Public funding for energy research across the world has halved in real terms since 1980, and in the UK it is now one-tenth of what it used to be.There could be a lot lurking in that statement, but if even remotely correct (and I'm sure it is) it's enough to drive one nuts in the face of regular expenditures for wars of various sorts. The War on Some Drugs is particularly galling. I wonder what might have been accomplished on the energy front with some significant fraction of the US$60,000,000,000 (or thereabouts) wasted annually in the War on Some Drugs by the United States.
"None of the kinds of energy that we can produce now routinely are going to really be sustainable in the long run at the scale we need."If anyone doubts the truth of that statement maybe they should try to critique a presentation given by the departed Nobelist Dr. Richard Smalley. Here it is, near the top of Smalley's Rice University page.
The International Energy Agency predicts that by 2030 global energy demand will increase by 50%.I hope the IEA's prediction comes true because, if it does, it'll mean that humanity is still muddling along and that my son's generation will have had a chance to approach middle age. I hate to write this, but as I squint at political, religious, environmental, demographic and other trends, I simply can't muster more than 50/50 odds for the IEA's prediction.
What a bummer man.
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