ABSTRACT
Conventional energy sources based on oil, coal and natural gas have been highly effective drivers of economic progress but at the same time damaging to the environment and to human health. Furthermore, they tend to be cyclical in nature, due to the effects of oligopoly on production, distribution and other factors. These traditional fossil fuel-based energy sources are facing increasing pressure on a host of environmental fronts, with perhaps the most serious challenge confronting the future use of coal, given the Kyoto Protocol greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets. It is now clear that, barring radical carbon sequestration efforts, any effort to maintain atmospheric levels of CO2 below even 550 ppm cannot be based fundamentally on an oil and coal-powered global economy. 1
