The World in 2030

26 The World in 2030
vital energy they need. And this must be done even as world
population balloons and energy demands soar.
Yet the clean energy we need is all around us, in the sun,
the wind, the waves and the rocks. It’s just that we greedy,
lazy, avaricious humans haven’t had to go to the bother of
harnessing it: until now.
Mandatory reductions to our energy usage are not the
answer to the looming energy crisis (although conservation
and efficiency must be vastly improved). Human evolution
spurs us to seek continual growth, both personally and
collectively, and any concerted legislative attempt to restrict
growth or economic activity would produce great social
unrest and alarming macro-economic consequences.
The solution to the energy crisis is complex because
the problem is complex. Humans have consumed external
energy since the first camp fire was lit and now that there
are to be up to twelve billion humans on the planet by midcentury,
all of them seeking better standards of living, there’s
going to be a huge and rapidly growing desire for more and
more energy.
I stood in the blazing sunshine of a hot summer’s day
in Sydney recently contemplating the fact that, per capita,
Australians are responsible for releasing more carbon dioxide
into the world’s atmosphere 37 than any other nation (even the
Americans). The reason is simple to understand; Australia has
vast, easily mined coal reserves and this dirty fuel is used to
produce 85 per cent of the nation’s electricity. 38 Along with
its partner in shame, the United States, Australia isolated