Energy Production and Transportation
The Frog will explore The Climate Action Handbook: A Visual Guide to 100 Climate Solutions by Heidi Roop in the first 100 days of 2024
In the first `100 days of 2024 we will explore 100 climate solutions that may “empower you to evaluate, engage, and act” to address on-going climate change as an individual on your terms.
According to the Pew Research Center, “most Americans think the U.S. should prioritize the development of renewable energy over fossil fuel sources. At the same time, most say they are not ready to stop using fossil fuel energy sources altogether. And a sizable share think the U.S. should never stop using fossil fuel sources.”
At the same time, according to the US Energy Information Association, “once built and when the resource is available, wind and solar are the least cost resources to operate to meet electricity demand because they have zero fuel costs. Over time, the combined investment and operating cost advantage increases the share of zero-carbon electricity generation.”
“As we think about large-scale systems change, decreasing costs can be a significant milestone toward turning the tide toward cleaner energy.”
Heidi Roop
Our need for electricity will continue to grow. Traditionally we have grown our industrial base and current prosperity on a model where we dig or pump up fossil carbon, burn it to produce heat to drive our industrial processes and provide electricity. The combustion processes releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere which in turn is warming the planet.
This is the model we know. We rarely think about it. You might also know that it is not sustainable and change has to come quick to avoid a climate disaster. However, since as a population, we typically are uncomfortable with change and worry about future prosperity, the majority adopt a moderate approach – the prevailing view (68%) of polled U.S. adults is a move towards the use of a mix of fossil fuels and renewables.
We are fighting perceptions based on common experiences: the sun goes down everyday, the wind stops blowing, some places are always cloudy, in some places the wind doesn’t blow. Effectively implementing solar and wind resources to match our current electrical grid – which took over 100 years to build – in a short amount of time seems like a big, intractable problem, especially if sources of disinformation are trying to convince you that you won’t be able to keep the lights on in your home.
The good news is that through considerable investment in the last couple of decades, renewable energy is the cheapest source of energy today – due in part because there are no on-going fuel costs. And as such, it becomes the attractive technology for investment as the fossil fuel infrastructure comes to end-of-life.
The US Department of Energy sees it as a challenge that is critical to address, with considerable upside for success. We have established the technology to generate electricity from renewable sources. With revolutions in our ability to reliably distribute and store it, we are likely to find ourselves at a tipping point away from the use of fossil fuels for our electricity. As always, effective advocacy requires you to not only turn off the lights in your house, but also to speak up for accelerated wide-spread adoption of renewable energy in your community and beyond.
In other controversial, complex news, nuclear energy is important as well.
Next Up: Climate Action in 2024 – Day 8: Support Solar and Other Renewables in Your Region
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