7 ms·
> Increased energy usage is not necessarily necessary for increased economic growth I disagree with this - economic growth has almost always perfectly aligned
by mcjiggerlog 4y ago
> Increased energy usage is not necessarily necessary for increased economic growth
I disagree with this - economic growth has almost always perfectly aligned with increased energy use, however this is not a bad thing.
The history of the human race has been about moving from less dense sources of energy to higher dense ones. From wood, to charcoal, to coal, to oil, to gas, to nuclear fission, to nuclear fusion. Abundance of energy is an absolute must for economic growth.
The good news is that what we have started to decouple our impact on the environment and economic growth.
I would also go as far as saying that economic growth is a necessity for us to combat climate change. The development of advanced technology like fusion, better desalination, higher density and more efficient farming, will all help reduce our impact on the planet.
- actually_a_dog 4y ago> The good news is that what we have started to decouple our impact on the environment and economic growth. I fail to see how this is true in any meaningful sense.
- mcjiggerlog 4y agoHere's a good explanation and source: https://ourworldindata.org/co2-gdp-decoupling https://ourworldindata.org/co2-gdp-decoupling.
- throw_nbvc1234 4y agoIt's not just density of energy. In a world of (close to) 100% renewable energy, what will the cost of electricity be relative to today? Framed another way; what's the cost of energy for someone who is "off the grid" today? Someone who is "off the grid" energy wise but connected digitally could have an uncapped impact on economic growth while having a hard cap on their impact on the environment/energy. Society can combine renewable energy (which have a low per-unit cost) with dense fuel based energies like nuclear to drive the cost of energy towards 0., enabling new kinds of economic growth. For example, Proof of Work style crypto is something that's criticized = today for environmental reasons which, in that future world, would just be a siphon for excess energy. Replace crypto with "Folding@Home" style applications if you want.
- pauldenton 4y agoEconomic growth has been aligned with labor saving. Effiency. So instead of carrying items by hand long distances, we get beasts of burden, eventually machines take over the job in more and more efficient ways. Self driving trucks delivering products massively increase productivity, but does not consume that much more electricity.