Pete Myers: The past and future of Buckminster Fuller’s energy slaves
www.stuartmcmillen.com

Pete Myers: The past and future of Buckminster Fuller’s energy slaves

We are in something of a race… a race against time and depletion.

Economists like to point to ingenuity, capital and labor as the drivers of economic growth.


They certainly contribute, but today's economy would be vastly smaller than it is were it not for the availability of Buckminster Fuller's 'energy slaves' ... the fossil sunlight that we have tapped for the past three centuries in the form of fossil fuels like coal, gas and petroleum.

As this superb comic—Energy Slaves by Stuart McMillen—lays out, the harnessing of those slaves has transformed the world.

"Bucky saw that coal, oil and gas were batteries for ancient sunshine that allowed civilization to, for the first, live beyond its solar income" available through daily sunshine, McMillen writes in the comic.

We now face two huge problems as a result. One is on many people's minds: climate change, the unintended consequence of burning fossil fuels.

The other is no smaller but less front and center, because people are technological optimists: the civilization constructed using fossil energy slaves may be vastly more complex and energy intensive than what annual solar income can support.

We don't have the technologies that are shovel-ready to replace fossils with solar (including solar derived sources like hydro, biomass, etc.) for all our uses of energy. Some, yes, and there is a great story emerging based on the growth trajectory of renewables.

But for the energy needed to replace today's transportation and industrial requirements, renewables aren't ready to go to scale.

Even if we're lucky and innovation keeps improving their energy density, swapping out the fossil infrastructure and replacing it with something renewables can sustainably support will take decades at best and require vast amounts of capital.

"Today's invisible slave power now operates at a scale that is impossible to replace with human or animal toil," McMillen writes.

Low hanging fruit

Here's a complication, also explored by the comic. Humans are really good at tapping and using the best and easiest resources first… the low hanging fruit. And we've been really wasteful in the process.

"Why care about churning through tons of disposable junk when the energy slaves magically take it away ... The average late 20th Century citizen enjoys a servant count that exceeds the tally of any King Queen or tycoon who live in previous centuries," McMillen writes.

This 'low hanging fruit" pattern means that what remains takes more energy to extract.

"The United States' first oil well needed to sink just 21 meters below ground to strike oil. The 2010 Deepwater Horizon, in the Gulf of Mexico, descended through 1,500 meters of water and then through a further 4,000 meters of crust," McMillen writes.

And, incidentally, "the Macondo oil field below the drilling platform contained a total volume of petroleum that would satisfy world oil consumption for only 12 hours." 12 hours.

What does this mean? In the early 1900s, "one energy slave could drill an oil well and discover another 100 slaves (100:1) to replace himself with," McMillen writes, "today the ratio has slipped closer to 10:1." The lower that ratio falls, the less energy surplus we have to drive civilization's needs.

This ratio is often called Energy Return On Energy Investment (EROI), and it's just as important for renewables as it is for fossil slaves.

A race against time and depletion

We are in something of a race… a race against time and depletion.

Against time because the shift to renewables requires decades and vast amounts of capital. Will we complete the transition before some large disruptive global event (nuclear war, cybersecurity attacks, climate change, etc.) so destabilizes our social machinery that we can't afford and can't complete the journey?

Against depletion because, despite all our technological prowess and seemingly endless sources of innovation, the costs of energy extraction may begin to exceed the energy return on energy investment (EROI less than 1).

We're placing almost all of our bets on winning the race through technological improvements. It's worked in the past, underwritten by vast numbers of fossil energy slaves and seemingly limitless opportunities for innovation.What does this mean? In the early 1900s, "one energy slave could drill an oil well and discover another 100 slaves (100:1) to replace himself with," McMillen writes, "today, the ratio has slipped closer to 10:1."

The lower that ratio falls, the less energy surplus we have to drive civilization's needs. This ratio is often called Energy Return On Energy Investment (EROI), and it's just as important for renewables as it is for fossil slaves.

But with the energy demands of 7.6 billion people continuing to grow ever faster, and numbers still increasing, the window for a smooth transition is shrinking.

What's Plan B?

climate protest sign
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

‘Climate negotiations are inherently abusive’: campaigner Brianna Craft on the struggle smaller countries face

In her memoir, the Cop delegate draws parallels with her violent childhood home and the imbalance of power in global summits.

Senator Whitehouse & climate change

Senator Whitehouse puts climate change on budget committee’s agenda

For more than a decade, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse gave daily warnings about the mounting threat of climate change. Now he has a powerful new perch.

Brazilian Amazon at risk of being taken over by mafia, ex-police chief warns

Alexandre Saraiva gives alert on organised crime in region ahead of anniversary of killings of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira.

transmission lines sunrise
Photo by Marcus on Unsplash

FERC aims to fix the grid's renewable energy backlog. Can it?

Developers and climate advocates say a proposal from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission may not spur enough change.
West Virginia governor's coal empire sued by the federal government
Photo by Taton Moïse on Unsplash

West Virginia governor's coal empire sued by the federal government

The lawsuit, filed by the Justice Department, seeks millions in unpaid environmental fines as Gov. Jim Justice begins his campaign for the U.S. Senate.
guam
Photo by Lucie Rangel on Unsplash

Guam's water, power outage still remains after Typhoon Mawar

About half of the island remains without water, and about 65% is without power. It may be weeks until the utilities are fully restored, local authorities said.
phoenix from top of hill
Photo by Walter Martin on Unsplash

Arizona limits construction around Phoenix as its water supply dwindles

In what could be a glimpse of the future as climate change batters the West, officials ruled there’s not enough groundwater for projects already approved.
Supreme Court wetlands
At the end of May, the Supreme Court took a major bite out of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) ability to protect wetlands under the Clean Water Act. Credit: Brian Bienkowski

Opinion: Supreme Court undoing 50 years’ worth of environmental progress

For the past few months, Americans have faced multiple political distractions: Ukraine, inflation, AI, whether or not we intentionally nuke our own economy.

Keep reading...Show less
From our Newsroom
healthcare sustainability

Reimagining healthcare to reduce pollution, tackle climate change and center justice

“We need to understand who is harmed by an economy that’s based on fossil fuels and toxic chemicals.”

plastic pollution

Recycling plastics “extremely problematic” due to toxic chemical additives: Report

Negotiations are underway for a global plastics treaty and parties differ on the role of recycling.

UN plastics treaty

Opinion: UN plastics treaty should prioritize health and climate change

Delegates should push for a treaty that takes a full-lifecycle approach to plastic pollution.

halliburton fracking

How the “Halliburton Loophole” lets fracking companies pollute water with no oversight

Fracking companies used 282 million pounds of hazardous chemicals that should have been regulated by the Safe Drinking Water Act from 2014 to 2021.

President Joe Biden climate change

Op-ed: Biden’s Arctic drilling go-ahead illustrates the limits of democratic problem solving

President Biden continues to deploy conventional tactics against the highly unconventional threat of climate change.

oil and gas wells pollution

What happens if the largest owner of oil and gas wells in the US goes bankrupt?

Diversified Energy’s liabilities exceed its assets, according to a new report, sparking concerns about whether taxpayers will wind up paying to plug its 70,000 wells.

Stay informed: sign up for The Daily Climate newsletter
Top news on climate impacts, solutions, politics, drivers. Delivered to your inbox week days.