Re:To Slow Global Warming, We Need Nuclear Power (Op-Ed)
by philipkglass on Friday December 23, 2016 @03:57PM
(#13247195)
Projected future demands for energy per capita in the UK and other developed countries grow very slowly, or even decline. Primary energy consumption per capita in the UK has actually declined since 2008 when MacKay wrote his book (you'll need to select countries yourself to see the data):
You might think that's just because the UK doesn't do manufacturing any more, but look at manufacturing powerhouses Japan and Germany: they also have seen per-capita declines since 2008.
Ecologists and economists alike seem to have a default assumption that human resource consumption is insatiable; they just have different attitudes about that assumption. I don't know how many years of trends like the one I just linked it will take before they reassess resource satiety.
http://www.tsp-data-portal.org/Energy-Consumption-per-Capita...
You might think that's just because the UK doesn't do manufacturing any more, but look at manufacturing powerhouses Japan and Germany: they also have seen per-capita declines since 2008.
Ecologists and economists alike seem to have a default assumption that human resource consumption is insatiable; they just have different attitudes about that assumption. I don't know how many years of trends like the one I just linked it will take before they reassess resource satiety.