Chapter 25
Exergy in Policy Development
and Education
Chapter Outline
25.1 Introduction
25.2 Exergy Methods for Analysis and Design
25.3 The Role and Place for Exergy in Energy-Related
Education and Awareness Policies
25.3.1 Public Understanding and Awareness of Energy
25.3.2 Public Understanding and Awareness of Exergy
25.3.3 Extending the Publics Need to Understand and
Be Aware of Exergy to Government and the
Media
ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we describe the role of exergy in policy devel-
opment and education. We examine education and awareness of
exergy, by focusing first on the public and the media, and then on
the education of thermodynamicists, as well as other technical
people. Also, it is demonstrated that exergy has a place in policy
development regarding energy-related education and awareness. It
is demonstrated that the public is often confused when it discusses
energy, needs to be better educated about exergy if energy issues
and problems are to be addressed appropriately, and that a basic
level of exergy literacy is needed among engineers and scien-
tistsdparticularly those involved in decision making.
KEYWORDS
Exergy; Education; Policy; Design; Government; Media; Public.
25.1 INTRODUCTION
It is important for the public to have a basic under-
standing, appreciation, and awareness of many technical
issues. Such understanding and awareness fosters healthy
public debate about problems and possible solutions, often
helps guide how public funds are spent, and facilitates
policy development.
Energy issues are no exception. Yet, the publics
understanding of energy issues is often confused. In large
part, this situation is attributable to the public having next
to no understanding of exergy. In this chapter, we explain
why such an understanding is necessary.
Exergy. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-097089-9.00025-5
2013 Ibrahim Dincer and Marc A. Rosen. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved
499 25.4 The Role and Place for Exergy in Education Policies 502
500 25.4.1 Education about Exergy 503
25.4.2 The Need for Exergy Literacy in Scientists and
501 Engineers 503
501 25.4.3 Understanding the Second Law through Exergy 503
501 25.4.4 Exergys Place in a Curriculum 504
25.5 Closing Remarks 505
Problems 506
502
It is easier for the public to be educated about and aware
of exergy if students are adequately educated about exergy
in appropriate venues (university and college thermody-
namics courses, primary and secondary schools, etc.).
Consequently, this chapter deals with education and
awareness of exergy, first by focusing on the public and then
by dwelling on the education of thermodynamicists as well
as other technical people. The objective is to demonstrate
that exergy has a place and role to play in policy develop-
ment regarding energy-related education and awareness.
Exergy can play a key role in developing appropriate
and beneficial energy-related policies relating to education
and awareness. Two main areas where exergy can have an
impact on policies are discussed in this chapter: (1) public
education and awareness and (2) student education. The
former is more general, but is supported by the latter.
Regarding public education and awareness about exergy, it
appears that the public is often confused when it discusses
energy, and needs to be better educated about exergy if
energy issues and problems are to be addressed appro-
priately. Regarding the education of students about exergy,
it appears that the coverage of exergy in thermodynamics
education is often insufficient and inappropriate. Better
coverage of exergy is needed to improve thermodynamics
education and to make it more interesting to students, and
a basic level of exergy literacy is needed among engi-
neers and scientistsdparticularly those involved in deci-
sion making.
499
500
25.2 EXERGY METHODS FOR ANALYSIS
AND DESIGN
Some features of exergy that are particularly pertinent to
this chapter include:
l When energy quality decreases, exergy is destroyed.
Exergy is the part of energy that is useful to society,
has economic value, and is thus worth managing
carefully.
l A system has no exergy when it is in complete equi-
librium with its environment. Then, no differences
appear between the system and the environment in
temperature, pressure, or constituent concentrations.
l The exergy of a system increases as the deviation of its
state from that of the environment increases. For
instance, hot water has a higher exergy content in winter
than on a hot summer day, while a block of ice contains
little exergy in winter but a significant quantity in
summer.
Two simple examples well illustrate the attributes of
exergy:
l Consider an adiabatic system containing fuel and air at
ambient conditions. The fuel and air react to form
a mixture of hot combustion gases. During the
combustion process, the energy in the system remains
fixed because it is adiabatic. But the exergy content
declines as combustion proceeds due to the irrevers-
ibilities associated with the conversion of the high-
quality energy of fuel to the lower quality energy of
combustion gases. The different behaviors of energy and
exergy during this process are illustrated qualitatively in
Figure 25.1.
l A mineral deposit contrasts with the environment of
the earth, and is thus a carrier of exergy. This contrast
increases with the concentration of the mineral, as
shown in Figure 25.2. When the mineral is mined, its
exergy content is low or zero (depending on the
concentration of the mineral in the environmental
FIGURE 25.1 Qualitative comparison
of energy and exergy during combustion.
