Energy Slaves

[ecosophia]

I just ran across a stunningly good summary of our energy predicament in cartoon form by Australian cartoonist Stuart McMillen. Its focus is Buckminster Fuller's concept of "energy slaves" -- basically, the idea that you can make sense of energy use most effectively by working out how many human beings it would take to do the same thing -- and what that implies when we factor in the rise and impending fall of the fossil fuel economy. Click here to read it.  

Comments

Energy slaves

[(Anonymous)]

Whenever I want to complain about the inconvenience of local public transport (I've never had a driver's license), I just remind myself that if you factor in the amount of hours of work needed to earn the fuel and car necessary to drive somewhere (plus the energy slaves), I'm actually spending less time moving myself around on foot and by bus, since none of my wages (a representation of my time converted into paid labor) are going toward the purchase and upkeep of a car.

Unfortunately, I've seldom convinced others of the merits of a low-energy voluntarily simple lifestyle.

-Jeffrey

Re: Energy slaves

[ecosophia]

True enough. I think it was Ivan Illich who pointed out that it's an illusion to think that driving is faster than walking, since you have to factor into each drive a share of the time you have to spend earning the money to pay for the car, the gas, maintenance, etc. Add those into your drive time and a car only goes about 3 mph.

College Rock!

[(Anonymous)]

What an ingenious comic! And, just FYI, it's filled to the brim with references to 80's college rock (Minutemen, REM, etc.)...I have never heard of this artist before but I will be paying close attention now! Thank you JMG!

Re: College Rock!

[ecosophia]

I missed that -- thank you!

[espresso_addict]

Thanks for linking. I was surprised to realise that the author is Australian, not American, as the cityscapes have such an American feel. To this Brit, the oddest thing about America is how hard it often is to walk/cycle to a shop. Even in London (both central & outskirts) one can nearly always still walk to a corner shop.

[ecosophia]

I think Australian cities have the same kind of sprawl ours do, for the same reason: they're new cities in a very large continent. As for corner shops, there are very large parts of the US where those are illegal -- all the businesses are confined into commercial districts, all the homes in residential districts. Fortunately I don't live in such a place, and it's an easy walk to the corner shop from here. ;-)

[espresso_addict]

I didn't know corner shops could be illegal -- weird! They're one of the few things I miss about living in a city.

[jpc2]

Thanks for the link. That was very well done.

Synchronicity, and mad scientists

[packshaud]

How interesting.

So, today I was rolling in my bed, trying to sleep before waking up at midnight to go to work, in Brazil, at home. I revise dissertations for students who are writing them to practice for the national exam, and I get paid almost US$ 0.50 for each one; I round up and call these “halves”—I am going to correct slightly over 700 of these to get the US$ 350 that I will use to pay a courier company to summon an undefined number of energy slaves to bring here 30 books, of which nine were written by you.

Strangely, I was in bed a couple of hours ago, thinking on why mad scientists didn’t yet bring, paraphrasing one of the Bushes—I don’t remember which one, weeds look all the same to my untrained eye—the sucker of industrial civilization down. Very quickly one interested in the subject will realize that it is extremely fragile, and a few punches in the right places would do the job swiftly. But then, they stumble into your catabolic collapse theory.

In it, you describe how any costly system that goes down makes things actually go better for a while, relieving the burden of keeping it running. This brings to my mind the British government member in The Death of Grass, a British book—no other people in this world writes dystopias and apocalypses like them—on a plague that was killing all Gramineae. As these include the cereals that feed most of humanity, things were getting ugly. He was attempting to nuke the large cities of his own nation, to give the country better stakes of survival. Unfortunately he failed, and hilarity ensued. So, the smart mad scientist realizes that there is no better way than keep Business As Usual going on for as long as possible to maximize the damage. Why would anyone bother with the effort to summon a new temporary sun over a city with millions, if keeping it sucking the Earth will be much, much more destructive?

So, instead of doing such things, it is way easier to buy a SUV in not-so-affordable 200 installments, together with a fiddle to play while watching the world burn. And if you are poor, you can resort to using the energy slaves to bring you books from overseas.

Satisfied with these thoughts, I decided I wouldn’t be able to sleep at all, so I got up to work. Before starting, I open this blog and I face your post. After reading the comic, I decided to type this rant.

You told you were going to stop with the doomerism of The Archdruid Report, after exploring the countless cuts that are bringing Man, the Conqueror of Nature, down. I was expecting magic, specially here in the less secular blog. Oh well, such things happen.

By the way, I use to wait for a third instance to call it synchronicity. But I will open an exception this time, because I do not want to be reminded of this again. I hope the first dissertation I open this night is not on renewable energy nor consumerism.

And off-topic, I would like to inform you that I’m compiling a list of your works. Links to the site of the publishers, where available, are also included. It is not complete yet, but it reached a state where it may be useful. You can check it here, if you are interested; I intend to try to link it in the entry on you at Wikipedia, when I end collecting information on about ten books for which I have partial data; more obscure works like Caduceus or The Tarot Journal will be added later as I get more information on them.

