ABSTRACT
Today’s world economy does not use the Earth’s resources in a sustainable way. Humanity is rapidly coming closer to the exhaustion of conventional and nuclear finite energy reserves. Now it is widely accepted that the mid-depletion point of oil reserves has already been passed in non-OPEC countries, and will be passed in the OPEC countries within the next decades (according to EWG (2008a), peak oil, i.e. global maximum oil production capacity, was passed in 2006. Additionally EWG studies on global coal and uranium resources showed that these will also become scarce in the near future. Last but not least, the environment faces increasing threats, ranging from the well-known problem of human-caused climate change to the erosion of fertile soil, water pollution and the various effects of manmade toxins and nuclear waste.
