In the middle are fields, illustrating agriculture's distinction as the oldest technology to transform the environment. At the bottom is technology, symbolized by a machine. But it is a special kind of machine, designed by a farmer in Austria as a piece of art. I IASA's recent book Global Energy Perspectives reaches the principal conclusion that technology, and technological progress, are the keys to shaping our energy future.
Perspectives differ about which technologies to emphasize.
Coal industry executives may look to technology to make their product the preferred fuel in Asia's rapidly growing energy markets and the principal source of synthetic liquid fuels. But both would agree that technological progress is the key to raising living standards around the world while providing for 4 to 6 billion more people by 2100. T echnology has always played a vital role in economic and social development. Over the last 200 years technology has moved us from the farm to the factory to the Internet. Technology has done away with some environmental problems, e.g., urban horse manure, but has added others, e.g., urban smog.