Q. Are we living through an energy revolution?
All revolutions, especially lived ones, are hard to identify and define. To get a better sense of the current era and where it is going, this and the next issue of Energy Today will explore this question from multiple historical angles: the present, the recent past, and the longue
durée. Each article addresses a big idea or specific project, context or real-world examples, tensions and compatibilities. Collectively, these two publications consider if this era might qualify as an energy revolution.
For the last two hundred years or so, half of humanity has been burning fossil fuels to generate more abundant and
affordable energy, and still their appetite for energy has not been satisfied. The other 3.5 billion people struggle to survive because they do not have access to sufficient or reliable energy, and they aspire to one day enjoy the additional benefits and comforts that energy abundance provides. This is the age of “energy generation,” and there have been enormous changes and many successes. But it’s slow pace and partial impact does not qualify as a revolution.
However, more recently and almost without warning, a new concern has surfaced: “sustainability.” Humanity is using fossil fuels at a rate that cannot be replaced (peak oil), and more significantly, at a scale that
is destroying the delicate balance of the global ecosystem. The era of energy generation has shifted. Modern society must create a new energy system in which both generation and sustainability are compatible. And, to quote John Adams, the revolutionary spirit is already in "the minds and hearts of the people" — those who support, those who oppose, as well as those who think they have not yet taken a position.
Creating a new energy system is clearly humanity’s greatest challenge. Each article in these two issues of Energy Today considers a specific aspect of this question: are we living through an energy revolution?