Graeme wrote:R, The US is the world's dominant economy. Here's a figure reproduced from page 3 in the old thread which shows the energy has been decoupling from world GDP growth.
I don't know why you insist on repeating truisms. Of course oil is used to extract minerals now but that doesn't mean that oil will continue to be used in it's current form. We will find substitutes. Yes we don't want oil because it pollutes. That I agree with. Let's get rid of it. It appears that
oil is fading into history anyway. You don't necessarily have to have higher profits by extracting minerals. We can can shift to a service economy that not only uses renewable energy more efficiently (hence decoupling) but drastically reduces natural resource extraction. Meanwhile, back to real world:
Global Solar Investment Surged An Incredible 175% In 2014Solar energy has emerged as one of the best options to meet growing power demand while cutting emissions, but has it also become one of the best options to generate investor returns without volatile financial risk?
The answer is a resounding yes, according to Mercom Capital Group, which tallied $26.5 billion in solar project investment from corporate funding sources during 2014.
That’s an astounding 175% increase over 2013, when Mercom counted just $9.6 billion. “The solar sector has come a long way from being perceived as a speculative high risk investment to attracting investors based on low risk attractive dividend yields,” said Raj Prabhu, Mercom CEO.
Solar Investment Surges, Led By Venture Capital
Venture capital funding was far and away the biggest contributor to solar’s financing surge. Developers secured more than $1.3 billion in 85 deals, more than twice the $612 million raised in 98 deals during 2013, and the highest amount since 2011.
cleantechnicaEnergiewende Will SucceedAmerican critics of Energiewende regularly announce its approaching demise. A hypocritical article in The Wall Street Journal announced that Germany will spend €1 trillion on it renewable energy experiment by 2040, without mentioning that a large portion of that money will go for electric grid upgrades that would be needed anyway. Nor did the author disclose the fact an even larger sum (€90 billion a year) would have gone to fossil fuels. Similarly, Forbes mocked Germany’s slight rise in CO2 levels, without mentioning they are already 23% lower than the 1990 benchmark set by the Kyoto Accord. (The author’s country, the US, is still 5% above that target.) Their carping does not explain how Germany became Europe’s powerhouse and the fourth largest economy in the world. Nor does it do justice to the nation the Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index (RECAI) ranks #3 for renewable investments. Energiewende will succeed because it is embraced by the German people.
cleantechnica
Dominant economy <> world economy.
Germany <> most countries.
The point about decoupling is irrelevant because whatever is not used to back up money in one country is used in others. That's why material resources and energy consumption have been rising worldwide.
Put simply, as the world economy grows, more money is created, more oil is produced and consumed, more goods and services are created and sold, etc. This has been going on for decades, and as more people worldwide want both basic needs (not just solar panels and wind turbines but also food, water, medicine, cement, steel pipes, etc.) and wants (not just EVs but also smart phones, kitchen appliances, etc.) then material resource and energy use will obviously increase.
Now, it's possible for decoupling to take place, but that only refers to rich countries. That's why all of your examples refer only to them. That's because rich countries which transition to financing and services profit from increased credit creation. But the money is partly invested in mining, manufacturing, etc., in developing economies, where more people use earnings to buy more goods and services. That's what Pstarr has been explaining to you. In addition, profits and ROI from sales of goods and services are re-invested in the same or other businesses to create and sell even more goods and services.
Given that, ultimately more material resources and energy will be needed to ensure economic growth. The only way to avoid that is to imagine a global economy where credit is simply created continuously for no reason at all.