Constraints on information measures of embodied solar energy fluxes in the biosphere

The structure of the input-output (I-O) model of the Biosphere is investigated from the viewpoint of the information theory. The model was used to estimate the direct and indirect solar energy cost of different natural and artificial commodities. We showed that the distribution of aggregated fluxes, different types among compartments, can reflect the physical and functional ordering and natural hierarchy in the Biosphere to be found in the values of embodied energy. So, if we divide all the sets of commodities into three groups according to their order of magnitude of energy intensity, and then calculate the information measures of fluxes due to proposed subdivisions, we get the following: (1) that each distribution of aggregated fluxes among the compartments in chosen groups is increasingly far from equi-distribution; and (2) information of one distribution in respect to another is increasingly consequently. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.