Global
warming due to greenhouse gases, mainly from the burning of
fossil fuels, is now grasping our attention, but it is not the
only problem. Since 1859, when the first oil well was drilled in
Texas, we have been using up fossil fuels as if there is no
tomorrow. The world consumption of oil each day is now 86 million
barrels. Our water butt holds a barrel and a half. The line of
water butts needed to hold a day's supply would stretch three
quarters of the way round the world.
In 1980, one percent of our electricity in the UK came from natural gas. In 2006, the figure was 39%. The supplies from the North Sea are running low, and so we now import it. Some of it comes frozen frozen and is then reheated, a process which requires a lot of energy in itself.
Arthur Scargill and co helped finish coal mining in the UK. There is more coal in the ground, but it is not easily accessible. Burning coal is particularly bad in terms of Carbon Dioxide emissions.
Our heavy use of fossil fuels, as if they were a free and unending handout, has enabled world population to go through roof, compounding the difficulty.
Rather
surprisingly, nobody knows how long the era of cheap energy is
going to last. Secrecy surrounds fossil fuel deposits: it is
unclear how much oil and gas are left in the ground, or how easy
they will be to mine. The dollar price of a barrel of oil goes up
and down unpredictably; not much of a clue there. We may not have
more than a few years before prices begin to escalate seriously.
We are woefully underprepared. 
Other sources of energy are less practicable and convenient, and in many cases, will be unable to do the same job. They are also not ready to take over.
Now is the time to economise on our usage of the precious resources we have left, both to help the environment and to allow time for new energy technologies to be developed. This will be a slow process.
An article in Rio Tinto's Review magazine is revealing :
The Kwinana project in Western Australia... would become the world's first industrial scale power project integrated with carbon capture to be fuelled by coal... Subject to the success of studies currently under way into technical viability, and providing government policy is in place to make the project commercially viable, a final investment decision could be expected in 2011, leading to operational start up by 2014 (Anne St John-Hall, Number 83, p24-25).
That is the best case scenario. Generally big new projects are significantly delayed. James Lovelock points out that a major new technology takes forty years from start-up to become widely used.
It seems to me that future generations will look back on those of us living now and consider us supremely selfish to have used up the world's resources so fast and so wastefully. I feel sad about that.
Six degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet by Mark Lynas , Fourth Estate, London, 2007. Click on link for my review.
The Long Emergency: Surviving the Converging Catastrophes of the 21st Century by James James Howard Kunstler, Artlantic Books, London, 2005. Contains much wisdom and insight into the coming problems. Written from an American perspective.
Out of the Energy Labyrinth by David Howell and Carole Nakhle, L B Tauris, London, 2007. Reveals how fragile the energy supply line to the UK is, and discusses the connection between immediate energy needs and longer term environmental concerns.
The Revenge of Gaia by James Lovelock, Penguin, London, 2007. At eighty-six, this highly respected scientist has no axe to grind but plenty of wisdom to share. I enjoyed his style and his sharing approach.
Don't rely on newspapers!