The world’s energy system must be transformed completely
It has been changed before, but never as fast or fully as must happen now
FOR MORE than 100,000 years humans derived all their energy from what they hunted, gathered and grazed on or grew for themselves. Their own energy for moving things came from what they ate. Energy for light and heat came from burning the rest. In recent millennia they added energy from the flow of water and, later, air to the repertoire. But, important as water- and windmills were, they did little to change the overall energy picture. Global energy use broadly tracked the size of a population fed by farms and warmed by wood.
This article appeared in the Schools brief section of the print edition under the headline “Not-so-slow burn”
From the May 23rd 2020 edition
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