SOLUTIONS
Moving On From Fossil Fuels
Fossil fuels are generating the greatest profits in human commercial history, causing climate breakdown and rapidly running out, all at the same time. How does this industry maintain control of 85% of world energy supply? It relies upon ownership of the energy infrastructure, economic power, political influence and the force of habit. Despite many credible estimates that the peak of global oil production [1, 2] is occurring, there is stubborn resistance to a transition in energy sources. Resistance is commercial and psychological, collective and individual, external and internal. There is no doubt that renewable energy will replace fossil fuel this century. The question is whether we will adopt it fully, in time to save the planet from climate collapse. To succeed in this critical survival task, science calculates we need 80-90% decarbonization of energy by 2050, if not sooner.
The annual turnover of the global oil industry is $2.4 trillion [2]. The fossil fuel sector is the wealthiest in the world economy. Nevertheless, it receives annual taxpayer subsidies of over $200 billion. It spends hundreds of millions opposing renewable energy. Yet Sweden is leading the way to an oil-free economy by 2020. Germany and Denmark have radically increased energy autonomy from Renewables. Other countries are now following suit. The American Solar Energy Society’s report to Congress in 2007 [2] showed that a massive amount of electricity could be generated from Renewables by 2030. Renewables include wind, solar, hydro, ocean and tidal energy, geothermal, biomass and biofuels. To implement this kind of energy revolution on a planetary scale, internationally agreed policies and treaties are essential. They will include large-scale government investment; money otherwise wasted on oil wars. They will specify creative carbon taxation, financial incentives, environmental laws, emissions trading and innovative feed-in tariff laws. Such laws guarantee compensated access to the electricity grid for all renewable energy developments—a paradigm-shifting innovation.
Illustration courtesy www.globalwarmingart.com
1.Richard Heinberg [2003] The Party’s Over
2. Dilip Hiro [2007] Blood of the Earth
3. American Solar Energy Society [2007] Tackling Climate Change in the US.