Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
The Earth is full of elements at the crust and below. Ditto for the bottom of the ocean. Someday we will
likely have technology to mine the ocean floor more efficiently than we can mine at the surface today.
What is wrong with going to that frontier? How is that any different than going to space?
Now, it makes no sense to go to such great lengths to get oil if it's not efficient, i.e., if there are better
alternatives. But there will likely be some element that is most efficient to get from very far below the
ground.
The most forward-looking policy toward energy use is to always use the most competitive form of en-
ergy. I like to call the most competitive ones
progressive energy,
because they are part of a process of con-
tinual improvement, of finding the best way to get energy from the Earth's effectively unlimited stockpile
of potential energy resources.
Our concern for the future should not be running out of energy resources; it should be running out of
the
freedom
to create energy resources, including our number-one energy resource today, fossil fuels.
EVERY CALORIE MATTERS
Because we have never lived without fossil fuel energy, it's hard to imagine life without its benefits. But
given that thought leaders are proposing exactly that, it's important to grasp just how big a difference fossil
fuels have made in our lives.
To get a big-picture view of the difference energy and machines make in our lives, look at this graph
of human progress from A.D. 1 to the present, featuring data from the Angus Maddison survey, the most
comprehensive survey of quality of life over the last two millennia.
Figure 3.1: Fossil Fuel Use and Human Progress—the Big Picture
