The paper provides a brief analysis of the process of continuous self-organization (evolution) of living matter in the flow of Primary energy. Particular attention is paid to humans (Homo sapiens), who have taken possession of special methods of energy generation, not characteristic of any other species, namely, the transformation of the continuous flow of Primary energy. Energy generation and “scientific thought” have allowed humanity to become, according to V.I. Vernadsky, a “geological force”, to involve significant resources of the planet in the process of its own continuous self-organization and socialization of individuals. The scientific formalization of the processes used to generate energy significantly has accelerated the development of society and has actually become a prerequisite for the scientific and technological revolution. It is shown that they were Russian and, to a greater extent, Soviet scientists who have made a decisive contribution to the fundamental scientific foundations of energy generation, which determines the modern process of self-organization of mankind and people socialization. Reducing the overall efficiency of energy resources below a certain threshold is a dangerous and intractable challenge for the industrial world economies and civilization as a whole, causing conflict situations. An alternative to the apocalyptic scenario of human development, the concept of distributed energy generation based on self-regulation of energy consumption by a single individual is considered. Distributed energy generation, according to the authors, could determine novel socialization phenomena and initiate, according to V.I. Vernadsky’s teaching, the transition of the biosphere into the noösphere.

The article examines the problem of energy efficiency in the chain from the production of fertilizers to their logistics, application, and waste production and disposal based on the huge amount of data accumulated in recent years on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (primarily CO₂ and methane). Carbon dioxide emissions are shown to occur primarily from fuel combustion, as well as from the use of methane and CO₂ as precursors for nitrogen fertilizers. GHG emissions can be considered as a measure of energy efficiency when assessing the life cycle of mineral fertilizers. Relevant examples are given.

According to the results of our calculation, the appearance probability of the simplest replicator (life) has been obtained for some finite volume of the Universe, taking into account different initial conditions and the simplest replicator of different complexity. The results exceed by almost 1000 orders of magnitude similar calculations published in the specialized literature. The main specificity of this study is the idea of the simplest replicator as a configuration of individual RNA strands (ribozymes) formed due to panspermia. A conclusion about the uneven distribution of life over the Universe is drawn.

A new three-stage method for assessing the CO₂ balance in plant communities was formulated. The methodology includes not only taking into account the absorption of C-CO₂ during plantation vegetation, but also the processes occuring when using wood. In managed forests, when calculating the carbon balance, it is necessary to take into account the release of CO₂ not only at direct, but also at indirect consumption of technical energy for laying plantations, caring for them, and felling for final use. As a model, the consumption of technical energy in cultivating natural and genetically modified forms of aspen Populus tremula L. was calculated. The large role of indirect expenditure of technical energy in the C-CO₂ balance in forest plantations is shown. The use of a genetically modified clone of aspen significantly increases the productivity of plantations and CO₂ absorption from the atmosphere compared to its natural form. On a long time scale the final amount of CO₂ runoff from the atmosphere depends not only on the area of forests and their productivity, but also on the way of using wood. There is a highly effective way of using forest plantations to regulate the carbon dioxide content in the atmosphere, which is currently little paid attention, namely, the so-called substitution effect. Replacing energy-intensive materials (reinforced concrete, plastic, metal, and brick) with wood may be one of the main ways for the positive impact of forests on the CO₂ content in the atmosphere. The use of wood biomass from thinning, wood processing wastes, short-rotation forests for heat and power generation is a great reserve for replacing fossil hydrocarbons. The forest area needs to be expanded to increase wood production to replace energy-intensive building materials and generate biofuels.