When Sir Harold Kroto talks about energy, his blood pressure rises. 'Humanity has exploited oil with all the restraint of a fox in a chicken house,' said the chemistry Nobel laureate of 1996. He was talking with five fellow laureates in the German town of Lindau recently, during a panel discussion on 'Energy Shortfall and Global Warming'.
Oil prices, meanwhile, have settled at close to US$60 a barrel. But the price of oil isn't Sir Harold's major concern. He stated that the increase in the average temperature of the Earth's atmosphere during the past 30 years was faster than ever before, thanks to the massive burning of fossil fuels.
Due to human impact, the CO2 level is now 30 per cent higher than it should be, according to the outspoken top scientist. Sir Harold's assessment of the coming energy crisis climaxed in words that are not typical for the rather restrained species of Nobel laureates: 'There is no doubt that we have global warming, there's no doubt we are in deep s***.'
The G8 results, essentially an agreement for further dialogue later this year, would no doubt have given Sir Harold room to utter a few more expletives. Without sharing the harsh words, his fellow laureates agreed on the underlying scenario.
They believe humanity has so one-sidedly focused on burning fossil fuel that it is not able to develop viable alternatives such as solar, wind or fusion energy in time for use on a bigger scale, to offset the loss of oil once it becomes serious. The result will be a renaissance of nuclear energy, and a massive rush into coal which is heavily polluting the atmosphere.
Professor Walter Kohn, a member of the advisory committee to the US Department of Energy, offered a surprisingly short timeframe for the crisis to unfold. 'This is presumably becoming quite serious in something like 20 or 30 years, unless some substantial steps are taken right away,' he said.