| Description |
1 online resource (118 page) |
| Contents |
Intro -- Contents -- List of Figures -- 1 Introduction -- Energy as a Critical Phenomenon -- Phases of Human Energy Use Through Time -- Taming of Fire -- Agriculture and Animal Metabolic Power -- Natural Energy Flows, Whale Oil and Human Slavery -- Fossil Fuels and Industrialisation -- Nuclear and Renewables -- Themes Through the Evolution of Human Energy Use -- Succession and Interdependence of Energy Sources and Types -- Geography and Portability -- Energy Return on Investment -- Complexity, Energy and the Superorganism -- Current Global Energy Situation-The Global 'Energy Bind' |
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Assessment of the Continued Growth Branch -- The Stabilisation Branch -- Long-Term Stability of Complex Systems -- Energy Technologies and Stabilisation -- A Renewables-Based Civilisation -- Challenges for the Renewables Transition -- Systemic Challenges -- Re-materialisation -- Externalities of Renewables -- Constraints to New Frontiers for Renewables -- Enablers and Opportunities for the Renewables Transition -- Degrowth and Changes to Per Capita Energy Use -- Renewables Circular Economy -- Interactions with the Food System -- Potential Hybrid Energy Systems |
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Assessment of the Renewables Stabilisation Branch -- References -- 3 Conclusions -- Fossil Fuel Systemic Inertia -- Longer Term Perspectives -- References -- Index |
| Summary |
This book is an exploration of energy and its unique role to date as one of the fundamental enabling and controlling factors in human development and progress at the scale of global civilisation, and how it will be fundamental to the type of future that collective humanity is likely to experience. The first section provides a contextual overview of energy and human civilization through a chronological description of how human energy use has evolved over time and led to the current energy bind. The second section explores what this energy bind might mean for our future energy choices when trying to meet the various challenges of dwindling resources, costs, and climate change, through exploration of three broad systems-based scenarios for the human "energy future." The final section draws conclusions as to which scenario is most achievable and desirable, and what this might mean for longer-term human prospects. Nick King is a chartered earth and environmental scientist working primarily in professional consulting and the energy industry. He has worked with the Global Sustainability Institute at Anglia Ruskin University since 2018 on subject areas including energy and global risk and is also affiliated with the Schumacher Institute think tank. He has also presented and written opinion pieces about a number of environmental and systems thinking topics. Aled Jones is the inaugural Director of the Global Sustainability Institute (GSI) at Anglia Ruskin University. Professor Jones' work in climate finance has been recognized by the State of California and he has received a key to the city of North Little Rock, USA. He is a Co-Investigator on the ESRC Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity (CUSP), and the UK Government funded Economics of Energy Innovation and System Transition |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index |
| Notes |
Description based on online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on December 05, 2023) |
| Subject |
Power resources.
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Energy security.
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Economic development.
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energy resources.
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economic development.
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Economic development.
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Energy security.
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Power resources.
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| Form |
Electronic book
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| Author |
Jones, Aled Wynne, author.
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| ISBN |
9783031464485 |
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3031464486 |
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