While great whales navigate at 8 km/h, we propel cargo ships at 40 km/h thanks to fossil fuels that concentrate millions of years of solar energy.
This five times difference reveals humanity’s fundamental problem: not our technologies, but our voracious energy appetite that defies the laws of physics. How can rich countries reduce emissions while global CO₂ continues rising? Why don’t efficiency gains curb consumption? This groundbreaking work answers these questions not through ideology, but through the implacable physical laws governing energy transformation and inevitable waste generation. Using everyday examples, aerospace engineer Vicente Padilla constructs a devastating argument against blind faith in technology as our environmental salvation. After analysing the energy required to recycle all our waste (including CO₂) and the real limits of renewable energy capture, the book confronts us with an uncomfortable conclusion: our economic model collides head-on with physics laws, and no innovation can circumvent them.

Vicente Padilla Gómez-Guillamón is an aeronautical engineer. He founded Aertec Solutions, an aerospace engineering company now employing 700+ people. For a decade, his company has worked on EUfunded sustainable aviation R&D projects through Clean Sky and Clean Aviation programs. His awards include Young Entrepreneur (2004), Andalusia Medal (2015), and Engineer of the Year (2022). His unique combination of aerospace expertise and environmental research provides unparalleled authority on energy physics.