Efficiency and Energy Usage in Civilization

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Civilization has the potential to significantly reduce energy usage by improving efficiency across various sectors. Many current practices operate well below thermodynamic limits, indicating ample room for optimization. Computers, for instance, display considerable inefficiencies compared to Landauer's limit, which sets the minimal energy requirement for information processing. Additionally, energy efficiency could be enhanced through better organization and transport of services. However, reforming these services poses challenges, as market dynamics do not always favor the adoption of more energy-efficient practices. Often, stakeholders may overlook improvements even when they present a financial incentive, leading to a paradox where lower energy costs encourage higher consumption rather than conservation, as evidenced by shifts from incandescent bulbs to LED lighting resulting in increased overall usage.

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How much energy is needed for GDP growth? Would our civilization have developed at the same rate without fossil fuels? Could we potentially do the same things we're currently doing but with significantly less energy? How different would the world look if we'd developed nuclear energy much earlier? Why can't anything go faster than light? Will the heat death of the universe really be "the end" for everything? How can difficult concepts be communicated in simple ways that nevertheless avoid being misleading or confusing? Is energy conservation an unbreakable law? How likely is it that advanced alien civilizations exist? What are S-risks? Can global civilizations be virtuous? What is panspermia? How can we make better backups of our knowledge and culture?

Anders Sandberg is a researcher at the Institute for Futures Studies in Sweden. He was formerly senior research fellow at the Future of Humanity Institute at University of Oxford. His research deals with emerging technologies, the ethics of human enhancement, global and existential risks, and very long-range futures. Follow him on Twitter / X at @anderssandberg, find him via his various links here.

Staff