Category - Sustainability

farmers in a line weeding their rice paddy

Food supply wastes energy

Agriculture came about because it generated an energy surplus that allowed humans to do many other things than forage for food, but today agriculture is a huge energy sink.

man with dirty hands holds a lightbulb

Is the energy transition easy?

Few people alive today can remember when society ran on horsepower—power equal to 550 foot-pounds per second that an imaginary horse could muster. Such meagre power barely touches the sides today.

drilling rig making ready for deployment

Is development sustainable?

Sustainable development has been around for 35 years, and the UN has a whole set of poverty alleviation goals built around it. So why the question mark in the title of this post?

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