EFU Framework v1.0 – The Metabolic Operating System

Abstract The Equivalent Flux Unit (EFU) is a biophysical accounting framework that redefines how economic, industrial, and digital activities are measured and governed. Instead of relying on abstract financial indicators, EFU anchors all measurement in physical reality by benchmarking energy, water, entropy, and material flows against the human basal metabolic baseline. By expressing resource use in human-equivalent metabolic units, EFU enables intuitive interpretation, cross-sector comparability, and resistance to metric manipulation. The framework explicitly incorporates thermodynamic constraints, including entropy generation, thereby addressing limitations of conventional ESG and life-cycle assessment approaches that focus narrowly on carbon emissions. EFU is designed as a modular, audit-ready system with formal licensing, integrity guidelines, and machine-readable validation schemas. It is applicable to a wide range of domains, including industrial production, infrastructure, artificial intelligence, and digital services. EFU Standard Collection v1.0 is an independent, self‑funded research framework and thought experiment developed through volunteer work. Its aim is to express resource use (energy, water, materials, gases, entropy) in human metabolic equivalents using EFU (Equivalent Flux Units), translating technical indicators such as tonnes, joules, and cubic metres into human‑scale metrics. The collection brings together multiple, mutually consistent sub‑standards (e.g. EFU‑C, EFU‑N, EFU‑P, EFU‑H₂O, EFU‑E, EFU‑S) calibrated against FAO/WHO/UNU metabolic data. EFU is not a legal standard and does not impose any mandatory requirements; it is a completed first‑phase research project, openly shared to raise awareness and invite collaboration on more human‑centred approaches to planetary resource accounting.