The estimable Willis Eschenbach has written a post-script to his essay on the intimate link between energy availability (and use) and GDP which is the entity that pays for roads, hospitals, schools and all the other things we need. In essence his theory is that no energy = no GDP which in the particular case he is considering, the Pacific Solomon Islands, means they, being poor in energy, are:
one of the UNs “LDCs”, the “Least Developed Countries.” It is the most rural country in the Pacific, with about 90% of the people still living in small scattered villages on hundreds of islands. [...]
Solomons GDP ($1,600 per year, tied for 187th out of 225 countries with countries like Chad and Tajikistan)
Here you have a society living, and dying, the 'Big Wet Green Dream'. Here is a diagram showing the two energy sources used by the Islanders:
You see what Eschenbach means about it being a Green nirvana, all that lovely, 'harmless' biomass providing nearly 3/4 of their energy needs except, of course, for:
trachoma and lung disease from cooking over open fires, plus lots of unburnt hydrocarbons and brown carbon from wood smoke, huge inefficiency losses, and other issues
The other energy source the Islanders use which is not shown on the diagram is the most efficacious in the history of Mankind - fire. The control of fire(*) is amongst the most important skills developed by the early hunters. Not only did it allow them to cook the meat they caught but also vegetable material, and this process of heating breaks:
down the indigestible fibre of plants into energy-giving carbohydrate, puts fewer demands on the teeth and alimentary canal.
(You can tell your children that the next time they fail to finish their sprouts!) Control of fire also bestowed another huge advantage for man over animals, it's careful use provided defence against big cat predators and gradually aided the establishment of safe base camps and thus the beginnings of primitive society.
But I digress. Back to the Solomon Islands where, Eschenback tells us:
Fire was our first use of a concentrated energy source, our first step towards a GDP greater than what humans can do unaided. Unfortunately, for much of the Solomon Islands, it remains the only energy available in concentrated form. Three quarters of the energy used is plain old garden variety fire. In addition to household use, it provides the energy for two of the very few ways that the rural islanders can make money – copra (dried coconut meat) and cocoa. Both require heat for drying.
Of course, there is some imported petroleum energy but 56% of it is used simply for transport, mainly in outboard motors attached to small boats which provide the only means to travel island to island or even internally on the bigger islands.
What Eschenbach's article offers is a glimpse of the 'Big Wet Green Dream' as it would be if the likes of Al Gore, Green Peace and such-like ever have their way. It also re-inforces his notion that Energy = GDP. If you ain't got the one, you won't have the other!
(*) My remarks and the quote on the subject of the critical importance that controlling fire had on the early development of Mankind is taken from:
Ideas: A History from Fire to Freud by Peter Watson
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