Editor’s Note: Master Resource’s founder and editor, Rob Bradley, is currently struggling with the aftermath of torrential flooding in the Texas Hill Country. Until he can return to work, he has asked me to post “classic” MR entries. A blog post explaining Vaclav Smil’s concept of “power density” surely qualifies. This is the key concept for understanding a civilization’s energy needs.

Unfortunately, our MR files contain no concise explanation of the concept in layman’s language. (We have many explanations that no conceivable lay reader—myself most definitely included—could possibly understand or appreciate.) The closest thing I could find to a useful journalistic entry was a blog post by Kent Hawkins—a retired electrical engineer in Ontario—published on February 20, 2013. It is reprinted below.—Roger Donway, Managing Editor.

Power Density Separates the Wheat from the Chaff

By Kent Hawkins — February 20, 2013

“Power density (W/m²) is perhaps the most revealing variable in energetics…”[1]- Vaclav Smil

It may be a bit of an exaggeration to say that understanding power density may be all the average person requires to put our energy sources and needs into perspective, but there is some merit in this argument.…

In Memoriam, Thomas Roger DeGregori (1935–2025)

Pierre Desrochers

Tom DeGregori, professor emeritus of economics at the University of Houston whose work has been discussed on a few occasions on this blog, passed away a few days ago. Thousands of people knew him better than me (we only met twice), but he became an occasional correspondent nearly three decades ago after I had serendipitously come across his work on technological change on the bookshelves of the Université de Montréal while researching my doctoral dissertation.

I was hooked and tried to get my hands on anything he had published in defense of human creativity and material progress, including modern agriculture. At first my readings were limited to his articles in the Journal of Economic Issues and other academic outlets then available at my alma mater.…

“My aim is to finish projects to offer a comprehensive, reliable foundation for future energy scholars to expand and improve upon. Many specific episodes can be studied in greater depth, and future events will require analysis.”

This week is a birthday of note for me. Looking back at a half-century of interest in energy history and public policy, I thank my lucky stars and celebrate a worldview–classical liberalism–that has held up very well over time. It is not how smart you are; it is the ability to discern between a false narrative and objective reality. And with a reliable framework to understand the world, blue-collar research was the wide-open opportunity for me. I have never looked back.

My odyssey began with an Ayn Rand novel in high school on individualism. That got me to free-market economics in college.…

“Profuse government grants, loans, and tax breaks supported Sunnova from the beginning. The public needs to know where the money went and why founder/CEO John Berger and a few others at the top made out like bandits, while just about everyone else bit the dust.”

Sunnova was all hat, no cattle. All sizzle, no steak. Long on DEI, short on profits. Long on government, short on consumer value.

And a lot of “Net Zero” for investors. And potentially voided contracts for more than 400,000 rooftop customers if tax credits go away under current legislation under debate. [1]

Yesterday, Sunnova International declared bankruptcy, or in their Enronish PR world, “Strategic Action to Facilitate Value-Maximizing Sale Process.”

The company never had a quarterly profit, existing on political fumes and gullible “green” customers.…