Everyday, thousands of open and closed life systems are at work creating energy in many different forms. From less complex systems like a flower, to the system of the human body, all systems have a purpose and all have inputs, outputs, and varying feedback loops. One system that may not usually be examined through inputs, outputs, and feedback loops, is the system of an automobile. Although cars are not nearly as complex as other systems, they are still a perfect example of a closed system that takes a form of matter, turns it into energy and through that energy creates low quality heat and low quality waste. It's not a new idea to anyone that a car takes in gas, creates power, and then gives off waste in the form of exhaust. It is a new idea however, to look at how this system relates to other life systems. It is important to look at how the closed system of an automobile works and to identify the positive and negative aspects of this system.
             As a vehicle is filled with gasoline or diesel fuel, its energy reservoir is pumped full of a fluid that has a high energy potential. This input of gas fills the reservoir with high quality energy. It is noted that energy can not be created nor destroyed, but it can turn from one form to another. This may be confusing because cars must be refueled at some point. It is hard to realize that gas is being turned into another form of energy because it is unthought-of that a cars waste is secondary energy. The second law of energy states that the energy quality is actually what is changed. The quality of energy is simply rated by how much of the energy is used. If a lot of heat is being put into the air and lost forever, then that heat energy is very low quality. As fuel combusts in the engine, some of the energy is used to power the engine, but much of the high quality gas turns into more dispersed less useful outputs that are hard to capture. The lost en
             ...