32. Transition Engineering

We cannot predict the future. However, we know that development in this century will be different from the last, and the fundamental problem will be energy. World consumption and population growth have been accompanied by growth in total energy supply, and by improvements in productivity and efficiency. More than 90 % of current energy supply is fossil hydrocarbons, finite resources that produce a potent green house gas, CO₂. Resource, environmental and social limits to growth have been studied since the 1970s, and a wide range of factors indicate that the drivers of growth in the previous century are slowing [1]. The energy transition is the only realistic approach to mitigating the most destructive climate impacts of increased green house gas concentrations [2].