Energy

fueling the future

Modern industrial civilization was built on fossil fuel energy, but climate change, overpopulation and resource scarcity require that we find other ways to power our societies — and fast. The energy problems the world faces are too big, too complex, and coming too fast for us to responsibly hope that new technologies or new discoveries will save the day. Unfortunately, the decline of our most important energy source—petroleum—is already underway, and the resulting supply and price volatility will make investment in alternative infrastructure increasingly more difficult.

There are many things we must do to transition away from oil, coal and natural gas, but the most important are these: Reduce our consumption of fossil fuels. Use what fossil fuels we have more efficiently. Develop renewable energy sources and technologies. Decentralize energy production so that communities can power themselves from local energy sources.

videos

RICHARD HEINBERG: The Future of Energy Consumption

length: 4:31   credit:

The evidence indicates that we've hit the limits to growth (as we know it).

Post Carbon Institute Senior Fellow Richard Heinberg relates the fundamentals of energy supply scarcity and how the economic markets will react.
 

more videos

associated fellows

latest related publications

India cuts gas subsidy in favor of greener investments?

Warren Karlenzig    Jul 09, 2010   

Dehli Metro, Phase OneIs India trying to turn a corner toward more sustainable economic development with its recent reduction in fossil fuel subsidies?India's decision to completely cut gasoline … >>

more posts

The peak oil crisis: thinking about China

Tom Whipple    Jul 22, 2010   

With 1.3 billion people, China is unlikely to reach current U.S. energy consumption per capita for some time, if ever, but to double energy consumption in the last ten years is still an … >>

more articles

FOUNDATION CONCEPTS: Beyond the Limits to Growth

Richard Heinberg

EXCERPT: The underlying premise of the book (The Post Carbon Reader) is irrefutable: At some point in time, humanity's ever-increasing resource consumption will meet the very real limits of … >>

more reports

The Oil Age Poster

SF Infomatics

This is the newly updated 2009 edition of The Oil Age Poster. Oil forms the basis of our industrial age, powering everything we know as modern, from automobiles to airplanes to power plants to … >>

more books