Colombo: Sir Arthur C. Clarke, the renowned British science fiction writer and visionary who died here Wednesday, had predicted that cheap and clean fuel might be available in plenty by 2048.

"Scientific research carried out by dozens of teams across the world during the past few years - much of it in secrecy and away from the sceptical eyes of the media - now indicate that the age of cheap and clean energy may be imminent: well ahead of my predicted timeframe," Clarke wrote in the Dec 16, 1998, issue of the Sri Lankan weekly Sunday Observer.

"If commercial applications become feasible in the coming decade, nobody in 2048 needs to worry about a shortage of energy," he predicted.

Clarke was indeed alarmed by the world's dependence on oil and coal as sources of energy.

He said on his 90th birthday last year, that he did not want the world to be "baked by the burning of coal and oil".

Clarke advocated clean and cheap sources of energy because he wanted all to get it.