Nathan Surendran is a Transition Engineer and principal consultant at Schema Consulting Limited, bringing with him an extensive knowledge of macro-scale systems and risks, and synthesising economic, energetic, and environmental factors.Nathan is an active member of Degrowth Aotearoa New Zealand and passionately advocates for realistic, fact-based strategic decisions on issues of resilience and strong sustainability across all levels. Here Nathan helps bring much-needed understanding to some key concepts around energy efficiency and limits, degrowth, renewables and so much more!In this episode, we discuss:Nathan’s background and his work as a transition engineerBiophysical constraints vs wishful thinkingDegrowth Aotearoa New Zealand and their advocacy workDegrowth 101 – what is degrowth?The challenges and limitations of green growthThe concept of net energy, and its decrease over timeThe impact of renewables on total energy consumptionAre renewable energy technologies truly renewable or scalable?Promoting and transitioning to a degrowth paradigm in Western societiesPercentage growth rates and the rule of 70Taking action: Community level resilience and the fallacy of individual self-sufficiencyNathan has also generously provided links to his ‘Distributed Energy Generation in Southland’ presentation and his recent submission to a draft regional energy strategy if you are keen to dig deeper into the facts, figures and scientific concepts mentioned in this episode.Further resources mentioned by Nathan in this episode:To Catch The RainTo Catch The SunTo view all the links to the websites and documents, visit the show notes on our website. Don't forget to subscribe to this podcast, leave us a review and share this episode with your friends and family.Please support our work and enable us to deliver more content by buying us a coffee.Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.