Striking a Balance

We are bombarded daily with conflicting messages about energy from sources with vastly different agendas and motives. This episode filters out politics and special interests by looking at numbers: How many people will be on the planet by 2050 and how much energy will we need? What happens if we grow and consume at our current rate? It's common knowledge that we use enormous amounts of energy, but until it's quantified, it’s impossible to grasp the true extent of how much is wasted.

與能源相關的矛盾訊息終日轟炸著我們，而其背後的意圖與動機也大為迥異。本單元將過濾政治等特殊動機，單純地只看數字：到2050年時，地球人口會有多少？屆時我們需要多少能源？若人口成長及能源消耗的速率不變，結果會是如何？我們消耗大量能源，這點眾所皆知，但若不提出確切數字，則絕對不可能知道我們究竟浪費了多少能源。