FATIH BIROL, the chief economist of the International Energy Agency (IEA), believes that if no big new discoveries are made, “the output of conventional oil will peak in 2020 if oil demand grows on a business-as-usual basis.” Coming from the band of geologists and former oil-industry hands who believe that the world is facing an [...]

Take all the power stations in the United States. Together, they produce almost 1000 gigawatts of electricity – enough to boil several billion kettles simultaneously. Now imagine building another five power stations for every one that already exists in the United States. That is about the amount of electricity generation that the world is on [...]