Diminishing Energy

Abstract

As mentioned in Chapter 3, the immutable laws of thermodynamics appear to place a limit on how well we can be stewards of our planet. To recap, the first law states that all energy is conserved. This means that no matter what you do, you cannot get more energy out of a system than you put into it. And some of that energy is inevitably wasted, which is the second law of thermodynamics. Translated into a discussion of global energy supplies, at least when we limit ourselves to discussing the energy problem and planet Earth, these two laws tell us that no matter how clever we may be, no matter how resourceful we become, no matter how hard we try, we will always waste some of the energy we consume.

They are all gone away, The House is shut and still, There is nothing more to say. Through broken walls and gray The winds blow bleak and shrill; They are all gone away.

Edwin Arlington Robinson, from “The House on the Hill”