In the year 1973 the term "energy" became common in households throughout the United States. At that time, an energy crisis suddenly fell upon the country and for some time it was not unusual for motorists to spend hours waiting in line to obtain gasoline at a filling station. Customers were sometimes limited to a
5-gallon purchase. The speed limit on all highways throughout the nation was reduced to 55 miles per hour, and it stayed that way for 15 years. Decorative lighting was markedly reduced during the holiday season as an energy-saving measure.
The experience of 1973 gave immediate significanceto energy for a wide au•
dience. Much has happened since that energy crisis.Gasoline is now widely avail•
able, as• is electrical energy. However the underlying problems remain.
The problems of energy are complex and go far beyond questions of the im• mediate availability of motor fuel. These.issues affect the entire world and the problems are becoming more severe with the passage of time as our fossil fuel reserves diminish and the citizens of developing countries aspire to share more fully in the use of the world's energy resources. Beyond the supply side of the energy problem, we see the effects of. emissions on local and global scales.
The topics of energy and the environment are obviously crucial to all of us, and effective policies at all levels of government depend on an informed citi• zenry. To address this need, courses dealing with. the subject are being offered at colleges and universities in the United States and elsewhere. Energy and the Environment was created from experience the authors have had in teaching such courses starting more than 30 years ago at the University of Colorado in Boul• der. An earlier text first published more than 20 years ago was intended for a
two-semester course; it was more quantitative and technical than the present text, published in its first edition 7 years ago.
The closing date for compilation of information and statistics for the first
edition of Energy and the Environment was not long after the middle of the 1990s. The field is changing rapidly, and the step from one decade to the next can be a long one. We continually see new developments in every aspect, from fossil
fuels to alternatives, from hydrogen to hybrids. Our major environmental prob• lem, global warming, has become an issue of broad concern, and there are now serious efforts to seek means of mitigation. In this second edition we have in• cluded recent statistical information on fossil fuel reserves and consumption as well as new data on stratospheric ozone and global warming.

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