Energy: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 17:01, 3 November 2023

There is currently no way to power the world without fossil fuels, until major technological breakthroughs happen.
We have to consume less - this is not as hard as it sounds.

This page is about energy in 2 main forms: fuel and electricity.

Energy supply

The majority of energy comes from burning fossil fuels - the main cause of climate change.

Fossil fuels include coal, oil and natural gas.

What about other energy sources?

Main reasons why non-fossil-fuel energy sources aren't being scaled up:

Energy Source	Main Limitation
Hydro	Geography
Nuclear	Needs uranium-235 which is too scarce*
Solar	Too many rare metals needed*
Wind	Geography
Biofuel	Causes deforestation and global hunger
Waste	Limited supply
Geothermal	Geography - in most parts of the world, it's only suited for heating & cooling.

Solar and wind are also limited by energy storage.*

*Limitations marked with an asterisk (*) are possible to overcome with the right innovations.

For more details, read the wikipages of each energy source. Links are in the table above.

Energy demand

Since most energy consumption is bad for the planet, let's look at how it could be reduced - starting with the biggest pieces of the pie.

Note: These actions are mostly directed at "first-world" countries, which use a disproportionately large amount of energy. In other parts of the world, consumption doesn't necessarily have to be reduced.

We could probably cut all energy consumption in half, while barely losing any quality of life. It just requires some planning (both individually and as a society).

Transportation

Some things that would help:

Walkability - organizing neighborhoods so things are in optimal locations, so people don't have to drive as far as often.
Public transit done right. Yes, there are plenty of ways for it to be done wrong!
Working from home - only suited for some types of work, of course.
Carpooling - yes, this takes some effort and coordination.

Homes & buildings

In buildings & homes, heating is the biggest piece of the pie (and cooling is the second-biggest). Energy-saving solutions haven't been added to this wiki yet.^{[RESEARCH needed]}

A common misconception is that "saving energy" is all about turning off lights, turning off computers, etc. Those actions may be worthwhile but don't actually make a big difference. Other personal lifestyle choices do:

Consumerism

More than a third of energy demand(...)( commercial vehicles + industrial/manufacturing + some commercial spaces ) is affected by what people buy, and how much of it.

To deal with this piece of the pie, we need:

Frugalism - i.e. buying less stuff!
Fighting against: business waste, planned obsolescence and code bloat.
Fighting for right to repair.
Running new software on old computers, perhaps? ^{[new page needed]}

