An extract from the "public description" of a UK R&D funding bid I submitted just before the deadline of 10Z this morning:
The SaMDES project will allow domestic "prosumers" and organisations both large and small to reduce their "external" electricity consumption. The incorporation of both "static" and "mobile" battery storage further reduces energy bills by allowing the purchase of energy for both building and mobility needs when electricity prices are low.
We're due to hear UK plc's verdict on our proposal in a month or so!
I do not know anything about your project, but in for-profit corporations, there is usually something in the by-laws which state that the main goal of the business is to maximize profits in favor of its owners, the investors. Those are the same investors which approve or or may fire the CEO if that goal is not fulfilled.
In addition, when a business sell shares to the public, the value of those shares generally go up when it is noted that it is profitable, and will be even more profitable when those new investments are poured into expansion.
Put simply, investments become attractive because they offer better returns, and they can only offer better returns when they are more profitable per annum. That means lower costs with the same production, higher production at the same cost, or both. It's usually both when competition is involved, as businesses attempt to gain market share plus meet expanding markets.
Any savings thanks to lower costs are re-invested elsewhere, with the same premise.
In short, the very goal of a capitalist economy, especially a global one controlled by a few:
https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21228354-500-revealed-the-capitalist-network-that-runs-the-world/is continuous growth, which means not only more energy consumed but a higher ecological footprint per capita. And the potential for that is huge:
https://money.cnn.com/2015/07/08/news/economy/global-low-income/https://www.bbc.com/news/business-22956470That is, 70 pct of people worldwide are poor, and their main goal is to become richer. More of them are becoming so and they're buying more cars, houses, appliances, etc. That's the booming market of businesses worldwide.
Some say that the equivalent amount of resources needed to support their needs in terms of ecological footprint is one more earth. In order to support a European or U.S. lifestyle, likely more:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_ecological_footprintespecially given issues such as lack of roads, electric grids, and other necessary infrastructure in many parts of the world.
This is probably the scenario where one can see the 37.5 TW figure given earlier. It might be a lower range if more people want to have more than just basic needs, such as accessing this and other websites using broadband, traveling by sea or air to other countries, and receiving tertiary education and being employed in white collar jobs (where food production and manufacturing are mechanized or outsourced to poorer countries). Also, if major industrialization, infrastructure development, and so on has to take place for most of the world population to even catch up with Europe, then even more energy will be needed. After that comes additional energy for a growing population due to momentum, to minimize ecological damage, and counter diminishing returns (e.g., increasing amounts of energy needed to extract minerals of lower quantity and quality or that's deeper).