energy The capacity of a physical system
for doing work. All species harness energy.
Human beings harness, convert, release and
(re)deploy energy to do work and yield goods
and services. This is the basis for the material
evolution of human societies. While all life
forms ultimately depend on solar energy, since
theindustrial revolutiondeveloped coun-
tries have increasingly relied on non-renew-
ableresourcesfor energy.
Worldwide energy consumption is increas-
ing. This is partly due to increases in global
population, high levels of energy consumption
in developed countries, and rising energy use
in rapidly developing economies such as
China and India. Per capita energy consump-
tion varies significantly throughout the world.
It is also important to recognize patterns of
economic activity; for example, energy is con-
sumed in developing countries to make cheap
products for export to wealthier countries.
Despite increased efficiencies in energy con-
sumption in most developed countries, redis-
tribution in energy consumption has occurred.
Reducing material consumption, reusing
existing materials andrecyclingmay achieve
reductions in energy demand. Human geog-
raphers have studied cultural and urban
aspects of energy use, including transitions to
more sustainable cities (Pacione, 2001a).
Reduction in the use of energy through
improved design, greater insulation and
changes in use patterns can lower economic
costs to an organization. Businesses have
worked with parts of the environmental
movementon energy efficiency since the oil
crises of 1973 and 1979. These crises signalled
the end of cheap, abundantoiland highlighted
the dependency of industrialized countries on
the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting
Countries (OPEC), and the vulnerability of
economies in some developing countries (see
von Weizsacker, Lovins and Lovins, 1997).
Major concerns about energy include the
continued supply of oil and the cumulative
impacts of fossil-fuel consumption (see
global warming). Predictions of ‘peak oil’
at the scale of individual oilfields, countries
and the globe highlight the finite nature of this
natural resource(Deffeyes, 2001). Every
year, the world consumes billions of barrels
of oil more than are discovered. Estimates of
known reserves in various countries are not
always reliable. Therefore, regardless of the
environmental impacts of oil consumption,
other sources of energy are required to con-
tinue present levels of economic activity.
Natural gas (the cleanest-burning fossil fuel)
is gaining importance, wind power is increas-
ing rapidly from a low base and ‘hybrid’ cars
are gaining popularity. The nuclear industry is
advocating nuclear energy as an alternative to
fossil fuels to combat global warming.
The dependence on fossil fuels inhibits the
transition to renewable forms of energy such
as solar, wind, biomass, hydrogen fuel cells
and wave power. While fossil fuels are subsid-
ized (Riedy and Diesendorf, 2003), the cost
of renewable energy forms is not reduced sig-
nificantly, due to inadequate research funding
and difficulties in achieving economies of
scale in production processes. Total world
energy demand is anticipated to grow, despite
efforts at reduction through greater efficiency.
sustainability is crucial, including the use
of appropriate technologies and energy sources
in developing countries, transitions to benign
energy sources throughout the world and reduc-
tions in energy use in developed countries. pmEnlightenment In traditional interpret-
ations,theEnlightenment is held to be that
period of intellectual enquiry, broadly syn-
onymous with the ‘long’ eighteenth century
ineurope(c.1680–1820), in which ‘modern’
ideas of rationality, public criticism and the
emancipation ofcivil societythrough rea-
soned reform took shape. Thus considered,
the Enlightenment was distinguished by chal-
lenges to established ideas of ‘ancient author-
ity’ and by the rejection of Classical and
Renaissance conceptions of the world and
of ‘traditional’ scholarship.philosophyand
sciencewere widely believed to be the basis
to universal social betterment. Secular toler-
ance would overcome religious intolerance.
In sum, humankind would free itself from
ignorance and error.
Other interpretations are current. Indeed,
even during its development and certainly since,
the Enlightenment has been the subject of
detailed scrutiny as to what it was, why it hap-
pened and what its consequences have been.
Conventional views of the Enlightenment as
a largely philosophical and uniform phenom-
enon evident in urban Europe especially
in the lives and writings of great men, have
been decisively challenged (Schmidt, 1996;
Kors et al., 2003). Conceptions of the
Enlightenment as a ‘moment’ of philosophical
critique for a European elite (which still
endure: see Darnton, 2003) have been supple-
mented by views of it as asocial movement.
Ideas oftheEnlightenment as a uniform intel-
lectual movement with particular national
expression have been challenged by work thatGregory / The Dictionary of Human Geography 9781405132879_4_E Final Proof page 193 1.4.2009 3:17pmENLIGHTENMENT