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The good news about energy that you don't hear: a deep pessimism surrounds discussion of the global energy industry, with fears of global warming dominating headlines. But as ROBERT BRYCE demonstrates, there is a beneficial long-term energy trend underway. It's called decarbonization, and it's getting faster.

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Peak oil and global warming are the scary topics du jour. Dozens of books and hundreds of news articles have been devoted to the two issues, and there appears to be an ongoing contest among the pundits and prognosticators as to who can envision the grimmest vision of the future.

In his 2005 book, The Long Emergency: Surviving the Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century, writer James Howard Kunstler declared that when peak oil hits, "We will have to downscale every activity of everyday life, from farming, to schooling, to retail trade.... Epidemic disease and faltering agriculture will synergize with energy scarcities to send nations reeling." Nobel Prize winner Al Gore has said that global warming will likely result in "a string of terrible catastrophes." And in his Academy Award-winning movie, "An Inconvenient Truth," he implies that a warmer planet could mean that sea levels will rise by 20 feet.

Amid this torrent of doom and gloom, there is some good news that has largely been ignored by the media: the trend toward consumption of cleaner fuels that contain less carbon. This decrease in the carbon intensity of global energy use, known as decarbonization, has been ongoing for more than two centuries and appears to be gathering speed.

Better still, decarbonization is continuing without government mandates or subsidies. The reason for this is clear: consumers are always seeking the cleanest, densest fuels that they can get. Given a choice, most consumers would prefer cooking their dinner over a natural gas stove rather than a wood fire. Most also prefer electric lights to kerosene lanterns or candles for illuminating their homes. The reasons for these preferences are obvious: natural gas and electricity don't pollute indoor air when they are used.

Lower carbon fuels are lighter, more easily transported, and more flexible than their high-carbon competitors. Coal is denser, contains more energy, and is easier to handle than wood. Oil takes up half as much space as coal and can be transported easily and cheaply by pipeline. Natural gas can be used for...

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