"All living organisms consume energy, modify resources from the environment and produce waste. That is an inescapable fact of life. But in nature all material wastes are recycled as inputs to other living organisms. The only true waste is diffuse, low-grade heat.

In order to create a truly sustainable economy we must mimic the ecosystem so that the waste of every household and business becomes resource inputs to other enterprises, and the only waste produced is diffuse, low-grade heat from renewable resources like solar. 

Economy is like an ecosystem and money is a token we use to represent calories of energy in the ecosystem. Tom's unique approach to money takes you beyond the numbers game to a direct examination of the laws of physics, biology, and economics. These laws are the same today as in the Stone Age, when people worked only a few hours per day and had much more leisure time than we do now."

'''Articles by Thomas J. Elpel'''
	* Calories: The Currency of All Economies - http://www.hopspress.com/Books/Direct_Pointing.htm
	* Wealth & Work - http://www.greenuniversity.net/Green_Economics/wealth.htm
'''He has also written a book:'''
	* Direct Pointing to Real Wealth [ISBN 1-892-78408-4]
----

Do you really think anyone can tell you what "real" wealth is?
Is this not in the same category as defining true beauty?

''I think that someone can present a new analogy that might improve my thinking about the subject. It doesn't have to be an end-all-be-all answer (I would be concerned if it was).''

----

See http://www.bionomics.org for an long-standing look at this very idea. Also check out the book Bionomics by Michael Rothschild.