Energy and social structure

1. Energy and Power

energy is the ability to do work

power is how fast that work is done, or the energy density

 

2. My claim: Energy use structures society

Rheingold-2002. Marc Smith states

"Whenever communication medium lowers the costs of solving collective action dilemmas, it becomes possible for more people to pool resources. And

'more people pooling resources in new ways'

is the history of civilization in ..." pause " ..seven words".

power and society types

	kcal/day/person
hunter gatherer - no animals	2500	1X
low intensity agriculture for subsistence (with animal)	5000	2X
commercial agriculture - excess crops to sell and a market	10,000 to 50,000	5 to 20X
industrial society	50,000 to 100,000	20 to 50 X
post-industrial information age	250,000 to 600,000	100X

1 Kcal = 0.001162 kWatt*hr (about 1/1000)
means 600,000 Kcal/day/person = 600 Kwatt*hr/day/person

 

 

specific example:

Muir-2000 Reflections in Bullough's Pond: Economy and Ecosystem in New England.

pieces were all there before each transition

 

4. Physical structure of the energy resources

a. centralized vs. distributed

current/centralized

resources --> distribution network --> consumer citizen

soft-path/distributed (soft path includes high amount of reduction of demand)

grid <-- local generation --> consumer/owner

b. sources and consumption

see the table in the book or other source

c. consequences of power generation

CO2 production (is this a pollutant?)

physical structures devoted to transport and storage (cathedral to electricity - Stilgoe)

S, N, Hg pollutants and toxic forms

heat load to rivers and streams

 

5. How do we think about energy resources and power?

Adams - energy is always associated with information - energy structure forms a mentalistic model of society (the way water flow did for the Atzecs)

* Why do we call some of this infrastructure? They're not underneath anything. Roads, powerlines and other energy structures are the dominant physical feature of our civilization.

W. Sachs - "American psyche is at grave odds with realistic environmental constraints"

My claim: Changing the sources and distribution of energy is equivalent to changing society.

see elaboration on this claim

 

6. What are the forms of control of energy?

a. limitation - the stuff runs out

b. "market" - we have some rational tradeoffs that include money and other commodities

c. regulation - there is a power that can impose some level of control

d. embedded -

peer-to-peer networks (within the larger network)

small scale power generation and short distance distribution

influence is inside out

related to the idea of a "Soft Path"

Ashby's law: control system of a system has to, itself, have a requisite level of complexity

ordered distribution - simple

network distribution - complex