The solar revolution: Micropower and security in the changing world

Abstract

As society revises definitions of security in the wake of the attach on America, one potential scenario/plan leaps out. The modern renewable energy industry could in principle build a world with much reduced dependence on oil, devoid of nuclear power stations. Such a world would dismantle many security threats. The oil-independent world would be far less prone to the spawning of terrorists in the first place, not to mention the recessions that tend to follow oil price shocks. The nuclear-free world would deprive terrorists of an entire category of uniquely dangerous and therefore attractive targets to attack (fly planes into or steal plutonium from). Jeremy Leggett, Solar Century, UK delivers his vision of the future and the key role that renewables will undoubtedly play.