Energy and the Wealth of Nations (eBook)

Charles A.S. Hall is a Systems Ecologist who received his PhD under Howard T. Odum at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Hall is the author or editor of seven books and more than 250 scholarly articles. He is best known for his development of the concept of EROI, or energy return on investment, which is an examination of how organisms, including humans, invest energy into obtaining additional energy to improve biotic or social fitness. He has applied these approaches to fish migrations, carbon balance, tropical land use change and the extraction of petroleum and other fuels in both natural and human-dominated ecosystems. Presently he is developing a new field, biophysical economics, as a supplement or alternative to conventional neoclassical economics, while applying systems and EROI thinking to a broad series of resource and economic issues. Kent A. Klitgaard is Professor of Economics and the Patti McGill Peterson Professor of Social Sciences at Wells College in Aurora, New York, where he has taught since 1991. Kent received his Bachelor’s degree at San Diego State University and his Master’s and PhD at the University of New Hampshire. At Wells, he teaches a diverse array of courses including the History of Economic Thought, Political Economy, Ecological Economics, The Economics of Energy, Technology and the Labor Process, and Microeconomic Theory, and is a co-founder of the Environmental Studies Program. Kent is active in the International Society for Ecological Economics, and is a founding member of the International Society for Biophysical Economics. Recently, his interests have turned towards the degrowth movement, and he has published multiple papers on the subject for Research and Degrowth. He has two children, and is interested in the outdoors in general: from hiking to beach walking to the occasional round of golf (despite the high energy use of golf courses). Kent is a Californian who still surfs the frigid waters of New England when he gets a chance. This is his first book.

Part I. Energy and the Origins of WealthChapter 1.  Poverty, Wealth, and Human AmbitionChapter 2. Energy and Wealth Production: An historical perspectiveChapter 3.  The Petroleum Revolution I: The first half of the age of oilPart II. Energy, Economics and the Structure of SocietyChapter 4.  Explaining Economics from an Energy PerspectiveChapter 5.  The Limits of Conventional EconomicsChapter 6.  The Petroleum Revolution II: Concentrated Power and Concentrated IndustriesChapter 7.  The Postwar Economic Order, Growth and the Hydrocarbon EconomyChapter 8.  Globalization and EfficiencyChapter 9.  Are there Limits to Growth? Examining the EvidencePart III. Energy and Economics—the BasicsChapter 10.  What is Energy and How is it Related to Wealth Production?Chapter 11.  The Basic Science Needed to Understand the Relation of Energy to EconomicsChapter 12.  The Required Quantitative SkillsChapter 13.  Economics as Science: Social or Biophysical? Part IV. The Science Behind How Economies WorkChapter 14.  Energy Return on Investment Chapter 15.  Peak Oil, EROI, Investments and Our Financial FutureChapter 16.  The Role of Economic Models for Good and EvilChapter 17.  How to do Biophysical EconomicsPart V. Understanding How Real World Economies WorkChapter 18.  Peak Oil, the Great Recession and the Quest for SustainabilityChapter 19.  Environmental Considerations: Beyond ExternalitiesChapter 20.  Living the Good Life in a Lower EROI World