Today I attended an O’Reilly webinar about energy literacy, given by Saul Griffith. (Speaking of MacArthur Fellows, in 2007 he was awarded the MacArthur Foundation’s Genius Grant.)

To be honest, I’m going to have to review the slides before I come anywhere near understanding everything I heard. However, the minimal amount I took away was daunting: even a person as “energy aware” as Mr. Griffith consumes 18,000 watts (his 2007 estimate), but at the planet’s current energy production, we should be consuming more on the order of 2,500 watts each.

Meanwhile, although green/clean technologies are more efficient than what we have, they don’t produce enough energy for our ever-increasing needs. Nuclear power needs to be considered. And green/clean technologies come at certain energy costs themselves.

To add raspberry sauce to this already delicious cheesecake, the planet is warming at an alarming rate, which will lead not only to environmental catastrophes (whole cities, even countries, disappearing), but to “resource wars.”

Ah well; as one of the participants said in the chat window: “One person’s depression is another’s opportunity.” Anyone got any exciting planet-saving and lucrative ideas they’d like to share?

Take a gander at Mr. Griffith’s slides–if you dare!:

O’Reilly Webcast. Energy Literacy. September 23 02009.

Update:
The slides are now available on the O’Reilly webcast site, complete with Mr. Griffith’s narration:

Energy Literacy Webcast on the O’Reilly Site.