Re: Synchronicity, and mad scientists

[ecosophia]

Well, tonight at midnight Eastern time I'll be hosting another Magic Monday, so that should give you some occultism to chew on. ;-) As for the list of my works, this is nicely done; thank you. I had two other articles in Gnosis magazine, but I'll have to dig out the issues from the closet before I can tell you which issues.

[(Anonymous)]

How much difference do you think enhanced geothermal systems can make to the energy situation now they've gone from the experimental stage to production? Since they can extract geothermal energy from nearly any area they seem to have a lot of potential for renewable baseload electricity, as well as industrial and district heat. It was also reassuring to hear EGS works by hydroshearing rather than hydrofracturing, so it doesn't need the same nasty chemicals that natural gas fracking uses.

[ecosophia]

I'll have to look into it. Can you recommend a source that isn't a sales brochure from the promoters?

[(Anonymous)]

I first came across EGS in the geothermal chapter of the Open University book Renewable Energy: Power for a Sustainable Future (4th Edition) edited by Steven Peake. It's very good but it was written just at the end of the experimental stage. I wasn't impressed by most internet sources on it. The Wikipedia article is okay and this article covers some interesting ground about potential risks - https://www.renewableenergyworld.com/articles/print/volume-16/issue-4/geothermal-energy/is-fracking-for-enhanced-geothermal-systems-the-same-as-fracking-for-natural-gas.html. Ironically it was AltaRock's sales brochure that answered most of my technical questions about how it works - http://altarockenergy.com/technology/enhanced-geothermal-systems/. In light of what's in the OU book about long-term research projects, their claims don't seem unreasonable or excessive.

[ecosophia]

Hmm. None of this answers the questions that really matter, which have to do with net energy on the one hand, and economic viability on the other. Most proposed new energy technologies go face down in a hurry on one or the other of these. How much energy do you get back compared to how much energy you put into the whole process? How much does it cost per kilowatt hour as compared to other energy sources? Unwelcome answers to these questions are the reason that we're not all fueling our cars with ethanol or algal biodiesel right now, to name just two of the obvious examples.

[(Anonymous)]

Geothermal power plants has been proposed to be made in Australia.

[(Anonymous)]

I haven't read through all of these yet but they look more promising -

http://www.geo.tu-freiberg.de/oberseminar/os06_07/Wei%DFflog.pdf

https://fas.org/irp/agency/dod/jason/geothermal.pdf

https://www.geothermal-energy.org/pdf/IGAstandard/WGC/2010/3107.pdf

And these are specifically about EGS EROEI -

https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2014/02/f7/analysis_mansure_eroi_egs.pdf

http://pubs.geothermal-library.org/lib/grc/1030272.pdf

https://pangea.stanford.edu/ERE/pdf/IGAstandard/SGW/2011/mansure.pdf

https://gdr.openei.org/submissions/179

https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1062665/

I'd forgotten one of the first rules of internet research - if you want to find the best stuff include 'pdf' in your search terms. So that's the rest of my day accounted for. :)

[(Anonymous)]

Sorry, just discovered three of those EROEI links are basically the same thing by the same author but with different formatting and titles.

[(Anonymous)]

What do you think about the mining unions that are tying their future to clean coal?

[ecosophia]

One way or another, they're toast, because a lot of the coal being mined these days is so low-quality it barely covers the energy costs of extraction. I'm not sure what part of "nonrenewable resource" people have trouble understanding...

Lol

[(Anonymous)]

The “nonrenewable” part, obviously ;)

Jessi Thompson
anotheramethyst

[fluiddruid]

About Buckminster Fuller,

the Wikipedia article about him says this:

Fuller said that he had experienced a profound incident which would provide direction and purpose for his life. He felt as though he was suspended several feet above the ground enclosed in a white sphere of light. A voice spoke directly to Fuller, and declared:
From now on you need never await temporal attestation to your thought. You think the truth. You do not have the right to eliminate yourself. You do not belong to you. You belong to Universe. Your significance will remain forever obscure to you, but you may assume that you are fulfilling your role if you apply yourself to converting your experiences to the highest advantage of others.

--

Now that does sound rather interesting, doesn't it? A mystical experience. Now its value I can't judge. To me "you think the truth" is too general of a statement to be true, but the rest of it seems true enough.

[ecosophia]

Presumably its value is best judged by considering Fuller's subsequent life and works. "By their fruits ye shall know them."

[(Anonymous)]

I laughed. And then, noting your mood and current location, remembered that those slaves are still beavering away keeping the cars cool, the radios on and the engines idling, all the while spewing carbon into the atmosphere. I don't understand having a personal vehicle in the city unless you have to move heavy equipment and supplies from job to job. I've spent most of my life in two big east coast cities, and walking or taking public transportation is by FAR the easiest, pleasantest, and generally quickest way to get around.

[ecosophia]

I'm currently settled in a modestly sized East Coast city, but even when I was in a small town in the north central Appalachians my feet and the occasional Amtrak train were far and away the best available options.

[(Anonymous)]

We had an interesting documentary in the UK a few years ago where they had people on exercise bikes connected to generators to demonstrate how much energy an average family used at home. There were quite of lot of sweaty people by the end of the day.

