It’s Now Clear We Are Not on the Cusp of an Energy Revolution
We are on the cusp of an energy crash
News flash: There just isn’t enough oil left to power the global industrial society beyond 2030. There just isn’t, and what there is, needs to stay underground if the planet is to survive.
The world consumes 582 billion terajoules (TJ) of energy annually. And it is not enough.
We in the West, having been conditioned by our brutal and rapacious colonial forebears, are used to getting what we need when we need it, so the concept of not enough may be a difficult one to grasp, but for the 4.5 billion souls on the planet not considered to be in the “consumer economy,” not enough is a daily burden. This may come as a shock to the affluent, but “consumer” in this case is defined as “someone able to buy goods and services other than those that satisfy our basic needs,” using a somewhat arbitrary definition of having more than $10 USD per day to live on. They never have enough. Soon it will be us, once the energy crash starts to really bite.
It will most likely be you, too.
That 582 billion TJ we consume is not enough to feed everyone, shelter everyone, clothe everyone, educate everyone, and keep everyone healthy — and keep the 2100+ billionaires on the planet flying in private jets and…
