PublicationMiscellaneous Over the hump: Have we really reached the peak of carbon emissions?

Published:
September 8, 2020
Publication Type:
Miscellaneous
Abstract:

Recent news reports have focused on the so-called col­lapse of coal, which indeed is in free-fall in many nations. And it’s not lim­it­ed to the news media; an Inter­na­tion­al Ener­gy Agency report said “… Only renew­ables are hold­ing up dur­ing the pre­vi­ous­ly unheard-of slump in elec­tric­i­ty use.” Coal use is down to record low-lev­els in the Unit­ed States. This decrease is also under­way for oil and nat­ur­al gas. Mean­while, new solar and wind projects are up 4 per­cent since the start of the year, and the most afford­able projects world­wide over the past three years have all been renew­able ener­gy instal­la­tions. These cost trends, and the slow-down in demand for fos­sil-fuels that came with the COVID-19-induced reces­sion tipped the bal­ance in favor of clean, renew­able ener­gy – at least tem­porar­i­ly. But from here on in, much depends on what we do next: How will we respond to this acci­den­tal and cost­ly emer­gency? Will we dou­ble-down on pol­lu­tion and the racial injus­tices that are inher­ent with the use of fos­sil fuels? Or will we use this hia­tus to craft a new, green, and job-cre­at­ing economy?

Main Menu
RAEL Info

Energy & Resources Group
310 Barrows Hall
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720-3050
Phone: (510) 642-1640
Fax: (510) 642-1085
Email: ergdeskb@berkeley.edu


Projects

  • Open the Main Menu
  • People at RAEL

  • Open the Main Menu