Energy or exergy (relative
100
80
units)
60
40
20
0
Fuel and air before
combustion
Exergy
deposit) while the exergy content increases if its
concentration is enriched. A poorer mineral deposit
contains less exergy than a concentrated one.
Conversely, when a concentrated mineral is dispersed in
the environment, its exergy content decreases.
As pointed out throughout this book, exergy analysis,
a methodology for the analysis, design, and improvement
of energy and other systems, is useful for improving the
efficiency of energy-resource use.
Exergy has many other implications on, and links with,
other disciplines, as discussed in detail in previous chapters.
A link exists between exergy and environmental impact and
sustainability. Energy production, transformation, transport,
and use all impact on earths environment. The exergy of
a quantity of energy or a substance can be viewed as
a measure of its usefulness, quality, or potential to cause
change. Exergy appears to be an effective measure of the
potential of a substance to impact the environment. This link
between exergy and environmental impact is particularly
significant since energy and environment policies are likely
to play an increasingly prominent role in the future in a broad
range of local, regional, and global environmental concerns.
The tie between exergy and the environment has implica-
tions regarding environmental impact and has been inves-
tigated previously by several researchers, including the
authors.
Exergy is a useful concept in economics. In macro-
economics, exergy offers a way to reduce resource deple-
tion and environmental destruction by exergy taxes or
rebates. In microeconomics, exergy has been combined
beneficially with cost-benefit analysis to improve designs.
By minimizing life cycle cost, we find the best system
given prevailing economic conditions and, by minimizing
exergy losses, we also minimize environmental effects.
Finally, exergy has been proposed as an important
consideration in policy making related to energy. This
chapter expands this area by focusing specifically on
education and awareness.
Exergy Energy
Fuel and hot gases after Hot gases after complete
partial adiabatic adiabatic combustion
combustion
Chapter | 25 Exergy in Policy Development and Education
Exergy (relative units)
0 0.2
Concentration of mineral (%)
FIGURE 25.2 Qualitative variation of the exergy of a mineral with concentration.
25.3 THE ROLE AND PLACE FOR EXERGY IN
ENERGY-RELATED EDUCATION AND
AWARENESS POLICIES
Before considering understanding and awareness of exergy
by the public, and its role and place in energy-related
education and awareness policies, it is informative to
consider the publics understanding and awareness of the
more conventional quantity energy.
25.3.1 Public Understanding and Awareness
of Energy
The typical layperson hears of energy and energy issues
daily, and is generally comfortable with receiving that
energy-related information and feels he or she follows it.
He or she even understands it, or at least thinks he/she does.
This sense of comfort and understanding exists despite
all of the problems associated with energy. For instance,
consider the following:
l Efficiencies based on energy can often be non-mean-
ingful or even misleading, because energy efficiency is
not a consistent measure of how nearly a process
approaches ideality. For instance, the energy efficiency
of electric space heating is high (nearly 100%) even
though the process is far from ideal. The fact that the
same space heat can be delivered by an electric heat
pump using much less electricity than the electric space
heater corroborates this observation.
l Losses of energy can be large in quantity when they are,
in fact, not that significant thermodynamically due to
the low quality or usefulness of the energy that is lost.
For example, the waste heat exiting a power plant via
cooling water has a lot of energy, but little exergy
(because its state is near to that of the environment).
501
0.4 0.6 0.8 1
25.3.2 Public Understanding and Awareness
of Exergy
An understanding of exergy, similar to that which exists for
energy, is almost entirely nonexistent in lay members of the
public. This lack of understanding exists despite the fact
that exergy overcomes many of the deficiencies of energy
methods described previously.
Worse still, the public is often confused when it refers
to energy. To those who deal with exergy, it often seems
that members of the public actually mean exergy when
they say energy. For example, two respected exergy
researchers, Wepfer and Gaggioli (1980), begin an article
with Exergy . is synonymous with what the layman calls
energy. It is exergy, not energy, that is the resource of
value, and it is this commodity, that fuels processes, which
the layman is willing to pay for.
