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Energy availability and energy sources as determinants of societal development in a long-term perspective
- Marina Fischer-Kowalski, Anke Schaffartzik
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- Journal:
- MRS Energy & Sustainability / Volume 2 / 2015
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 22 April 2015, E1
- Print publication:
- 2015
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The dominant energy sources used by human societies and the transitions from one energy source to another have fundamental implications for societal development. A future energy transition is pending but it remains unclear what its socioeconomic corollaries will be.
The history of the dominant energy sources used by human societies and their implications for societal development are traced in this review. “Passive solar energy utilization” in the hunting and gathering mode requires mobility of societies following the biomass that is their sole energy input. Fertility is constrained both by the available nutrition and by the need to migrate: population density is low. The agrarian mode relies on “active solar energy utilization”. Solar energy is harnessed through cultivated crops providing energy to humans. This mode requires a sedentary way of life and allows for much higher population density; progress in raising yields is achieved by additional labor-inputs and drives population growth. The industrial mode relies largely on fossil energy carriers supplying human societies with an amount of energy never accessible before, and with new materials. It relieves human societies of their dependence on land, fosters urban growth, and decreases fertility. At the same time, the industrial mode is based on a dominant energy source that will not be available indefinitely and that is associated with severe impacts on the environment. A future energy transition seems unavoidable and historical evidence suggests that it will be associated with fundamental socioeconomic change.
Global trends and patterns in material use
- Fridolin Krausmann, Anke Schaffartzik, Andreas Mayer, Simone Gingrich, Nina Eisenmenger
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- Journal:
- MRS Online Proceedings Library Archive / Volume 1545 / 2013
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 30 September 2013, mrss13-1545-k04-03
- Print publication:
- 2013
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Humanity currently extracts almost 70 billion tons of materials per year. During the last century global materials extraction and use have increased by one order of magnitude. Growth accelerated in the last decade, when materials extraction grew with the global economy at an annual rate of 3.6%. For sustainable development it is of key importance to understand the spatial and temporal dynamics of global material use and the underlying drivers. This paper explores changes in global material use during the last century from a systemic perspective based on the concept of socio-economic metabolism.
In recent years socio-economic (or, more narrowly termed industrial) metabolism became a prominent concept in sustainability science as many global sustainability problems are directly associated with humanities growing demand for raw materials and their transformation into wastes and emissions after processing and use. Material Flow Analysis (MFA) is one of the approaches available to study social metabolism. It provides data and headline indicators for resource use in national economies and is widely used in science and by policy makers.
This paper presents results from a global material flow analysis and explores long term the development of global material extraction and use. It shows that in particular the period after WWII was characterized by a rapid expansion of resource use, driven by both population and economic growth. Within this period a shift from the dominance of renewable biomass towards mineral and fossil materials, which now account for 70% of all used materials, was observed. Overall, material use increased at a slower pace than the global economy, but faster than world population. As a consequence, material intensity (i.e. the amount of materials required per unit of GDP) declined throughout the 20th century, while materials use per capita doubled. The use of materials is by no means equally distributed around the globe. Per capita material use varies by a factor of 20 across countries. At the turn of the millennium, 15% of the global population living in industrialized countries were using half of all mineral and fossil resources; in contrast, the least developed countries, inhabiting 11% of global population, appropriated only 1% of these strategically important materials. In recent years, however, the emerging economies gained significance as drivers for physical growth. So far there is no evidence that growth of global materials use is slowing down. The paper discusses the implications of the results from the material flow analysis for sustainable development.
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