Yes. I suppose my comment kind of comes off as saying something obvious. Obviously if we had infinite energy we wouldn't have any problems.
But really what I was trying to get at was that our focus, with respect to the environment, is perhaps in the wrong place. We focus so much on reducing use. Really our focus needs to be on how we can get _more_ energy.
It's like in a business. Don't focus on the cost centers, focus on the profit centers. How can we drive _more_ business rather than making the existing business more efficient. For a growing company that's usually the best advice.
So why, as a growing species, are we optimizing our energy usage? Screw that. Let's get more energy! Let's blanket the land with solar panels so we have enough "fuck off" energy to do whatever the hell we want. In particular, enough energy to get into space and build a Dyson sphere so we can get even more energy.
Imagine if we took all the money and time invested into optimizing energy usage, and instead had spent it on solar panels?
It's all really counter to public opinion. Environmentally conscious people love their LED lights. I do too. But I also love optimizing systems, and optimizing systems is often not what's smart for a business.
> But really what I was trying to get at was that our focus, with respect to the environment, is perhaps in the wrong place. We focus so much on reducing use. Really our focus needs to be on how we can get _more_ energy.
The article mentions, among other things, thieves who steal sand, sell it, and bribe police to look the other way. While that's the state of affairs, lowering the cost of energy is beside the point.
No, it would be profitable for them regardless. You might live in some science fiction world where energy and automation were so abundant that manufacturing sand from something other material and shipping it in made economic sense.
cost = energy-intensive manufacturing + lots of shipping
It wouldn't prevent this crime because it's never going to be as cheap as going to the river and filling up a truck.
cost = a short drive + a few bribes
Technology is absolutely not the solution to everything (although sometimes it helps a lot).
If you have enough energy to make X, then you'll always have X.
But usually you don't.