These points illustrate why it is essential that the public
developdor be helped to developda basic understanding
of exergy. The level of understanding needed by the public
about exergy should at least be comparable to that for
energy.
To help illustrate these contentions, some examples of
the problems associated with a lack of knowledge of exergy
by the public are outlined in the following:
l One example of the confusion exhibited by the public
when speaking of energy is the well-used term energy
conservation. When members of the public say energy
conservation, they are usually referring to an objective
of efforts to solve energy problems. Yet the term energy
conservation is meaningless in that regard, in that it
simply states the First Law of Thermodynamics.
Exergy, however, is not conserved and it appears that
what the public is really interested in conserving is
exergy, the potential to drive processes and systems that
deliver services or products.
502
l Another example of confusion in the public surrounds
the drive for increased energy efficiency. Energy effi-
ciencies do not necessarily provide a measure of how
nearly a process approaches ideality, yet that is what
the public means by energy efficiency. Exergy effi-
ciencies do provide measures of approach to ideality,
and so it appears that the public means increased
exergy efficiency when discussing increased energy
efficiency.
l A third example of the problems that can develop
when the public does not have knowledge of exergy,
but retains only a confused understanding of energy,
relates to the energy crisis. For instance, during the
energy crisis of the 1970s, oil scarcities existed due to
reductions in oil production. Most of the energy that
was available to the public before the crisis was
available during it. For instance, huge amounts of
solar energy continued to stream into the earth every
day. Waste thermal energy was continually emitted
from facilities and buildings. The commodity for
which there was a crisis, therefore, appeared to be
exergy, not energy. That is, energy forms capable of
delivering a wide range of energy services (like oil),
which have high exergies, were in short supply. Of
course, there were also other issues related to the
energy crisis, particularly the shortage of reasonably
inexpensive and widely available resources. But, the
key point here is that the crisis was about exergy, not
energy, yet the public referred to the situation as an
energy crisis.
l A fourth example of public confusion about energy
relates to the oft-pronounced need for energy security. If
it were simply energy for which we desire a secure
supply, there would be no real problem. We have energy
in abundance available in our environment and even
when we use energy we still have equivalent quantities
of energy left over because our use is really only energy
conversion or transformation. However, we are not
concerned about ensuring secure supplies of energy;
instead we are concerned about only those resources
that are useful to us, that can be used to provide a wide
range of energy services, and that can satisfy all our
energy-related needs and desires. That is, we are con-
cerned with having secure supplies of exergy, or what
might be called exergy security.
The lack of clarity regarding the points raised in these
four examples has been discussed in more detail previ-
ously, focusing on scientists, engineers, and other tech-
nical readers. This discussion, however, is intended to
raise these points in a different context, and emphasize
that this lack of clarity extends to the public, where the
problems caused are different, but perhaps are just as, or
more, important.
Exergy
25.3.3 Extending the Publics Need to
Understand and Be Aware of Exergy to
Government and the Media
By extension of the previous arguments, government offi-
cials require a rudimentary understanding of exergy to
improvedor at least complementdtheir understanding of
energy issues. This understanding can help guide the
development of rational energy policies. Government,
being another type of reflection of the public, will be far
less prone to use exergy methods, even when they can be
beneficial, if it feels that the public does not understand
exergy even in the simplest way and therefore will not
appreciate government efforts.
The importance of such government involvement
should not be understated and has been investigated by
researchers. For example, Wall (1993) alluded to the
importance of exergy in relation to democracy in an article
that dealt with the dilemmas of modern society. There have
also been some successes in incorporating exergy into
government policies. For instance, Favrat et al. (2008)
reported on the introduction of an exergy indicator in
a local law on energy in Switzerlands Canton of Geneva.
Through that law, which governs the attribution of building
permits for new or retrofitted city areas, the application
procedure requires the calculation of an exergy indicator
for large projects.
Similarly, members of the mediadincluding the press,
television, and radiodneed to be informed, at least at
a basic level, about exergy and its roles. In a sense, the
media are a reflection of the public. If the media have an
appreciation of exergy, they can help ensure that the public
has an understanding about exergy. Educating via televi-
sion, in particular, can be an especially powerful method for
increasing public awareness about exergy.
