The Problem with Cheap Clean Energy

Is that it would only destroy the planet much faster

We’ve all heard the apocryphal tale of the man who invented an engine that could run on tap water. Apparently Exxon’s board of directors hired a hit man to kill him, then destroyed the plans for the engine.

If this story is real (it’s not) then the board members of Exxon did the world a huge favour. The absolute last thing we need is more cheap energy.

An endless supply of cheap energy, green or otherwise, would accelerate our specie’s march towards the cliff edge - and extinction. It would add steroids to the exponential explosion in population.

With cheap free energy, the brake on growth would be lifted and billions upon billions would be able to live large. It wouldn’t matter that reduced concentrations of minerals would require us to dig up ten times more dirt to obtain the same tonne of copper. Who gives a shit - energy would be cheap, and clean. Dig down to the centre of the Earth. Turn the planet into a massive open pit mine. Just Do It!

And with cheap, clean energy we could desalinate entire oceans and irrigate deserts and grow enough food to feed 30 billion humans. And because of the cheap energy we could build millions of tall apartment buildings covering every spare bit of planet, and all of these humans would have comfortable homes with AC and heating. F789 Yeah!

Rather than vilifying Exxon for executing the man who created the engine that could run on water, maybe we should celebrate their decisive action that delayed our extinction.