So what is meant by “energy infrastructure”?

The term “energy infrastructure” refers to the physical systems and facilities that are used to generate, transport, process and store energy. And by energy, we mean, of course, not just electricity but all energy.

So modern energy infrastructure includes power plants (including renewable generation infrastructure like wind turbines, solar panels and hydroelectric), electricity substations, and transmission lines; oil and gas wells, gathering systems, pipelines (and other forms of midstream transportation like barges, rail and trucks), storage facilities and refineries; and the final leg of delivery of energy to consumers like you and me, such as gas stations, heating oil/propane/biomass delivery, and EV charging stations.

Energy infrastructure is essential to modern civilization and to life itself. It provides the energy necessary to power homes, businesses, and industries. And of course, energy infrastructure has been essential to every civilization, pre-modern, ancient, and even pre-historic. Every civilization has contended with optimizing their systems to bring energy (the ability to do more work) into use, in light of that civilization’s access to resources and technology and in accordance with that civilization’s traditions and its realities.

Ultimately, a civilization which expends most of its time on manual-labor driven subsistence agriculture is only going to develop slowly. And its development will not outpace its energy infrastructure.

But note that even a manual-labor driven subsistence agriculture civilization does have energy infrastructure! The infrastructure would include tools and equipment such as plows, hoes, and sickles for farming and harvesting (calorie/power generation). Transportation infrastructure would involve carts and wagons pulled by horses, oxen, and donkeys – and the roads they travel on. Water management infrastructure would also be important in such a society, as plants, animals and people all need reliable sources of water. So irrigation systems, such as channels, ditches, and reservoirs (natural and manmade), to capture and distribute water to fields and to other uses would be essential. Eventually, wells will be drilled to replace water capture.

Energy storage would also be critical in such a society, as food would need to be preserved to ensure a reliable supply during times of scarcity – winter comes every year on most of the planet.

Methods of food preservation would include drying, salting, and smoking (and the specialized structures necessary), as well as storing grains and seeds and other foods in secure, cool, dry places to prevent theft and spoilage. Interestingly, fattened domestic livestock are also best understood as food storage. Hogs “store” plants as fat and protein. This is very handy come winter.

So every civilization – that is, any time and place where human beings are surviving from one generation to the next – has energy infrastructure. Every civilization has its own way of generating, processing, transporting and storing energy. And the quality of that civilization will depend upon its improvement of these basic concepts.

Without adequate energy infrastructure, the reliable delivery of energy to meet demand would be difficult, and economic growth and development would be hindered.