"When a fossil fuel is combusted, it releases energy, which boils water, which turns to steam, which drives a turbine, which generates electricity. This is an almost comically inefficient process, requiring immense amounts of material: more than 8bn tons of coal and 4tn cubic metres of fossil gas every year. And given the basic chemistry of combustion, it's unavoidable that burning all this stuff leads to an immense buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere."
"The transition to clean energy will be difficult, but not impossible. Some of it is already happening. Renewable energy technologies have become good, reliable and inexpensive. Solar and wind, as well as the batteries needed to compensate for their intermittency, are getting cheaper at an astonishing rate. The price of onshore wind power plummeted 70% in the last decade, while solar costs fell by almost 90%. As a result, renewables are already being deployed at rates forecasters never imagined."
Energy transitioned from whale blubber to kerosene to electricity, moving where fuels are burned. Combusting fossil fuels to generate electricity is highly inefficient and consumes more than 8bn tons of coal and 4tn cubic metres of fossil gas annually. Burning these fuels causes a large buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Fossil gas is mainly methane, which is shorter lived than carbon dioxide but more than 80 times more potent while present. Around a quarter of annual greenhouse-gas emissions come from electricity generation. Rapid cost declines in onshore wind (70%) and solar (almost 90%), plus cheaper batteries, are driving fast renewable deployment.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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