Burn out: the endgame for fossil fuels

An energy revolution is under way with far-reaching consequences for nations, companies, and the way we address climate change Low oil prices are sending shockwaves through the global economy, and longtime industry observer Dieter Helm explains how this and other shifts are the harbingers of a coming energy revolution and how the fossil fuel age will come to an end. Surveying recent surges in technological innovations, Helm's provocative new book documents how the global move toward the internet-of-things will inexorably reduce the demand for oil, gas, and renewables—and prove more effective than current efforts to avert climate change. Oil companies and energy utilities must begin to adapt their existing business models or face future irrelevancy. Oil-exporting nations, particularly in the Middle East, will be negatively impacted, whereas the United States and European countries that are investing in new technologies may find themselves leaders in the geopolitical game. Timely and controversial, this book concludes by offering advice on what governments and businesses can and should do now to prepare for a radically different energy future

Cover page -- Halftitle page -- Title page -- Copyright page -- Dedication -- Contents -- Preface and Acknowledgements -- Figures -- Abbreviations -- Introduction -- PART ONE Predictable Surprises -- CHAPTER 1 The end of the commodity super-cycle -- Commodity cycles are not new -- The long view -- The peak oil delusion -- Wrong again: failing to anticipate the phenomenal rise of China -- Demand in developed countries: the continuing decoupling of GDP from energy demand -- The 'surprise' of shale and fracking -- Much more oil and gas to come -- It's all over: the end of the commodity super-cycle -- CHAPTER 2 Binding carbon constraints -- The conventional approach to climate change: why fossil fuels have prospered since 1990 -- Paris 2015: good politics, bad economics -- False hopes for current renewables -- The oil companies' view of the future -- Inter-fuel switching -- Carbon prices and regulation -- Further ahead: the stranded asset debate -- CHAPTER 3 An electric future -- The future is electric -- New electricity-generation technologies -- New storage technologies -- New transmission and distribution technologies -- New broadband energy-consumption technologies and smart meters -- Electric cars and hybrids -- New materials -- New industrial production technologies: 3D printing, robots and AI -- New technologies and the demand for fossil fuels -- It can't be stopped -- PART TWO The Geopolitical Consequences -- CHAPTER 4 The US THE LUCKY COUNTRY -- The US's oil century -- The OPEC oil shocks of the 1970s and the US's first attempts at energy independence -- The US goes to war, partly for oil -- Win one: the great escape and the coming of shale -- Win two: the carbon constraint - the second US surprise -- Win three: the US and the new technologies -- Out in front -- CHAPTER 5 The Middle East MORE TROUBLE TO COME