A question of energy: Which way forward
By David
Perez
Nothing is more basic for human survival and growth than
energy. Whether it's the conversion of food and water into
energy that nourishes the human body, or the use of natural
resources to provide energy for human production, the question
of energy is fundamental to all existence.
Energy is so central to society--especially in modern
industrialized countries -- that it constitutes its nervous
system. Energy heats peoples' homes, powers vehicles,
electrifies offices and schools, and fuels manufacturing.
Energy, however, is not just a material phenomenon. Its
history, production and use flow from socio-economic and
political conditions. And this is the crux of the problem.
Fossil fuels
In the current epoch, approximately three-fourths of the
world's energy is derived from the burning of carbon-based
fossil fuels - coal, oil and natural gas. This reflects the
historic role played first by King Coal and, in the 20th
century, by Big Oil.
As Daniel Yergin explains in his book, "The Prize: The Epic
Quest for Oil, Money and Power," the rise of the energy
monopolies ran parallel to the rise of world capitalism,
particularly in the United States. Coal and steam powered the
Industrial Revolution and increased the concentration of
capital into fewer and fewer hands. With the discovery of oil
in the late 1800s, capital went abroad and imperial dynasties
were built.
Big Oil became both the engine that fueled the imperialist
military machines and the coveted treasure in countries with
"black gold." Great national liberation struggles and
revolutions were fought with oil at center stage--from Mexico
to Iran. Today, oil-rich countries are still the targets of
U.S.-led aggression, Iraq being but the latest example.
So huge has oil wealth become that of the top 20 companies
currently in the Fortune 500, seven are oil companies. The
planned super-merger of Texaco and Amoco will change the
configuration, but not the influence.
While coal is no longer at the throne, it too continues to
be a dominant force in world energy production. In China for
instance the burning of coal provides 75 percent of the
country's energy needs. On the other hand, in 1995 China's
State Planning Commission announced it would give increasing
attention to diversifying energy sources and to curb pollution
from coal plants.
Global warming
Besides causing pollution, it has been well documented that
burning fossil fuels raises the amount of carbon dioxide, or C0
2, that is released into the atmosphere. CO2 is called a
greenhouse gas because it traps heat radiated from the sun into
the atmosphere. When too much of this "greenhouse effect"
occurs, the planet becomes unnaturally hotter. This is called
global warming.
According to the Worldwatch Institute, atmospheric
concentrations of carbon dioxide are at their highest level in
160,000 years--and rising every year. Global temperatures are
climbing also. The latest jump in 1998 left the global
temperature at its highest level since record keeping began in
the mid-19th century.
Among other things, with a warmer atmosphere water from the
oceans evaporates and becomes water vapor. This increases air
moisture, which in turn increases the intensity of rainstorms,
nighttime temperatures and humidity. As a result the earth is
experiencing a seemingly endless procession of record-breaking
climatic disasters --from hurricanes to mudslides to
floods.
The U.S. alone has sustained 37 weather-related disasters in
the past 17 years in which overall damages and costs reached or
exceeded $1 billion. Thirty-one of these disasters occurred
during the 1988-1998 period. Thousands of lives were lost.
Along with death has come growing disease. Physicians at
Harvard University and Johns Hopkins Medical Schools, among
others, have issued grim assessments that global warming may
already be causing the spread of infectious diseases, such as
cholera and malaria.
Point of no return?
Some environmentalists think the earth can afford to absorb
only a limited amount of additional carbon into the atmosphere
before a "safety limit" is breached, a point where climate
change happens so fast that ecosystems are unable to adapt.
Greenpeace, an activist-oriented environmental organization,
believes a temperature increase of 1 degree Celsius is the
absolute maximum allowable.
"If we continue burning fossil fuels at present levels, the
`safe' limit of 1-degree C will be reached in just 40 years.
The oil companies alone have already found enough oil to cause
dangerous climate change. Yet they continue to look for more.
And of course once they have invested in finding the oil, they
will not be prepared to give up their right to pump it out and
sell it." (Greenpeace Web page)
Adding to the sense of urgency is rapid population growth.
During the past century, world population grew by more than 4
billion--three times the number of people alive when the
century began. At the same time, the use of energy and raw
materials grew more than ten times.
Energy use has not been evenly distributed, of course.
Developed capitalist countries like the U.S., France and
Germany not only consume more energy, but monopolies based in
these countries explore, extract and exploit the energy
resources of less developed countries. A recent United Nations
study found that 20 percent of the world's population living in
the wealthiest countries consume 86 percent of the world's
goods and services. The poorest 20 percent consume only 1.3
percent.
The sun and the wind
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, coal and
petroleum use are projected to rise in the next few years.
Meanwhile, alternative energy sources that are cleaner and more
efficient are given short shrift.
Take solar energy. The earth receives only one-half of
one-billionth of the sun's radiant energy. But in just a few
days, the planet receives as much heat and light as could be
produced by burning all the oil, coal and wood on the
planet.
Then there's wind power. According to a Danish study, the
states of North Dakota, South Dakota and Texas have sufficient
wind capacity to provide electricity for the entire United
States.
Both solar and wind energy are renewable and virtually
limitless. Oil, coal and natural gas, on the other hand are
finite. Most environmentalists agree that, at best, oil
reserves will last another century.
Despite this, federal spending on renewable energy research
has fallen from a high of $700 million in 1980 to about $270
million in recent years. In the meantime, the U.S. government
subsidizes its oil industry to a tune of $20 billion a year.