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{banner|There is currently no way to power the world without fossil fuels. Until major technological breakthroughs happen, we have to consume less.<br /><small>This is not as hard as it sounds.</small>}}
+{{banner|There is currently no way to power the world without fossil fuels, until major technological breakthroughs happen.<br /><small>We have to consume less - this is not as hard as it sounds.</small>}}
 This page is about energy in 2 main forms: '''fuel and electricity'''.
 ==Energy supply==
-===The majority of energy comes from [[fossil fuels]], which are the main cause of [[climate change]].===
+===The majority of energy comes from burning [[fossil fuels]] - the main cause of [[climate change]].===
-----
+[[File: energy-usage-by-source.png|thumb|World energy by source]]
-[[File: energy-usage-by-source.png|border|alt=Energy sources]]
+{{minor|Fossil fuels include [[coal]], [[oil]] and [[natural gas]].}}
 ===What about other energy sources?===
-{|class="wikitable"
+{{minor|Main reasons why non-fossil-fuel energy sources aren't being scaled up:}}
+{|class="wikitable" style="margin-top:0"
 !<div style="text-align:left">Energy Source</div>
 !<div style="text-align:left">Main Limitation</div>
@@ Line 33: / Line 33: @@
 |-
 |[[Geothermal]]
-|Geography. In most parts of the world, it's only suited for [[heating]] and [[cooling]].
+|Geography - <small>in most parts of the world, it's only suited for [[heating]] & [[cooling]].</small>
 |}
 Solar and wind are also limited by [[energy storage]].*
@@ Line 39: / Line 39: @@
 <nowiki>*</nowiki>Limitations marked with an asterisk (*) are possible to overcome '''with the right innovations'''.
-More details are found on the wikipage of each energy source. Links are in the table.
+For more details, read the wikipages of each energy source. Links are in the table above.
 ==Energy demand==
-What is energy mainly used for? Some basic categories:<br />
+[[File:energy-demand-pie1.png|thumb|Pie chart of energy demand, based on countries where precise data is available.]]
-[[File: energy-demand-status-quo.png|border|alt=Energy uses]]<small>Note:{{x|You can disregard the rightmost section "non-energy use of fuels". It's there only because of the datasets used in making the graphic.}}</small>
+Since most energy consumption is bad for the planet, let's look at how it could be reduced - starting with the biggest pieces of the pie.
-Most of the world is currently living in '''poverty'''. Suppose every country was as ''developed'' as ''western'' countries: [[energy demand scenarios|Global energy demand could be more than '''double''']]:
+{{mbox|Note: These actions are mostly directed at "first-world" countries, which use a disproportionately large amount of energy. In other parts of the world, consumption doesn't necessarily have to be reduced.}}
+{{minor|We could probably cut all energy consumption in '''half''', while barely losing any quality of life. It just requires some planning (both individually ''and'' as a society).}}
-[[File: energy-demand-if-developed.png|border|alt=Energy demand if everyone lived a first-world lifestyle]]
+===Transportation===
-This is far beyond today's green energy capacity.
-===Transportation sector===
-Energy demand would be different if vehicles didn't run on gasoline or diesel. In general, we'd need less energy to ''power'' the vehicles but more energy to ''manufacture'' them (and later ''recycle'' them at their end of life). Overall, total energy demand would be ''slightly'' less. See [[electric vehicles/energy|this chart]].
-There are currently some serious roadblocks to making this happen. Read the page on [[electric vehicles]] to see how they could maybe be overcome.
-It's quite possible that there's ''no good solution'' for electric vehicles, and the only way to make transportation sustainable is for people to ''drive less''. This goes against suburban culture, but it isn't as hard as it sounds:
-===Reducing energy demand===
-====Transport====
 Some things that would help:
 * [[Walkability]] - <small>organizing neighborhoods so things are in optimal locations, so people don't have to drive as far as often.</small>
@@ Line 68: / Line 55: @@
 * [[Carpooling]] - <small>yes, this takes some effort and coordination.</small>
-====Home====
+===Homes & buildings===
-Most energy is used for [[heating]] - or in some warmer parts of the world, [[cooling]]. Energy-saving solutions haven't been added to this wiki ''yet''.{{rn}}
+In buildings & homes, [[heating]] is the biggest piece of the pie (and [[cooling]] is the second-biggest). Energy-saving solutions haven't been added to this wiki ''yet''.{{rn}}
+A common misconception is that "saving energy" is all about turning off lights, turning off computers, etc. Those actions may be worthwhile but don't actually make a ''big'' difference. '''Other''' personal lifestyle choices do:
-A common misconception is that "saving energy" is all about turning off lights, turning off computers, etc. Those actions are worthwhile but don't actually make a ''big'' difference. '''Other''' personal lifestyle choices do:
+===Consumerism===
+More than a third of energy demand{{x|commercial vehicles + industrial/manufacturing + ''some'' commercial spaces}} is affected by '''what people buy''', and '''how much''' of it.
-====Consumerism====
+To deal with this piece of the pie, we need:
-More than half of energy demand{{x|commercial vehicles + industrial/manufacturing + ''some'' commercial spaces}} is affected by '''what people buy''', and '''how much''' of it.
+* [[Frugalism]] - i.e. '''buying less stuff!'''
+* Fighting against: [[business waste]], [[planned obsolescence]] and [[code bloat]].
+* Fighting '''for''' [[right to repair]].
+* [[Running new software on old computers]], perhaps? {{npn}}
-''More information on this soon.''
+==See also==
+* [[Electric vehicles]]
+* [[Labor]] {{light|- another factor that affects quality of life}}
+* [[Energy supply solutions summary]]