Modeling the Economy As a Physics Problem 452
University of Utah physicist Tim Garrett has published a study that approaches the economy and its relation to global warming as a physics problem — and comes to some controversial conclusions: that rising carbon dioxide emissions cannot be stabilized unless the world's economy collapses or society builds the equivalent of one new nuclear power plant each day. The study was panned by economists and was rejected by several journals before its acceptance in the journal Climatic Change. "[Garrett discovered that] Throughout history, a simple physical constant... links global energy use to the world's accumulated economic productivity, adjusted for inflation. So it isn't necessary to consider population growth and standard of living in predicting society's future energy consumption and resulting carbon dioxide emissions. ... 'I'm not an economist, and I am approaching the economy as a physics problem,' Garrett says. 'I end up with a global economic growth model different than they have.' 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. That constant is 9.7 (plus or minus 0.3) milliwatts per inflation-adjusted 1990 dollar. So if you look at economic and energy production at any specific time in history, 'each inflation-adjusted 1990 dollar would be supported by 9.7 milliwatts of primary energy consumption,' Garrett says. ... Perhaps the most provocative implication of Garrett's theory is that conserving energy doesn't reduce energy use, but spurs economic growth and more energy use."
Physics problem? (Score:4, Funny)
So, is the economy or global warming treated as a perfect sphere?
Re:Physics problem? (Score:5, Funny)
Ah, but I found the solution to global warming. If we model people as an ideal gas confined to a box, increasing the number of people while keeping volume and pressure constant will decrease the temperature!
Re:Its a population crunch (Score:4, Funny)
The google ad on this page says "This is your last chance to profit from the rising cost of crude oil".
Re:Jevons Paradox (Score:3, Funny)
Wow, if only they'd mentioned that somewhere in the article...
Re:Gee wizz.. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Physics problem? (Score:4, Funny)
No no, he modeled the population as a frictionless surface that perfectly reflects all light.
Re:Physics problem? (Score:3, Funny)
Ah, but I found the solution to global warming. If we model people as an ideal gas confined to a box, increasing the number of people while keeping volume and pressure constant will decrease the temperature!
On a similar note, I've discovered the secret to faster than light travel. E=mc^2, so all we have to do is reduce mass while keeping energy constant and we can increase the speed of light.
Re:Its a population crunch (Score:4, Funny)
Or we can join the The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement. For us geeks it shouldn't be too hard... "May we live long and die out" :)
Re:Not really that surprising... (Score:4, Funny)
Your dad at least discusses his fucking jigsaw with you -- that makes him much more emotionally available than mine. I mean, my dad just will not open up about his fucking jigsaw, his boning sawhorse, his nipple-pinching vise or even his fisting workbench. Perhaps it's best if one's parents conceal those things from you.
Re:Not really that surprising... (Score:5, Funny)
Thepost-WWII period was a golden economic age for a large percentage of the population in the West. Unfortunately, with deregulation from the 1980s onwards exploitation has increased again.
Yeah, like I too, man, think that, like the whole western world came to its peak, man, at Woodstock, back in '69.
Like far out. Been a huge bummer ride since then.