Hi, I’m Schalk
A research scientist dedicated to sustainable development
I live a simple life. No big house, fancy car, or kids running around. This simplicity helped me save and invest most of my income for the first decade of my career, reaching financial freedom back in 2019. Never having to work again is pure gold for research because it frees your work from financial bias. I can now focus exclusively on what I feel will have the greatest long-term impact instead of what I think could get funded. Currently, this creative freedom gets poured into technology, policy insights, and lifestyle design strategies for addressing our great 21st century sustainability challenge: Give every world citizen a fair shot at a decent life without destroying the ecological carrying capacity of our planet.
Journal Papers
Peer-reviewed papers and citations are to research scientists what traditionally published books and rave reviews are to regular authors.
Thanks to many dedicated co-authors and many hours of overtime, my publication record grew nicely in recent years. The three different platforms linked below contain all the details.
My progress over time is shown on the left. Hopefully, I can keep the exponential citation growth going for a few more years.
Popular Science Articles
Peer-reviewed papers are not exactly the most appealing reading material. It is therefore important to find other ways to make scientific insights more accessible to the public.
My popular science writing is focused on the great 21st century sustainability challenge: how to best give each of the 4.7 billion people still living on less than $10/day a fair shot at a decent life without permanently degrading the vital planetary systems that sustain us.
This work can be viewed on the technology-neutral energy discussion forums linked below.
The Powerful Purpose Behind this Blog
This is a blog about the art of consistently doing the right things in life. We all have a pretty good idea of what those right things are, but all too few manage to do them consistently.
Getting better control over your body and mind can really elevate your life, but there’s also a bigger purpose: building a sustainable and equitable society. To illustrate, this post gives all the details on how efficient living can literally save the world 🙂
10 Practical Steps to Dramatically Lower Energy Bills
Save money, the economy, and the environment all at once
HHWPS Blog
Building a sustainable and equitable world will require a massive global effort. The more people who are willing and able to contribute to this effort the better.
To do my little bit, I maintain a blog exploring what I like to call “Life Efficiency.” The idea is very simple: the best way to build a sustainable and equitable society is for individuals to build happy, healthy, wealthy, and productive lives.
The HHWPS blog covers all the main areas involved in Happy, Healthy, Wealthy, Productive, and Sustainable living. I also recently published an online calculator where you can quickly and easily estimate your own Life Efficiency.
Last updated: 01/01/2023