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Draft article on Energy and society...

"If it is true that there is a general agreement about the existence of a link between energy and society, it is also true that so far, attempts to quantify this link have not delivered simple and easy-to-use analytical tools." (Giampietro and Mayumi, 2009)

‘Indeed, the scientists in this field ... were forced to admit that using energy as a numeraire to describe and analyse changes in the characteristics of ecological and socio-economic systems proved to be more complicated than one had anticipated’ (Giampietro and Ulgiati, 2005).

"We firmly believe that the failure to provide robust analytical procedures in the field of energy analysis can be ascribed to systemic problems associated with the conceptualization of the term ‘energy’, which is semantically very rich and therefore open to different criteria for quantification. This is a profound problem that affects elementary concepts (when dealing with aggregation – when and how to sum different energy forms) and quantitative analysis (when developing indicators based on the assessment of energy ‘input/output’). In spite of this epistemological challenge, we are convinced that energy analysis has the potential to make a useful contribution to policy-making, especially when dealing with energy issues. It is for this reason that we make the effort to show the semantic problems that afflict and limit the methodological tools currently in use in the field of energy analysis – for example, the calculation of EROI in its present form – and how the framework of bio-economics could be used to improve these tools." (Giampietro and Mayumi, 2009)

"Building on the ideas of the pioneers of energetics, in the 1970s and 1980s the field of energy analysis experienced an explosion of research activity in relation to several different applications. The most important are listed below: • the energy analysis of agricultural production and, in general, the relation between energy consumption and food production (Steinhart and Steinhart, 1974; Leach, 1976; Slesser, 1978; Pimentel and Pimentel, 1979; Smil, 1983; 1988; Stout, 1991; 1992); • anthropological studies of the link between energy and society (Cipolla, 1965; Rappaport, 1968; 1971; Adams, 1988; Debeir et al, 1991; Fischer- Kowalski and Haberl, 2007); • the analysis of economic performance based on the concept of embodied energy (Herendeen and Bullard, 1976; Costanza, 1980; 1981; Hannon, 1981; 1982; Herendeen, 1981; 1998; Slesser and King, 2003); • the analysis of economic performance in relation to the different qualities of energy forms and natural resources (Cleveland et al, 1984; 2000; Hall et al, 1986; Gever et al, 1991; Kaufmann, 1992; Hall, 2000; Ayres et al, 2003; Ayres and Warr, 2005); and • the integrated analysis of the issue of sustainability (Tsuchida and Murota, 1987; Watt, 1989; 1991; Smil, 1991; 2001; 2003; 2008; Allen and Hoekstra, 1992; Kay and Schneider, 1992; Schneider and Kay, 1994; Kay, 2000; Allen et al, 2003)." (from Giampietro and Mayumi, 2009)

"Now, in the third millennium, the two challenges of climate change and peak oil have returned the topic of ‘energy and society’ to the political and scientific agenda. The re-opening of the tap of research funds has generated a revival of interest in this field. But who are our new generation of energy analysts? Has this new generation of scientists, encouraged by funding for alternative energy sources, learned anything from the body of knowledge already available in the field of energetics? Did they bother to study the enor- mous amount of work done on this topic, for more than a century, by a remarkable group of outstanding scientists?" (Giampietro and Mayumi, 2009)

Smil, Vaclav (2008). Energy in nature and society: general energetics of complex systems. Cambridge, USA: MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-19565-8.