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Renewable
The World-Changing Power of Alternative Energy
Renewable takes a look at today’s most promising renewable energy sources, examining their history and future potential. These blinks explain why it is inevitable that humanity will switch to mainly renewable sources of energy, regardless of opinions on controversial topics like climate change or peak oil.
- Anyone interested in the past, present and future of renewable energy
- Anyone who cares about the environment
- Anyone wondering how we’ll ever be able to transition away from fossil fuels
Jeremy Shere is a science writer and journalist who also teaches at Indiana University in Bloomington.
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Renewable
The World-Changing Power of Alternative Energy
- Read in 15 minutes
- Contains 9 key ideas
Synopsis
Renewable takes a look at today’s most promising renewable energy sources, examining their history and future potential. These blinks explain why it is inevitable that humanity will switch to mainly renewable sources of energy, regardless of opinions on controversial topics like climate change or peak oil.
Key idea 1 of 9
Fossil fuels are a finite resource and using them continually will jeopardize the climate and our energy security.
In today’s energy debate, peak oil and climate change are perhaps the two most hotly contested topics.
Peak oil refers to the point in time when the maximum amount of petroleum is extracted from the ground. After this point, it’s inevitable that the amount extracted will decline. The debate rages over how soon this point will be reached, with some parties claiming it’s right around the corner and others trying to assure us it won’t be reached for centuries.
At the moment, though, there is convincing evidence that global oil production will hit its peak no later than the end of this century and begin to decline thereafter.
Irrespective of the exact timing, peak oil will be reached at some point because the amount of fossil fuels on earth is limited. This means we must become less dependent on them so that the transition away from them will be smoother when fossil fuels do become scarce.
The second hot topic today is climate change, where the debate revolves around whether human activity is at its root or not. The author himself believes that there is a pile of evidence the size of Mount Everest supporting the fact that humans are accelerating climate change, but he does not wish to convince anyone of that with this book.
Instead, he emphasizes the necessity of transitioning our energy sources away from fossil fuels. If humanity continues to cling to fossil fuels even as their supply dwindles, it will require the use of increasingly risky extraction and energy production methods. These will surely have an environmental impact that will further accelerate climate change.
But regardless of what one might think of the timing of peak oil or the causes of climate change, the fact is that fossil fuels are finite and humanity must transition away from them for the sake of energy security.
Key ideas in this title
- Fossil fuels are a finite resource and using them continually will jeopardize the climate and our energy security.
- Today, the timing is better than ever for increasing our use of renewable energy sources.
- No single renewable energy source can replace fossil fuels – we need a combination of renewables.
- The present and future of all major renewable energy sources are explained by their history.
- The potential of a renewables can’t be based on its current status alone.
- Fossil fuels are only a brief folly: we must return to the mindset we once had about renewables.
- As renewables become competitive with fossil fuels, a big business is springing up around them.
- We need support from today’s politicians to smooth the transition into renewables.
- Final summary
