3 ms·
Renewables seem to be growing quite fast, the fear I have is that electrification may take longer. Car transport seems to be 'solved' (just needs roll-out over
by IkmoIkmo 5y ago
Renewables seem to be growing quite fast, the fear I have is that electrification may take longer. Car transport seems to be 'solved' (just needs roll-out over decades). But many other industries may take more time.
Electricity is just 20% of energy use. [0] And forecasts for 2040 are set around 28%. Even if electric goes all-renewable, you're still not there if you use non-electric for heating, industrial, air, sea etc.
Second, renewable growth is quite strong now yet there's large increases in energy use and decreases of nuclear. All in all, it appears the share of no/low-carbon energy sources in 1995 (i.e. renewables incl nuclear and hydro) was roughly large as it is today [1], but unfortunately on a much larger total energy consumption. [1] That's absolutely depressing. It seems the trend has finally set in the last few years, but we're a long way from home.
If we're talking 1950, I'd be an optimist. But it seems we're very much on a tipping point. The fact we'll be able to innovate ourselves to low-carbon is something I'm very optimistic about, but in the necessary timeframe... I'm very concerned.
[0] https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics/charts/share-of-electricity-in-total-final-energy-consumption-historical-and-sds https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics/charts/share-of-elec...
[1] https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/energy-consumption-by-source-and-region?country=~OWID_WRL https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/energy-consumption-by-sou...
- mrfusion 5y agoHeating for one doesn’t just depend on switching energy sources. You also have options like better insulation, building codes, more efficient heat pumps or even moving south.
- amanaplanacanal 5y agoGot those in the northern hemisphere, weather from the south is coming to us. Won’t even have to move.
- thehappypm 5y agoYep. I'm proud of what I'm doing with my house. Installed heat pumps, put in $5000 of new insulation, replacing propane stoves/fireplaces with electric. Next car will be electric.