By 1980, world coal production totaled 71.2 quadrillion BTUs. By 2011 it had more than doubled to 152.5 quads. It had to, to accomplish all the thermodynamic work we commanded. After all, given (as I keep repeating) that our power plants needed to burn three pounds of it in order to utilize one pound's energy, coal didn't stretch terribly far. As the following table shows, keeping the lights on for a single hour in the reading room of one of those Western Virginia libraries that I frequented while writing Carbon Ideologies might take 20 pounds of that good old brownish-black stuff-- which meanwhile released 49 pounds of carbon dioxide....COMMENT
Vollmann was on the road investigating the worldview that defends burning fossil fuels despite the existential threat of climate change. His book is framed as an apologia to people of the future, now living on a hot, miserable and resource depleted planet.
As he was writing, Vollmann used public libraries for temporary office space and information research. The availability of fast Internet, lighting, office furniture and research sources enables him to work remotely. The network of libraries means that people can check in to work from remote locations. It's especially great for writers who may need to do a little fact-checking.
As he often does throughout the book, Vollmann muses about the energy use of his ordinary life. In this instance, though, he doesn't point out that the 49 pounds/hour of carbon are at least shared between many library users instead of squandered by a single individual. The table he cites is from American Electricians Handbook (2002) -- "Cutting, inspecting, sewing dark colored cloth; Also: Library reading rooms" clocks in at 60 watts per square foot, where 1 watt = 3.413 BTUs per hour when lit by incandescent filament lamps, so the library could also save energy by using energy-efficient fluorescent or LED bulbs, or for that matter, lighting the reading room with sunlight from windows.
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