A Body In Motion Stays In Motion Until It Doesn’t…With Apologies To Isaac Newton

As we all know change is the world’s only constant…why I wonder? Old Isaac said a body in motion stays in motion until acted upon by an uneven force. So there we go…a change in force either speed or direction knocks everything in to a cocked hat. That is one way to define change.

Suppose we define energy as a body in motion as measured in kilowatt hours. Certainly energy has been in motion always. The only difference is the amount of energy as human kind has progressed, continually converting latent energy into other forms including heat, light, mechanical and chemical. Remember energy can neither be created or destroyed….there is still the same amount of energy, it is simply in different forms.

Following the body in motion concept the evolution of printing provides a model. The evolution of putting information on paper is a long and tortuous process…underway to this day, particularly as we navigate the digital world.

The effort to put information 0n a readable surface was a universal motivation to multiply access. For centuries this has generated creative and relatively successful outcomes. The Gutenberg printing press was a pivotal success, fraught with financial, technical, legal, political and social barriers. Nothing like the Gutenberg press appeared until the digital world.

Encompassing this journey are inventions that made the printing press possible. For example a metal surface was required, unrelated to the evolution of the printing press.

Inventions are no longer a one pony race. We can relate this to solar power, now undergoing a significant rate of growth. Simultaneously related technologies are the subject of a multitude of investigators adding contributions to improvements. Speed and outcomes are the results. Technologies build on themselves and not in a straight line. One barrier is political, another is environmental, the third the efficiency of the panels, another storage, transmission and finally delivery. In today’s technological world these barriers influence a variety of developments…..the solar system is no longer alone.

Give it up for Isaac… A body in motion is always changing.

Reviewing the progress towards energy systems that are more efficient and have lower carbon dioxide emissions is not gaining nearly enough traction. Oil remains the largest energy generator in spite of the an onslaught of renewables. Overall while the economically prosperous countries are eliminating coal, natural gas is an acceptable source of energy.

Waiting in the wings are hydropower, hydrogen, nuclear, small modular reactors, geothermal, biomass and fusion.

Storage and transmission remain barriers. New systems have a future including fuel cells. More efficient applications remain avenues for reduced consumption.

We cannot leave behind the ever present force of geopolitics which ebb and flow…sometimes ebbing and sometimes flowing.

Give it up for Issacs Newton….the speed of change is our only route.