Paulo Bacigalupi's science fiction novel, The Windup Girl, posits a greenhouse future where there are few remaining usable sources of stored chemical energy, little solar/wind, and just barely...
Paulo Bacigalupi's science fiction novel, The Windup Girl, posits a greenhouse future where there are few remaining usable sources of stored chemical energy, little solar/wind, and just barely enough dangerous biotech. Human-powered clockwork and biomechanical energy storage are the primary functioning power sources for industry and transportation, and there's not quite enough food to keep humans fueled.
While we might do better than that ghastly dystopian hellscape, it's important to remember that what needs to be powered is much more far-reaching and interconnected than the tasks a small people-powered village can accomplish.
although this article is approaching two years old, it's still an interesting one (as are most of the articles done by low tech magazine, which i'd encourage you to read through sometime) and it...
although this article is approaching two years old, it's still an interesting one (as are most of the articles done by low tech magazine, which i'd encourage you to read through sometime) and it also presents an interesting case for human power--but also the limits of it and the potential drawbacks that. the human power plant project they bring up is also pretty neat, and i've actually never thought of it as a viable option before for smaller communities or groups of people.
Paulo Bacigalupi's science fiction novel, The Windup Girl, posits a greenhouse future where there are few remaining usable sources of stored chemical energy, little solar/wind, and just barely enough dangerous biotech. Human-powered clockwork and biomechanical energy storage are the primary functioning power sources for industry and transportation, and there's not quite enough food to keep humans fueled.
While we might do better than that ghastly dystopian hellscape, it's important to remember that what needs to be powered is much more far-reaching and interconnected than the tasks a small people-powered village can accomplish.
although this article is approaching two years old, it's still an interesting one (as are most of the articles done by low tech magazine, which i'd encourage you to read through sometime) and it also presents an interesting case for human power--but also the limits of it and the potential drawbacks that. the human power plant project they bring up is also pretty neat, and i've actually never thought of it as a viable option before for smaller communities or groups of people.