History: Kardashev Level

The Kardashev scale, named for Nikolai Kardashev, is way to measure a civilization's technological progress with energy use as a metric.  In its original form, it has three discrete but progressive levels:

• A Type I civilization, a planetary civilization, can use and store all of the energy available on its planet.


• A Type II civilization, a stellar civilization, can use and control energy at the scale of its planetary system.


• A Type III civilization, a galactic civilization, can control energy at the scale of its entire host galaxy.

One of the methods most influential proponents, Carl Sagan, suggested a continuum of levels from 0 to 4 (universal civilization).