One of humanity's greatest modern threats involves an area of life we thought we had mastered: energy. For the last century our energy system has delivered rising prosperity, increased lifespans and largely eliminated famine. Now it is being dismantled – with confidence, with public money and with almost no scrutiny.

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: fossil fuels are running out, the proposed replacements can't do the job and the people in charge don't understand the science well enough to realise, much less pursue solutions.

The consequences could be severe, but they are not yet inevitable. In a series of lucid chapters, The Energy Trap sets out the problem and proposes a way forward – provided we are willing to stop wasting our remaining resources on energy systems that can't work and get on with building one that can.