New Electricity Technologies for a Sustainable Future

There is a growing concern over continuous reliance of our economic and energy systems on conventional electricity sources and their long-term environmental, climate change, and security of supply implications. At the same time, much hope and belief is vested in the ability of future technological progress to tackles these issues. However, informed academic analysis and policy debates on the future of the electricity systems will need to be with reference to the current state and prospects of the technological options. This paper constitutes the introduction chapter in the forthcoming book “Future Electricity Technologies and Systems”. The book comprises contributions from leading experts in their respective technology areas. The chapters present the state of the art and the likely progress paths of conventional and new electricity generation, networks, storage, and end-use technologies. In this paper we review the growth trend in electricity demand and carbon emissions. We then present a concise overview of the chapters. Finally, we discuss the main contextual factors that influence long-term technological progress.