their living standards and to reduce the possibility of conflicts caused by shrinking energy resources and expanding demands. If the Earth is considered a closed ecological system in which humanity is destined to live from generation to generation, the recognized limits on nonrenewable energy resources and the considerable uncertainties in achieving the global potential of known energy conversion methods could result in famines, shortages, and social upheavals, unless world population growth is drastically reduced. If not, this apocalyptic view has to be considered a distinct possibility. Countries will have to learn how to manage their affairs far more wisely if they have to rely on only nonrenewable energy resources and no one of these energy sources will by itself meet the future energy demands. Thus the search for new sources of nonrenewable fuels can only postpone the day of their ultimate exhaustion. The Third World countries are bearing the brunt of the effects of energy resource depletion and price escalation. In fact, many developing countries are facing an energy catastrophe. THE POTENTIAL OE SOLAR ENERGY There is a growing consensus that increasing reliance could be placed on renewable energy resources which have their origin in the energy radiated by the sun. Solar energy holds out the hope to the Third World that the basic needs of its people can be met and that plans for industrialization and modernization which largely rely on the availability of adequate energy resources can be met. Although the sun contributes 500 times the global energy input of all the other energy sources on earth, and its availability is assured for eons to come, to a large extent the applications of solar energy depend upon their economic feasibility because solar energy is not concentrated and large areas are required to convert it into useful forms. An appropriate balance will have to be struck among conflicting economic, environmental, and societal requirements. If feasible ways can be found to convert solar energy either directly into heat, power, and/or electricity, or indirectly, in the form of biomass (wood vegetation and organic solid waste), wind, hydropower, and temperature differences created in sunwarmed ocean waters, solar energy could supply a significant portion of future global energy demands. The major challenge to the application of solar energy on a global scale is that it is not a concentrated energy resource. It has a low supply density, which must serve societies with a broad range of demand densities. Therefore, current solar technology development is focusing on near-term applications such as water heating, passive heating of buildings, industrial process heat, biomass and wind conversion. The potential of small scale solar technologies appears to be sufficient to meet the energy demands of dispersed populations; however, the continuing migration of populations to urban centers and the needs of energy-intensive industries will make it difficult to meet projected energy demands with small scale solar technologies even if energy consumers are located in areas with exceptionally favorable climatic conditions. The overall energy requirements in Third World countries are vast, ranging from the needs of widely scattered villages to large urban centers. Most of the developing countries are embarked on massive industrialization programs from which they do not plan to turn back. But it is very optimistic to expect that small scale solar technologies alone would be able to meet even a low global energy demand. Therefore, it is imperative that the world community develop both small scale, decentral-
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