Humans use more energy today, roughly 173,000 terawatt-hours (TWh) than at any other time in history. This is an unfathomable number so let’s bring it back to a more human scale.
Category - Sustainability
Mark
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.
Meeting human needs is basic thermodynamics
Humans are needy. Our egos would not have life any other way because, without need, we risk starving our bodies of fuel and the failure of our chemical engine.
Jevon’s paradox makes sustainability even harder
Efficiency gains should lower resource consumption but rarely does this happen, especially with energy. What can we learn from a Victorian gentleman who figured this out?
$4 trillion of new infrastructure every year
More than $4 trillion of new infrastructure is needed worldwide each year. Pause on that number for a moment, then explore below.
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?
Why it’s useful to think in lifetimes
Would you live for 200 years? How about the lifetime of a farm that needs to be thousands of years if humanity is to persist?
Interest in sustainability
Definitions of sustainability portrays aspiration rather than reality. Here we talk through an alternative…
10 laws for sustainable land management
Everyone loves a good law, they make us feel safe. Here are 10 from the world of land management that should help deliver sustainability and food security.
How valuable is the planet to you?
People care about cute animals, the Pope and the Denver Broncos. And the earth, too, someway down the list of priorities.
