Just in case there is still anyone out there who thinks it will be easy to move to a completely carbon free economy quickly.
Have we hit "the end of the fossil fuel era"? Not even close.
The Paris climate deal is, potentially, an important first step toward addressing climate change. But some of the headlines have been wildly overstated, saying the treaty marks the "end of the fossil fuel era."
That's awfully premature.
Oil, gas, and coal still make up about 86 percent of the world's energy supply — a fraction that has barely budged since 1997.
Here's one way to do it: Cut energy demand in half, then in half again, then in half again...now you are within spitting distance of that fraction of the total supply that is provided by renewables.
Easy? No. Necessary? Yes.
There is no way to build out renewables fast enough to even meet current demands, much less ever-growing energy demands.
As a wise poster once wrote, we have not so much an energy shortage as an expectation longage.
Oh, and partly we will just have to learn to live with intermittency--we already do so in other areas, and even in electricity. During and after major storms, everyone knows that it is likely that large swaths of the population and economy in a certain region will be without energy. It is a hardship, but the entire economy of the country does not suddenly crumble to ashes. We just will have more of those, or more times at least when non-essential operations will have to shut down.