The following comment from KeithT brings up many issues that I am sure will be widely discussed if E-Cat energy becomes a commercially viable technology.
There will be many people who want / need / demand cheap energy; they want it and they want it now, but how will future employment be affected, how many people will be lose their jobs over the next decade or two?
Displaced energy sources; Oil, gas, coal, nuclear fission / fusion, solar, wind, wave, hydro, geothermal, biomass, heat pumps / heat recovery.
Redundant jobs associated with each of the displaced energy sources; Research, development, manufacture, installation, operation, maintenance, sales, purchasing, finance, management.
Associated industries impacted as part of redundant supply chains; Refineries, oil and gas pipelines, tanker terminals, power stations, electricity and gas transmission networks in towns and cities, mineral mining, bulk shipping, ship building, steel mills, stockholders, ports, trucking, construction vehicle industry manufacture / maintenance / operation, industrial plant construction industry, and probably others due to unforeseen unintended consequences.
If energy is low cost, why would anybody research / develop / design energy efficiency into anything, why buy and install new energy efficient replacements, house insulation, triple glazed windows, energy rated domestic white goods?
Many of the companies that operate within the various energy industries operate on the edge of financial viability. Many will quickly collapse, many will walk away from and abandon their installations and facilities leaving governments and local authorities with cleaning up the problems, abandoned oilfields / gas fields leaking into the environment, abandoned oil and gas platforms, refineries, wind turbines, electricity pylons, hydroelectric dams, etc., etc., etc. There will be a lot of employment in deconstruction, material recovery, recycling, and land remediation, but who will pay for this? I expect this is going to come from taxes.
There will be consequences for government bodies and departments, consultants, industry associations and working groups.
There will be consequences for the financial industry; shares, derivatives and pension funds will be impacted.
There are a lot of people who want low carbon cheap energy and all of the cheap goods that will come with this as low cost abundant energy feeds through the many steps in the supply chains plus all of the consequent environmental benefits, (probably two decades of financial deflation), when these same peoples jobs eventually get impacted, how will this affect the general attitude towards the new energy source within differently impacted countries? There are going to be a lot industries (and even countries) fighting for survival before failing, leaving a lot of angry people looking for someone to blame.
A lot of consequences, but as a civilization we desperately need this new energy source, the question is should it be a total immediate replacement or should it be priced to allow coexistence for a long transition period?
Transitioning to E-Cat Energy (KeithT)
The following comment from KeithT brings up many issues that I am sure will be widely discussed if E-Cat energy becomes a commercially viable technology.
There will be many people who want / need / demand cheap energy; they want it and they want it now, but how will future employment be affected, how many people will be lose their jobs over the next decade or two?
Displaced energy sources; Oil, gas, coal, nuclear fission / fusion, solar, wind, wave, hydro, geothermal, biomass, heat pumps / heat recovery.
Redundant jobs associated with each of the displaced energy sources; Research, development, manufacture, installation, operation, maintenance, sales, purchasing, finance, management.
Associated industries impacted as part of redundant supply chains; Refineries, oil and gas pipelines, tanker terminals, power stations, electricity and gas transmission networks in towns and cities, mineral mining, bulk shipping, ship building, steel mills, stockholders, ports, trucking, construction vehicle industry manufacture / maintenance / operation, industrial plant construction industry, and probably others due to unforeseen unintended consequences.
If energy is low cost, why would anybody research / develop / design energy efficiency into anything, why buy and install new energy efficient replacements, house insulation, triple glazed windows, energy rated domestic white goods?
Many of the companies that operate within the various energy industries operate on the edge of financial viability. Many will quickly collapse, many will walk away from and abandon their installations and facilities leaving governments and local authorities with cleaning up the problems, abandoned oilfields / gas fields leaking into the environment, abandoned oil and gas platforms, refineries, wind turbines, electricity pylons, hydroelectric dams, etc., etc., etc. There will be a lot of employment in deconstruction, material recovery, recycling, and land remediation, but who will pay for this? I expect this is going to come from taxes.
There will be consequences for government bodies and departments, consultants, industry associations and working groups.
There will be consequences for the financial industry; shares, derivatives and pension funds will be impacted.
There are a lot of people who want low carbon cheap energy and all of the cheap goods that will come with this as low cost abundant energy feeds through the many steps in the supply chains plus all of the consequent environmental benefits, (probably two decades of financial deflation), when these same peoples jobs eventually get impacted, how will this affect the general attitude towards the new energy source within differently impacted countries? There are going to be a lot industries (and even countries) fighting for survival before failing, leaving a lot of angry people looking for someone to blame.
A lot of consequences, but as a civilization we desperately need this new energy source, the question is should it be a total immediate replacement or should it be priced to allow coexistence for a long transition period?