Since the rapid rise in the price of oil, the idea of using “alternative energy sources” has become increasingly fashionable. However, only a small fraction of current energy research is put into alternative energy sources. For example in the EEC’s 1977 energy research budget, only 5.3 per cent, was allocated to solar power and nuclear fusion research. The question this article attempts to answer is why governments are investing so little money in alternative energy sources compared to nuclear fission. In doing this, it will be seen that the so-called “energy crisis” arises out of the problems of capitalism, not out of any shortage of natural resources.
There are two aspects to the question: First, production of energy and second, its efficient use. Until recently the latter question was completely ignored, but it is very important because capitalist production is enormously wasteful of natural resources in general and energy in particular. A good example of this is that in the generation of electricity a large quantity of reject heat is produced in the form of hot water. Somebody unfamiliar with the workings of capitalism might assume that this hot water would be used for domestic supplies, to heat buildings, etc. In fact, with the exception of one power station in the UK, the only thing this hot water is used for is the pollution of rivers. The reason for this is given in the Government discussion document “Energy Research and Development in the UK”, as follows:
The capital costs associated with upgrading, distributing and utilising the reject heat (from power stations) would necessarily be large, and might be difficult to justify while there are available less capital intensive alternatives of meeting energy needs such as the supply of natural gas through existing mains direct to consumers. Furthermore, the development of significantly large markets for the heat would take place only within a long time scale and in many cases the associated costs could more than offset the fuel saving attractions, (HMSO 1976)
In short, hot water is used to create thermal pollution instead of heating homes while OAP’s die of hypothermia, for one simple reason—profit. This is a classic example of capitalist production; it creates the technological potential to satisfy human needs but does not do so because production is determined by the needs of the market, not by human needs.
One of the most important uses of energy is in agriculture. It is interesting to note that modern agriculture could provide all its own energy by using the energy of the inedible parts of crops. This is not based on the claim of an alternative energy freak, but on an article by Professor Revelle of Harvard
University. He writes:-
Most, perhaps all of the energy needed in modern high-yielding agriculture could be provided by the farmers themselves. For every ton of cereal grain there are two tons of humanly inedible crop residues with an energy content considerably greater than the food in the grain. If only half of this energy could be recovered by the fermentative production of methane or alcohol, the energy requirements for modern agriculture including energy for the production of chemical fertilizers, could be fully satisfied.(Scientific American, September 1976)
It is possible to give many other examples of how wasteful capitalist production is. As one instance of how ridiculous it is to talk about conservation in terms of capitalist production, consider the recent “save it” campaign. This of course was stopped because the CEGB wanted to sell more electricity, not less!
One of the most talked-about forms of alternative energy is solar power. The reason for this is simple; there is so much solar energy around. While the sun is shining, the energy equivalent of a gallon of petrol falls on the area the size of a tennis court about every ten minutes. It is not just solar fanatics who realize the potential for solar power. For example Bruce Chalmers, Professor of metallurgy at Harvard writes:
It is paradoxical that Americans should be concerned about their supply of energy even as the US is receiving energy from the sun at 500 times the rate at which they use it for all purposes.(Scientific American, October 1976)
Photovoltaic cells can convert this energy into electricity with an efficiency of up to 25 per cent. The explanation of the paradox is money, of course. As Chalmers explains, solar power must be achieved “at prices that are competitive with those of other sources of energy.”
At present, solar power cells cost $20,000 per kilowatt compared to about $500 per kilowatt for a fuel-burning power station. The reason for the high cost is very small-scale production and the expense of silicon. Yet silicon is one of the most abundant elements in the earth’s crust. (So much for the “shortage of resources” theory!)
