Coal and oil, which are the buried products of several hundred million years of
solar energy, photosynthesis, and geological pressure, have fuelled our industries
and transport systems since the Industrial Revolution, a period of only 200 years.
Although opinions differ as to when the peak in oil production will occur (perhaps
in 2010, perhaps in 2030), it is hard to avoid the conclusion that oil is being
consumed about one million times faster than it was made and, further than
this, the twenty-first century, will be the century when societies have to learn
to live without gas and oil (coal will outlast oil and gas by a few hundred
years). But, there is an entirely separate motivation for living without fossil
fuel: obtaining energy from oil, coal, and gas will continue to put carbon dioxide
(CO2) into the atmosphere at levels which it is widely acknowledged are elevating
the average temperature on the planet. Carbon dioxide is a good heat absorber
and acts like a blanket: this is because CO2 molecules resonate strongly with
infrared radiation causing it to be trapped as heat instead of all being transmitted
into space.