--- On Wed, 9/23/09, Ben Graham <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

is there an inherent gap between energy efficiency and low tech?
Are there any examples of high tech energy efficiency “things” that have lasted?
 
A better question, perhaps, is: Is there an incompatibility between efficiency and nature?
 
Nature is profligate and inefficient (typical plant photosynthesis conversion efficiency is 1%-2%). Hunter-gatherers "waste" most of their time in non-productive liesure, art and song - while we "efficient" ones slave our lives away to "make a living".
 
Efficiency, as we understand it, is an industrial value, based on time-and-motion studies and cost-effectiveness strategies. Efficiency is a value only when the goal is the maximization of production and consumption, rather than the optimization of life.
 
Where Life can be said to be efficient, perhaps, is in its amazing ability to maintain a vibrant homeostasis. It has been human "efficiency" which has undermined Nature's ability to maintain its balance. Efficiency is destroying the Earth and turning human beings into automatons - isolated from each other, from our own essential being, and from the web-of-life.
 
No "high-tech" society has lasted more than a few centuries. There is evidence that several civilized nations may have abandoned their cities to return to their natural ways. Neanderthals had larger brains and the same tool-making skills as CroMagnon, but seemed to abjure the abstract arts and technologies which superceded them. The "high-tech" peoples have always destroyed the "low-tech" cultures and creatures. 
 
Other societies seemed to have wised up. Some believe there is an "up-wising" occuring in our global culture. Whether that happens broadly enough and in time remains to be seen.