Opportunities and challenges for a sustainable energy future

Access to clean, affordable and reliable energy has been a cornerstone of the world’s increasing prosperity and economic
growth since the beginning of the industrial revolution. Our use of energy in the twenty-first century must also be sustainable. Solar and water-based energy generation, and engineering of microbes to produce biofuels are a few examples of the
alternatives. This Perspective puts these opportunities into a larger context by relating them to a number of aspects in the