From some perspectives, the mid-1990s are a dark time for the world energy system. Oil consumption is approaching the record levels of the late 1970s, with demand in some countries growing at rates as high as 10 percent per year. Emissions are growing particularly rapidly in China and India, but even the United States and Canada are failing to hold carbon dioxide emissions steady as they are supposed to under the Rio climate convention. Although most energy analysts view such trends as convincing evidence that the world energy system won't change anytime soon, the reverse may be true. As Stephen Jay Gould's theory suggests, evolutionary bursts are usually precipitated by strong pressures.
New technologies are the most obvious.
As noted earlier, advanced electronics, new materials, and biotechnology are now being put to use in energy systems. The modern automobile, for example, has become virtually a computer on wheels with electronic controls that provide fuel economy and lower emissions. Industry restructuring is also spawning change. In the past, most electric power systems have been operated as government-owned or controlled monopolies that manage everything from constructing power plants to reading the meters attached to customers' homes. These monopolies have been drawn to giant plants and inefficient, entrenched technologies, and have had little incentive to pursue innovation.