New energy sources - the hope

Abstract

The notion that fossil fuel supplies are virtually inexhaustible, and that the environmental impacts caused by combustion are inconsequential and speedily remediated by nature, is being replaced progreSSively with the more pragmatic and inevitable deduction: the longterm prospects are predicting diminishing rates of discovery of petroleum reserves, fluctuating oil prices, and unpredictable security of supply. The mechanisms our atmosphere employs to cleanse itself from the assault of smokestacks, exhaust pipes, and even non-anthropogenic emissions is overwrought. And those who set policy in the developed world, where the lion's share of fossil fuels are consumed, must balance the burden of modern lifestyles with the need for sustainable development.