Since economic prosperity in the modern world has been heavily dependent on energy supplied by fossil fuels like coal and oil, there is understandable resistance to implementing reforms. The recent global climate change negotiations in Kyoto, Japan provided ample evidence of this unfortunate fact. The current fossil-based phase of world history needs to come to a close. Strategies responding to the potential dire economic impact of an altered climate must consider how energy derived from burning these different fuels is used. Boosting the fuel efficiency of cars and trucks could reduce these dangerous emissions substantially.
Worldwide consumption increases each year.
But even at 1995 consumption rates, proven reserves would provide supplies only through the first half of the next century. When supplies inevitably tighten, the corresponding higher prices will undoubtedly make the securing of additional reserves more profitable. It seems unlikely that international public policy initiatives will be able to prevent the combustion of virtually all of the world's recoverable petroleum by the end of the next century, a practical reality adding significantly to atmospheric CO2 levels. Over the long term, the leading transportation alternatives to petroleum are electric vehicles or vehicles fueled by hydrogen produced by electrolysis. Yet if this electricity is generated from fossil fuels, CO levels will continue to rise.