Gouy-Stodola Theorem as a variational principle for open systems

The recent researches in non equilibrium and far from equilibrium systems have been proved to be useful for their applications in different disciplines and many subjects. A general principle to approach all these phenomena with a unique method of analysis is required in science and engineering: a variational principle would have this fundamental role. Here, the Gouy-Stodola theorem is proposed to be this general variational principle, both proving that it satisfies the above requirements and relating it to a statistical results on entropy production.