![]() ![]() The additional spare time that energy “bought” for the working class “could be spent on cultural or frivolous delights such as listening to the opera or watching movies, improving quality of life.” This is a topic I explored in my first book, A World Perspective through 21st Century Eyes (2004), which addressed surplus energy as well as the rise and fall of a number of civilizations related to energy use and more. One human can do the work of about 100 other humans with energy resources at his or her disposal making up the difference.” (p.59) ![]() That means we have reduced the labor requirements to one-hundredth of what they would be otherwise. “To produce 1 hectare of corn or other grains requires over 1,000 hours of human labor in nonindustrial parts to the world and about 10 hours of human labor in the United States and industrialized areas. “The movement from labor-intensive to energy-intensive farming moved the burden from human or animal muscles to fossil fuels,” Webber explains. More energy means more economic opportunity.” Webber notes, “For people in poverty, access to energy improves their educational opportunities, but it can also be used to operate a business, build a factory, and make goods. Harnessing the fossil fuel area created jobs, wealth, and convenience for Americans and many other societies. One of the major benefits of fossil fuels was the high energy density and heat generation that enabled a myriad of home conveniences, including electricity for lighting, refrigeration, and air conditioning, as well as natural gas for heating living spaces (furnaces) and water (hot water heaters), cooking, and drying clothes, to name a few. Thus the great American road trip was born.” He adds, “By the twenty-first century, Americans were driving more than 3 trillion miles annually in cars alone.” Up until then, Webber writes, “long-haul travel had been prohibitively expensive, but personal automobiles lowered the cost and time required for travel. These breakthroughs changed where and how we lived, as transportation encouraged far-flung yet interconnected societies and electricity enabled urban living that reached to the sky.”īesides creating the suburbs, automobiles enabled tourism to thrive. In total, it created some of the world’s largest industries: automotive manufacturing (using steel made from coal and tires made from petroleum at factories operating on electricity), oil production for automotive fuels, and road construction (using asphalt from petroleum and cement made with coal). The impact of individualized, motorized transportation is hard to fathom. were a good fit for transportation, enabling a revolution of personal mobility. He adds, “But with the steam engine, burning a fuel could give the energy needed to boil water to create steam that would drive pistons to create motion.” This engine was suited for massive vehicles like steamships and locomotives, but “they were awkwardly sized for vehicles at the scale of an individual or a family. ![]() That means oil saved whales and coal saved the forests.” Coal, which was even higher energy density, burns hotter, and produces less smoke than wood or cow dung, became a preferred fuel for indoor heating and industry. Despite that, whale oil was eventually displaced by kerosene for indoor lighting, which was cheaper and brighter and didn’t smell pungent like burning blubber. Webber succinctly summarizes, “Whale oil was a popular illuminant that displaced dirtier, dimmer candles and torches. Webber provides some excellent historical perspective on the rise of fossil fuels and how it led to the industrial revolution powered by steam engines, the rise of personal mobility with gasoline, and eventually widespread electrification to allow enjoyment of increasing leisure time as well as round the clock workplaces. Energy holds much promise for humanity, but a lack of energy can doom populations to incredible suffering.” This doom and gloom approach is not what Webber recommends either: “Energy is a key enabler of entrepreneurship and innovation, the economic engines for society. Indeed, the Biden administration during 2021 appears to be breaking American society by his and his team’s stated war on fossil fuels and endless declarations of crises. As Webber points out, “History makes one thing clear: energy can break societies just as easily as it makes them.” America was on a solid trajectory through 2020– reduced GHG emissions and energy dependence.īut elections can alter trajectories. In fact, America had become a net exporter of fossil fuels. His descriptive and prescriptive story was published in 2019, just before the pandemic and while American energy policies showed continued reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions while ensuring independence from foreign oil. I highly recommend the reading of Power Trip: The Story of Energy by Michael Webber. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |