1. The Context and Corollaries

Since before the industrial revolution, mankind has been burning ‘ancient sunlight’ in the form of coal, oil, and gas, as if there was no tomorrow. A considerable body of scientific evidence now exists to suggest that this is upsetting the ecological well-being of the planet. In this chapter the science is reviewed in order to place in context the reported dangers of continuing to rely on fossil fuels to power a global economy that is unsustainably rapacious of the Earth’s resources. If mankind is to wean itself off its addiction to fossil fuels to restore the ecological health of the planet, we will have to overcome our growing resistance to the expansion of renewable sources of energy, and we will have to find a way to deliver renewable power reliably and extensively.