Chapter IV, Section A: Manna from Heaven
In a complete energy economy, the energy of ecologic processes
sustaining an economic entity would be factored into the entity’s
value. The two major functions of an ecosystem are to move energy
though the trophic levels and to cycle nutrients within the system,
both processes sustaining life and both requiring energy. What makes
an ecosystem work? Solar energy. Using that energy, and usually
involving the organisms within an ecosystem themselves, nutrient
cycles return waste compounds back to life sustaining compounds.
Thus nutrient cycling is how the environment cleans itself. Almost
all nutrient cycles are contingent upon freshwater, the universal
solvent, with the hydrologic cycle a nutrient cycle itself. Thus
both water and solar energy have intrinsic ecologic value in energy
terms, and comprise the assets of the ecologic segment of a complete
energy economy.