ABSTRACT
The impression may have been given in this book so far that everything can be understood by science and performed by engineering. Such an opinion is naïve in the extreme. The reality is that practical developments in energy concern about 75% ‘institutional factors’ and only about 25% of science and engineering. Scientists and engineers as such are minor influences, with the key parts played by others, including politicians, planners, financiers, lawyers, the media, the public and, because of ethical and cultural values, philosophers. Nevertheless when scientists and engineers themselves enter the other areas of influence, they may become more influential. This chapter first briefly reviews some of the socio-political and eco-
nomic factors that affect the choice of energy systems. It emerges that environmental costs are not well incorporated into the current prices of conventional energy systems, so choices are biased against more sustainable energy systems, including renewables. Some policy tools that could redress this are outlined. Section 17.5 outlines some methods used by economists and accountants to quantify choice between alternative projects, including the use of discounted cash flows. The chapter, and the book, concludes with an examination of how
the technological, socio-political and economic environment for renewable energy has evolved over the past 30 years and how it might evolve in future. We conclude that renewables are growth areas of development, with potential to supply much of the world’s energy from millions of local and appropriate sites, but that to make this happen will require knowledge, vision, experience, finance, markets, and individual and collective choice.
