The Prospects for Electricity and Transport Fuels to 2050
Year: 2008
Type: book-chapter
Abstract: The role of socio-technological–economic scenarios in considering the future development of energy systems is considered and several recent schemes are discussed. The scenarios are consistent in anticipating a continuing increase in energy services demand, but differ widely in the extent of modal shifting and energy efficiency improvement, and hence the delivered energy demand. Against a general background of striving for equitable access to energy for all, the principal drivers of energy policy are likely to be the availability of fossil fuels and the extent of evidence for the impact of climate change. The options for supply of energy in the transport and electricity sectors are presented and their increasing interdependence discussed. It is noted that the conservatism and inertia of the existing systems and frameworks must be recognized when trying to achieve ambitious policy goals. The importance given to energy is clear from the fact that the energy consumed per capita is often used as a measure of a country's extent of development. The increasing demand for world primary energy is driven not just by the still rapidly increasing world population, but by the political desire for equity, as seen in the growth of energy conversion resources in India and China over the last two decades. Governments have a significant role in transport because of the natural monopolies, externalities and equity issues around the supply and operation of transport. There are therefore legitimate reasons why a purely commercial approach may not deliver the most appropriate future transport fuels and supply structures.
Source: Future Energy
Authors: Geoff Dutton, Matthew Page
Language: English
Field: Energy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W1135165583