Invent that century! Review of Pierre Radanne, Énergies de ton siècle ! (Energies of your Century)

As Pierre Radanne wrote in these pages in January 2006 (n° 315), the era of cheap and abundant energy is coming to an end; we must get ready to make massive changes – affecting our whole way of life – in order to cope with the challenge of global warming. Pierre Radanne has studied the issues of energy and climate change very closely and analysed them in a recent book under the title Énergies de ton siècle! Des crises à la mutation (Paris: Lignes de repères, 2005, 256 pp.). Dominique Dron is an expert on the subject, having chaired the MIES (Interministerial Delegation on the Greenhouse Effect) in France from 2002 to 2004. In her review for Futuribles she discusses the book’s main conclusions, sometimes sharpening them, sometimes softening them. She looks at them from three points of view: the time-scales involved in energy developments and climate change; the calendar for the actions that must be taken; and the consequences for public policies.