In this short, sharp book, Richard Lyon electrical engineer, petroleum engineer and energy economist strips the energy debate back to the physics. What he finds is alarming: the fossil fuels are running out, the proposed replacements cant do the job and the people in charge dont understand the science well enough to realise.But this is not a counsel of despair. There is a way through if we stop wasting what remains on systems that cant work and start building the one that can.