Energy and Civilization
by Vaclav Smil · first published 2017
72% recommend25% neutral3% critical
Why HN recommends it
Sweeping history of how energy sources shaped human societies, from farming and muscle power to fossil fuels. Recommended to readers who want to see technology and population growth as functions of energy.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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…I highly recommend watching. Bill demonstrates a sophisticated understanding of energy systems, guided by one of his favorite authors (Vaclav Smil) who recently wrote the incredible and humbling book, Energy and Civilization [2]. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1EB1zsxW0k [2] https://www.gatesnotes.com/Books/Energy-and-Civilization
on “Cheap renewables won’t stop global warming (2018)” ↗…reduced carbon intensity in our economy is the potential of physical resource limitations, not intentional human action. If you study the way energy impacts our civilization (highly recommend Smil's "Energy and Civilization"), it's fairly obvious, if not hard to swallow, that we cannot reduce carbon emissions radically enough in a short enough time span without also destroying the global economy. Destroying the economy today…
on “Tuvalu looking at legal ways to be a state if it is submerged” ↗…world without massive amount of hydrocarbons the Haber-Bosch process is never discovered. We know this because technological advancement trail energy discovery. I highly recommend reading through Smil's Energy and Civilization to get a better sense of this. We are like yeast brewing in a giant vat of malted barely, seeing a what looks like an infinite amount of energy, expanding well beyond the sustainable carrying capacity…
on “Can growth continue?” ↗If you're interested in learning more about the big picture connection between our human society and energy, I recommend "Energy and Civilization: A History," by Vaclav Smil. My biggest takeaway from his book is that transitioning a society to affluence requires, at minimum, 22.6 megawatt hours of energy per capita per year. High energy societies…
on ““Energy in the Future”: a time capsule of energy concerns from 1953” ↗…belief that everything will be fine because "technology" will find a way. What these people fail to recognize is that technology is a function of energy. This comes across pretty clearly in Vaclav Smil's Energy and Civilization. Technology has felt magical in the last 250 years because we have had a tremendous amount of energy. There is a very common myth, one I used to believe myself, that magically in the age of reason man…
on “It’s official: July was Earth’s hottest month on record” ↗…is as it's always been, the power source of the future. And always will be, as the punch line goes. That's the lineup. Murphy has a good overview of numbers. Vaclav Smil in numerous of his books (Energy and Civilization and Energy in World History, an earlier edition of the same book, though with somewhat different organisation, as well as others) takes a deeper dive into many of these issues. Mind that solving the…
on ““Energy in the Future”: a time capsule of energy concerns from 1953” ↗…of sources, transports, and consumers of oil and gas loom large in recent histories. I recommend Daniel Yergin's The Prize (1991) with its treatments of WWI, WWII, and the Cold War, and Vaclav Smils' Energy and Civilization (2017) which addresses more technically the role of energy in human progress. (There are a few other histories through the lens of energy I could recommend as well if you're interested.) The role of…
on “After years of doubts, hopes grow that nuclear fusion is near” ↗…much-needed insight into what it was like to be Vietnamese and caught between both sides. Despite how dark it is, The Sympathizer is a gripping story about a double agent and the trouble he gets himself into. >Energy and Civilization: A History, by Vaclav Smil. Smil is one of my favorite authors, and this is his masterpiece. He lays out how our need for energy has shaped human history—from the era of donkey-powered mills to today’s…
on “Books I read this year” ↗…of Scarcity: https://www.worldcat.org/title/ecology-and-the-politics-of-s... Ophul's bibliographies are excellent, one online: https://old.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/6fgq8g/william... Smil, Energy and Civilization: https://www.worldcat.org/title/energy-and-civilization-a-his... Weissenbacher, Sources of Power (2 vols): https://www.worldcat.org/title/sources-of-power-how-energy-f...
on “Overpopulation Is a Myth” ↗…be a development unprecedented since the introduction of Bessemer process furnaces in the 1860s. Vaclav Smil writes on many energy and resource topics, and covers steel from both perspectives in his Energy and Civilization and Making the Modern World books. I'd strongly recommend both. What I'm finding odd with the article is that Bloomberg appear to be principally citing themselves as sources. I'm reviewing literature…
on “Hydrogen Could Replace Coke in Steel Production” ↗…come into the state that require energy in other countries, but all of the capital the flows in as well that ultimately has it's source in energy someplace else on the globe. I recommend reading Smil's Energy and Civilization for a better picture of this.
on “Satellite finds methane leaks from gas pipelines” ↗…over time, and long-term efficiency curves over multiple cycles of technological development exist and are well known within the field. I strongly recommend Vaclav Smil's Energy in World History and Energy and Civilization for multiple instances of these . Typically what's seen within any given technology is an asymptotic approach toward limits, punctuated by newly-introduced technologies which boost the potential efficiency…
on “Are there limits to economic growth?” ↗…Do you understand that climate change preventing food from growing will interfere with the survival of the people who deliver the energy? Of course energy is vital to human existence, I recommend e.g. Energy and Civilization by Vaclav Smil to anyone who wants to understand this in great detail: https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/energy-and-civilization But the climate crisis will interfere with energy production and delivery,…
on “Keet – P2P Video and Text” ↗…author, his latest book really covers a range of topics from energy to food and how solving these problems are not as simple as people think. If you like these types of books, his other book (more dense) Energy and Civilization: A History is something I would highly recommend. Leadership ---------- To Risk It All: Nine Conflicts and the Crucible of Decision Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win Execution:…
on “Ask HN: What are your favorite books/courses of 2022? Why?” ↗…build, transported, installed and then disposed off. Recommended reading: "Sustainable Energy – Without the Hot Air" by Sir David John Cameron MacKay https://withouthotair.com/ Books by Vaclav Smil: Energy and Civilization: A History Energy Transitions: Global and National Perspectives How the World Really Works "Why Nuclear Power Has Been A Flop" - The Gordian Knot of the 21st Century https://gordianknotbook.com/ There…
on “Solar panels at Lidl? Plug-in versions set to appear in shops” ↗