Chapter V — The Role of Energy
Axiom 5: Embodied productivity is bounded by available power; every robot-hour implies an energy-hour.
Define Labor-Energy Throughput (LET): LETₜ = ULIₜ/Eₜ where Eₜ = total energy input.
Higher LET = more effective robot-hours per kWh (efficiency). U.S. LET may rise via software optimization and materials innovation; China's LET rises via energy expansion. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' micro-reactor program and DOE's industrial-microgrid pilots are emergency measures — but projected additions (< 10 GW by 2030) are insufficient for large-scale humanoid deployment.
Hence, energy scarcity becomes the U.S.'s main flattening factor, while China's overcapacity provides compounding potential.