Energy Isn't a Doomsday Necessity

The production of useable energy is very much in the minds of the politicos as environmentalist join the hue and cry for a significant effort to produce a sustainable energy supply. In my last article I said that history shows us that wealth is the answer to population reduction. Wealth requires energy.

The correlation between increased gross national product and increased consumption of energy is well established. Food, pollution, and population all require energy. And as any elementary school student can tell you, generating energy pollutes the environment. In 2008 the total worldwide energy consumption was 474 exajoules (5x1020). Over 80% of this was derived from the combustion of fossil fuels.

Renewable energy sources can be regenerated and sustained almost indefinitely. The five renewable sources used most often are:

1.biomass (wood, wood waste, municipal solid waste, landfill gas, and biogases such as ethanol and biodiesel),

2. water (hydropower),

3. geothermal

4.wind, (wind power does leave a carbon footprint)

5. solar

In 2008 the US consumption of renewable sources totaled 7.3 quadrillion Btu. Please note that 1 quadrillion is the number one followed by 15 zeros. Despite these impressive numbers this represents only about 7% of all energy used nationally.

What's the answer? Outer space. We have the technology to build structures in space for the purpose of generating energy. In space there are many potential areas for energy production. If we run out of planets to mine there are thousands of asteroids. Solve the energy issue and the other three dooms( food, population, and pollution) become mute equations upon a blank page.

Norman W Wilson, PhD

Dr. Wilson has forty years experience in education at the junior high school, graduate school, and community college. He is the author and co-author of textbooks in literary criticism and in the humanities. Wilson is the author of three novels: The Quest Seeking the New Adam, Adam:The Transformation, and Apocalyptic Adam and over 75 articles on the internet.