Another $10 billion is given to lace the coffers of the nuclear
industry.
Other alternatives
In her book, "The Coming Energy Revolution: The Search for
Free Energy," journalist Jeanne Manning describes several
innovative energy techniques being developed by engineers and
scientists worldwide--in India, Japan, Bolivia, the U.S. and
elsewhere.
Among the eyebrow-raising inventions are an energy device
with no moving parts; magnets that draw energy from space; and
gadgets that harness hydrogen, the most abundant substance in
the universe. There's also a device based on low-impact
waterpower--a way to use one of the world's oldest energy
sources without the need for expensive dams.
Many of these inventions are based on the premise that space
is not empty, but a sea of dynamic energy that is as boundless
as it is untapped. This is why some call it "free energy" or
"zero-point energy." Capital being what it is however, you can
forget about it being free.
For instance, at the time of its development, the splitting
of the atom, i.e., nuclear power, was supposed to herald a new
age of low-cost, almost limitless energy. In the hands of the
U.S. capitalist class, it was used to incinerate the Japanese
people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After World War II, the
bosses found another home for nuclear power in electricity
production. Over 200 nuclear power plants were planned across
the country, and homes were built with all-electric heating
systems that would be "too cheap to meter."
As history has shown, this "cheap" came with a heavy price
tag. The pillaging of Native land for uranium, the buildup of
deadly toxic waste in mostly communities of color, and the
constant danger of accidental meltdowns are just some of the
"benefits" humanity has derived from having this energy source
developed by the U.S. military-industrial complex.
Cold fusion
Manning also details work on cold fusion. Fusion is the
opposite of fission, which is the splitting of an atomic
nucleus--the process behind nuclear power plants and the atomic
bomb. Fusion is the joining together of atomic nuclei, and is
the process that energizes the sun.
As a whole, scientists believe fusion is only possible under
extremely high temperatures. Proponents of cold fusion think
otherwise. Their conviction that fusion can be achieved under
normal room temperatures has raised a lot of controversy.
Nonetheless, progress has been attained.
Commenting on cold fusion's development, noted writer and
scientist Arthur C. Clarke remarked: "Very few Americans seem
to know what is happening, which is incredible. [Cold fusion]
is all over the world, except the United States. There are
hundreds of laboratories doing it; they've got patents all over
the place. The prototypes are on sale now. There are 7,000
units operating in Russia right now, and no one in the United
States seems to know about it." (Discover magazine, May
1997)
Actually, Dr. James Patterson, a 75-year old inventor, was
recently granted the first U.S. patent for a cold fusion
apparatus, according to Infinite Energy Magazine. The Patterson
Power Cell works with ordinary water and demonstrated on the TV
show "Good Morning America" (June 11, 1997) its ability to
substantially reduce the radioactivity of uranium--performing
in several hours what nature takes billions of years of slow
decay to accomplish.
Patents are part of the problem
The issue of patents, however, highlights the contradiction
of the profit system. Many of those involved in alternative
energy technologies decry the difficulties in getting patents
for their inventions. This is undoubtedly true, and reflects
the control exerted by Big Energy over research and
development--from the universities to the laboratories.
On the other hand, the patent system feeds the very
competition and secrecy that have caused so much misery in the
world. It sets up a race for ownership and wealth, and lets the
capitalist mode of production and exchange set the energy
agenda. Moreover, it plays right into the hand of big
business.
Bill Ford, chairperson of the Ford Motor Company, is a case
in point. According to the Worldwatch Institute, Ford is
reportedly considering replacing the internal combustion engine
that was at the center of his great-grandfather's success with
an engine based on something other than petrol. "Smart
companies will get ahead of the wave," says Ford. "Those that
don't will be wiped out."
The heads of corporations--not to mention the
military-intelligence community - are notorious for keeping
research and development under lock and key. Under the whip of
competition, of not wanting to be "wiped out," they engage
themselves in a life-and-death battle for patents so as to keep
a monopoly on knowledge and power.
In addition, they leave open no room for the working class
as a force to have a say in the matter. The workers are driven
like cattle from one industry to another, and at best, the
communities are allowed limited "public hearings" to air
grievances.
No, the energy crisis, upon which so much hangs in the
balance, cannot be solved on the basis of a system whose
essence is private ownership and the profit motive. More than
anything else, energy is both universal and social in
character. It is not something to be owned by individual
financial cliques.
Building an environmentally sustainable world economy
depends on a cooperative global effort. No one country can
protect the diversity of life on earth or the health of oceanic
fisheries. Further, the struggle for a new energy agenda must
go hand in hand with the struggle for equality, social justice
and human liberation. Clean energy will be meaningless if one
billion people continue to live in poverty.
These facts speak to the need to rid the planet of the
scourge of capital and its twin engines of competition and
monopoly.
Moving towards a new energy paradigm will not, of course, be
easy. As Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ross Gelspan wrote:
"The prospect of tampering with this intricate, all-pervasive
resource and institution is overwhelming. The scale of the
problem begets paralysis. But what choice have we?"
What choice indeed.
Sources, besides those mentioned above are: Isaac
Asimov's Book of Facts; Anatomy of the Economic Crisis , Sam
Marcy, Worldview Publishers; The Heat is On: The High
Stakes of Global Warming , Ross Gelspan; National Climatic
Data Center; Infinite Energy Magazine; Liberation &
Marxism magazine; and the web sites of the Union of
Concerned Scientists, the New Scientist, and the Sierra
Club.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
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