Michael Kelly, retired Professor of Technology at the University of Cambridge, UK: The world is better off today as opposed to thirty or one hundred years ago because of, among other things, a sufficient supply of energy. The incidence of hunger, poverty, illiteracy and child mortality haveallbeenreducedbymorethanafactoroftwoovertheperiod1990–2015(Figure1a). Death rates associated with gas and nuclear energy production are less than a sixth those of oil and coal (Figure 1b). Deaths from natural disasters have dropped by 90% over the 20th century.. Warnings by radio and telephone are the main reason. More people live in safer and better conditions and are better fed than at any previous time in human history. At this time there are people in several countries who are straining to turn off the last coal-fired power stations in the cause of climate change mitigation.
