ABSTRACT
Events lead the practicing engineer to conclude that in the case of Earth’s total energy supply-not long ago taken utterly for granted-one can, by failing to plan well, seriously impede civilization’s progress. If the United States is to continue to improve both productivity and the standard of living at a pace even near that made possible by technology, it could continue to consume amounts of energy that would increase roughly at an exponential rate with respect to time. It is fairly easy to show historically that the total energy consumption of an industrialized country will vary closely with its gross national product; this relationship is especially strong in the case of electrical energy. The present trend is for electrical usage to double about every decade under the status quo.
