Sustainable energy resources: Prospects and policy

Global primary energy use is presently dominated by fossil fuels. But given the environmental resource and environmental challenges facing these fuels, alternatives must be sought. This chapter looks at each energy group-fossil fuels, nuclear energy, and renewable energy (RE)-in that order. The authors argue that neither carbon sequestration nor geoengineering are feasible solutions for the climate effects of fossil fuels. Nuclear sources play only a minor role in world energy production, and official forecasts show little change in its market share. RE also faces a variety of challenges, particularly because the most promising sources, wind and solar energy, are intermittent, and will eventually require expensive energy storage. However, present fossil fuel use is very heavily subsidized, suggesting that removal of these subsidies would greatly reduce energy demand to a level RE could meet.