ABSTRACT
Modern energy use is increasingly recognized as the culprit in a number of environmental problems. Locally, production and consumption of energy lead to air pollution, water pollution and land degradation. On a regional scale, in the absence of special precautions emissions of sulphur and nitrogen are distributed for kilometres around fossil fuel combustion plants, while nuclear waste disposal requires sites that can be guaranteed to be safe for millennia. Globally, emissions of greenhouse gases lead to climate change, arguably one of the most serious environmental threats facing the world today.
