Anthropogenic Material and Energy Flows

Abstract

During most of the history of human civilization, energy and material flows caused by human activities were insignificant in comparison to natural flows. This has changed during the past 250 years, when the global population increased greatly and began to use fossil raw materials in large quantities for energy generation. This chapter starts with the history of natural changes in the global carbon cycle during the past 500 millennia. These changes are compared with the material and energy flows caused by humans, as developed during the past 250 years. Germany is treated as an example for a national economy with the characteristic energy flows and energy sources of an industrialized country. Energy flows are commonly structured in different sectors, which helps to identify areas of higher and lower values of energy demand. The sectors of industry, transport, residential, and business and services, each exhibit characteristic energy demand values at present, both in terms of quantity and form of energy. Given the high relevance of fossil energy resources today, the correlation of energy flows and carbon flows—the latter leading to \(\mathrm{{CO}_{2}}\) emissions—is discussed.