www.energysfuture.org        Opened June 20, 2006      Modified July 6,   2008    (v1)

Mounting evidence indicates that humans are responsible in part for the increase in greenhouse gasses as well as long term climate changes that have occurred since the beginning of the industrial revolution.₁ Voters are keen to support stronger standards but legislators are not in agreement about what path to take.

It is our thought that there is an opportunity here for a major systems engineering activity but on a scale much larger than any undertaken before.

One calls to mind some major tasks that have been undertaken in the past, such as the development of the atomic bomb, the gearing up of the US industrial effort to prepare for WWII, the development of the TVA, flood control for the Mississippi river and the development of the means for space flight. Some activities such as the development of the computer have proceeded from market forces.

As the activity is global, one would think that changes might involve the UN, along with it’s member governments.

To move away from a dependance on fossil fuel requires a major system engineering program. Such an activity can best be managed by the cooperation of governments and professional societies working together and holding regular joint conferences. Professional societies equipped to deal with such a program should include climatologists, economists, engineers, medical specialists, political scientists and legislators.

Annual five or six day conferences may be used to promote the steps needed. A typical venue might be as shown in the following table:

1 The Economist, Climate Change: Heating Up, February 10th 2007

2 The Economist, The Environment: Green Sums, February 24, 2007

The pages below define the need for an Energy Society and the planning that is needed to organize future conferences dealing with energy.