"The [#EnergyTransition] will be impossible to achieve without also reducing overall energy usage substantially. This transition isn’t just about building lots of solar panels, wind turbines, and batteries. It is about organizing society differently so that is uses much less energy and gets whatever energy it uses from sources that can be sustained over the long run.
How We Could Actually Do It, In Seven Concurrent Steps"
@CelloMomOnCars In her book “How Infrastructure Works”, Deb Chachra argues that in the long run there is enough energy without big cutbacks. Per person energy use in developed places has leveled off.
It could also be true that in order to transition fast enough, we need cutbacks.
@CelloMomOnCars Apologies for not reading the entire article before posting. Poor form on my part.
It's an excellent article.
Chachra is big on recycling. She argues that in the long run energy is infinite and resources are finite, and we need to recycle. Interesting that Heinberg's take is that recycling materials is not a solution to maintaining an energy infrastructure at the current scale scale. His argument is persuasive.
I think recycling materials (copper, lithium, steel, etc.) is necessary, but not sufficient. But I don't know enough about the processes to figure how effective, that is how circular - recycling is.
@bwbeach
Yes, the article agrees with that.
The world average is something like 5 tonnes CO2 per person per year. If Americans level off at 15 t we got some work to do to reduce that.
And the transition will almost certainly make most of us, and our communities, healthier.