However, for the press and media to run exergy-related
articles, it requires that the public has a rudimentary
understanding of, and interest in, exergy matters. Other-
wise, the press and media tend to neglect exergy-related
topics for fear of boring or confusing the public. A first step
to resolving the reluctance of the press to write about
exergy is education.
The next section of this article focuses on educating
students about exergy, which is one manner of directly and
indirectly educating the public, in the long run, about exergy.
25.4 THE ROLE AND PLACE FOR EXERGY IN
EDUCATION POLICIES
Thermodynamics education is often thought of as a mature
discipline, yet it remains the subject of continual debate.
The emergence of exergy methods as important elements
and tools of thermodynamics has provided additional
Chapter | 25 Exergy in Policy Development and Education 503

subject matter for dialog, especially regarding the role and general, room exists for improvement in the area of exergy
place for exergy in curricula. coverage in thermodynamics education, and efforts should
be made to achieve these improvements. Three points
related to improving thermodynamics education through
25.4.1 Education about Exergy better coverage of exergy are addressed in the following
The impact of exergy on the teaching of thermodynamics three subsections.
has been and continues to be significant. Developments in
this area abound. For instance, Bejan (2001) noted in an
editorial in the inaugural issue of Exergy, An International 25.4.2 The Need for Exergy Literacy in
Journal, As the new century begins, we are witnessing Scientists and Engineers
revolutionary changes in the way thermodynamics is
We need to ensure that our education systems provide all
taught. Further on, he observed that the methods of
students who study thermodynamics with a good grounding
exergy analysis . are the most visible and established
in exergy. For exergy methods to become more widely used
forms of this change.
and beneficially exploited, those who study and work in
One point of contention is whether present coverage of
technical fieldsdparticularly where thermodynamics is
exergy in thermodynamics education is sufficient and
applieddshould have a basic understanding of exergy. In
appropriate. Views on this issue are often not in agreement.
addition, technical managers and decision makers require
Exergy, where it forms part of the curriculum, is nor-
at least an appreciation of what exergy is and how it is used,
mally taught at the college and university levels. However,
if they are to make proper decisions on matters where
many feel that it should be covered in primary and/or
exergy is, or should be, considered.
secondary education levels. That point is also disputed.
Some may suggest that we do not, for practical purposes,
Most of the remainder of this section focuses on college and
need such an understanding of exergy among technical
university levels, since exergy is normally taught at the
personnel. Some examples help refute such suggestions:
post-secondary level.
In some ways and at some schools, present coverage of l Research proposals have at times not been funded, in
exergy is sufficient. Some evidence to support this claim large part because exergy methods formed part of the
includes the following: approach. On reading the comments of reviewers of
such proposals, it is sometimes evident that the
l Several articles have appeared in the engineering and
reviewers have read energy in place of exergy
education literature on teaching exergy analysis. For
throughout the proposalsdrendering them utterly
instance, Cengel (1996) proposed a physical or
meaningless. This result can occur despite the fact that
intuitive approach . as an alternative to the current
great pains are often taken within proposals to empha-
formula based approach to learning thermodynamics
size the need to use exergy methods. What perhaps
and incorporated exergy into the approach. Dunbar and
remains most disconcerting is that, in many of these
Lior (1992) recommended an exergy-based approach to
instances, the reviewers have technical backgrounds.
teaching energy systems. They noted that the approach
l Government officials or company managers have
highlights important conclusions from exergy analysis,
admitted to exergy researchers and practitioners that, in
not obtainable from the conventional energy analysis.
many instances, they chose not to use exergy on
In addition, they felt that the approach evoked the
a project or activity, not because an exergy approach was
intellectual curiosity of students and increased their
unsuitable, but because they did not understand it or had
interest in the course.
never heard of it. This situation is problematic because
l Most texts on thermodynamics have, over the last few
decision making, when it is based on avoiding topics
decades, incorporated sections or chapters on exergy
about which one is ignorant, cannot be productive.
methods. Even in 1988, while commenting on the
increased attention being paid to exergy analysis, Bejan We consequently feel in general that a strong need exists
(1988) pointed out that, every new undergraduate to improve the exergy literacy of engineers and scientists.
engineering thermodynamics textbook has at least one
chapter on the subject.
l Several excellent texts devoted to exergy analysis have 25.4.3 Understanding the Second Law
been published, including particularly useful ones, such through Exergy
as by Kotas (1995), Edgerton (1992), and Szargut et al.
