Coal and oil are but examples of ancient sunlight. An archives is also an example of an open system. The energy available for the archives to consume is supplied by its organizational macrosystem. If, in speaking of paper deterioration, we presume a closed system where no outside source of energy was available, then any attempt to deter the decline of a particular piece of paper by applying energy would require taking that energy from another piece of paper. What is true of the materials of archives is also true of the intellectual content.
Information is stored energy.
The creation of information requires an energy expenditure. The filing of the information entails an energy expenditure. The maintenance of the file involves an energy expenditure. All of this must be outside energy, energy from outside the local system. The transformation of archival records from order to chaos was amply described by a young historian whose introduction to the world of archives involved a body of records which had not received those periodic infusions of energy necessary to maintain the files.