arXiv subjects

Petros Chatzimpiros

Publications and source records attributed to Petros Chatzimpiros.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Unused power surge compromises U.S. road vehicles sustainability

Material and energy flows underpin sociotechnical metabolism. However, despite growing sustainability concerns over expanding material stocks and declining stock productivity, the link between material use and energy consumption remains poorly understood. This gap reflects a limited distinction between structures and the activity they enable, and the lack of quantification of the installed power of energy consuming structures. Here we reconstruct the long-term growth dynamics of U.S. road vehicles, distinguishing professional and consumer assets. We show that installed power, mass, and fuel energy use follow divergent patterns within and across vehicle categories. By introducing the usage factor as a metric linking structure to activity, we quantify decoupling mechanisms such as engine oversizing and fleet redundancy, which drive up material immobilization. As electrification requires large-scale fleet replacement, our findings highlight that avoiding power oversized vehicles could reduce material demand, emphasizing the need to account for structure-activity decoupling in energy transition policies.

physics.soc-ph↗

arXiv2025

The Physics of Sustainability: Material and Power Constraints for the Long Term

Much of today's sustainability discourse emphasizes efficiency, clean technologies, and smart systems, but largely underestimates fundamental physical constraints relating to energy-matter interactions. These constraints stem from the fact that Earth is a materially closed yet energetically open system, driven by the sustained but low power-density flux of solar radiation. This Perspective reframes sustainability within these axiomatic limits, integrating relevant timescales and orders of magnitude. We argue that fossil-fueled industrial metabolism is inherently incompatible with long-term viability, while post-fossil systems are surface-, materials-, and power-intensive. Long-term sustainability must therefore be defined not only by how much energy or material is used, but also by how it is used: favoring organic, carbon-based chemistry with limited reliance on purified metals, operating at low power density, and maintaining low throughput rates. Achieving this requires radical technological shifts toward life-compatible systems and biogeochemical circular processes, and, likely as a consequence, a paradigm change toward degrowth to a steady-state. These two shifts are mutually reinforcing and together provide the necessary foundation for any viable future.

physics.soc-ph↗

arXiv2019

The nitrogen operating space of world food production

Agriculture operates within a global ecosystem for which planetary boundaries have recently been defined. Efficiency in nitrogen use is essential for maximizing the benefits of agriculture for humanity and minimizing adverse socio-ecological impacts. The set of variables that support global system efficiency also determine the food production boundaries of agriculture, which govern the maximum supportable human population. Food production boundaries, nitrogen loss and nitrogen self-sufficiency are combined here into the nitrogen operating space of world food production. We position world regions and the world trajectory (1961-2013) within the nitrogen operating space and show that the maximum supportable human population ranges from 6 to almost 17 billion people according to the share of grain used as feed and the nitrogen fertilization regime. All UN population projections for the 21st century can only be conditionally achieved. We discuss the growth rate requirements in production and efficiency to meet food production boundaries and the nitrogen planetary boundary by 2050.

q-bio.PE↗