The Courier-Mail - ENERGY is the basis of modern civilisation. We have easier lives than our grandparents did because we use much more energy: electricity, gas and transport fuels.
Our energy use is equivalent to 40 slaves working for us in shifts, doing what slaves used to do: it produces our food, transports us, washes our clothes, entertains us, fans us when we are hot and so on. Energy also has been used to ease other shortages. Cities without water have processed seawater – using energy.
We have increased food supply for our growing population by farming more intensively – using energy. As we exhausted rich metal ores, we moved on to poorer deposits but that takes more energy. Without usable energy, our society literally would grind to a halt.
The Courier Mail (Australia)
