Thanatia: The Destiny of the Earth's Mineral Resources : A Thermodynamic Cradle-to-Cradle Assessment

Antonio Valero Capilla is Chair in Thermal Systems at University of Zaragoza (since 1986). His main contributions are in Thermoeconomics — General Theory of Exergy Saving, Diagnosis of Complex Energy Plants — and Exergoecology, applied to evaluate the Exergy of Resources of the Earth, including Physical Hydronomics which provides the physical and economic costs of water streams, and Physical Geonomics from which Thanatia is derived. He has authored over 200 publications in research journals, books and conference papers and has directed more than 30 PhD students. Prof Valero is Director General of CIRCE, the Research Centre for Energy Resources and Consumption composed of 200 researchers devoted to Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy Systems and Power Plants Optimisation. The Centre has participated in more than 50 European Union projects. He was formerly Spanish National Manager for the Energy R&D Plan and Spanish Representative at the European Commission for the 7th R&D Framework Programme in Energy. He is the winner of the ASME James Harry Potter Gold Medal Award'96 and is an ASME fellow.

Alicia Valero Delgado is currently head of the department of Industrial Ecology and Resource Efficiency at the Research Centre for Energy Resources and Consumption (CIRCE) and a lecturer at the University of Zaragoza in the Mechanical Engineering Department, a post she has occupied since 2007. Her more than ten years research activity has been focused on the exergy evaluation of the mineral endowment on Earth, for which she has received three international awards. She studied chemical engineering at the University of Zaragoza finishing her education at the Université Paul Sabatier in Toulouse and the TU Berlin. Shortly afterwards, she became a junior researcher at Siemens Power Generation in Berlin and a consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers (Madrid). She entered the Research Centre for Energy Resources and Consumption (CIRCE) in 2003 and finished her PhD in 2008 with a research stay at the British Geological Survey. In addition, she is the author or co-author of 30 publications in international journals and book chapters and over 50 international conference papers, all of which relate to the analysis and optimisation of energy and the use of raw materials.

"This is an exhaustive treatment of the subject with numerous tables of the baseline date and discussions going from basic thermodynamics to economics and social sciences. It is an essential read for any scientist who is concerned with resource evaluation and how we can best manage these assets and continue to live on an Earth in which we appreciate the service provided by the resource and thus avoid Thanatia in defence of Gaia." -- John Ludden, Executive Director, British Geological Survey

"'Thanatia' presents a refreshing way of analysing the run-down of our mineral inheritance ... To serious students of the resource problem the numerous tables in 'Thanatia' are useful because they are thought-provoking as much as for the numerical data. 'Thanatia' is a big book, with a wealth of data and background material on the minerals industry, representing many years of intensive investigation and analysis." -- Jane H Hodgkinson & Frank D Stacey, CSIRO, Australiam, Authors of The Earth as a Cradle for Life

"The unusual title of the book Thanatia (death in Greek) leads its readers to understand what sustainability really means and to quantify the problem of mineral depletion using both disciplines thermodynamics and economics." -- Ph. Vieillard, Director of Research, C.N.R.S., Poitiers, France

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