The reason for the high cost of semiconductor grade silicon, according to Chalmers, is that the precise manufacturing process calls for “much time and labour on the part of skilled workers who grow the crystals slice the wafers and fabricate the finished cell.” When it is remembered that there are millions of unemployed workers throughout the world, it can be seen that there is no shortage of skilled workers; it is just that under capitalism, skilled labour-power is an expensive commodity. Chalmers says that the speed of development of solar cells depends on how fast “the necessary engineering development can be achieved. No new scientific breakthrough is needed, only a great deal of meticulous engineering to put proved ideas into practice.” Even if solar cells could be built at the cost of $500 per kilowatt they would not be economically feasible in capitalist terms because ‘‘a conventional power station (also costing $500 per peak kilowatt) can generate a return on its capital investment day and night rain or shine,” whereas solar power stations can only generate one-third to one-half as much return per peak-kilowatt compared to a conventional power station. Other ways of using solar energy are putting solar cells into orbit above the earth and then beaming the energy down to earth or using mirrors to focus light on a solar boiler to generate electricity, as in the recently opened power station in the Pyrenees, or to produce hot water.
Another potentially large source of energy is geothermal energy. For example, J. C. Rowley writes:
The interior of the earth represents an enormous reservoir of energy. Most of it with the exception of the relatively thin surface-crust material, is either close to or above the melting point range for the rock and metallic alloys that make up the mantle and the core. Yet this great energy reservoir is not at present a generally useful resource, being currently tapped only in a few small sites where surface conditions permit an economic yield.(Physics Today, January 1977)
There are four main types of geothermal reservoirs. The first type, high-pressure steam and hot water, is already used fairly widely because it is relatively cheap.
Western Siberia like Cornwall “floats” on geothermal waters, and Soviet energy experts like the British periodically expound on the significance and profitability of this fact. The Soviets already use some of these waters for practical purposes. In and around Omsk is the main area of exploitation. The Omsk textile mill apparently saves from 33,000 to 44,000 roubles a year by using geothermal waters for heating.(New Scientist, 5th February 1976)
This particular example illustrates the world-wide nature of capitalism. In Russia, as in any other capitalist country, production of energy takes place, just like the production of any other commodity, if and only if there is a prospect of making a profit.
The second type of geothermal reservoir consists of hot fluids. This source will probably be more expensive to utilize, but developments in materials technology could change that, so this type of source is now being explored. The 1975 US geological survey estimated that in the US this source contains an energy equivalent of about 5 billion tons of coal. This is about 1,500 times the total energy used by the us in 1973. The US geological survey also estimated that there are similar quantities of energy available from the other two types of geothermal reservoirs, dry hot rocks and magnia.
Another type of energy source that has been discussed recently is wavepower. There is a large amount of energy in waves and according to Wolley and Platts: -
Compared with other permanent sources of energy— the wind for example—wavepower has a high availability; there are always waves arriving around Britain from somewhere in the Atlantic.(New Scientist, 1st May 1975)
Floats moving up and down with the waves could convert wave energy into electricity very efficiently. “Laboratory tests show great promise of a device with a basic efficiency of more than 50 per cent.” Wolley and Platts say. They are in fact engineers employed by a firm called Wavepower Ltd. They are not therefore working to produce a socially useful product for the benefit of mankind, but a commodity which their employers can sell at a profit, as they themselves freely admit:
Public debate has concentrated on the high specific powers and high mechanical efficiencies of particular locations and devices. The true criterion for wave development should be THE POWER PRODUCED FOR A GIVEN CAPITAL OUTLAY. While there is immense power available in the Atlantic, it is not necessarily economic to tap it. Power in the North Sea for example, is contained in a comparatively narrow band of wavelengths; and the machine designed to suit them may well be more efficient in terms of capital cost per KW output, than a bigger device to cover the wider spread and larger waves in the Atlantic approaches. (Emphasis added)
Finally, it is worth noting fusion, because its development would provide an almost unlimited supply of energy. The development of fusion power is not just a technological problem, it requires new scientific development. However, there is little doubt that if the work is done it will be developed; it is merely a question of how long it will take. That is a big “if’ under capitalism because fusion research is expensive and governments are reluctant to pay for it. Bruno Coppi, in Scientific American (July 1972) writes that “the recent progress of fusion research has been limited by the lack of adequate financial support.”
This article has been limited by space considerations, but seeks to illustrate two things. First, energy is a commodity and its production is therefore determined by the same laws of economics as those for any other commodities. Second, there is no shortage of energy resources on this planet. There is more energy available than man could possibly use. When the working class takes the means of production into its own hands, it can utilize all energy resources of the earth to solve all the physical problems that man can encounter.
Tony Weidberg
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