Energy
Numerical modelling – Applications to sustainable developement

Large-scale access to mechanical energy, which began at the start of the industrial era, has endowed mankind – at least for the wealthiest fraction of humanity – with a new power: that of mastering and shaping the world, by pushing back the limits of its physical constraints. The energy sector makes a strategic contribution to the present and future of humankind: our food, comfort, safety, health and entertainment depend on a variety of energy sources, whether "historic", such as hydrocarbons (which are still, and significantly, the main source of energy, see figure 17) and nuclear, or "future", such as wind, solar, ocean currents, geothermal and so on.