The Thermoeconomic Environment and the exergy-based cost accounting of technological and biological systems

The paper is focused on the presentation of the Thermoeconomic Environment (TEE), showing the motivations for introducing this new concept, the consistency of the TEE with some important and recent updates of the extended exergy accounting methodologies, as well as the new perspectives that the concept of TEE allows us to identify. The TEE is a consistent ultimate boundary of the exergy cost accounting, where various exergy reservoirs, of limited content, are immersed in a background with no exergy (the zero-exergy matrix). The exergy reservoirs are kept separated from the zero-exergy matrix by some confinement constraints. Based on this very simple, but meaningful framework, some of the main issues of extended exergy accounting methodologies are reviewed and some possible new perspectives are highlighted for the exergy cost accounting of polluting emissions and of the products of biological systems. In addition the paper discusses the exergy cost of mineral resources, of capital and of human work. •Cumulative exergy consumption methodologies in view of assessing sustainability.•Polluting emission exergy cost accounting is based on the Thermoeconomic Environment.•Exergy cost of biological system products as a bioresources stock replacement cost.•Analogy between bioresources stock replacement and exergy replacement of minerals.