I was tempted to start this piece by claiming that our society is becoming more sophisticated. As I typed the word, I suddenly worried that it was not conveying the idea I had. My dictionary says that if I use it to describe a person, it means that the person is aware of and able to interpret complex issues. A system that is sophisticated has high complexity. I then thought that “advanced” could work, but that again could imply that I mean “highly evolved”.
I guess that what I have in mind is that our society (and I hasten to add that I do not want to call it a civilisation either) is putting more demands on the environment every day and our technology requires more and more energy to deliver the comforts we have come to expect. We use huge amounts of fossil fuels to run our cars, for heating and for cooking. We manufacture materials from these resources: plastics come to mind, and we cannot effectively recycle it. The list is long.
What sparked this piece was a combination of things. I was typing away on my keyboard when a little warning came up on my desktop to inform me that the keyboard was low on power. I rushed over to where I have a stash of batteries for just such an emergency, and next to it is the graveyard of used cells. I was shocked to see how many spent batteries I have collected over a short period of time. These things are not easy to recycle and probably use a vast amount of energy to deliver the 1.5V for a few months. It has been shown (and debated hotly) that the Toyota Prius is more of an environmental hazard than a Hummer over its useful life, mainly because of the cost of developing the materials used in the Prius. We use batteries every day in our mobile phones, our flashlights, the computers we use and as backup power for most things that use electricity.
Apple is a high technology company that is striving to bring down its impact on the environment. Whether you like the company is another matter, but I did find it interesting to see how they go about minimising the effect of their company on the environment. What was not surprising is the role the users of the technology play. If we could recycle …. And it is here where I find a problem with all of the arguments. The reality is that recycling is expensive as well, especially in the energy used to do it traditionally. It is obvious that it would be best to go without that iPhone or Droid monster in your pocket.
It is rather obvious that our requirement for energy is more than what we can deliver from the traditional resources. Assuming that we will continue to require lots of electricity for example, we need to think how we can deliver it from renewable sources. We may need to pump non-renewable energy into developing the technologies to develop renewable energy. It comes down to bootstrapping. As long as we realise that we can ONLY bootstrap from the non-renewable sources and that they are running out as I type.
With all of this in mind I find it rather demoralising when people advocate against a source like wind power, based mostly on the emotional argument that it impacts negatively on the scenic beauty of a place. Almost by default these farms go up where most people do not go, exactly because of the fact that it is rather windy there. The really good windy places are almost always cold places too. But property values decrease when the skyline is littered with these huge machines, it is said. The turbines kill bats by bursting their lungs and impacts on hunting as clearing is needed to establish the sites, etc. The impact on human health is claimed too, as the “constant exposure to infrasound” is harmful. Oh, and it is not nearly as efficient as a coal burner.
The same goes for solar panels. Well, it is true that they are expensive to make (processing of materials, etc.), they only work when there is enough light (surprisingly) and they are not as efficient as, wait for it, burning coal. What about solar collectors, like heliostats? The initial costs can be high and to work well you need quite a bit of sun every day. Interestingly enough, the communities that do use massive amounts of energy are in places where there are not that much sun available every day, or even for months on end. And I guess it will blemish the beauty of that peaceful valley in which it is built.
Hydro is an option, but hugely expensive to get going. Most other schemes are just so esoteric that it is not worth mentioning. Obviously we can use nuclear, and in many ways it is the best option around. But we have come so far down the road of viewing nuclear power as bad that it is possibly easier to just give up cell phones. It comes down to the fact that we still seem to have too many choices. This makes it possible for us to compare and discover all sorts of disadvantages, which unfortunately leaves us feeling less than happy with any option. Soon, however, we may have fewer options than we thought we had, and bootstrapping into clean options may then be even more difficult than it is today.
The fact remains that the demand for energy is spiralling out of control, and it underlines the reality that we are definitely not sophisticated. Certainly, if we cannot find alternatives or curb our usage, often because of emotional issues, this makes us stupid too. I would love to hear from you on this one.
I only use images that I own the rights to. The one in this piece is from iStockPhoto.
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