In 2006, famed physicist Stephen Hawking said that we need to colonize space in order to preserve the future of the planet. I think we need to colonize space in order to preserve the dignity of the human race. Can we go any lower than The Bachelor, Dancing with the Stars and Rock of Love with Bret Michaels?
Professor Hawking’s reasons for speculating on the future of the planet are dramatic. Nuclear war or a collision with a giant asteroid, he says, could obliterate the human species. My reasons for wanting to live on another planet are less altruistic. I can’t take another show like Big Brother. Hawking invokes the controversial subject of global warming in his dire warning. “Life on Earth,” he says, “is at the ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster, such as sudden global warming, nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus or other dangers we have not yet thought of.” Yeah, dangers like the next Jackass movie or the possibility of another Judge Judy copycat show.
Regardless of which side of the global warming debate you fall, there’s no denying that the earth’s resources are in greater demand, suffering from an exploding population. In 1800, there were about a billion people on the planet. Had the rate of increase stayed the same, there would be about 1.5 billion people alive today. Instead, the population has radically increased to 6.6 billion. It’s estimated that by 2050 the population will be about 9 billion. Advances in medicine and technology are helping us live longer and keeping more people alive, while the decline of civilization is serving up more Wife Swap than we can handle.
One of the effects of the increased population is a sharp increase in the demand for crude oil. Until now, the price of coal has remained relatively unchanged compared to the sharp rise to over $120 per barrel for oil. And since about half of the world’s electricity is generated using coal-fired steam turbines, the live event production industry has been somewhat insulated from the effects of the squeeze on resources. But that may soon change.
According to an article in the April 10, 2008 edition of The Wall Street Journal, three Japanese steel manufacturers, Nippon Steel, JFE Holdings, and Sumitomo Metal Industries contracted to buy coking coal — the main fuel used in blast furnaces for making steel — from an Australian supplier at a 300 percent premium over the previous price of $98 per ton. Another deal was struck by Chubu Electric Power to pay Swiss mining firm Xstrata PLC $125 per metric ton for Australian thermal steam coal, which was more than double the price paid in the previous year. While these term contracts and coal prices were exacerbated by a temporary ban on coal exports in China, bad weather and infrastructure bottlenecks in Australia, they underscore the precarious perch on which coal prices are balanced. Also, the article noted that “BHP Billiton confirmed that prices this year for metallurgical coking coal products are expected to rise within a range of 206% to 240% over last year’s levels.” And if the gas pump is any indication, prices fall much slower than they rise.
With the cost of oil dramatically increasing, the increased focus on the environment and the availability of new greener technology, it’s now incumbent upon the lighting industry to be forward-thinking enough to design with efficiency in mind. The cost savings realized from an energy-efficient design could double or triple over the next few years. And if that’s not enough incentive, consider that burning coal releases carbon dioxide, sulfur oxide, nitrogen oxide, hydrogen cyanide, sulfur nitrate, as well as arsenic, lead, mercury, nickel, vanadium, beryllium, cadmium, barium, chromium, copper, molybdenum, zinc, selenium, and radium into the air we all breathe.
While it may be a bit early for I.A.T.S.E. to organize a Local in space, it’s not too early to start considering energy efficiency when you’re designing a lighting system. You can start by perusing the first PLSN Green Issue printed on recycled paper as a reminder to be environmentally conscious, ecologically minded, and economically sensitive. Next month we’ll return to our regular format but in the meantime, we’ll be dreaming of the good old days when we had intelligent TV programming like Gilligan’s Island, Green Acres, Get Smart and Laverne and Shirley.
