Vi skal bygge et atomkraftværk hver eneste dag...

...hvis bare vi vil stabilisere udledningen af CO2 på det nuværende niveau.

Det kommer Tim Garrett fra University of Utah frem til i en netop offentliggjort artikel i tidsskriftet Climatic Change.

Han har i øvrigt opstillet en interessant teori om sammenhængen mellem energiforbrug og civilisationsstade:

Garrett treats civilization like a "heat engine" that "consumes energy and does 'work' in the form of economic production, which then spurs it to consume more energy," he says.

"If society consumed no energy, civilization would be worthless," he adds. "It is only by consuming energy that civilization is able to maintain the activities that give it economic value. This means that if we ever start to run out of energy, then the value of civilization is going to fall and even collapse absent discovery of new energy sources."

...

"Economists think you need population and standard of living to estimate productivity," he says. "In my model, all you need to know is how fast energy consumption is rising. The reason why is because there is this link between the economy and rates of energy consumption, and it's just a constant factor."

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_re...