1.

Energy can neither be created nor destroyed

2. In all energy transformations, energy quality will be consumed
These are Natural Laws, i.e. they are fundamental and can not be negotiated. On the other hand,
if somebody find out something that might falsify them, they will cease to be fundamental.

The First Law tells us that energy can be neither created nor destoyed.
(The production or consumption of energy is impossible. Anyone who speaks about 'energy
production', or 'energy consumption' is probably ignorant about the First Law). This means that
the amount of energy in the universe is constant.
So, the First Law tells us something about the state of the universe and all processes in it.

The Second Law tells us that the quality of a particular amount of energy i.e. the amount of
work, or action, that it can do, diminishes for each time this energy is used. This is true for all
instances of energy use, physical, metbolic, interactive, and so on.
This means that the quality of energy in the universe as a whole, is constantly diminishing. All
real processes are irreversible, since the quality of the energy driving them is lowered for all
times.
Thus, the Second Law tells us about the direction of the universe and all processes, namely
towards a decreasing exergy content of the universe. Processes that follows this general principle
will be preferred.
Some people seem to think that this law should be revoked... But perhaps they are misled by
their notion of entropy.
The usable energy in a system is called exergy, and can be measured as the total of the free
energies in the system.
Unlike energy, exergy can be consumed.

To more easily understand the concept of exergy, you can consider this picture as an analogy:
You buy is the (toothpaste) tube. But you have to squeeze it to get at what you really need, the
toothpaste. When the tube is empty of paste (exergy) the tube is still there, the same amount as
when you bought it.
In theese circumstances, the word entropy often comes up. In the picture this is represented as
the depression in the tube. The depression increases as the amount of paste diminishes, but the
depression is not a negative paste. (You can not take the depression and unbrush your teeth!)
Entropy is not negative exergy, but another description of the system. Furthermore, it is not
defined in far-from-equilibrium systems, as living systems and other organised systems.

Life-processes consume the exergy in the energy. After the energy is used, it contains a lower
amount of exergy. The extracted energy is low-exergy energy, not entropy.
Exergy consumption by living systems

Life-processes are more efficient in consuming exergy than non-living processes. Therefore,
when living systems appears, they offer a faster route of exergy consumption, and hence a better
way of 'obeying' the Second Law.
Entropy A measurement of the uncertainity in a situation (information transfer,
energy states etc.). The term should be used with care since it is not
well defined for systems far from thermodynamic equilibrium.
Exergy A term used to describe differences in energy quality. The exergy
content of a system indicates its distance from thermodynamic
equilibrium. The higher the exergy content, the farther from
thermodynamic equilibrium.