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Diesel Engines and Fuels: a Wide Range of Evolutions to Come – General Context and Research Themes – The first article of this special OGST issue “Diesel Engines: a wide range of evolutions to come” is an introduction to throw light on the global context both from the point of view of energy production (resources: oil and its alternatives) and from the point of view of energy consumption (transport and thermal engines). It then describes the current position of the “Diesel fuel/engine” pair in this context and provides an update on the research themes discussed throughout this issue. A GLOBAL ENERGY CONTEXT CONTROLLING THE FUTURE... Before focusing on the main theme of this issue, the “Diesel fuel/engine” pair, it is worthwhile first mentioning the overall energy context controlling the future. One of the main concerns of our century is the depletion of fossil fuels and their replacement in order to guarantee the economic development of both the industrialised countries and that of every country across the globe, even if the economic model of this development has still probably not yet been invented. Behind this question lie two major challenges, for which sustainable solutions acceptable for our economies must be found: firstly the climatic change, consequence of the continued increased in greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide (CO2), and secondly the guarantee of our energy supplies. Ultimately, it is the chain of successive efficiencies of all the conversions which will define the efficiency of the global energy system, where less than 40% of the primary energy consumed finally corresponds to useful energy, the rest being largely dissipated or lost as heat in the atmosphere, in particular. Most of this “loss” can be attributed to two sectors: – electricity generation, from fuels with efficiencies from 30% to 55% for the most efficient installations (natural gas combined cycle); – transport, where the efficiencies of internal combustion engines do not generally exceed 20%. Development in this sector remains very strong, due in particular to the high requirement in goods transport caused by generalisation of production according to the just-in-time principle and globalisation of activities, with production and storage delocalised from the sale or consumption sites. TRANSPORT AND OIL... ...a Long History in Common... In the past, if we concentrate on the transport sector, oil (and its derived products, mainly gasoline, jet fuel and Diesel fuel) appeared, in one sense, as an alternative energy to coal and B Walter et al. / Diesel Engines and Fuels: a Wide Range of Evolutions to Come 387 Edito4_08qxd 17/07/08 10:07 Page 387