ENERGY FOR A SUSTAINABLE WORLD - World Resources Institute

weapons countries) not to reprocess spent fuel
to produce plutonium for weapons. To secure
the threshold countries' support for effective
non-proliferation conditions, international
safeguards should discriminate as little as
possible between nuclear and non-nuclear
weapons countries. This symmetry of obligations
might even be formalized in a new nonproliferation
treaty to replace the present
NPT70
It is possible to entertain such possibilities for
limiting the dangers of proliferation because
plutonium recycling technologies are not economic
and may never be needed, largely
because of progress in and future prospects for
the more efficient use of energy.
Conclusion
Precisely what combination of policies is
needed to implement end-use energy strategies
and how best to carry out these policies cannot
be known a priori. Different approaches will
have to be tried and modified in light of experience.
But what is clear is that the required
effort probably involves only the coordinated
use of familiar policy instruments. The creation
of a new world order does not appear to be a
The creation of a new world order does
not appear to be a precondition for
bringing about a global energy future
radically different from what is usually
projected.
precondition for bringing about a global energy
future radically different from what is usually
projected.
The energy future we have outlined here is
not the ultimate answer to the world's energy
problems. Eventually, the world will need economical
and environmentally benign renewable
energy sources—the development of which will
take time and ingenuity. But this future would
give our children and grandchildren a world
free of draconian energy-production regimes
and, we hope, a world sufficiently prosperous
and peaceful to allow them to work out longterm
solutions to energy problems. It should
give them a little breathing space and some
room to maneuver.
Jose Goldemberg is President of the University of Sao Paulo in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Thomas B. Johansson
is Professor of Energy Systems Analysis, Environmental Studies Program at the University of Lund
in Lund, Sweden. Amulya K. N. Reddy is Chairman, Department of Management Studies at the
Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, India. Robert H. Williams is Senior Research Scientist at
the Center for Energy and Environmental Studies at Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey,
USA.
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