Energy: Global Prospects 1985-2000; Soft Energy Paths: Toward a Durable Peace

The first work is the final report of an important two-year multinational effort, under the guidance of Carroll L. Wilson of M.I.T., to assess world energy demand and supply. The report concludes that oil supplies will run short of demand sooner than is generally expected, probably between 1985 and 1995, and that there is an urgent need to prepare now for the coming oil shortage with alternate fuels. Apart from its substance, this report serves as a model of private international collaboration in studying a critical global problem. Amory B. Lovins continues here his provocative and iconoclastic approach, arguing that we can rely on less energy supply than is usually assumed and taking a more optimistic view than does the Wilson study of "soft energy" options, such as solar, in part because his analysis extends beyond the year 2000.