In the century leading up to the first oil crisis in the early seventies 1970s, the price of oil had declined by more than 50 per cent in real terms. Over the same period, and partly because of this, western countries enjoyed massive real terms growth in gross domestic product. GDPThey prospered in a world in which energy was cheap and became steadily cheaper. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that their infrastructures evolved in ways that adapted to this.

Today things are different. Oil prices are near record highs ly as high as they have ever been and there is a growing consensus that, short of a major world recession, they are unlikely to drop greatly. They are maintained by limitations of both current supply and prospective supply, and by steadily increasing demand, particularly from China and other developing countries. It looks as if though the era of cheap fossil fuel is coming to an end and that energy will remain expensive for at least the next fifty 50 years.