Global Energy and Electricity Futures

Abstract

In the development of the societal structures of the world’s many population groups during the past thousand years, the availability of energy resources and their conversion to end-uses has played a dominant role (1). In the past century, the application of electricity as an intermediate energy form has accelerated this process, and in industrial countries has substantially transformed their economic and social structure (2). The role of electricity in the world’s future is thus intimately related to the shift from primitive agriculture to modern industrialization, including agriculture, that is slowly occurring worldwide.