A concept brought up in Kim Stanley Robinson’s novel The Ministry for the Future is the 2000 Watt Society.
With its emphasis on scientific accuracy and non-fiction descriptions of history and social science, the novel is classified as hard science fiction. – Wikipedia
The 2000-watt society is a real thing. Much of the novel is set in Switzerland, and the society was formed in Zurich in 1998.
The 2000-watt society is an environmental vision, first introduced in 1998 by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich (ETH Zurich), which pictures the average First World citizen reducing their overall average primary energy usage rate to no more than 2,000 watts (i.e. 2 kWh per hour or 48 kWh per day) by the year 2050, without lowering their standard of living.
The concept addresses not only personal or household energy use, but the total for the whole society, including embodied energy, divided by the population. – Wikipedia
Again, America is the line leader (6 times the world’s average, and forty times the energy usage of those in Bangladesh).
Energy usage is not simply the food consumed and the appliances used around the house. It includes transportation (public and private), consumer discretionary spending, and public infrastructure. And it also includes the concept of “embodied energy” – the energy used to build roads, buildings, and, I’m guessing, all the useless plastic crap they sell at Walmart.
Some nuts and bolts can be found here:
Semi-Sequitur: Serhiy Podolynsky
Serhiy Podolynsky was an early analyst who used embodied energy.
Talk about betting on the wrong horse….
Food Intake
Just looking at our food intake:
The American food supply is driven almost entirely by non-renewable energy sources and accounts for approximately 19% of the total use of fossil fuels in the United States. It takes about 7.3 units of (primarily) fossil energy to produce one unit of food energy in the U.S. food system….
Some foods require far more, such as grain-fed beef, which requires 35 calories for every calorie of beef produced. – Emery University
The Oil in your Oatmeal
The Oil in your Oatmeal – an interesting article that looks at the “oil footprint” of food, using a 400 calorie breakfast of oatmeal, raspberries, butter, milk, and a cup of coffee.
What appeared to be my simple, healthy meal of oatmeal, berries and coffee looks different now. I thought I was essentially driving a Toyota Prius hybrid by having a very fuel-efficient breakfast, but by the end of the week, I’ve eaten the equivalent of more than two quarts of Valvoline. – SFGate
So, (7.3 * 2,500C)+2,500C = 20,700 C = 31.4 kWh
Just food calories alone: 2.9kWh
Back to the Ministry for the Future
[The] book’s dedication [is] to Fredric Jameson, Robinson’s doctoral supervisor, who wrote that “It is easier to imagine the end of the world than to imagine the end of capitalism.” – Wikipedia
“Covid is the virus, but capitalism is the disease.” – Graffiti on a wall in Pittsburgh, as reported by a colleague of UC#2.
An interview with Kim Stanley Robinson on the top of capitalism and its relationship to global warming.
Kim Stanley Robinson
Fredric Jameson
Final Thoughts
Is there some form of socialism that doesn’t devolve into a totalitarian dictatorship?
YES!
5. Iceland Gini Coefficient: 26.8
4. Norway Gini Coefficient: 27
3. Finland Gini Coefficient: 27.4
2. Denmark Gini Coefficient: 28.7
1. Sweden Gini Coefficient: 28.8
