[quote=Eugene][quote=CognitiveDissonance]
Absolutely, they did! Actually today’s middle class uses more energy than kings of old. The US could get by on our internal allotment, which is 1/3 the amount, though, it would change the landscape, tremendously. You also have distribution issues with the top of the social strata trying to keep their allotment the same. Europe’s per capita is half of what American’s is today.[/quote]
Is our internal allotment affected at all by widespread introduction of solar panels?[/quote]
Solar is a great technology and will be of wide spread use in the future. However, it is not going to influence this transition we are going to get hit with. Solar + geothermal will be the energies of the future. But, there is nothing to keep the global economy chugging along over the next decade. That is impossible.
The recent increases and planned solar installations are but a drop in the bucket of soon to come energy declines. As well, geothermal has not been started and will take a decade to even get started.
This is primarily a systemic issue, not necessarily(though I know it can be looked at as such) a shortage of anything.
Heck, the world could get by on a fraction of the oil we use but our economy can’t – hence the paradox that is hard for people to wrap their minds around
