Kardashev Scale
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Hint: Human civilization exists at Kardashev Scale 0.7. This is an important quantification that puts overall human energy use into perspective, while providing insight into the renewable energy transition. Since the Scale is logarithmic, 0.7 means 1000x less energy than comes to the Earth. Above 1 can be attained without stretching the mind too much (by extensive swarms of energy collectors in Earth orbit), but 2 is far out. Approaching 1 is not a good idea without ecological integration, or allowing sufficient energy to drive climate and plant growth.
Scale of civilization's energy usage. The Earth is nowhere near tapping all of its available energy resources.
Kardashev Scale = 1 means that people on Earth are using all the energy that comes from the sun.
Type = 2 means we harness all the energy of a star, such as the Sun. We would need to encircle the sun, such as a swarm of orbits like the Dyson Sphere. This is beyond the scope of OSE, as there are limited materials in the vicinity of the sun, so that only solar planetary resources would likely be used for additional energy harvesting from the sun.
Literature
- Currently, we are Kardashev 0.7 or so, where 0.7 means 0.7%. Not. It is (Log of Power used-6)/10, meaning 1 is at 10^16 Watts. We are currently at about E13 watts, or 1000 times less. So this is an absolute scale, not relative to earth's total use. But this absolute scale is close to the real scale of total earthly use. [1]. Projections state that it will take milennia to reach 1, even with fusion on earth.