Habitable Zones & Global Climate: January 2008

Astrobiology December 2007, 7(6): 839-851

http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1089/ast.2007.0137 A framework is proposed for a quantitative approach to studying habitability. Considerations of environmental supply and organismal demand of energy lead to the conclusions that power units are most appropriate and that the units for habitability become watts per organism.

Astrobiology December 2007, 7(6): 824-838

http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1089/ast.2006.0095

Habitability can be formulated as a balance between the biological demand for energy and the corresponding potential for meeting that demand by transduction of energy from the environment into biological process. The biological demand for energy is manifest in two requirements, analogous to the voltage and power requirements of an electrical device, which must both be met if life is to be supported.