Some literally "beautiful" news on the way that renewable energy is crushing fossil fuels, in audio and graphics
From Information is Beautiful’s “Beautiful News”
It’s no real climate victory for Coronavirus precautions to have cut carbon emissions… yet at the same time, causing ruin to many millions of livelihoods, with the reduction, even destruction, of whole areas of our standard economy.
There’s an obvious solution here. If there is to be huge government spending in stimulating economies across the world, shouldn’t it go towards green infrastructure, systems and initiatives? So that workers are put to the task of addressing the climate crisis that has been our urgent topic for the last year or so?
As MIT Technology Review notes, it may well be the case that even after all this contracted economic activity, global climate emissions only decline by 4% decline in 2020, according to a new estimate by CarbonBrief:
That would be a larger annual decline than any previous economic recession or war managed to bring about, writes Simon Evans, deputy editor at the site. But it still underscores just how massive and challenging a job the world faces in cutting emissions fast and deep enough to combat climate change.
To prevent 1.5 ˚C of warming, the world would need to cut emissions by 6% every year for the next decade. In other words, even after shutting down much of the economy for months, including global trade, travel, and construction, nations may still not decrease climate pollution enough this year to be on track to prevent that dangerous level of warming.
More here. The political irony, with the collapse of the Corbyn and Sanders campaigns, is that “Green New Deals/Industrial Revolutions” which planned to carry out that kind of environmental structural spend will not come to fruition (though they may have pulled the policy window in their direction). So we have to look to other places and forces for the willingness and vision to institute such plans.
What’s heartening, even in these times, is that the numbers on renewable energy’s cost vis-a-vis fossil fuels is now almost exponentially better. Take this interview from the excellent Exponential View empire of Azeem Azhar, talking to the green tech consultant Ramez Naam - very well worth listening to (link to original HBR podcast site here.
From the site’s text:
Clean energy is now cheaper than coal, and its uptake is accelerating. But can we get to zero emissions in time? Investor and technologist Ramez Naam joins Azeem Azhar to discuss how technological innovation and economies of scale are accelerating us towards a zero-carbon future, as well as the major challenges that remain.
They also cover:
The virtuous cycle that drove the falling price of clean energy.
How the Covid-19 pandemic could be an opportunity for massive government investment in clean energy infrastructure.
Three strategies to overcome the renewable energy storage problem.
Why industrial production of steel, concrete, and plastics remains the biggest challenge.
Further reading:
“The Third Phase of Clean Energy Will Be the Most Disruptive Yet” (Rameez Naam, 2019)
“Solar Power Is Sustainable for the Economy, Too” (Wired, 2020)
“How Germany helped make renewable energy cheap for the rest of the world” (Vox, 2020)
“How industry can move toward a low-carbon future” (McKinsey, 2018)
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Another way to fill yourself with some optimism about our energy futures - which still leaves us to think about our consumption futures - is to sample some of the entries from Beautiful News, a project by David McCandless’s Information is Beautiful consultancy.
“The heat within 10km of the earth's surface has 50,000 times the equivalent energy of the world’s oil and gas resources. It’s relatively untapped, and the cost of harnessing it is falling. It makes sense to use it.
”Geothermal energy is available all day, every day. It’s stable and renewable. And there’s lots of it”. [View the data, See the source, B.News original]
“Wind farms are becoming cheaper to build. Turbines are getting bigger and more efficient. Prices are falling faster than expected.
”It was thought that UK wind farms wouldn’t be able to beat gas-fired power stations on price until 2030. That could now happen as soon as 2023. Clean energy looks like a bargain. Bye bye, fossils!” [View the data, See the source, B.News original]
“This flavour of renewable energy has amazing potential. The technology is improving. Costs are falling. It could ultimately generate more than 18 times the current global demand for electricity. It’s set to be a trillion dollar business by 2040, putting the world on track for full decarbonisation.” [View the data, See the source, B.News original]
“Wind could supply all the power we need and more. Our electricity needs alone could be satisfied more than seven times over.
”All that’s needed? More turbines. We’re currently using less than one percent of wind’s potential. It’s China, in fact, that’s currently leading the way to a clean-energy world.” [View the data, See the source, B.News original]
“Solar is truly becoming a mainstream source of electricity. Over 24 countries can now generate a gigawatt or more. Costs are falling. Demand is rising. The transition is beginning.” [View the data, See the source, B.News original]