[ExI] [tt] instilling ambition

Eugen Leitl eugen at leitl.org
Mon Jan 21 12:40:31 UTC 2013


On Sun, Jan 20, 2013 at 10:04:23PM -0500, Mike Dougherty wrote:

> Was European conquest of the rest of the world driven by resource
> acquisition to further fuel resource acquisition? Arguably the only

The first fuel crisis was deforestation (unslaked lime, glass, pottery
and bricks, charcoal), and building large fleets exacerbated that. 

The population explosion was only possible due to conversion
from biofuels to fossil (peat, coal, oil, gas).

Oh, and I was wrong about the energy transition volume necessary
relatively to 1890. It's not 10x, it's 20x (20 EJ vs. 400 EJ, 2010).
Last time it took 50 years.

> reason technology exists is to do more with less... because at some
> point the energy equation says you must or you'll die.



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