TABLE 1 COMPARISON OF UNITED STATES WITH ALL OTHER USERS OF WORLD ENERGY RESOURCES (per capita - In metric tone of ooel equivalents. 1970) Numerous studies project what will happen in the next 20 years and how we can deal with our energy problem. Mostly, these studies focus on pricing, management, and allocation of available resources that must be dealt with within an existing infrastructure. However, changes which could be made within the existing infrastructure would have an impact only after 20 years or more. But, they will have to be made to bring about the transition from cheap oil and gas and other nonrenewable energy resources to the renewable energy sources which will be essential to the proper functioning of the energy economies in the future. Therefore, our time horizon must encompass a period of up to 50 years, because the conceivable impacts of renewable energy sources on society and the environment will not be visible until after that. Shifting too soon or too quickly to solar energy could strain national economies. Shifting too late or too slowly might also impose inescapable pressures on some fossil fuels, resulting in sharply escalating prices and consequent damage to these economies, as has already been experienced during 1973 and is continuing to be felt now. Huge energy supplies will have to become available if the developing countries are to approach the economic level of industrialized countries (Table 1). The future energy resource requirements of developing countries will be more than four times the total world energy production of 1970 (1). As industrial countries will remain major users of the world's energy resources, the prospect of supplying the equivalent of 30 billion metric tons of coal per year to meet the aspirations of developing countries and the resulting global environmental effects, demonstrate that solar energy would have to play an increasingly important role.
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