Energy systems language
The energy systems language, also referred to as energese, or energy circuit language, or generic systems symbols, is a
Design intent
The design intent of the energy systems language was to facilitate the generic depiction of energy flows through any scale system while encompassing the
In particular H.T. Odum aimed to produce a language which could facilitate the intellectual analysis, engineering synthesis and management of global systems such as the geobiosphere, and its many subsystems. Within this aim, H.T. Odum had a strong concern that many abstract mathematical models of such systems were not thermodynamically valid. Hence he used analog computers to make system models due to their
General characteristics
When applying the electronic circuits (and schematics) to modeling ecological and economic systems, Odum believed that generic categories, or characteristic modules, could be derived. Moreover, he felt that a general symbolic system, fully defined in electronic terms (including the mathematics thereof) would be useful for depicting real system characteristics, such as the general categories of production, storage, flow, transformation, and consumption. Central principles of electronics also therefore became central features of the energy systems language – Odum's generic symbolism.
Depicted to the left is what the generic symbol for storage, which Odum named the Bertalanffy module, in honor of the
For Odum, in order to achieve a
Pictographic icons
In order to aid learning, in Modeling for all Scales Odum and Odum (2000) suggested systems might first be introduced with pictographic icons, and then later defined in the generic symbolism.
See also
- Characteristica universalis
- Embodied energy
- Emergy
- Energy flow (ecology)
- SysML
- Unified modeling language
- Universal language
References
- M.T.Brown (2004) 'A picture is worth a thousand words: energy systems language and simulation', Ecological Modelling, 178: 83–100.
- H.T. Odum, Pigeon, R.F. (Eds.) (1970), A Tropical Rainforest, Division of Technical Information, U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (TID2470)
- H.T.Odum (1971) Environment, Society and Power, Wiley Interscience.
- H.T.Odum (1994) Ecological and General Systems: An Introduction to Systems Ecology, Colorado University Press, Colorado.
- P.J.Taylor and A.S.Blum (1991) "Ecosystems as Circuits: Diagrams and the Limits of Physical Analogies", Biology and Philosophy, 6: 275–294.