Energy and the Environment

Modern human societies have developed an apparently insatiable appetite for the production and consumption of energy, which has brought with it far-reaching adverse consequences to the environment. Energy is a well-understood aspect of science; thermodynamics describes the fundamental principles that determine the efficiency with which energy can be harvested, stored, produced, transmitted or consumed. The environmental impacts of the production and consumption of energy are less fully understood and have to be balanced against the availability of key resources, the cost of managing those resources, the efficiency with which they may be utilised and the political and ethical consequences of obtaining them.