Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
12
E
NERGETIC
C
ORRELATES
Complexities of High-Energy Civilization
Man, nevertheless, being human, needs some external
prosperity. ...We must not however suppose, that, because
one cannot be happy without some external goods, a great
variety of such goods is necessary for happiness. For neither
self-sufficiency nor moral action demands excess of such
things.
Aristotle (384-322
B
.
C
.
E
.), Nicomachean Ethics
that is why I examine the fascinating evidence linking
various aspects of well-being with energy conversions.
Regrettably, substantial shares of energy use have been
repeatedly used for wars. The twentieth century intensi-
fied this pattern, and the aggregate death toll mounted
with the deployment of such highly destructive weapons
as machine guns, tanks, heavy artillery, and bombers.
Nuclear bombs and intercontinental ballistic missiles
provided the ultimate mass killing techniques. Their pro-
duction and deployment has been predicated on energy-
intensive industrial processes and modes of delivery.
(advanced metallurgy, complex chemical syntheses; land-
and sea-based missiles, fighter planes, battle tanks). After
a brief look at energy and war, the chapter closes with
some musings on energy futures.
Economists are traditionally concerned with capital and
labor, and more recently with technical innovation. But
some scientists and environmentalists now insist that
energy use should be the primary standard of value by
which all things and actions are judged. This attitude
leads to an austere ethics of an energy-invariant society
that functions only on the basis of renewable solar in-
come. Before commenting on these radical reformist
views, I look at basic macroeconomic realities linking en-
ergy use and national economic performance. Energy use
is a fundamental means to attain a variety of desired ends.
Quality of life should head the list of such desiderata, and
12.1 Energy and the Economy
Frederick Soddy's (1933, 56) conviction that ''the flow
of energy should be the primary concern of economics''
has had no appeal
for mainstream economists. For
