Klaus Illum

Retired engineer

He was born in Denmark in 1936, and well remembers the difficult wartime conditions of German occupation and post-war reconstruction. He went to the Technical University to study civil engineering during the 1950s, and noted the exponential gowth of transport and mechanised farming. His career changed direction slightly when he became a lecturer in mathematics and computer science at the Danish Academy of Engineering. This led him to widen his interests into the social consequences of economic and technical progress, as well as their impact on the environment. That in turn led to generic computer models covering the role of energy in society, including the issue of Peak Oil. He came into contact with the ASPO movement and helped organise various presentations, including one in the Danish Parliament building, having a clear perception of the special nature of the Oil Age, which is now in decline, in an historical context.

We will not find feasible solutions to the climate problem created by fossil fuels as long as we think in terms that have their origin in the economy and technology of the fossil-fuel world.