The future of energy

We encourage you to republish this article online and in print, it’s free under our creative commons attribution license, but please follow some simple guidelines:

You have to credit our authors.
You have to credit SciDev.Net — where possible include our logo with a link back to the original article.
You can simply run the first few lines of the article and then add: “Read the full article on SciDev.Net” containing a link back to the original article.
If you want to also take images published in this story you will need to confirm with the original source if you're licensed to use them.
The easiest way to get the article on your site is to embed the code below.

For more information view our media page and republishing guidelines.

The full article is available here as HTML.

Press Ctrl-C to copy

<div class="article-wrap">
<div id="article-introduction">
<h1>The future of energy</h1>
<h4></h4>
</div>
<br />
<br />

<div id="article-body">
<p><P>Energy and development go hand in hand. The choices countries make about energy will profoundly affect not just economic growth, but the state of the environment and even national defence concerns. </P><br />
<P>In this article, Jeffrey Chow and colleagues from Resources for the Future in Washington, DC, examine our global energy resources — where they are, how they are used, and what this means for all of us. They found, for instance, that large fossil fuel reserves do not constitute a fast track to development: Nigeria is energy-rich but lacks an adequate socioeconomic system to deploy its wealth. </P><br />
<P>Given the environmental problems inherent in fossil fuels, will we turn to renewables? Chow and colleagues say we will, but perhaps not for another 50 years. In the meantime, both infrastructure and interests are geared to supporting fossil fuels, and only political will and financial support will change the picture.</P><br />
<P><a  href="/sci.cfm?redir=http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/302/5650/1528?ijkey=uGMAZCesN22mM&keytype=ref&siteid=sci" target="_blank" onclick="pageTracker._trackPageview('/tracking/external/'+this.href);" rel="noopener noreferrer">Link to full article in <EM>Science</EM></A> </P><br />
<P>Reference: <em>Science</em> 302, 1528 (2003)</P></p>

</div>
<div class="quick-links-wrapper">
<h3>You might also like</h3>
[related-articles]
</div>
<p>This article was originally published on <a href="https://www.scidev.net" target="_blank">SciDev.Net</a>. Read the <a href="https://www.scidev.net/global/opinions/the-future-of-energy/" target="_blank">original article</a>.</p>
<script type="text/javascript">
(function(e,t,n,r,i,s,o){e["GoogleAnalyticsObject"]=i;e[i]=e[i]||function(){(e[i].q=e[i].q||[]).push(arguments)},e[i].l=1*new Date;s=t.createElement(n),o=t.getElementsByTagName(n)[0];s.async=1;s.src=r;o.parentNode.insertBefore(s,o)})(window,document,"script","//www.google-analytics.com/ga.js","ga");var _gaq=_gaq||[];var _gaq=_gaq||[];_gaq.push(["_setAccount","UA-3223906-8"],["_trackEvent","article interaction","republished","https://www.scidev.net/global/opinions/the-future-of-energy/",null,true])
</script>
</div>

Energy and development go hand in hand. The choices countries make about energy will profoundly affect not just economic growth, but the state of the environment and even national defence concerns.

In this article, Jeffrey Chow and colleagues from Resources for the Future in Washington, DC, examine our global energy resources — where they are, how they are used, and what this means for all of us. They found, for instance, that large fossil fuel reserves do not constitute a fast track to development: Nigeria is energy-rich but lacks an adequate socioeconomic system to deploy its wealth.

Given the environmental problems inherent in fossil fuels, will we turn to renewables? Chow and colleagues say we will, but perhaps not for another 50 years. In the meantime, both infrastructure and interests are geared to supporting fossil fuels, and only political will and financial support will change the picture.

Link to full article in Science

Reference: Science 302, 1528 (2003)