Read on Twitter
Just your friendly reminder that the notion we have to replace current energy supply levels with low-carbon sources is a fossil fuel industry talking point, which purposefully ignores (1) efficiency (using better non-energy tech) and (2) sufficiency (reducing overconsumption). 1/ https://twitter.com/atrembath/status/1338944185106251777
We don't *have* to consume large quantities of energy to live well. Much of our overconsumption is deliberately engineered by fossil fuel industries and their allies (like the automotive industry). Saying we "need" to perpetuate that level of overconsumption is absurd. 2/
The quantity of energy required to live well can be studied and even measured. It is far, far lower than what the average American currently uses. What we actually "need" is investment to enable Americans to live good lives at lower AND low-carbon energy usage. 3/
That investment is in renewable energy, obviously, but also in housing retrofit, public transportation, and making neighborhoods and all public spaces accessible and safe for non-car mobility (like the 15 minute bikeable neighborhoods in Paris). 4/
Moreover, investing in lowering energy demand is the gift that keeps on giving, because year-on-year, forever after, you have a society which is less reliant on energy supply and costs. You have a society which can reinvest in itself, rather than pay utility/gas bills. 5/
Ok, end rant. If you're interested in some papers that show that
1) Human development requires less and less energy over time:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800910003733
2) Life expectancy improvements don't depend on fossil fuel use:
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab7461
1) Human development requires less and less energy over time:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800910003733
2) Life expectancy improvements don't depend on fossil fuel use:
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab7461
3) Providing decent living standards universally across the world can be achieved at a fraction of our current energy use:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378020307512
4) That our real challenge is affluence and inequality:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-16941-y
well I guess I got you covered. Cheers.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378020307512
4) That our real challenge is affluence and inequality:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-16941-y
well I guess I got you covered. Cheers.
PS Don't believe what the fossil fuel industry wants you to believe. We need some energy, sure, but not very much at all to live well. And by reducing demand, low carbon supply becomes that much easier to achieve. End/
