Democratic energy production
This page was created on May 26, 2010 and was last updated on Feb 06, 2011
Today, energy is an essential part of the economy of a community. Without it nothing moves. In agrarian societies, the bulk of the needed energy is supplied naturally by the sun. People might use animal power to increase their production capacity and for transportation, but these animals also get their energy from the sun. Other sources of energy are needed for heating and cooking for example. But because these agrarian communities are mostly powered naturally, energy doesn't appear as an important concept.
Machines have changed our relation with nature in a very fundamental way, and they have forced upon us the concept of energy. Machines need to be fed energy in order to function. Their ancestors harnessed the force of running water in rivers, or the force of the wind. The problem with these sources of energy is that they cannot be transported and, therefore, the location of the machine is fixed wherever the energy source is found.
Eventually, we learned how to harness heat to produce mechanical force. The steam engine is based on the observation that heated water produces vapors, which can accumulate and create pressure, which in turn can be used to push a piston. This motion of the piston can be further transfered mechanically to other things like wheels, a cotton mill, etc. Once this connection between heat and mechanical work was established, we searched for the most efficient ways to produce heat. Coal and after oil were the first candidates. These materials contain a relatively large amount of energy stored within their molecular composition, which can be released and put to work. They can also be easily divided into portions and transported. This sparked the industrial revolution, which put an end to the feudal system.
As our modern economy became heavily dependent on machines, our need for sources of energy increased to the point where energy became essential, vital. With the increase in importance of energy came energy control. Production and distribution of energy is an important lever of social power. Thus some wicked individuals succeed in monopolizing that, and guess what? They control YOU, indirectly, by controlling important aspects of your life, like the cost of all manufactured and transported goods. We went form a society based on land, agricultural goods, and water to a society mostly based on manufactured goods and services. In the past, wealth and power was determined by land ownership. Today it is determined by access to energy and natural resources. The poor of the past were those without land. The poor of today are, among other things, those who don't control their resources and their energy supply.
But things are changing... New technological breakthroughs enable individuals the get back in control of their energy needs. Solar panels can be installed on your rooftop to produce more energy then you need. Some people can even became energy producers, selling their surplus to the grid. Wind power is also becoming coast effective and wide spread. You can produce all necessary energy for heating, appliances, entertainment and even for your car. But what is even more important than the money you pay for it is the control over your society you are taking back from centralized systems of production and distribution of energy, from corrupt monopolies. Oil, coal, natural gas, nuclear, hydrogen are all "monopolizable" sources of energy, because they necessitate large organization to be exploited and distributed. On the other side, every single individual can extract as much energy as he/she needs from the sun or from the wind.
One way the multitude is emancipating is by taking back control over its energy consumption. The power systems in place will insist to implement non-democratic sources of energy. These are sources that cannot be exploited by a single individual, or by a small community. These large sources are still needed to power our economy. It's a mistake to think that they can be eliminated in the near future. We are NOT talking about a total replacement, only about a shift towards more energy control by the multitude.
The big picture
Oil, Coal, and Gas represent by far the majority. These the extraction and distribution of these resources are under the control of very few. Nuclear power generation is normally the business of governments, sovereign powers by definition. Globally, solar generation is the fastest growing source of energy, seeing an annual average growth of 35% over the past few years.
Renewable energy sources worldwide at the end of 2008.
In time, as the world energy consumption increased since 1965 the power of those who controlled production and distribution of Oil, Coal and Gas increased. Government controlled sources of energy did not keep the pace with the increase in demand.
Rate of world energy usage in terawatts (TW), 1965-2005.
