to export their surpl us of entropy. For this process valuable low entropy resources are consumed and transformed into waste. This mechanism determines to a large extent th e efficiency of open dissipative systems. This is illustrated by selected e xamples from energy and environmental engineering biology and global ecolog y.