 | DrumBeat: July 20, 2008 | The Oil Drum | Lester addresses U.S. governors on energy future, calls for Marshall Plan for energy innovation |  |
| Gore sets goal of 100% carbon-free electricity by 2020 | The Oil Drum: Europe | Fuel theft explodes in Portugal | |
109 comments on What is a Human Being Worth (in Terms of Energy)?
Comments can no longer be added to this story.
User login
Personnel
Editors
Contributors
Peak Oil Primers
Archives
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006
- April 2006
- March 2006
Vital Trivia
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
GAIA Host Collective
SamuM - my question was really a general one - I'm hoping that Luis or Chris or Nate turn up to answer.
I'm increasingly convinced of the inverse of this statement which is:
And the conclusion that those societies / countries that use energy most efficiently will be able to pay higher prices and win the bidding war.
Great point.
The more value we can get out of a barrel of oil, the more we can pay for that oil, and the better we will do in the global auction for a fixed or declining supply of available oil.
Incomes being equal, a driver of a 50 mpg econo-box, can (and will) afford to pay a lot more per gallon than a driver of a 10 mpg SUV.
However, if the driver stops going to work, his income drops, he will be less able to afford fuel.
This is the risk posed by using energy taxes to change behavior, individuals will make decisions based on the cost of those decisions, but if their decisions result in less GDP (especially exportable GDP), and/or if the government spends those tax dollars on activities that do not make our economy more productive (in terms of exports), we will be worse off than before.
Forrest
Efficiency: Maximizing production (profit) in combining labor, capital, raw materials, and technology.
We can modify the production process to use more or less of a specific input in response to changes in the relative cost of each input, only a reduction in the cost of a specific input can increase (total) production or reduce cost / unit.