Constraints on World Energy At this point in time, world energy is constrained by three factors, namely the environment, the resources, and demographics and economics together. While energy policy should be formulated within the constraints imposed by these factors, more often than not, in most countries energy policy has been dictated by market forces. The fact that fossil fuel resources are limited and that alternative energy development should be a priority was recognized in the brief interlude following the oil shock of the 1970's. With the advent of the mid 80's came the era of a glut of cheap oil and the alternatives were tossed away. One may probably even speculate that some potentially major conflagrations could have been avoided if reliance on Middle East oil was done away with in the last three decades. Numerous studies have examined the world energy problem from the viewpoint of the finite resources of both fossil and nuclear energy, and we only wish to state that it is a key issue, but is beyond the scope of this paper.
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