ABSTRACT
It is generally accepted that energy is a fundamental component for the progress of human societies. Future energy technologies should drastically modify and influence the economics, politics, industries and everyday life. With this setting in mind, in the present chapter, the progress and evolution of the technologies that have helped human societies to produce energy is reviewed and weighed. What are the major driving forces at present that are demanding a shift in the paradigm of energy production? What are the possible energy sources and scenarios for the short to the long-term future? In particular, what do the existing energy concepts and theories tell us in seeking to develop new energy technologies? Without a doubt, in the next centuries, we are likely to witness an improvement on energy efficiency. More research emanating from physical sciences is key to grasping the functioning of the fundamental forces that rule our universe and use this knowledge to build advanced energy technologies, helping finally to producing an unlimited amount of energies in the future. Yet, human societies have nearly always been subject to energy deficiency. Will this change markedly in the future?
