Energy in a Finite World

Fülszöveg

m It was by virtue of its international dimensions, as revealed by the 1973 Oil Embargó in particular, that the energy problem so urgently captured our attention as the "problem of the seventies." Yet to date most energy stüdies have been conducted onlyat national or, at best, régiónál levels. As such they are fundamentally and critically incomplete. Whether due to political necessity or corporate pragmatism, they are alsó painfully myopic in their short-term analyses of a problem far too complex and pervasive to yield to quick-fix nostrums. In contrast, the study conducted over the last seven yearsatthe International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (HASA) and reported in this book is comprehensive both geographically - no area on the world map has been omitted - and temporally - the period studied covers the next half century, from 1980 to 2030. The study explores the possible features of global energy systems that are not just post-oil systems, but post-fossi/ systems.... Tovább

Fülszöveg

m It was by virtue of its international dimensions, as revealed by the 1973 Oil Embargó in particular, that the energy problem so urgently captured our attention as the "problem of the seventies." Yet to date most energy stüdies have been conducted onlyat national or, at best, régiónál levels. As such they are fundamentally and critically incomplete. Whether due to political necessity or corporate pragmatism, they are alsó painfully myopic in their short-term analyses of a problem far too complex and pervasive to yield to quick-fix nostrums. In contrast, the study conducted over the last seven yearsatthe International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (HASA) and reported in this book is comprehensive both geographically - no area on the world map has been omitted - and temporally - the period studied covers the next half century, from 1980 to 2030. The study explores the possible features of global energy systems that are not just post-oil systems, but post-fossi/ systems. And it explores how, realistically, the world might successfully negotiate the transition to such systems. Necessarily it rests on the extensive and rigorous analysis of voluminous data. But if analytic results areto be useful, it is essential that they be presented concisely, clearly, and understandably. That is the purpose of this book. To label it "definitive" would be presumptuous and arrogant; it provides neither a recipe for utópia nor a forecast of catastrophe. But the insights revealed are compeling and are critical to an informed, responsible understanding of what was "the problem of the seventies," is now a problem of the eighties, and will clearly remain a problem of the 21 st century. Energy in a Fin/te World: A Global Systems Analysis, the companion volume to this book, presents the complete, technical findings of the study summarized here. Vissza