Post-Work Requires Power: Saved Hours, Human Activity and the Allocation of Future Electricity
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Automation is usually framed as either an electricity cost or an efficiency gain. This working paper argues that both framings omit a critical planning term: the electricity and broader energy-system access required to support the human activity made possible when compulsory work is reduced. It identifies a dual expansion mechanism in which cheaper machine intelligence may increase machine-side electricity demand while released human time may increase human-side activity and energy use. The paper introduces Human Energy Allocation as a planning lens and uses Japan as its first field edition because the country’s FY2026–FY2035 electricity forecast explicitly identifies data-centre and semiconductor demand. The historical analysis finds no reliable fixed electricity–freedom breakpoint across the preferred cross-sections. The paper therefore reaches a narrow normative conclusion: current constrained demand should not be treated as either a planning target or a moral ceiling.
Author: Hedegreen, Dennis
Language: English
Field: Energy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7171313339
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