Energy slave

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Relationship of energy slaves to human employees in a labor-intensive company
Ratio of energy slaves to human employees in an energy-intensive company with few jobs

The term energy slave (partly technical slave ) describes the fact that a wide range of human activities through the use of energy be simplified or completely replaced by the human energy itself work can. The concept illustrates the energy demand for certain activities , which is currently mainly covered by fossil fuels, using a hypothetical alternative labor force in the form of a human slave . An energy slave is the amount of energy (ability to do work) that replaces a unit of human work in the production and drive of non-human infrastructure (for example: vehicles , machines , escalators , roads , tools , etc.) .

history

The term (English Energy Slave ) was first used by Richard Buckminster Fuller in the caption of an illustration for the February 1940 issue of Fortune magazine entitled "World Energy". Alfred Ubbelohde apparently coined the term independently in his 1955 book "Mensch und Energie". The term became popular in the 1960s and is usually attributed to Fuller.

In the German-speaking world, the introduction of the term is associated with the name Hans-Peter Dürr and has developed into a key figure in the environmental debate.

calculation

According to Armaroli and Balzani , a person is able to produce up to 800 watts for a short period of time with maximum performance . However, it can only provide around 80 watts over the long term. According to another work, a person is able to achieve a continuous output of 0.06 kW during physical activity , and 0.1 kW with piecework output. The consumption of primary energy in Germany per capita is almost 100 times higher than the continuous human output.

An energy slave is comparable to a machine that, when in full operation, needs as much energy or does as much work as a hard worker does. In order to facilitate work processes and for general lifestyle, an average German “employs” around 40 energy slaves, and an average US American around 80 energy slaves. Other calculations assume around 110 energy slaves per US-American and 60 for Europeans.

Examples

A washing machine needs an output of 800 watts during operation, which corresponds to around 10 energy slaves with 80 watts each. An electrical building heating system with an output of 2.5 kW, which can be used to heat a small room, corresponds to more than 30 energy slaves. A medium-sized automobile that drives on a motorway with an output of 80 kW required 1000 energy slaves in order to be able to deliver the same output. To power a Boeing 747 jumbo jet , which develops an output of approx. 80 MW when it takes off, by muscle power, around one million human slaves would be required.

Web links

Commons : Energy slave  - collection of images
  • Energy slaves from the socket "To the energy exhibition in the Deutsches Museum:" How much heat do humans need? ", By Michael Andritzky 1995 (PDF file)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ekkehard W. Zerbst: Bionics: Biological functional principles and their technical applications . Springer-Verlag, 2013, p. 233 ( full text in Google Book Search).
  2. ↑ Jörg Blumtritt: The army of technical slaves. www.slow-media.net, July 27, 2010, accessed April 7, 2017 .
  3. ^ Bernward Janzing : The energy transition. On the long way to the 2000 watt society. www.badische-zeitung.de, January 9, 2009, accessed April 7, 2017 .
  4. ↑ a b c Cf. Nicola Armaroli , Vincenzo Balzani : Energy for a Sustainable World. From the Oil Age to a Sun-Powered Future . Weinheim 2011, p. 29.
  5. ↑ Jean-Marc Jancovici: How much of a slave master am I? jancovici.com, accessed March 26, 2017 .
  6. ^ Richard Buckminster Fuller: Your Private Sky . Springer-Verlag, 1999, p. 524 ( full text in Google Book Search).
  7. ^ Philip Ragan: WORLD ENERGY. A Map by R. Buckminster Fuller. December 17, 2005, accessed March 26, 2017 .
  8. ^ Daniel A. Barber: A House in the Sun: Modern Architecture and Solar Energy in the Cold War . Oxford University Press, 2016, pp. 320 ( full text in Google Book Search).
  9. ^ R. Buckminster Fuller: World Game Series: Document 1 . Springer-Verlag, 1961, p. 182 ( full text in Google Book Search).
  10. ^ Alfred René Ubbelohde: Man and energy . Penguin Books, 1963, pp. 223 ( full text in Google Book Search).
  11. ↑ Christiane Grefe: Energy slaves in the poverty trap. Without solar, wind and water power, population growth in the Third World will not be stopped. www.zeit.de, October 7, 1999, accessed January 1, 2017 .
  12. ↑ Peter Bendixen: Turning of civilization: Technical progress and prosperity under stress . Springer-Verlag, 2012, p. 351 ( full text in Google Book Search).
  13. ↑ Regina Oehler: We need a new frugal life. No fear of leaving the age of high-performance energy, says Regina Oehler in SWR2 on the morning of March 22, 2011. www.swr.de, March 22, 2011, accessed April 1, 2017 .
  14. ^ Carl Amery, Hermann Scheer, Christiane Grefe: Climate change: from fossils to solar culture . Kunstmann, 2001 ( full text in the Google book search).
  15. ↑ Peter Bendixen: Turning of civilization: Technical progress and prosperity under stress . Springer-Verlag, 2012, p. 351 ( full text in Google Book Search).
  16. ↑ Achim Dittmann, Joachim Zschernig (eds.): Energiewirtschaft, Teubner Verlag Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-519-06361-1
  17. ^ Niko Paech: Fundamentals of a post-growth economy. www.postwachstumsoekonomie.de, 2017, accessed on April 7, 2017 .
  18. ↑ Reiner Kümmel: The fourth dimension of creation: God, nature and seeing into time . Springer-Verlag, 2014, p. 234 ( full text in Google Book Search).
  19. ↑ Tilman Langner: How much power do humans have? Work and performance of man and machine (Kl. 7/8). www.umweltschulen.de, January 30, 2016, accessed April 1, 2017 .
  20. ↑ Hans-Peter Dürr in an interview with Michael Kraft: Interview with Hans-Peter Dürr. (No longer available online.) Www.shitesite.de, June 23, 2007, archived from the original on April 13, 2017 ; Retrieved April 1, 2017 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.shitesite.de
  21. ↑ Ulrich Brand, Norbert Nicoll : Adieu, Growth !: The end of a success story . Tectum Wissenschaftsverlag, 2016, p. 432 ( full text in Google Book Search).