ABSTRACT
The term energy landscape, much in use currently to indicate the relationship between spatial planning and energy infrastructures, combines the essence of the two skins of the Earth. As introduced in my book Urban Flotsam (010 Publishers), published in 2011, the two skins of the Earth de‚ne the “real” space that humans operate in. The ‚rst skin of the Earth is nature in its totality. The second skin is whatever we, humanity, have created on top, within, and underneath the ‚rst. This second skin is an intensely interconnected and dynamic construction lightly interweaving between the crust of the Earth and the atmosphere. This “weaving,” however, is constantly a balancing act between nature and human action and is becoming overstressed. Instead of coexisting in a planetary biotope, people are beginning to inµuence the balance of this biotope, mainly through changes in energy behavior, to an extent that will not endanger, as is commonly being said, the Earth (“save the planet” is the faint plea in all hotel rooms to reuse your towels), but humanity itself-not least because it is rapidly expanding in numbers. The unbalanced interweaving within this dynamic skin has become the strongest feature of the global energy landscape people plan and live in and where humanity projects its possible futures (there is no escape: the next habitable planet is around 600 light-years away). These futures cannot be traded by the hedge bankers for quick pro‚ts; they are real life choices. In a sustainable energy landscape, this balance is managed successfully and for the sake of future generations.
