Energy and the Poverty of Nations

We pay lip service to the importance of energy in our lives, but do we really understand just how all-pervasive that influence really is and how dependent we are on fuels of high physical quality to deliver rich and free societies?

In a new short film written for Net Zero Watch, Dr John Constable reminds us that human wealth in the broadest sense, from the smallest gadget to a tolerant and diverse society, is an improbable state of physics that results from work done by energy.

But the fuels from which we obtain that energy are not equal. Fuels of high thermodynamic quality, such as coal, oil, gas and fissile uranium, can do more work and generate more wealth than low quality organic fuels, which is why the West became both rich and free from the late medieval period onwards as it progressively adopted high density mineral sources of energy such as coal, oil and gas.

Noting that UK energy consumption and particularly electricity consumption is now in sharp decline, Dr Constable suggests that climate policies which are forcing us to use chaotic, high entropy fuels sources such as wind and solar, threaten the reversal of the trend of human progress and must be rejected before irreversible damage is done.

Andrew Montford, Director of Net Zero Watch and producer of the film, said:

‘Dr Constable’s film is a powerful warning that, because our current energy policies are wrong at a fundamental, physical level, they can never be economic. Indeed they are an urgent threat to our society.

Further details

Those interested in following Dr Constable’s reasoning at greater length can watch this recorded lecture given at the University of the Hesperides, in Las Palmas, in 2023.

Dr John Constable, Director of Energy, Net Zero Watch can be contacted via info@netzerowatch.com.

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