The simple future beyond oil: The convergence of our economic and ecological futures and the importance of change

The human labour equivalent to the energy in [a] barrel of oil, even assuming a low rate of pay such as £5.80/hour (minimum wage), would cost £145,000 – or about $210,250/barrel! In other words, 99.97% of the equivalent labour value of oil is “free”, and so our use of energy can be seen as constituting the labour of many energy slaves20 who serve our needs.

This seemingly magical role of energy in the economy makes sense because, in terms of the thermodynamic principles, increasing the level of energy in the economy represents the equivalent of adding more labour to the economy at a vastly cheaper rate, and hence more efficient value than real human labour, and so the economy becomes more productive as a result; put simply, burning more energy allows you to do/make more “stuff”.
Over the Twentieth Century economists have sought to improve the economic efficiency of society in order to increase growth, but within this process the role of energy was ignored because it was generally cheap.

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