Major Policy Issues

The major energy policy issues of today are all affected by decisions taken in the past: policy for the newer energy technologies such as nuclear power is affected by the presence of the results of capital investment in fossil fuel generation; much-needed changes in the balance between fuels used in industry may be inhibited by the inertia of present working methods; and research and development decisions affect options many years into the future. The high cost of capital investment in power production and the long lead times associated with most developments intensify the policy-making problems, and additionally there is the uncertainty caused by varying estimates of resource reserves to contend with.