By Stefan Krauter

There is anxiety throughout the world concerning reserves of energy. The demand for electricity has increased of late years at an exponential rate, and if the demand for coal oil and gas has nearly followed a straight-line law, the slope of the line has been such as to cause concern among individual nations as to when their own supplies of fossil become exhausted, and to the world in general as to possible sources of energy when there is no more coal or oil . . . In consequence of this position, there is the greatest activity all over the world to eke out coal reserves by using other sources of energy. From Nature 5 August 1950

1. If the present growth trends in world population, industrialization, pollution, food production, and resource depletion continue unchanged, the limits to growth on this planet will be reached sometime within the next 100 years. The most probable result will be a sudden and uncontrollable decline in both population and industrial capacity.

2. It is possible to alter these growth trends and to establish a condition of ecological and economic stability that is sustainable far into the future. The state of global equilibrium could be designed so that the basic material needs of each person on earth are satisfied and each person has an equal opportunity to realize his or her individual human potential.

3. If the world's people decide to strive for this second outcome rather than the first, the sooner they begin working to attain it, the greater will be their chances of success.

Rio de Janeiro, December 2005

Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Stefan Krauter