Aardvark Daily

Please visit the sponsor!

Would unlimited energy cripple the world?

All around the globe, scientists and researchers are toiling away in an attempt to come up with new ways of generating or harnessing energy to power the planet.

Up to now, most of our energy demand has been met by the extraction and burning of fossil fuels such as oil and coal but the clock is ticking on this strategy and shortly, we'll either run out or (if you believe in AGW) overload the planet's biosphere with carbon.

Numerous new technologies are being explored and developed, each holding out the promise of cheap, clean energy but each also refusing to give up all its secrets -- for the time being.

But what happens if/when we succeed in coming up with a limitless source of free (or almost free) energy?

I'm sure the oil-company conspiracy theorists ill be jumping up and down with predictions that this will never happen -- because the money-hungry oil companies will kill anyone who dares to let this genie out of its bottle.

It's far more likely of course that any company threatened by such a breakthrough would instead seek to purchase the patent rights rather than order up a hit or two on a bunch of scientists.

But what if the inventor and patent-holder was a philanthropist?

What if they transferred their patent rights to the public domain, so that we could all free ourselves from traditional energy sources?

Now that really would create a global disaster of unprecedented scale.

Firstly, energy taxes are a crucial stream of revenues for most governments around the world.

Whether it's special taxes and charges applied to transport fuels or state run electricity generators/distribution companies, most governments have a fairly large finger in the traditional energy industries and the cash that comes from this is essential to funding state services. If this revenue was lost, governments would be somewhat disinclined to champion the private use of such technology.

Likewise, those huge oil and energy companies that represent such a huge chunk of the global economy would go into a tailspin -- possibly leading to major financial woes across the face of the planet.

However, perhaps the most important issue would be the effect on the biosphere.

Now you might think that any kind of technology that offered limitless zero-carbon energy, capable of replacing all that burning coal and oil, would be a great thing for the planet -- but perhaps not.

Virtually all energy released on earth eventually ends up as heat -- an increase in the kinetic energy of the molecules that comprise our environment. If you thought global warming was an issue now -- imagine what it would be like if we all had virtually free and limitless "energy to burn".

Although CO2 levels may fall, the total thermal input into the biosphere would rocket to new highs.

No need to worry about turning out the lights, unplugging those appliances which have a standby mode, insulating your house (just turn up the heater), or engaging in any of the other energy-saving practices that we've become used to.

When it comes to energy, perhaps we ought to be lucky that we have only a limited supply. Humans have shown themselves to have little regard for "the big picture" when dealing with energy issues and, just as we've polluted the planet in the past, we might end up slowly torching it if we had access to unlimited energy. Would we be like a child playing with a loaded gun in this scenario?

So here's today's question for Aardvark readers:

If technology was developed that offered the potential for every household and business to become 100% energy self-sufficient by extracting energy from the ether in some way, would this be a technology that should be strictly controlled? If the patent rights were placed in the public domain, would you expect governments (with a little help from the global energy companies) to act quickly to suppress or restrict that information?

Come on, just how cynical are you?

Remember the word "aardvarkrox" when you go to sign up for the new forums (yeah, I know I haven't customised it yet but bear with me ;-)

What was the catalyst for today's column? This story Harvesting 'limitless' hydrogen from self-powered cells (BBC).

Please visit the sponsor!

Have your say on this...

PERMALINK to this column

Oh, and don't forget today's sci/tech news headlines

Rank This Aardvark Page

Change Font