What if we figured out how to harness limitless pollution-free energy from nuclear fusion?

Most people would say, “Hooray!” but the issue has occasionally bothered me. You see, for the past four years of my life, I’ve been living with the mantra, “Efficiency is the key. Reduce energy use. Waste is evil!” Turning off lights, avoiding air-conditioning, it’s all become a moral issue for me. So, what would happen if energy production did not have any environmental impacts?

Well, I thought, I guess that means we can use as much energy as we liked. We could leave the light on, drive energy-hogging cars and have laser light shows every night. The world’s energy problems would be (well on the way to being) solved! But while the champagne corks popped and confetti rained down around me, I would be standing in the middle of it all — worried. “Oh, no! This means that everyone will be wasting energy! … But that’s okay, right? It’s not really waste because it will never run out. There’s no pollution. Why am I being irrational?”

I told this to Kate and she said, “Joan, don’t worry. High energy use is usually coupled with high resource extraction. If we did have unlimited energy, you can imagine the rate of mining, land clearing, manufacturing all escalating. If we left the lights on all the time, they would all burn out quicker and we’d have to replace them! So even without considering the energy production impacts, it’s still good to be energy efficient. There. I’ve solved all your problems.”

YAY FOR KATE!