Reply To: turn heat into electricity

[zapkitty]

wolfram wrote: Anybody feel like talking? Anybody feel like melting down the Earth?

… say what?

Those types of graphics for power use hide a basic fact: the actual per-capita use of energy is badly skewed in favor of a relatively few groups compared to the bulk of the population. The rest of the people are simply doing their best to catch up to a still-advancing energy elite… and they will continue to do so. Energy inequality is no different in its effects than any other form of wealth inequality. It exists but it’s not something to be praised or worshipped.

Add to that the fact that the various “limits to growth” groups tend to overlook something: that population growth tends to decline as median prosperity rises.

And add one more factor: once each person has sufficient power to modify their individual environs and/or modify themselves to suit their desires no more power will be needed.

.. and the issue resolves itself

The question then becomes at what energy level can a future population expect to live comfortably with a given energy reserve.

A more reasonable future is one with a population of 14 billion people on Earth (double the current population, offworld populations wouldn’t count, of course) and each person of that future Earth having access at will to energy reserves of up to 1 megawatt of power for use 24/7/365 for a thousand years.

The measurement of energy reserves on that scale (1 MW/millennium per capita for double the current population) is one “Zap” :)… and last time the subject was brought up hereabouts the questions were along the lines of how just many megazaps of boron-11 were actually accessible on Earth…

As for heating in the relatively near-term, it’s not an issue. Adoption of fusion will actually reduce both direct heating effects and climate-change heating effects even while increasing energy availability for all.

And, as opposed to the nasty trick carbon fuel use played on us, by the time we actually start using enough energy to directly heat the planet we might have to paint the roofs white… or not, if we’re in the middle of another glaciation…