> If you don’t believe me you can look up the per capita energy consumption per American and observe that it is basically stagnant since 1970 I think the more

> If you don’t believe me you can look up the per capita energy consumption per American and observe that it is basically stagnant since 1970 I think the more likely explanation for that is optimization. Look at cars as an example. In the first half of the century, we built cars without much of a focus on fuel economy. As we scaled up the amount of cars we produced and in turn, the oil resources we consumed, we began to optimize the efficiency of these cars. Compare a car from 1970 and 2020, and you see a much more reliable, efficient, safe, comfortable car. So the per capita consumption has been reduced by using less gas and also having to replace the cars less often while providing a better quality of life. There are similar stories across every industry. So I don't see how looking at our per-capita energy-use as a major contributor in this discussion. That's not to say energy prices have had no effect, but I could make the opposite argument that energy prices have forced us to innovate past burning things we find in the ground. As far as renewables go, I'm not an expert in this space, but it seems like we have the technology and resources to implement a reliable green energy grid. We just don't have the political will to do so. If we had the political cohesion to muster up an equivalent to the Interstate Highway System project, but for energy generation/transmission, it would propel us into a new era.