The book has been written with the intention to give the reader an overview of today’s energy problem, which is caused by the demographic, sociologic and economic conditions of our modern human society and which is embedded in the complex ecosystem of the earth’s biosphere. It is written from the viewpoint of a physicist who is educated in studying complex systems. The proposed solutions for the energy transition are based on general physical considerations and take recent developments in technology into account. The political aspects of the book are based on the conviction of the author, have no stringent scientific validity and are meant as stimuli in the search of the reader for valid solutions.

Most of the statements in the book are common knowledge and can be found in many books and publications; some of them are recent or unpublished, and some are a synthesis of different ideas from various discussions and conference talks.

Writing a book like this is a tightrope walk for a scientist. On the one hand the book should have a clear, up-to-date analysis of the situation so that it is useful as basis for political and economic decisions and for general education. On the other hand, a scientist likes to publish only statements that are 100% provable and indisputable. Unfortunately, the described matter is multidisciplinary and too complex for a full scientific analysis. And it is changing rapidly over the years. Therefore, the reader should take this book as a field report of the author on his lifelong way to understand the complexity of the problems, their relations and possible solutions. The author is looking forward for feedback, so that in a possible second edition of this book errors can be corrected and novel proposals and solutions can be included.