Civilization, Energy and the Future

Our civilization includes houses that keep rain out and airplanes that fly across continents. Concert halls allow orchestras to thrill our auditory sense. Submarines dive to the deepest trenches of the oceans. Crops that grow in the tropics get distributed to as far as the polar regions. International communities develop rules to facilitate global interactions. Altogether, in a brief 10,000 years, our species has learned to manipulate energy to great advantage.

Yet, energy has limits. The Earth's finite extent allows for only so many people doing only so many things. And, our choices today, especially our application of non-renewable energy, defines our future. This web site compliments and builds upon my book. With hard numbers and trends, the two will greatly assist you in assessing the utility and future benefit of current energy usage.

I've been honoured in mirroring Bruce Sundquist's website. His data and views directly relate to this topic and his pages constitute a vast, detailed and referenced source.

Contents

  1. Energy Backgrounder
    1. Energy Definition
    2. Matter
    3. Our Sun
    4. Entropy
  2. Ecosystems
    1. Ecosystems Definition
      1. Land Cover Details (Sundquist)
    2. Consumption
      1. Fertilizer
      2. Mushrooms
    3. Population
    4. Trophic Pyramid
  3. From the Past
    1. History
    2. Technology Factor
    3. Human Appropriation (Sundquist)
  4. To The Future
    1. Energy Values
    2. Solar
    3. Sustainability (Sundquist)
  5. Articles
  6. Energy By the Numbers
  7. Conversions
  8. Case Studies

by Mark Foster Mortimer