Thank you for posting this, the implications are at once fascinating and terrifying. It probably goes way outside my technical purview but I'll ask anyway: won't the lower cost of energy be offset by higher energy usage? We'll have cheaper and more abundant energy but won't we also be doing things that require a lot more energy?
Yes! Some of that will be obvious things - like more industry, extracting carbon from the atmosphere, but there will be all sorts of things that follow. So it will be cheaper to keep your lamp on, but most people will do other stuff with the saved money.
I guess what I'm asking is even though energy will be cheaper won't the effect be negligible? Because we'll also be using a lot more energy to power new technologies, support a larger population etc
Yes, the effect on price, quality of life and energy accessibility, for example. Will the continued lowering of energy costs be disruptive? Or will things not change that much because we'll also be using a lot more energy? Thanks for responding, maybe I'm trying too hard to see the negative or I'm too quick to assume that things won't change very much.
It seems plausible that solar will drop anohter 90 percent in price over time, so that would be a noticeable shift. And then there is the question of fusion which could push it down further still. It think the decline is sharp enough to be noticeable - but not sure!
Kafka's Diary - Sunday, August 2nd, 1914: "Germany has declared war on Russia. Swimming in the afternoon."
What a fantastic post Henrik!
Martin Luther a permaculture peep! Whoda thought?
There isn’t enough inspiring content showing what could be down if enough people showcase their agency.. such a great piece.
Thank you for posting this, the implications are at once fascinating and terrifying. It probably goes way outside my technical purview but I'll ask anyway: won't the lower cost of energy be offset by higher energy usage? We'll have cheaper and more abundant energy but won't we also be doing things that require a lot more energy?
Yes! Some of that will be obvious things - like more industry, extracting carbon from the atmosphere, but there will be all sorts of things that follow. So it will be cheaper to keep your lamp on, but most people will do other stuff with the saved money.
I guess what I'm asking is even though energy will be cheaper won't the effect be negligible? Because we'll also be using a lot more energy to power new technologies, support a larger population etc
The effect on what - on price, on climate, something else?
Yes, the effect on price, quality of life and energy accessibility, for example. Will the continued lowering of energy costs be disruptive? Or will things not change that much because we'll also be using a lot more energy? Thanks for responding, maybe I'm trying too hard to see the negative or I'm too quick to assume that things won't change very much.
It seems plausible that solar will drop anohter 90 percent in price over time, so that would be a noticeable shift. And then there is the question of fusion which could push it down further still. It think the decline is sharp enough to be noticeable - but not sure!