Energy Needs in the Next Century

Abstract

In strict scientific terms the title of this lecture is misleading since energy cannot be destroyed, it can only be changed from one form to another, i.e. it is always conserved. However, in the present context I will take energy conservation to mean the use of less energy to provide virtually all the services and goods demanded by modern industrialised societies. People increasingly require energy-related services, such as warm and well-lit homes and work-places, transport, refrigeration and air conditioning, telecommunications and manufactured products, so that world energy consumption is steadily growing and currently stands at the equivalent of using approximately 9 billion tonnes of oil per annum (Figure 1). Nearly 90 per cent of this energy is obtained by burning fossil fuels, such as oil, natural gas, or coal and this is leading to increasing environmental concern.