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I could ride my horse to the next valley for 10 potatoes. Or I could walk there for 3 potatoes.
The market has determined that generally people's time is more valuable than the energy, and the market's efficiency is calculated by taking the two factors (among others) into account. To say that the market result is not maximally energy efficient is a trivial, one-eyed view. The labour efficiency of organic farming is abysmal.
I see that side of the argument as well, and actually I'm more partial to it. That said, it's not like market profitability can't be a one-eyed view in it's own way, it's not hard to come up with an example of an unsustainable project that got started because that's where the profits were at the moment.
What the market has going for it is it's self-correcting mechanisms, but these corrections can be pretty painful, so I can understand wanting to avoid it, if you think you can see one coming.
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