The Second Law of Thermodynamics (SLT) often makes
(1988).
students of thermodynamics fearful. Introducing the concept
Such materials have made it easier to expand the of entropy usually only increases their trepidation. Even
coverage of exergy in thermodynamics courses. Yet, in students who pass courses on thermodynamics and ultimately
504
graduate often retain fears of the SLT and entropy and feel
they do not really understand these topics. Ahrendts (1980),
for example, begins one of his articles on exergy methods with
Thermodynamics is not a very popular science, because the
concepts in thermodynamics do not conform to the unso-
phisticated human experience. Focusing on the SLT he
continues Traditional formulations of the Second Law
prevent a simple understanding of energy conversions,
because the application of the entropy concept to those
processes is often looked upon as a miracle.
Others also have agreed with these concerns and devel-
oped different approaches to teaching the SLT. One example
is a thermodynamics text by Dixon (1975), the preface of
which states entropy is [not] the most significant or useful
aspect of the Second Law and the Second Law has to do
with the concept of degradation of energy; that is, with loss
of useful work potential. Dixon introduces the SLT through
the concept of degradation of energy, claiming degradation
. because it is a work term, is an easily grasped concept.
By focusing on degradation of energy rather than the abstract
property entropy, Dixon feels his book results in a clearer
physical meaning for entropy.
This approach, although instructive for some, is still
somewhat abstract and vague. The approach comes close to
teaching the SLT through exergy, and would likely be
clearer if it did so. Exergy provides a perspective of the SLT
and entropy that is much more intuitively understandable to
students. The definition of exergy, which states that exergy
is the maximum work that can be obtained from a system or
flow within a reference environment, is usually much more
straightforward than the definition of entropy. Also, char-
acteristics of exergydsuch as it being a nonconserved
quantitydare normally easier for students to grasp than the
concepts surrounding entropy and its characteristics.
Thus, we feel that exergy should generally form a central
component of thermodynamics courses. More specifically,
exergy should play a significant role in dealing with and
teaching the SLT. Such an approach would likely make the
SLT more understandable and practical and less fear
inspiring. Some readers will point out correctly that there
exist some additional complexities when dealing with exergy
rather than entropy (e.g., a reference environment must be
introduced and defined). Nevertheless, we believe that the
overall benefits of approaching the SLT through exergy
outweigh the difficulties.
25.4.4 Exergys Place in a Curriculum
A challenging issue is where exergy should be covered in
a curriculum. In engineering programs, for example, exergy
is sometimes covered lightly in thermodynamics courses at
the undergraduate level. Sometimes exergy is covered
separately, as either a core or an elective undergraduate
course, while in some schools exergy is only covered at the
Exergy
graduate level. In the latter case, the rationale often
provided is that students need a firm grounding in tradi-
tional thermodynamics before they deal with exergy. Those
who support including exergy as a part of the undergraduate
curriculum, on the other hand, claim this approach is
necessary because exergy forms a critical and important
part of basic thermodynamics. Further support for this
argument is added by earlier statements in this article about
exergy providing a preferable approach to dealing with and
teaching the SLT.
Although there is likely some merit in each of the
rationales for different placements of exergy in curricula,
this author nevertheless believes that some coverage of
exergy should be required in all undergraduate courses in
engineering thermodynamics. Beyond such a core of
exergy material, however, there are multiple ways in which
additional exergy material can be incorporated into engi-
neering curricula at undergraduate or graduate levels.
Exergy methods can also be incorporated into courses
that apply to thermodynamics. In Thermal Design and
Optimization, for instance, Bejan et al. (1996) feature
a substantial amount of material on exergy and related
methods. They explain in the preface that they include
exergy in the text because an increasing number of engi-
neers and engineering managers worldwide agree that it has
considerable merit and are advocating its use. They state
further that their aim in featuring exergy and related
methods is to contribute to the education of the next
generation of thermal system designers and to the back-
ground of currently active designers who feel the need for
more effective design methods. These authors clearly
regard exergy as a critical component in thermal design
education, whose importance will only increase in the
future.
