Energy

The Waste of Energy Resources

In the race through the industrialization process — which actually took close to two hundred years for the developed world — enormous amounts of fossil fuels have been burned that could have been used more sparingly and efficiently (WRI 2009). It is not clear, however, whether the same achievements in the growth of wealth and the (supposedly) higher quality of life enjoyed by citizens in the developed world could have been brought into existence if not for this rampant use of energy. It has also been argued that without the extensive and inefficient use of energy of the past centuries, we would not have arrived at a point where energy had the capability of being so efficiently produced and used as it can be today.

This last argument is either taking a naive view of history or is being deliberately disingenuous. Before the advent of fossil fuels, energy was incredibly efficient — all of it was supplied wither directly by man or by the forces of nature (mostly wind and gravity). Without the use of any electricity or fossil fuels, the Romans were able to transport water throughout much of their empire and merchants were able to trade goods across vast distances for only the cost of feeding their crew. The voyages took longer and goods were more expensive because of it, it is true, but wind power is one-hundred percent efficient when pushing a sail.

At the same time, economic growth and prosperity is definitely linked to energy consumption. Following the path of greatest energy efficiency would have us still living in the Middle Ages, and though certain nations might not be as exploited as they are today through our more efficient trade mechanisms (that burn less efficient fuels), many people in the developed world would be entirely unwilling to make this trade (Jones 1997).

The basic problem, of course, is that we can’t see into the future and are often unwilling to honestly look at the present. Had mankind looked at the amount of smog produced by early factories — which coated areas of major cities in soot — and decided that a re-evaluation was in order, things like wind and solar power might have been developed sooner. But there will always be a need for more energy; whenever energy is available, someone will use it for one enterprise or another. Hopefully we’re at a point where we can get our energy more efficiently for awhile, bit only the future will tell what power hungry devices will be thought up to drain the solar panels of their resources. Maybe some sort of space car…

References

Jones, Walter. The Logic of International Relations. Longman: 1997.

WRI. (2009). World Resources Institute. Accessed 4 October 2009.

http://www.wri.org/publication/content/8333