Bishop Hill What is energy?
Aug 26, 2014 Economics Energy: grid From the journal of the Economic Research Council comes this paper by John Constable of Renewable Energy Foundation fame. It considers the question of whether energy is just another factor input into the economy or whether it has a more fundamental role. The conclusion is that energy is different, the reason being found in the realms of thermodynamics:
...wealth is created by using energy to introduce improbable order into the world, in other words a reduction of entropy in one part of the system at the expense of a greater increase in entropy in another.
This is interesting when read in conjunction with the consideration of EROI the other day. If it is correct, the implications of deliberately increasing the cost of energy are likely be serious:
The policy-induced energy cost increases are a chronic presence not an acute shock; even
assuming that no further generating plant is constructed in the UK after meeting the 2020 renewable electricity target, the subsidy entitlements created up to that time will persist for another two decades. Indeed, the cumulative subsidy burden between 2002 and 2040 will amount to about £160 billion....It is therefore to be expected that non-energy input costs should now begin to show a steady upward trend as high energy costs work their way through, entailing steady reductions in standard of living as more of the wealth of the economy circulates within the capital of the energy sector and less in other sectors outside it.
It's interesting to consider that both of the parties that have a chance of forming the next government are going to go into the election with policies that implicitly require lower standards of living for decades to come. I'm reminded of this.
Reader Comments (61)
@hunter
'I like the metaphor of the ability to do work as a means of adding order to a situation'
Even better, its not just a metaphor. It's what thermodynamics tells us. Energy and order (entropy) are inextricably linked.
The mathematical physics of Gaia is quite straightforward. At the present state of evolution of the Earth, low entropy EM quanta from the Sun are thermalised in the atmosphere and at the surface, warming it up so Antarctic ice melts and powers the thermohaline circulation. In turn, iron in dust mainly from Australia (and on a much shorter cycle time, the Arctic) is carried to equatorial seas, allowing phytoplankton to flourish.
Dimethyl sulphide from dead phytoplankton hydrolyses and reduces cloud albedo (Sagan's aerosol optical physics is wrong). Earth's mean surface temperature rises by about 9 K from the glacial maximum; there is no GHG warming because the surface emits zero net IR energy in all self-absorbed GHG bands; clouds take care of the effect of CO2 on OLR.
Biofeedback, life proliferation decreasing terrestrial entropy as matter is ordered, with associated Enthalpy increase from reduced cloud an ice albedo, increases terrestrial Gibbs' Free Energy. This is driven by the entropy increase as low EM energy quanta are emitted to space (entropy being kB.lnw where w is the number of 'microstates' for the total energy and kB is the Boltzmann constant) to give the required overall energy balance.
The surprising result of this is that the planet adapts to maximise CO2 concentration because CO2 quanta, emitted from -50 deg C, are the most numerous, highest entropy, for a given IR emission to the cosmic microwave background of Space. So, CO2 is not only essential fro life but is a measure of the efficiency of the higher life forms in ordering matter, driven by the nuclear fusion processes in the Sun. And so it goes on as we look at even larger parts of the Universe.....
For further reading, this seems quite good: http://www-scf.usc.edu/~chem430a/scans/03.pdf
PS: the CO2-AGW myth has been put forward by the scientifically-retarded, funded by the amoral. to claim energy is trapped by GHGs is our version of Lysenkoism, The black body surface IR emission myth is our version of Phlogiston.
Latimer:
So, in context, Latimer, parse 'chronic presence': Something that has a long-lasting presence? I'm not sure that was what was meant. In any case, my point was that - notwithstanding the author's degree in Eng Lang - sentences should be capable of being parsed easily so that they are easily understood with no ambiguity.
I hear John Constable is thinking of expanding this topic into a book. I hope he does, it's fascinating and important. If only more people could grasp the implications of energy as a 'numeraire' (thanks to a previous respondent for using that word - I'd not come across it before).
Interesting to see Kelly touching on the same aspect in the previous blog post. Kelly's EROEI table in slide 14 of his presentation shows a ratio of 14:1(!!!) for the arts - worth considering the next time you go to a concert, the cinema, Glastonbury. I wonder what the EROEI for the Balcombe protest was?
PhilD,
The short form is that energy that is used to modify matter, that is do work, "fixes" that energy to some degree in the matter acted upon. Energy in the form of electromagnetic radiation is subject to the second law and as such is one way or another the transfer of energy from low-entropy ("hot") locations - the sun, a hot gas molecule - to areas of high entropy ("cold") - intergalactic space ultimately. Also, the association of entropy and disorder is probably erroneous. The real culprit is information. A low entropy system contains matter that has been ordered systematically - say a library. High entropy systems have lost much of their informative content - a library after an earthquake. The librarian does "work" on the library, ordering the books and stacking them (adding both information and gravitational potential energy). The earthquake randomizes the books and tosses them down on the floor, wiping the librarian's ordering work and converting potential energy to heat at the end of the fall, which was then radiated into space, or maybe a nearby CO2 molecule.
This is something I was pondering in a philosophical kind of way a few years ago.
My thoughts are that modern civilisation is what is is because of a happy confluence of 3 things:
- readily available low cost energy in the form of coal, oil, and gas (starting approx 1800); coming with the industrial revolution
- credit, a willingness to lend, and with it a culture of credit, intertwined with the idea/invention of the limited liability company
- insurance
All these together give a greater reward for risk taking. The availability of cheap energy (and the return on energy invested idea) mean that all these things together create a golden age of risk taking, innovation, investment and reward.
My wild guess is that one one in isolation is not all that valuable but together (and perhaps add a 4th: the rule of law) and you have a very powerful beast indeed.
Oh should add. These all put in their appearance about the same time. A reading of economic history is most interesting, and the industrial revolution + the coffee houses of London are where all this wonder came from.
Low cost and abundant energy allows one to do things not otherwise possible - and that in the end has an economic effect of a MASSIVE multiplier.
An old saying comes to mind: "Energy is free. It is the capital costs that kill you".
Wally, there is also the introduction of the English patent system.
Given the exposure of technology to regulation and "innovation" by the Shakespeare types, I wonder if the history of these activities has been chronicled, hopefully by a "thermo" type.
TON, thank you so much for your "Alas...." likely to be printed large, framed, and hung next to "Wealth is created by using energy to introduce improbable order into the world."
Try to keep these postings under control - my wall space is limited.
Thks jferguson; the inner muse emerged from its habitual domination by the iconoclastic scientist!
Obama, Merkel and Cameron are not informed in a factual way about renewable energy because they make sure they are not.
That is why I.P.C.C. exists. It is a political body not a scientific one.
When the facts finally overwhelm the lies that riddle the whole C.A.G.W.nightmare the I.P.C.C is their alibi.