Much room for debate exists about the place for exergy
in a curriculum. Perhaps no single answer exists, and each
approach will retain its proponents. Some engineering
thermodynamics curricula, to their detriment, do not cover
exergy at all, but these are likely in the minority. The range
of views on how exergy can and should be incorporated into
a thermodynamics curriculum is sufficiently diverse that
a consensus on the best approach is almost certainly not
possible in the near term. It is even questionable whether
a consensus can be reached in the long term, after exergy
methods mature. Two points help illustrate this view:
l A panel session on The Second Law in Engineering
Education was held within the Symposium on Thermo-
dynamics and the Design, Analysis, and Improvement
of Energy Systems, at the 1996 International Mechanical
Engineering Congress and Exposition of the American
Society of Mechanical Engineers (El-Sayed et al.,
1997). Among the topics covered were whether or not
undergraduate engineers need to be educated in the SLT
Chapter | 25 Exergy in Policy Development and Education 505

and how much depth is required in this area. The panelists
included representatives of academia and industry, as
well as respected thermodynamicists and exergy propo-
nents. Although several opinions were expressed on the
need to include exergy methods in the teaching of the
SLT, the views expressed varied greatlydemphasizing
the difficulties in reaching a consensus on the best
approach for incorporating exergy into a thermody-
namics curriculum.
l Consideration of the nomenclature and terminology of
exergy analysis reveals that a diversity of names and
symbols presently exist for the same quantities in
exergy analysis. This situation persists despite efforts to
reach a common nomenclature and terminology. This
weakness demonstrates how difficult it is to reach
a consensus just on the relatively narrow topic of
nomenclature and terminology, not to mention reaching
a consensus on the broader topic of incorporating
exergy into a thermodynamics curriculum.
25.5 CLOSING REMARKS
The key elements of this chapter are awareness, under-
standing, and education as they relate to exergy and its role in
policy making. The relation between these key elements is
illustrated in Figure 25.3. There, it is shown that an under-
standing and awareness of exergy requires, for all people,
education. The types of education that are appropriate for
technical persons such as engineers and scientists are shown
to be different from those that are appropriate for nontech-
nical persons such as members of the public, government, or
media. But, in a general sense, the factors involved in raising
awareness and understanding are similar conceptually, and
differ mainly in depth and rigor of treatment.
The arguments presented in this chapter demonstrate
that the public is often confused when discussing energy
and a need exists to improve public understanding and
awareness of exergy. Such understanding and awareness is
essential if we are to better address the energy issues and
problems of today and tomorrow. Thus, exergy can play
a key role in developing appropriate and beneficial energy-
related policies, but exploiting the potential of exergy
requires appropriate support for public education and
awareness about exergy.
In support of the need for public understanding and
awareness of exergy, it should take on a prominent place in
thermodynamics courses. Beyond elucidating the concepts
of the SLT and entropy, such an approach can help ensure
a rudimentary understanding of exergy in all technical
personnel. An approach based on exergy could make the
SLT more interesting, appealing, and practical, as well as
less daunting and confusing. Then, it may be easier to
improve general understanding of exergy in the scientific
and engineering communities, as well as the general public,
by ensuring that a basic level of exergy literacy exists
among engineers and scientistsdparticularly those involved
in decision making. Education policies that support

Awareness and
understanding of
exergy

Education

Technical Non-technical

Other
Scientists Engineers technical Public Government Media
workers

FIGURE 25.3 Illustration of the importance of education in building awareness and understanding of exergy among different categories of people.
506
inclusion of exergy in relevant curricula, at all appropriate
education levels, should be considered.
PROBLEMS
25.1 Conduct research to determine if thermodynamics
textbooks written several decades ago cover exergy
and to what extent.
25.2 Almost all present undergraduate thermodynamics
textbooks have at least one chapter devoted to exergy.
If you were the instructor of a single thermodynamics
course and you could only cover some of the chap-
ters, would you cover exergy? Provide reasons for
your answer.
Exergy
25.3 Do you favor changing the way thermodynamics is
taught by adopting an exergy-based approach? Why?
25.4 Explain how a better understanding of exergy by
engineering students can help improve public
awareness of exergy.
25.5 Explain how exergy is a useful tool in policy making
related to energy. Provide examples.
25.6 Is it realistic to expect that the level of understanding
of the public about exergy should be comparable to
that for energy? Explain.
25.7 Explain how a better understanding and appreciation
of exergy by the public and by policy makers can help
foster more efficient use of energy sources and
minimize their effects on environment.