Alternative Energy and World Peace

There’s not a whole lot to discuss in the world of LENR right now with most followers just watching and waiting for developments on the E-Cat front. However I found an article in the Huffington Post, which while not about LENR I think has relevance to the field.

The article is by Michael Shammas and is titled “One Solution to the World’s Wars: Alternative Energy”. Shammas contends that widespread adoption of alternative energy could take away power from nations who are large producers of fossil fuels, noting that:

“A transition to renewable energy — even if this shift is spearheaded only by developed nations — could reduce the appalling number of ongoing civil and regional wars and transform governments around the world. It could do so in many ways, but most notably: It could deprive rag-tag militants of a main source of income; it could reduce the capability of states that rent out their natural resources, in Sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere, to fund armed conflicts; and, it could keep money out of the hands of political and military leaders who are ill-prepared to receive it.”

Shammas notes that there seems to be a ‘curse’ that comes upon countries with large reserves of petroleum, as they tend rely on oil and gas for revenues, rather than on taxation of citizens. When revenues are high, oil wealth allows petrostates to fund social programs to keep the people happy, and are not responsive to the will of the people.

While I do see the potential for enormous benefits coming from the adoption of an energy production technology such as LENR, I am not convinced that the widespread availability of low cost an abundant energy source would act as a panacea that could eliminate wars and conflict. I do hope that it could play a part in reducing suffering on various fronts, but I recognize that human nature is such that there will always be those who seek to dominate and subjugate others for a variety of reasons (e.g. for religious, political, economic, nationalistic reasons).

I have high hopes for LENR and think it could go a long way to solving a wide range of problems, but just as with any new and revolutionary technology I expect it will bring another set of unforseen issues to deal with.