Author(s)

Leiva, Benjamin;Schramski, John

Book, Journal

NA NA, NA, NA 2021-05-03

Abstract

Abstract Efforts to accommodate the growth in global energy consumption within a fragile biosphere are primarily focused on managing the transition towards a low-carbon energy mix. We show evidence that a more fundamental problem exists through a scaling relation, akin to Kleiber’s Law, between society’s energy consumption and material stocks. Humanity’s energy consumption scales at 0.78 of its material stocks, which implies predictable environmental pressure regardless of the energy mix. If true, future global energy scenarios imply vast amounts of materials and corresponding environmental degradation, which have not been adequately acknowledged. Thus, limits to energy consumption are needed regardless of the energy mix to stabilize human intervention in the biosphere.

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-66396/v2

NA: Nicht verfügbar