Benefits of exergy

simplest answer is that not all of the energy available in a system goes towards doing work.
Entropy production decreases the amount of energy that can be used (usually due to heat losses).
Exergy is a measure of the "available energy".

For example, a piston is filled with pressurized gas. It can exert a force on its surroundings (e.g. a
crankshaft). But, if the piston experiences friction, some of its potential energy will be converted
into heat (directly related to entropy through temperature), so it has less energy available to do
work on the surroundings. The greater the friction, the greater the entropy production, the lower
the exergy.

Entropy production due to heat is the classical example, but it applies to any irreversible process
- that is any process where entropy is produced. Whenever entropy production is minimized,
exergy (useful energy) is maximized - leading to statements such as "real performance" and
"Shows quality of heat transfer process"