The slower the growth, the more sustainable an economy is over the moderately long term.Too much complexity can lead to collapse.Over the long term, all economies will collapse.
by Energy Institute. Russia+ includes Russia and its close affiliates. For the earliest years, these were data for the Soviet Union. For more recent years, the grouping is for the Commonwealth of Independent States. A metal tool, such as the one shown on Slide 5, greatly helped the productivity of farmers compared to using a sharpened rock or a piece of wood as a tool, or using only bare hands.Of course, this list of uses is very incomplete. For example, both coal and natural gas are burned to create electricity.As an example of a) above, a metal shovel allows more food to be grown. Food is, of course, an energy product that humans eat.
Every action that contributes to GDP requires energy of some kind. It could be human energy powered by food, or human energy plus fossil fuel powered energy. Moving a truck or train requires energy. Even moving electrons, as in heating food or transferring electrons within transmission lines, takes energy.