Energy and Human Ambition on a Finite Planet is a fantastic (and free) textbook. It teaches physics in the most fascinating way, describing how, precisely, we’re.

Where is humanity going? How realistic is a future of fusion and space colonies? What constraints are imposed by physics, by resource availability, and by human psychology?  Are default expectations grounded in reality...
#Science is awesome 🧬🦾🚀🤯 

Energy Ambitions Collection

Science is awesome 🧬🦾🚀🤯

Energy and Human Ambition on a Finite Planet is a fantastic (and free) textbook. It teaches physics in the most fascinating way, describing how, precisely, we’re.  Where is humanity going? How realistic is a future of fusion and space colonies? What constraints are imposed by physics, by resource availability, and by human psychology?  Are default expectations grounded in reality... #Science is awesome 🧬🦾🚀🤯  Energy Ambitions Collection Note: a two-side version optimized for printing is available in Supplemental Materials.  Where is humanity going? How realistic is a future of fusion and space colonies? What constraints are imposed b https://escholarship.org/uc/energy_ambitions

Nate

“The U.S. per-capita energy usage is roughly five times the current global average. To bring 7 billion people to the same standard would require five times the current scale. Completion of a global demographic transition would roughly double the current world population so that the total increase in energy would be a factor of ten. Therefore, if all countries on Earth were to live at a first-world standard, it would require an effective human population of 70 billion people.” 

At a constant energy growth rate of 2.3% per year, the temperature climb from waste heat (not CO2 emissions) is slow at first, but becomes preposterous within a few-hundred years. Water boils in just over 400 years, and by 900 years Earth is hotter than the sun!  The scenario of continued growth is obviously absurd. 😱

I’ll share more 😳 graphs from this textbook in #Data is beautiful and #ScholER 

This is the review that got me into it -
https://indica.medium.com/how-precisely-were-fucked-cad1f0e5b068

Data is beautiful

ScholER

“The U.S. per-capita energy usage is roughly five times the current global average. To bring 7 billion people to the same standard would require five times the current scale. Completion of a global demographic transition would roughly double the current world population so that the total increase in energy would be a factor of ten. Therefore, if all countries on Earth were to live at a first-world standard, it would require an effective human population of 70 billion people.”   At a constant energy growth rate of 2.3% per year, the temperature climb from waste heat (not CO2 emissions) is slow at first, but becomes preposterous within a few-hundred years. Water boils in just over 400 years, and by 900 years Earth is hotter than the sun!  The scenario of continued growth is obviously absurd. 😱  I’ll share more 😳 graphs from this textbook in #Data is beautiful and #ScholER   This is the review that got me into it - https://indica.medium.com/how-precisely-were-fucked-cad1f0e5b068

D J

A group of likeminded people in The Book Club 📚 are talking about this.