ABSTRACT
Concerns about the environmental impact of energy use are nothing new, as evidenced by complaints about air pollution from the burning of sea coal in thirteenth-century England. However, industrialization has greatly magnified this impact and, over the last century, environmental concerns about energy have extended beyond the local to regional and global levels, encompassing not only air pollution but also land degradation, water pollution, acid rain and, most recently, global climate change. While local and regional environmental effects will continue to influence patterns of energy use, this chapter focuses on the impact of growing concerns about climate change on the future of energy in general, and of oil in particular. It is argued that this concern will increasingly drive and accelerate the ongoing “decar-bonization” of the energy economy. The conclusion reached is that although the price of oil will continue to be an influencing factor, climate and other environmental concerns, along with new technological developments, may place greater constraints on the future of oil than resource availability.
