Energy “up there with…global economy and terrorism” (Blair)

Tony Blair, in the forword to the paperback edition, published today, of his memoir ‘A Journey’, rates the energy challenge “up there with those of the global economy and terrorism”. Energy security, he says, will [this century] be as important for many countries as defence. “There is only one way to solve this challenge” writes the former UK Prime Minister: “science and technology. We have to improve radically, not marginally, energy productivity and carbon energy efficiency.”

There can be little doubt about the importance and desirability of energy efficiency. But the notion that technological advances can somehow allow us to get more energy from the combustion of each barrel of oil would be hard to square with the underlying science. Renewables will help us make the oil last longer, but it seems unlikely they will come on stream fast enough to allow business as usual with a larger, wealthier population. There are no easy answers as far as we are aware, but surely a move toward less energy-intensive patterns of living and working must be part of the mix.