Emergy synthesis

The term 'Emergy Synthesis' was introduced by Dr. D.M. Scienceman, the author of the Emergy nomenclature. It has been subsequently developed and extended by the late H.T.Odum and colleagues most notably the Emergy Systems school at the University of Florida.

According to this school,

"emergy synthesis strives for understanding by grasping the wholeness of systems."

Synthesis in this sense, is, to paraphrase the emergy systems school, 'the act of combining elements into coherent wholes rather than dissecting and breakings systems apart'. Through the act of combining emerged new concepts and methods used for energy-based evaluations of human and environmental systems, and new corrolaries to the principles of energetics. It is hoped that emergy evaluation can help form a quantitative basis for sustainable public policy decision making.

But perhaps one of the most outstanding features of emergy synthesis is in terms of psychology. Academia is often a highly competitive field which rewards competitive and exclusionary behaviour. Many academics often invest alot of time and money in establishing their authority over a field or discourse, and they often defend their domain through analysis and a combatative critical negation of others perceived as a threat. This attitude tends also to influence society outside of academia most notably in politics. Our age could be characterised by a multiplicity of languages and voices all struggling to speak to one another.

Emergy Synthesis applies not only to ecological systems, but also to our epistemology and language. At heart is the enormous but humble attempt to include everyone in the discussion. H.T.Odum's epic 1994 text, is a classic demonstration of this attitude. Odum attempts to demonstrate how the nomenclatures and langauges of different traditions in the arts, and sciences can all be unified through a universal language, which he later called the Energy Systems Language. The hope is that the beautiful art of combining all of our positive contributions will benefit all.

The approach has deep connections with many traditions including the work of Leibniz and the philosophy of rational empiricism, also known as logical positivism, which was occupied with the unification of science. It also has strong connections with Systems Ecology (also known as 'field physiology'), and the rational physiology of W.S.McCulloch.

Emergy is a systems concept that is context driven, and cannot be fully understood or utilized outside of systems context. By evaluating complex systems using emergy methods, the major inputs from the human economy and those coming “free” from the environment can be integrated to analyze questions of public policy and environmental management holistically.

References

EMERGY SYNTHESIS: Biennial Conferences on the Theory and Applications of the Emergy Methodology

H.T.Odum 1994, Ecological and General Systems: An Introduction to Systems Ecology, Colorado University Press, Colorado.

C.S.Hall 1995, Maximum Power: The Ideas and Applications of H.T.Odum, Colorado University Press, Colorado.

External Links

• Many 'hard-to-find' refernces can now be found and purchased from the [Emergy Systems] website.