Algebra

Here’s a very fundamental example of how efficiency begets growth - one of millions contained in our collective past. This is the development of algebra, a subject in which many breakthroughs were achieved over a century ago, in the Middle East. Those societies took up a 10-digit numeral system developed in Southeast Asia and used it toward achieving more precise astronomical, geographic, and geometrical calculations. This Hindu-Arabic numeral system was far more efficient than numeral systems prevalent in, for example, Rome.

Let's go to the year 847 C.E. when the Persian mathematician, Kharazmi, was working out the quadratic formula. Writing out that year in roman numerals would be DCCCXLVII, 9 digits. Writing the same year with our modern numeral system (based on the one Kharazmi used) is just 3 digits. That's just one example of the efficiency gains brought on by this numerical technology.

CONCLUSION: The pursuit of technological efficiency is a default behavior of human society. It has played a central role in so many major advancements, even those you might not think of as "technological", like algebra.

So why do we continue to think that energy efficiency efforts are special, or out of the ordinary, or "green", or that they will deliver a reduction in total energy demand? I think part of the reason is that we are dazzled by modernity and we are quick to forget history. More specific to our time versus Kharazmi's, humanity has now bumped up against global-scale ecological limits - a problem we have never faced before. The math is easy. Doing something about it will not be.