ABSTRACT
In this Chapter we take up the matter of energy and related natural resources located in both the northern and the southern polar regions. And while focus will remain on renewable alternative energy resources, considerable information concerning non-renewable hydrocarbon resources will also be shared. Obviously, it does not require advanced study in geography or climatology to appreciate the incredibly harsh character of the polar environment. Unremitting sub-zero temperatures, ineffably thick and often moving sheets of ice, instantly changing weather conditions capable of subjecting one to wind and snow storms of almost unexpected magnitude, and general inconvenience and loneliness associated with a location far from the world's population centers. Nonetheless, as the economics of the energy business begin to suggest the rationality of searching out and extracting or tapping energy resources situated in such an inhospitable environment, there will be an inevitable desire to move to the Arctic and the Antarctic and try one's luck at bringing in a major energy or related natural resource deposit.
