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By Malcolm Caldwell
“The high living standards enjoyed by many in the industrialised countries, and by an elite elsewhere, rest upon combustion of the fossil fuels. These consist essentially of coal, oil and natural gas, and represent energy trapped and stored over time. In effect, they are finite – in human at least if not in geological terms. But before discussing the implications of this situation, we may first dispose of the utopian expectations, raised by science journalists more commonly than by scientists, that some alternative source of energy may in time, through scientific and technological advance, enable us to free ourselves from reliance on the finite fossil fuels.”
