Herman E. Daly: Steady-State Economics

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PLOWBOY: So the power provided by the sun would be the energy base for a steady-state economy?

DALY: That's right. Solar energy is a long-lasting, continuous resource . . . and it's environmentally benign. Plus, since we are unable to use tomorrow's solar power today—we don't know how to "mine" the sun—such energy automatically accounts for the needs of future generations.

Of course, we still have some problems—because solar power arrives in very dilute forms—with concentrating enough sunlight energy for high intensity uses. But in the long run, solar power has to be the main energy source for an ongoing steady-state economy.

And that brings up one of the crucial reasons why the steady-state-versus-continued-growth debate is important: After we run out of fossil fuels, we'll have to base our economy either on some form of solar energy or on some kind of nuclear-based energy.

PLOWBOY: Then the growth economy is tied to atomic power?

DALY: Absolutely. You can't speed up sunlight, so solar power effectively slows the economy down by imposing an ecological discipline upon it. But nuclear power holds out the promise of more concentrated, larger amounts of energy to fuel more of the growthmania that we already have. Now the promise of abundant, low-cost atomic power has proven to be false. The nuclear industry is not going to be able to deliver scads of inexpensive energy. But since the promise has been made, people still find the atomic alternative appealing.

PLOWBOY: Inexpensive atomic power is a false promise?

DALY: Yes, because the hidden costs of nuclear energy are extremely high. Just building the necessary power plants would require the lions share of available investment funds, leaving other sectors starved for capital.

Of course, nuclear power also presents waste-storage problems, radiation risks, the possibility of meltdowns, cleanup and shutdown costs ... all of which are strong arguments against relying on atomic energy. But I think the most telling arguments against "nukes" are social: The kind of precautions necessary to make nuclear energy safe from terrorism or plutonium theft are very, very difficult to enforce. In order to do so, the whole nuclear fuel cycle would have to become a quasi-military operation and would infringe greatly on the civil liberties of many people.

PLOWBOY: How do the concepts of a steady-state economy apply to the international situation today. Specifically, how does such a system affect the roles of the developed and underdeveloped countries?

DALY: Clearly the developed nations—especially the U.S.—have to take the lead here. Let me illustrate the point with an interesting thought experiment I use here at LSU. Sometimes I ask my college classes, "What would the U.S. be like if we used one-half the amount of energy per capita that we use now?'' The students usually decide that life on such a budget would have to be vastly different. There'd be a revolution, they say . . . we'd have complete and total change.

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