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English
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CHAPTER 7 ENERGY: CHOICES FOR ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT
1. Energy is necessary for daily survival. Future development crucially depends on its long-term availability in increasing quantities from sources that are dependable, safe, and environmentally sound. At present, no single source or mix of sources is at hand to meet this future need.
2. Concern about a dependable future for energy is only natural since energy provides 'essential services' for human life - heat for warmth, cooking, and manufacturing, or power for transport and mechanical work. At present, the energy to provide these services comes from fuels – oil, gas, coal, nuclear, wood, and other primary sources (solar, wind, or water power) – that are all useless until they are converted into the energy-services needed by machines or other kinds of end-use equipment, such as stoves, turbines, or motors. In many countries worldwide, a lot of primary energy is wasted because of the inefficient design or running of the equipment used to convert it into the services required; though there is an encouraging growth in awareness of energy conservation and efficiency.
3. Today's primary sources of energy are mainly non-renewable: natural gas, oil, coal, peat, and conventional nuclear power. There are also renewable sources, including wood, plants, dung, falling water, geothermal sources, solar, tidal, wind, and wave energy, as well as human and animal muscle-power. Nuclear reactors that produce their own fuel ('breeders') and eventually fusion reactors are also in this category. In theory, all the various energy sources can contribute to the future energy mix worldwide. But each has its own economic, health, and environmental costs, benefits, and risks – factors that interact strongly with other governmental and global priorities. Choices must be made, but in the certain knowledge that, choosing an energy strategy inevitably means choosing an environmental strategy.
4. Patterns and changes of energy use today are already dictating patterns well into the next century. We approach this question from the standpoint of sustainability. The key elements of sustainability that have to be reconciled are:
- sufficient growth of energy supplies to meet human needs (which means accommodating a minimum of 3 per cent per capita income growth in developing countries);
- energy efficiency and conservation measures, such that waste of primary resources is minimized;
- public health, recognizing the problems of risks to safety inherent in energy sources; and
- protection of the biosphere and prevention of more localized forms of pollution.
