The Penal Treadmill

As energy costs continue to spike, expect this barbaric trend make a come back.

Penal treadmill in Burma, between 1890 and 1899. Credit: Wellcome Collection via Wikimedia

One barrel of oil has the same energy output as 5 years of human work.

150 years into humanity’s big experiment with oil, we’ve lost track of this critical fact. We’re energy blind, thinking of energy in terms of dollars instead of the energy return on investment, or EROI, leading us to spend valuable resources it took the earth millions of years to create on frivolous nonsense like mowing our lawns.

EROI

When the photo above was taken in Rangoon in the 1890s, the EROI of a barrel of oil was more than 100 to 1. That means that to produce 100 barrels of oil, you’ll burn just one.

Now we spend one barrel, and get just 1o or 11 back. Some estimates put it even lower. The writing is on the wall. The cost of energy — in both dollars and energy — is rising sharply and will only continue to climb.

In nature, the hard EROI equation is 3 to 1. An eagle won’t spend the energy to chase a rabbit unless it’s going to gain 3x the calories it spent in the hunt. Anything less is a losing strategy.

And for us humans, it’s estimated that complex societies require an EROI of 11 to 1. When we fall below this line, we’re headed for societal…