Energy Technology Perspectives (ETP) is the International Energy Agency's most ambitious publication on energy technology. It demonstrates how technologies - from electric vehicles to smart grids-- can make a decisive difference in limiting climate change and enhancing energy security. ETP 2012 presents detailed scenarios and strategies to 2050. It is an indispensible guide for decision makers on energy trends and what needs to be done to build a clean, secure and competitive energy future. ETP 2012 shows: (i) Current progress on clean energy deployment, and what can be done to accelerate; (ii) How energy security and low carbon energy are linked; (iii) How energy systems will become more complex in the future, why systems integration is beneficial and how it can be achieved; (iv) How demand for heating and cooling will evolve dramatically and which solutions will satisfy it; (v) Why flexible electricity systems are increasingly important, and how a system with smarter grids, energy storage and flexible generation can work; (vi) Why hydrogen could play a big role in the energy system of the future; (vii) Why fossil fuels will not disappear but will see their roles change, and what it means for the energy system as a whole. (viii) What is needed to realise the potential of carbon capture and storage (CCS). (ix) Whether available technologies can allow the world to have zero energy related emissions by 2075 - which seems a necessary condition for the world to meet the 2êC target.