Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
not bring necessarily higher system efficiencies. Some im-
pressive efficiency increases of individual prime movers
and fuel and electricity converters of the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries brought about rapid technical ad-
vances (Smil 2005a; 2006). But as a large part of TPES
goes into short-lived disposable junk and into dubious
pleasures and thrills promoted by mindless advertising,
the overall ecological efficiency of modern high-energy
societies is hardly an improvement on the earlier state of
human development.
Higher energy use also does not bring any meaningful
increase in civilization's diversity. In natural ecosystems
the link between useful energy throughputs and species
diversity is clear. But it would be misleading to interpret
an overwhelming choice of consumer goods and the
expanding availability of services as signs of admirable di-
versity in modern high-energy societies. Rather, with
rampant (and often crass) materialism, increasing num-
bers of functionally illiterate and innumerate people, and
mass media that promote the lowest common denomina-
tor of taste, human intellectual diversity may be at an his-
torically unrivaled low point. Finally, there is no obvious
link between satisfaction with life, individual happiness,
and per capita energy use.
The gains that elevate humanity, that make us more
secure and more hopeful about the future, cannot be
bought solely by rising energy use. National security is
not primarily a matter of energy-intensive weaponry. It
is unattainable without social cohesion, without purpose-
ful striving for a more fulfilling future, and without a
sound economy. Economic security comes when nations
do not live beyond their means. True quality of life arises
from awareness of history, from strong cultural values,
and from preservation of nature's irreplaceable services
rather than from profligate extraction of its goods and ac-
cumulation of ephemeral acquisitions. Social stability
rests above all on the cohesiveness of family, on the sense
of belonging, on shared moral values. Satisfactory perfor-
mance in agriculture comes from farming without excess.
Wise investment of energy in a nation's modernization
requires diversification, flexibility, and avoidance of
shameful disparities. And true human diversity and satis-
faction with life is impossible without elevating human
efforts above mindless consumerism.
At the beginning of the twenty-first century a purpose-
ful society could guarantee a decent level of physical well-
being and longevity, varied nutrition, basic educational
opportunities, and respect for individual freedoms with
annual TPES of 50-70 GJ per capita. Remarkably, the
global mean of per capita energy consumption at the be-
ginning of the twenty-first century, 58 GJ/a, is almost
exactly in the middle of this range. Equitable sharing
would thus provide the world's entire population with
enough energy to lead healthy, long, and active lives
enriched by more than a basic level of education and the
exercise of individual liberties. We could do much better
within a single generation. The global economy has been
lowering its energy intensity by about 1% per year, and a
continuation of this trend would mean that by 2025 the
mean 2000 TPES of 58 GJ per capita would be able to
energize the production of goods and services for which
we now need about 75 GJ. Conversely, energy services
provided by 58 GJ in 2000 required about 70 GJ per
capita of initial inputs during the early 1970s, and that
rate was the French mean of the early 1960s and the Jap-
anese mean of the late 1960s.
This simple comparison demonstrates that an impres-
sively high worldwide standard of living could be
achieved with virtually unchanged global energy con-
sumption. Billions of today's poor people would be
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