Global Energy - Perspectives

Global energy needs are expanding with economic development around the world and population growth. There is now strong evidence that growing energy use risks damaging the environment and changing global climate. Consumers want higher levels of more efficient, cleaner, and less obtrusive energy services. How much of those needs will be met by fossil fuels, how much by alternative fuels, and how much by efficiency increases and expanded energy conservation is a crucial question and the focus of this book.

The International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) and the World Energy Council (WEC) present six alternative long-term energy futures. They cover a wide range - from a tremendous expansion of coal production to strict limits, from a phaseout of nuclear energy to a substantial increase, from carbon emissions in 2100 that are only one-third of today's levels to increases by more than a factor of three. All allow significant economic growth without exhausting energy resources, but all require substantial, yet different, early investments. These early investments will determine which fuels, technologies, efficiency gains, conservation patterns, and pollution levels are most likely to characterize the 21st century.

This book addresses issues that are of central concern to a very wide audience, since the provision of adequate energy services is a prerequisite for human development. The primary audience includes researchers, educators, policymakers in private and public sectors, and other workers in the energy, technology, economics, and environmental areas, but the book will appeal to anyone interested in the future of energy production and the environment.

The cover illustrates the growth and changing geography of primary energy use over the next century.