We have to live with the need for energy and solve the associated problems as we go. We've done the same with so many other seemingly existential problems. Malthusian-style solutions are not the answer, scarcity-inducing policies always lead within years to social breakdown, violence, mayhem and war.
Energy is life…literally. What we call “life” is just a special form of matter that accelerates the dissipation of energy in accordance with the Second Law of Thermodynamics.
Every “revolution” that led to modernity, think the “agricultural revolution” and “industrial revolution” were, at their cores, “energy revolutions.”
Until the agricultural revolution, humans were relegated to hunter gathering groups. Civilization could only emerge with the surplus energy of agriculture, allowing some specialization among humans.
We spent thousands of years, however, bumping up against the limits of this revolution, watching civilizations rise and fall, until we learned how to harness the concentrated energy stores in fossil fuels.
Worryingly, we might again be bumping up against the limits of fossil fuels, again risking the fall of civilization, as the Energy Return on Investment of fossil fuels falls. Something I've explored at Risk & Progress
This is why we should be looking beyond, promoting nuclear and solar. Not constraining energy capture, but shifting to more sustainable options.
Wonderfully put. It should be clear that there are very backwards thinking ideologies that imagine a glorious past without our modern technologies and they are making a large impact to the debate
I do like your insight, "A human-centred approach to energy starts with outcomes, not abstractions. Does a policy make people healthier? Does it reduce poverty? Does it increase resilience to shocks? Does it expand opportunity across generations and borders? These questions are harder to answer than setting targets, but they are the ones that matter. They also point toward a more optimistic path forward."
We have to live with the need for energy and solve the associated problems as we go. We've done the same with so many other seemingly existential problems. Malthusian-style solutions are not the answer, scarcity-inducing policies always lead within years to social breakdown, violence, mayhem and war.
Well said from @Zion Lights !
Energy is life…literally. What we call “life” is just a special form of matter that accelerates the dissipation of energy in accordance with the Second Law of Thermodynamics.
Every “revolution” that led to modernity, think the “agricultural revolution” and “industrial revolution” were, at their cores, “energy revolutions.”
Until the agricultural revolution, humans were relegated to hunter gathering groups. Civilization could only emerge with the surplus energy of agriculture, allowing some specialization among humans.
We spent thousands of years, however, bumping up against the limits of this revolution, watching civilizations rise and fall, until we learned how to harness the concentrated energy stores in fossil fuels.
Worryingly, we might again be bumping up against the limits of fossil fuels, again risking the fall of civilization, as the Energy Return on Investment of fossil fuels falls. Something I've explored at Risk & Progress
This is why we should be looking beyond, promoting nuclear and solar. Not constraining energy capture, but shifting to more sustainable options.
Wonderfully put. It should be clear that there are very backwards thinking ideologies that imagine a glorious past without our modern technologies and they are making a large impact to the debate
"a more optimistic path forward"
I do like your insight, "A human-centred approach to energy starts with outcomes, not abstractions. Does a policy make people healthier? Does it reduce poverty? Does it increase resilience to shocks? Does it expand opportunity across generations and borders? These questions are harder to answer than setting targets, but they are the ones that matter. They also point toward a more optimistic path forward."
Indeed Zion, it’s the purity of energy humanism.