Speculations on global energy demand and supply going forward

Global energy demand is a function of population and standard of living growth, both of which are expected to stabilize, enabling future annual demand to be projected from historical patterns and predicted improvements in efficiency. Factors which could significantly alter the demand projection, however, include new energy requirements for water pretreatment and for carbon management. About 80% of current energy demand is met by fossil fuels and projected fossil reserves are plentiful. Concern over possible climate change may lead to the adoption of carbon management technologies in the short term and greater exploitation of non-carbon energy sources in the longer term including solar, nuclear, and geothermal, although biomass may not be a major medium for exploiting solar energy.