Ancient prophets tried to predict the future with geomancy, a method of divination by drawing dots at random on paper. Energy forecasts, notoriously inaccurate, have been likened to this approach. For all their flaws, however, studies of energy futures continue to command attention. They help define the "state of the world" by exploring where current trends will lead. They influence visions of the energy future, affect research and development expenditures, inhibit or encourage investment in energy supply systems, and thus become battlegrounds for the future itself.

Ancient prophets tried to predict the future with geomancy, a method of divination by drawing dots at random on paper. Energy forecasts, notoriously inaccurate, have been likened to this approach. For all their flaws, however, studies of energy futures continue to command attention. They help define the "state of the world" by exploring where current trends will lead. They influence visions of the energy future, affect research and development expenditures, inhibit or encourage investment in energy supply systems, and thus become battlegrounds for the future itself.