Energy and the First Machine Age
We cannot consider physical materials without regarding the resources utilized to mine, manufacture, transport, construct, and distribute them. History has shown us the extent to which various civilizations have been shaped by their energy resources, and complacency in the face of dwindling supplies has led even the greatest empires to collapse.
We may face such a moment today. The international scientific community has suggested that we may be nearing the brink of inestimable change. We are nearing the point at which half the earth's supply of crude oil has been tapped, soon to be followed by the same halfway mark for natural gas. While plenty of fossil fuel reserves will still remain, our thirst for such energy sources will outstrip their extractability at an accelerated rate. No one is certain what the outcome will be, but the upheaval of international markets may be the least of our worries.
Think about it. We are the great-great-grandchildren of the petroleum era. We may think of ourselves in futuristic terms, and claim to be the information-age society, yet virtually every aspect of our lives is still defined by the extraction of fuels from fossils. Transportation, power, heat, lighting, plastics, agriculture... what element of modern-day life does not necessitate fossil fuel utilization? The First World has been molded by a veritable one-hit energy wonder, and there is no readily available alternative.
Armed with this knowledge, no creative endeavor that we could seek to advance at this point - especially architecture - may be contemplated without regard for our precarious stance in terms of rapidly depleting fossil fuels.
1 Comments:
Blaine,
What a wonderful web site you have created and maintain. And what a useful and topical subject this week, embodied energy. I was alerted your site by Robt. Miller of Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, Seattle, WA. WE are architects and planners. I work in the Philadelphia, PA office of BCJ and have a great appreciation for new or old technology well used. By 'well used' I mean limited in scope and applications to sustainable services and systems which mimic the natural systems which sustain all life on our world.
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