The Energy Juggernaut.
1999 Series 2 Number 2 Page 4
CR (Buzz) Nixon and Dr. Rennie Whitehead wrote this seven-page essay about the rise and eventual fall of the fossil-fuel-based society. They showed how increasing use of fossil fuels (continuing faster than ever at that point) would exhaust resources within about a century. Despite the unparalleled importance of fossil fuels to modern society, it was already clear that the fossil fuel era would eventually end. Between the present of the day and the end of the era, they foresaw all sorts of negative consequence of fossil fuel use, such as extinctions and waste accumulation.
They foresaw three big challenges facing humanity as a result:
- Finding an alternative way to power society, complete with ways to reduce or eliminate the negative effects of fossil fuel use.
- Getting a transition to that new way of powering our activities within just two to three generations.
- Dealing with the enormous momentum of growth in fossil fuel use.
[Note that fossil fuel use grew ever faster after the article was written. The world used about 640 quads of energy in 2022, the article showed a peak of about that amount circa 2040. Ed.]
Link to | The Energy Juggernaut.
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