<The Impact of the Credit Crunch on Energy Markets The Oil Drum DrumBeat: October 5, 2008>

58 comments on Energy Quality and Economic Value

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Nate Hagens on October 4, 2008 - 10:32am Permalink | Subthread | Comments top

Nice work Roger.
This is in the same vein as some of recent work:

Energy Return on Investment: Towards a Consistent Framework
(AMBIO - Journal of the Human Environment 3/08)

and

A Framework for Energy Alternatives: Net Energy, Liebigs Law, and Multicriteria Analysis in the recently published Biofuels, Solar and Wind as Renewable Energy Systems: Benefits and Risks (Robert Rapier also has a chapter on Renewable Diesel in that book)

Basically, you point out that both energy quality, and externalities are variables that need to be considered alongside energy surplus. For this to ever happen, social leaders will have to accept that our current 'ends' may not be the most holistic. If we don't reassess the ends and the inner workings of our social structure, we will continue to just access the most profitable energy in dollar terms that we can, quality and environment be damned....

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Roger K on October 4, 2008 - 6:46pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Nate,

I agree that discussion of ends is vital. The spell of cultural 'normality' is powerful, and even people who are deeply discontented with their lives under the current order of things are mostly incapable of imagining any alternative organizing principle for economic activity. Our economic activity needs to be governed by long term ecological intelligence rather than by short term acquisitiveness. I personally do not regard such a transition in the light of a mere negative loss of comfort and convenience. It is a challenge that we need to step up to. It is strange how we admire tales of dangerous heroic quests, but cannot bear the thought of any interruption to our middle class safety and security.

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Jason Bradford on October 4, 2008 - 7:32pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

This was precisely the gaping whole at the recent ASPO-USA conference. For the most part the presenters were stupefied by this question or actually assumed BAU-lite.

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Enzwell on October 5, 2008 - 1:25am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Well, I think there may be a BUA-lite for a few years. That's what everyone will be trying to support anyway. We'll see.    I think it depends on how far out you can see. The longer forward, temporally, you can envision, the less comparable to current norms / expectations you're likely to see (baring cold-fusion or some other techno-fix of course).

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58 comments on Energy Quality and Economic Value

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