About this book series

The “energy crises” of the 1970s together with the appearance of numerous books and papers on the general theme of “limits to growth” catapulted energy from obscurity to social, economic, and academic prominence. Then fuel prices came down again, economies recovered, and energy more or less disappeared from university and political discourse until about 2005. Many believed that market processes had resolved, and would continue to address, all energy supply issues. Now energy in all of its aspects is back with a vengeance. While oil spills, mine deaths, and stock market plunges grab the headlines, there are much more fundamental discussions taking place about energy and its economic and environmental effects, many already occurring, on a societal scale. Most fundamental in this respect is the arrival, plus or minus a few years, of global peak oil, which in 1968 was first predicted to occur around the turn of the millennium. Clearly, energy never really went away and in fact underlies all physical motion, all life, all chemistry, and all economics . It has been neglected in our understanding and teaching of societal processes for far too long, and particularly now when the scope and importance of issues growing out of energy availability and use are increasing yearly. These issues and impacts include the potential for economic growth and wealth creation (including so-called sustainable development), climate change, general pollution, agricultural production, clean water, and perhaps even the continued existence of civilization as we know it in the coming decades.

Part of this series
SpringerBriefs in Energy
Electronic ISSN
2199-9147
Print ISSN
2191-7876
Series Editor
  • Charles A.S. Hall

Book titles in this series

  1. Switching Off

    Meeting Our Energy Needs in A Constrained Future

    Authors:
    • Patrick Moriarty
    • Damon Honnery
    • Copyright: 2022

    Available Renditions

    • Soft cover
    • eBook
  2. Jevons' Paradoxes

    William Stanley Jevons and the Roots of Biophysical and Neoclassical Economics

    Authors:
    • Kent Klitgaard
    • Copyright: 2022

    Available Renditions

    • Soft cover
    • eBook
  3. The Economics of Oil

    A Primer Including Geology, Energy, Economics, Politics

    Authors:
    • S.W. Carmalt
    • Copyright: 2017

    Available Renditions

    • Soft cover
    • eBook