It is not the entropy you produce, rather, how you produce it.

The principle of maximum entropy production (MEP) seeks to better understand a large variety of the Earth's environmental and ecological systems by postulating that processes far from thermodynamic equilibrium will 'adapt to steady states at which they dissipate energy and produce entropy at the maximum possible rate'. Our aim in this 'outside view', invited by Axel Kleidon, is to focus on what we think is an outstanding challenge for MEP and for irreversible thermodynamics in general: making specific predictions about the relative contribution of individual processes to entropy production. Using studies that compared entropy production in the atmosphere of a dry versus humid Earth, we show that two systems might have the same entropy production rate but very different internal dynamics of dissipation. Using the results of several of the papers in this special issue and a thought experiment, we show that components of life-containing systems can evolve to either lower or raise the entropy production rate. Our analysis makes explicit fundamental questions for MEP that should be brought into focus: can MEP predict not just the overall state of entropy production of a system but also the details of the sub-systems of dissipaters within the system? Which fluxes of the system are those that are most likely to be maximized? How it is possible for MEP theory to be so domain-neutral that it can claim to apply equally to both purely physical-chemical systems and also systems governed by the 'laws' of biological evolution? We conclude that the principle of MEP needs to take on the issue of exactly how entropy is produced.

Advanced technology paths to global climate stability: energy for a greenhouse planet.

Stabilizing the carbon dioxide-induced component of climate change is an energy problem. Establishment of a course toward such stabilization will require the development within the coming decades of primary energy sources that do not emit carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, in addition to efforts to reduce end-use energy demand. Mid-century primary power requirements that are free of carbon dioxide emissions could be several times what we now derive from fossil fuels (approximately 10(13) watts), even with improvements in energy efficiency. Here we survey possible future energy sources, evaluated for their capability to supply massive amounts of carbon emission-free energy and for their potential for large-scale commercialization. Possible candidates for primary energy sources include terrestrial solar and wind energy, solar power satellites, biomass, nuclear fission, nuclear fusion, fission-fusion hybrids, and fossil fuels from which carbon has been sequestered. Non-primary power technologies that could contribute to climate stabilization include efficiency improvements, hydrogen production, storage and transport, superconducting global electric grids, and geoengineering. All of these approaches currently have severe deficiencies that limit their ability to stabilize global climate. We conclude that a broad range of intensive research and development is urgently needed to produce technological options that can allow both climate stabilization and economic development.

Modelling the effect of diffuse light on canopy photosynthesis in controlled environments.

A layered canopy model was used to analyze the effects of diffuse light on canopy gross photosynthesis in controlled environment plant growth chambers, where, in contrast to the field, highly diffuse light can occur at high irradiance. The model suggests that high diffuse light fractions (approximately 0.7) and irradiance (1400 micromoles m-2 s-1) may enhance crop life-cycle canopy gross photosynthesis for hydroponic wheat by about 20% compared to direct light at the same irradiance. Our simulations suggest that high accuracy is not needed in specifying diffuse light fractions in chambers between approximately 0.7 and 1, because simulated photosynthesis for closed canopies plateau in this range. We also examined the effect of leaf angle distribution on canopy photosynthesis under growth chamber conditions, as these distributions determine canopy extinction coefficients for direct and diffuse light. We show that the spherical leaf angle distribution is not suitable for modeling photosynthesis of planophile canopies (e.g., soybean and peanut) in growth chambers. Also, the absorption of the light reflected from the surface below the canopy should generally be included in model simulations, as the corresponding albedo values in the photosynthetically active range may be quite high in growth chambers (e.g., approximately 0.5). In addition to the modeling implications, our results suggest that diffuse light conditions should be considered when drawing conclusions from experiments in controlled environments.