Less energy = more energy

Globalization is based on the low cost of energy

The archimedes lever

The record rise in energy costs has another side of the coin that may not be so bad.

One of the sectors most affected by the rise in prices is transport. It takes energy to move things. Globalization is based on the low cost of energy, because it allows products to be moved around the world at low prices. But as transport costs rise, it becomes less and less convenient to move goods.

This can lead to a breaking point for globalization, making it cheaper to source nearby. This means that one could reach an affirmation of the zero kilometer as a reaction to expensive energy, favoring the return to a proximity economy in which proximity is a more relevant factor than the economy of scale.

The short-term consequences can lead to the return to local consumption and the destruction of the economy of scale which could lead to generalized impoverishment, because producing everything in one place allows an economic advantage.

However, in the face of a global impoverishment caused by energy costs, it will be possible to have a cultural enrichment following the end of a world that is homologated and all the same, with the rediscovery instead of the diversity born of different territories and mentalities. So if the rise in raw materials becomes structural it could be the prelude to a transition from the economy of quantity, GDP and financial instruments to a new structure that takes into consideration a more holistic and individual assessment of wealth and well-being, disconnected from fashions that are generalized and more connected to the values ​​and lifestyles of individuals.

From the general we will return to the particular, to the niche, to uniqueness. This could increase the cultural diversity and originality of the complex of human manifestations. Less energy to the machines will perhaps lead to having more energy in the mind of human beings.

ALESSANDRO VIDALI

(Original article by ANDREA ZOPPOLATO & DUILIO FORTE)