Energy, A Challenge for Humanity in the 21st Century

摘要

In the past two centuries, the consumption of energy resources and associated technological knowledge has largely contributed to the development of humanity. Today, the satisfaction of human needs, related particularly to the improvement of the quality of life, is leading to an increasing demand of energy and the physical limits of the growth of energy consumption are affecting primarily the impacts of energy use on the environment as well as the availability of energy resources. This contribution aims first at evaluating the demand and supply of energy at the world scale for the horizon 2050 and secondly at identifying the role of the various energy vectors in relation with the resources and atmospheric carbon emissions.