Energy in a Finite World

Fülszöveg

International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
A-2361 Laxenburg, Austria
It was by virtue of its international dimensions, as revealed by the 1973 Oil Embargo in particular, that the energy problem so urgently captured our attention as "the problem of the seventies." Yet to date most energy studies have been conducted only at national or, at best, regional levels. As such they are fundamentally and critically incomplete. Whether owing to political necessity or corporate pragmatism, they are also 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 years at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) and summarized in this report is comprehensive both geographically — no area on the world map has been omitted — and temporally — the period studied in detail covers the next half century, from 1980 to 2030. The study explores the... Tovább

Fülszöveg

International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
A-2361 Laxenburg, Austria
It was by virtue of its international dimensions, as revealed by the 1973 Oil Embargo in particular, that the energy problem so urgently captured our attention as "the problem of the seventies." Yet to date most energy studies have been conducted only at national or, at best, regional levels. As such they are fundamentally and critically incomplete. Whether owing to political necessity or corporate pragmatism, they are also 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 years at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) and summarized in this report is comprehensive both geographically — no area on the world map has been omitted — and temporally — the period studied in detail 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-fossil 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 are to be useful, it is essential that they be presented concisely, clearly, and understandably. That is the purpose of this summary report. To label it "definitive" would be presumptuous and arrogant; it provides neither a recipe for Utopia nor a forecast of catastrophe. But the insights revealed are compelling 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 21st century. Vissza