The Energy Transition: Too Little, Too Late
So, how are we doing with the energy transition? Can we eliminate fossil fuels from the world’s energy system? Can we do it before it is too late to avoid the disasters that climate change and resource depletion will bring to us if we continue with business as usual? The debate is ongoing and it sometimes it goes out of control as in the case of the controversy between the group of Professor Jacobsen at and that of Professor Clack which even generated a lawsuit for slander.
As usual, the debate is often based on qualitative consideration: on one side we see plenty of naive optimism (“let’s go solar, rah, rah!”), on the other, we have pure statements of disbelief (“renewables will never be able to…..”).
But science is based on quantitative evaluations and we have plenty of data that should permit us to do better than playing the game of the clash of absolutes. This is what we did, myself and my coworker Sgouris Sgouridis, in a paper that was recently published on “Biophysical Economics and Resource Quality” and titled “In Support of a Physics-Based Energy Transition Planning: Sowing Our Future Energy Needs”
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
