Energy, what an enormous subject! As vast as the universe. Our universe is overflowing with the boundless energy of billions of galaxies, all in ceaseless movement and each made up of billions of stars radiating heat, light and electromagnetic waves. And among this myriad of stars is the sun, generously spreading its rays over the earth and nurturing life here on earth: the life of a multitude of organisms, including animals, which use this energy to live and move around. These organisms include a very special animal: Man. For several thousand years and most notably in the last two centuries, humans have found the simple energy of their muscles to be insufficient. We have built a modern industrial civilisation and, to make it work, we have tamed the energy sources available in nature: for example, the wind, moving water and the burning of wood. And more recently we have exploited the less obvious resources, hidden under the ground or difficult to control; resources such as coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear fission.
Today, Man has arrived at a turning point in his history. Those forms of energy which he uses the most, based on fossil sources (oil, gas and coal), are going to become scarcer and scarcer. Renewal will take millions of years! There is no miracle solution to this problem, but there are a large
number of actions which, put together, will enable us to overcome the difficulties that lie ahead. It will be up to each one of us to play a role in meeting the huge challenge of ensuring that our future children will be able
to have access to the energy that is essential for life.
Meanwhile, let’s take off on our grand voyage around the energy question!
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