Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

The World's Astonishing Dependence On Fossil Fuels Hasn't Changed In 40 Years (qz.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the supply-and-demand dept.

schwit1 shares a report from Quartz, adding: "Maybe 'dependence' is a poor description of poor people using the ready availability of cheap energy to help lift themselves out of poverty": There are few ways to understand why. First, most of the world's clean-energy sources are used to generate electricity. But electricity forms only 25% of the world's energy consumption. Second, as the rich world moved towards a cleaner energy mix, much of the poor world was just starting to gain access to modern forms of energy. Inevitably, they chose the cheapest option, which was and remains fossil fuels. So yes, we're using much more clean energy than we used to. But the world's energy demand has grown so steeply that we're also using a lot more fossil fuels than in the past.

4 of 243 comments (clear)

  1. The typic of the one true house. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The headline is false, of course. There is still a dependence, but "unchanged in 40 years" is bullshit.

    1. Re:The typic of the one true house. by amalcolm · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Unchanged maybe not. Deepened, I suspect. Setting aside the use of oil as a fuel, the production of plastics and so many other materials that are oil or gas based is almost universal. I look around the office I'm sitting in, almost every surface is covered in plastic or other synthetic material. If all types of fossil fuel disappeared tomorrow, I think this would have more of an impact that the loss of an energy source.

      --
      Time for bed, said Zebedee - boing
    2. Re:The typic of the one true house. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Unchanged maybe not. Deepened, I suspect. Setting aside the use of oil as a fuel, the production of plastics and so many other materials that are oil or gas based is almost universal. I look around the office I'm sitting in, almost every surface is covered in plastic or other synthetic material. If all types of fossil fuel disappeared tomorrow, I think this would have more of an impact that the loss of an energy source.

      Yes, you are right. However that's actually part of the reason why the dependence on fossil fuel and single use plastic is hugely dangerous. Although we will probably never "run out" completely of fossil fuels sources, as we use more and more we not only damage the health of the poor and the environment they live in (the rich can always buy up the few places that remain comfortable) but we also increase the long term costs of valuable plastic materials which is damaging for everyone.

      We should compare things like micro-hydro power with fossil fuels. Micro hydro provides a locally available, maintainable power source which the poor can rely on and which has limited negative impact on their local environment (especially compared to fossil fuels and large scale hydro, both of which can be terrible). Fossil fuels put the poor at the mercy of global markets, disappearing and becoming more expensive every time there is a war or the wrong kind of financial crisis.

      The same doesn't apply to long term multi-use plastic items. I have plastic handled tools that are well over 40 years old. They have a nicer shape than the wooden tools and allow me to work more efficiently, however if the plastic version wasn't available and cheaper then the wooden version would work as a substitute. The dependency here is much more positive than dependency on fuel.

  2. It's the population increase by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why has demand increased while global energy efficiency has also increased?

    population increased!

    Why do people tiptoe around the true cause like it's taboo or something?