This publication argues that the harnessing of hydrogen and fuel cells will spawn a new economic revolution in the 21st century. The new energy regime has the potential to be sustainable, non-polluting, and to provide a decentralized and democratic source of power.
From trips to the market to lighting entire cities, power is pivotal to the simplest of everyday necessities. Wars are fought over it, the planet is polluted by it, but now its price has become too high. Are we capable of shifting to cleaner, safer, more reliable sources of energy? Fueling the Future gathers the best and brightest minds in the field thinkers like Jeremy Rifkin, L. Hunter Lovins, and Allison MacFarlane and uses their collective wisdom to tackle this pressing question from several angles.
The concept of Integrated Food and Energy Systems (IFES) as such is not new. Simple integration of food and energy production at both small and large scales has shown many successful results. However, with the increasing complexity of the system, - and hence higher resource use efficiency, the number of successful cases diminishes. Concrete results on wide-scale implementation of more complex IFES are scarce.
This paper will review the performance of existing routes in the Middle East and North Africa to glean lessons for proposed pipelines in Southwest Asia. With sufficient political will -- and a more informed understanding of the binding power of pipelines -- the United States, European countries, and international bodies can begin to utilize pipeline construction as both an engine of cooperation and a tool of diplomacy. What is needed is a longterm policy outlook that integrates energy transit and transport as part of a broader framework for economic and security cooperation.