Stuart

[ecosophia]

Yes, I heard about that!

Thanks

[degringolade]

I am developing a fondness for graphic ways of explaining things. Started with the "Watchmen" and continued from there. This is an excellent example of the genre for this subject. Can't imagine it being done better.

As an aside: Folks here might want to take a quick wander over to:

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/unknown-unknowns-the-problem-of-hypocognition/ The discussion there might have a touch to do with the project here.

I have always grieved over the Scientific American's decision to become a slick bit of fluff. But occasionally they do good work.

Going to go check out the Bogachiel for the next four days. This is where you guys become jealous :)

John
https://mightaswellliebackandenjoyit.blogspot.com/

Re: Thanks

[ecosophia]

You're welcome -- and agreed about Not Really Scientific American Any More. Enjoy the Bogachiel -- I used to go camping there back in my Boy Scout days.

Re: Thanks

[(Anonymous)]

What about new scientist magazine?

Re: Thanks

[(Anonymous)]

Same difference.
Lot of neolib propaganda and fluff these days.

Energy Slaves

[(Anonymous)]

Wow, fabulous. Thanks for the link, John!

[(Anonymous)]

This may be more a Magic Monday question, but do you think the "energy slaves" are in some sense real? Whenever I'm around equipment burning fossil fuels I get a weird sense of something there that really doesn't want to be there....

[ecosophia]

Fascinating. I spend very little time around equipment burning fossil fuels, so haven't noticed, but it's at least possible that (to put things in occult terms) there are elemental beings involved who are not happy about their treatment...

[(Anonymous)]

Do you have any advice on how to help them (aside from reducing fossil fuel use)?

[(Anonymous)]

Who knows what fossil carbon wants, or objects to?

My father taught me (inadvertently, I think) to recognize and counteract emotionally manipulative narratives, and it became a habit. He had a talent for inventing them, most likely without malicious intent (although, I did realize later in life that a genuine sadistic streak ran through both my parents' ancestry). At breakfast, putting an ice cube into his cup of hot coffee to cool it (which coffee snobs might find horrifying enough, but never mind), he might jocularly chant, "Die, ice cube, die!" as he stirred the liquid with his spoon. Such performances could be a bit upsetting to me as a young child, despite being (at the time) pretty certain that ice cubes were inanimate insensate objects. But (having perhaps inherited his talent, as well as an obvious proclivity for parentheses) I soon learned to say to myself, "Water, you're released. Be free!" which invokes an alternative, equally compelling but distress-free, narrative.

Thus I've always had mixed feelings about the "energy slaves" concept. It's a useful tool for getting certain ideas across, especially the amount of human-scale work needed to match even small-seeming amounts of industrial energy. (I once had a bicycle headlight powered by a small dynamo attached to the rear tire, and it taught a similar lesson. It used an incandescent bulb similar no brighter than a small flashlight, which at the time were typically pretty dim, but it added quite significantly to the amount of effort needed to pedal anywhere.) But it's also an emotionally manipulative narrative, which is a hallmark of conventional environmentalism and which tends to generate resistance or backlash. And, thinking your sails enslave the wind or your oven enslaves the fire seems to me more like the foundation of an exploitative mind-set than an antidote to it.

You might actually try something like, "Carbon, you're released. Be free!" I suspect that could help you; it might even help them (I can't say, I only know narratives, not the true nature of such things).

The distress might also be coming not from the fuel, combustion, energy, or related elemental beings, but from the machinery containing the process, which after all has to endure terrible heat and pressure, hence its usually very noisy complaining.

In any case, I find "This, too, shall pass" also applies very readily to any fossil fuel related discomforts these days.

[walt_f]

The previous "anonymous" comment was mine. I didn't notice that my log-in had timed out.

[(Anonymous)]

He also did a good one on peak oil.

http://www.stuartmcmillen.com/comic/peak-oil/

What to do

[(Anonymous)]

JMG. What others resources do you recommend to help me lower my energy usage. Thanks. Will Oberton

Re: What to do

[ecosophia]

I've got a book titled Green Wizardry that covers that theme in some detail.

Re: What to do

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks John. I will send for it.

Great comic

[(Anonymous)]

Fuller's "energy slave" concept is brilliant for normalizing living standards across time and space. Here's the original "comic" on the subject: http://www.fulltable.com/vts/f/fortune/xb/50.jpg

That infographic coupled with reading Pliny's letters made me realize that American society is so screwed up because fossil fuels enable millions of people to live and act like contemporary Plinys (or Neros or Caligulas...). In other words, decadent, arrogant, and lacking restraint.

The many spiritual and intellectual errors of modernity only make sense in light of the energy slave concept. It's almost like said errors track the rising "energy slaves per capita" curve. Hard limits naturally limit the degree to which civilizations can crawl up their own hindquarters.

Having followed the Peak Oil scene for well over a decade, I think JMG is one of the few authors who really gets this connection and explores it meaningfully. What's fascinating is that, on the surface, peak oil is purely materialistic: production curves and all that. But exploring its implications has made me a far more spiritual person in general.