The Expanded and Annotated My Life and Work

THE ROLE OF ENERGY IN WEALTH CREATION
Ford and Crowther (1926, p. 165) state explicitly the role of “developed 
power” in the creation of material wealth. The fact that the United States’ 
4% of the world’s population once used more than a quarter of its energy is 
why it also produced at least this share of the world’s wealth. The fact that 
China is surpassing the United States as the world’s biggest user of energy, 
therefore, should be nothing less than alarming.
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The provision of a great amount of cheap and convenient power—not all at 
once, but as it may be used—will do more than anything else to bring about 
the balancing of life and the cutting of the waste which breeds poverty. There is 
no single source of power. It may be that generating electricity by a steam plant 
at the mine mouth will be the most economical method for one community. 
Hydro-electric power may be best for another community. But certainly in 
every community there ought to be a central station to furnish cheap power—it 
ought to be held as essential as a railway or a water supply. And we could have 
every great source of power harnessed and working for the common good were 

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176  •  The Expanded and Annotated My Life and Work
it not that the expense of obtaining capital stands in the way. I think that we 
shall have to revise some of our notions about capital.