Motivational
2024 Signals a Clean Energy Future Despite Hottest Year Ever
Table of Contents
Rising Heat Rising Hope
There is a lot of gloom and doom when people speak about the future of climate change, but a clean energy future is happening right now, and the journey that led up to is remarkable.
There are some really good reasons to be hopeful about the future of renewable energy and climate change, it just needs to be looked at from a clear and new perspective.
Let’s start with 2023.
2023 Was the Hottest Year on Record
In 2015, 194 nations came together and set a goal to limit the global rise in temperature to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. In 2023, global temperature rose to 1.45°C above pre-industrial levels. While it did not reach 1.5°C, 2023 was the hottest year on record for Earth.
2024 is the Tipping Point for Clean Energy
1.5°C is considered the tipping point for climate change. Some scientists regard this number as the point where global warming begins to have the strongest effect on the Earth. While this might seem like a catastrophe, the world is beginning to see a shift toward a clean energy future. 2023 was the hottest year on record, but it was also the year where renewable energy grew by 50%. This growth is expected to rise in 2024 and further into the future.
Rarely do good things happen without a little bit of adversity—even flowers bloom from soil and manure. A clean energy future is happening right now, and things could not have happened any better. Here’s why.
Why Did Global Warming Happen?
Global warming is the result of burning fossil fuels, and fuel was necessary for advancing the human race. The history of modern civilization is marked by industrial revolution. The first revolution transitioned the world from an agrarian economy to a manufacturing economy. This had a major impact in advancing medicine and sanitation, both of which largely determine life expectancy. It is because of the industrial revolutions that the average life expectancy has nearly doubled in the last century.
But the backbone of the industrial revolution is fuel. Without it, climate change wouldn’t be a problem and the need for renewable energy would not exist. However, life expectancy would be very low, and technology would not have progressed.
You probably would not even be here right now, but you are, and you should be hopeful!
Clean Energy Future
Even though 2023 was the hottest year on record, data shows that the market size of renewable energy is constantly increasing every year. This forecasts a clean energy future on the horizon, and it is marked by lower costs of energy as well as a better quality of life.
Something that shoots up consistently year after year is often too good to be true. In fact, this is exactly what the Berny Madoff Ponzi scheme looked like.
The future of renewable energy looks like the Berny Madoffs Ponzi scheme on paper. It looks so good, that if I gave it to you as an investment fund, it would be completely bogus because it would be too good to be true.
If you ever see an investment graph that shoots up like this, run! But now that you’re seeing it as real progress, you should be happy! It shows that a clean energy future is closer than you think.
Clean Energy is Now Cheaper Than Fuel
While the use of renewable energy has increased, its cost has decreased at about the same rate.
In 2010, the cost of wind energy was 95% higher than fuel-power. Now, its price is more than 50% lower than the cheapest fuel-powered option.
In 2010, Solar energy was 710% more expensive than fuel-power. Now, it’s price is more than 29% lower than the cheapest fuel-fired solution.
How Much Money Can Clean Energy Save?
Renewable energy saved $56 billion in 2022 in the U.S. alone. This amounts to more than $1 trillion saved by 2050. Data shows that the learning rate for solar and wind technology has been remarkable. These Improvements can further increase the $56 billion figure. It is estimated that by the year 2050, nearly $11 Trillion worldwide will be saved by transitioning to renewable energy.
Why is the Price of Clean Energy Going Down?
The price of clean energy is going down because the learning rate of the renewable energy sector is increasing. People are learning how to create and manage infrastructures like solar panels and wind turbines in a more efficient way. This efficiency reduces the cost associated with renewable energy and makes the use of clean energy more widespread.
In other words, things are getting better because people are getting smarter.
What is the Future of Renewable Energy?
We are currently in the fourth industrial revolution—the revolution of the Internet and renewable energy. The future of renewable energy is that it will create the next industrial revolution in a shorter amount of time than the previous one. This is because the internet is increasing the rate of technological advancement. Technology is what leads to revolutions, and it is growing faster than any other time in history.
History is Predicting a Clean Energy Future
Revolutions mean progress, and each of the 4 industrial revolutions have used fuel as its backbone. The only thing that changed was the kind of fuel that was used, and each revolution used a cleaner source of fuel. Moreover, each industrial revolution happened faster than the previous. History is predicting a clean energy future.
- Industrial Revolution 1765: Coal- Coal is the worst fuel and contains much more carbon than gas. Consider that CO2 emissions weigh more than the fuel that creates it, and it becomes clear to see why coal is the dirtiest fuel.
- Industrial Revolution 1870: Gas- After coal mines came cars. Car's need gas, and although gas has been used as the primary source of energy, it is much cleaner than coal.
- Industrial Revolution 1969: Nuclear- Nearly a century later, nuclear energy was created. Nuclear does not emit any CO2, and therefore, is much cleaner than the first two revolutions.
- Industrial Revolution 2000: The Internet & Renewable Energy
It took 105 years to go from coal to gas, 99 years from gas to nuclear, and only 31 years from Nuclear to renewable. How long until the next revolution? If history is any indicator, then it will be less than three decades.
A clean energy future is closer than you think, and the progress that has been made is mind-blowing. Be hopeful!
IC INSPIRATION
A clean energy future is built on a not so clean past, but we have come a long way. Very rarely can humans get things right the first. Life, much like history, is a process.
Here's the fact: humans are not rational beings... We are rationalizing beings.
We make sense of things as they happen because we only understand what those things truly are after they have happened. We can't be rational enough to know the future, but we learn afterwards.
Fuel has gotten us so far, and the world of information often paints a gloomy picture without appreciating the progress. Here's a question:
Can we make sense of something before it happens?
Renewable energy came after fuel, but was it even possible to start with renewable energy?
If not, then could things have been any better?
Heroes are not born, they are made. Humans were born to make history, and even though there are downsides, this progress shows that a brighter and cleaner future may not be so far off.
