Future Energy

CHAPTER ONE

Energy Today

I can feel the plane shaking as it gets faster, then suddenly lifts into the air. Its engines are burning 1.5 litres of fuel every second as we climb into the sky above Istanbul. It is seven o'clock on a cold February evening in a city of 13 million people. Below me, people are travelling home from work in cars, buses, trains, and boats.

Through the plane window, I can see thousands of lights from factories, streets, shops, houses, and ships in the Marmara Sea. The city lights look beautiful at night, but have you ever thought about how much energy they use? Where does all this energy come from?

About two hours later, I open the front door of my house in Adana in eastern Turkey. I can smell food cooking, and hear the sound of a TV. A red light goes on and off on the telephone. All over the house, machines are taking messages, washing, cooking, and heating the house.

Perhaps you are reading this book at home. Are the lights on in your room? Are you listening to music? How many machines can you see around you right now?

At this moment around the world, billions of lights, computers, TVs, and fridges are turned on. At any moment of any day, 25 million cars are driving on roads and nearly 700,000 people are flying somewhere in a plane. Most of the energy that we use for these things comes from fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas. One day soon, we will not have any more of these fuels. Where will our energy come from in the future, and how will this change our world?