By chance, two books about the intersection of economics and the physical world have landed recently here at Enlightenment Towers recently, [amazon_link id=”113744200X” target=”_blank” ]The Remaking of the Mining Industry[/amazon_link] by David Humphreys and [amazon_link id=”0262029146″ target=”_blank” ]Power Density: A key to understanding energy sources and uses[/amazon_link] by Vaclav Smil.

[amazon_image id=”113744200X” link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]The Remaking of the Mining Industry[/amazon_image] [amazon_image id=”0262029146″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Power Density: A Key to Understanding Energy Sources and Uses[/amazon_image]

I love business histories, with all their detail about how decisions get made with no reference at all to marginal cost=marginal revenue, and David Humphreys used to be chief economist of Rio Tinto and then Norislk Nickel in Russia. He knows more than probably anyone about the economics of the mining industry, so this book promises to be full of interesting nuggets (so to speak). Paging through, one of his main themes looks to be the importance of geopolitics for the industry, and the role of government in creating a stable legal framework that will enable investment with a decades-long payoff to occur. He concludes: “The world does not have a resource problem. It cannot be ruled out, however, that it may face an investment problem.”

I also like Vaclav Smil’s previous books, [amazon_link id=”B00EI26DUM” target=”_blank” ]Made in the USA: the rise and retreat of American manufacturing[/amazon_link] and [amazon_link id=”B00FNWQJOQ” target=”_blank” ]Making the Modern World: Materials and Dematerialization[/amazon_link] (well of course I’d like that one!), packed full of engineering insight. This one tells me that power density is “the rate of energy flux per unit of area” – huh? – and that moving to low power density renewable fuels will require “a profound spatial restructuring of the energy system.” My guess is that it means new transmission and distribution grids, but I’ll have to read it to be sure. The final sentence, in bold italics reads: “New energy arrangements are both inevitable and desirable, but without any doubt, if they are to be based on large scale conversions of renewable energy resources, then the societies dominated by megacities and concentrated industrial production will require a profound spatial restructuring of the energy system, a process with many major environmental and socioeconomic consequences.”