As the need becomes more urgent, the global transition to green energy sources has been rising. Last year, renewable energy supplies from solar, wind, hydro, geothermal and ocean – rose by 8%, accounting for a 5.5% share of the global energy supply, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA.)
The share of bioenergies rose to 6.8%. But the growth is not happening fast enough.
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In order to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, the IEA said, the supply of renewables "needs to accelerate to reach around 13% expansion annually over 2023-2030. Much faster deployment of all renewable technologies in all regions of the world will be needed to put the world on track."
In 2022, more than 60% of America's electricity generation was from fossil fuels. Only 21.5% was from renewables, and 18% was from nuclear power.
This slow transition to green energy, to celebrity investor Kevin O'Leary, means that the country might have to expand its production of fossil fuels as energy security is the most important thing.
"You cannot have prosperity in America without security in energy. Let the market transition based on the economic needs of the economy," he said. "I would suggest we're gonna have to do a lot more in refineries, a lot more in pipelines, a lot more in bringing oil to a place where we're secure and independent, which probably takes us from 12 million barrels a day to 18."
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"Now that does not fit into the current narrative of green for anybody," he said.
O'Leary added that the green energy and energy security debate will be one of the deciding factors in the coming presidential election, saying that the key to winning the top job lies in guaranteeing the American citizenry "prosperity through energy independence."
The transition to green, sustainable energy is taking longer than expected. This does not mean that we can never get there, but putting forward unrealistic timetables that risk energy security has now become a political lightning rod, and it looks like it will become an issue in… pic.twitter.com/sb94MsoOYs
— Kevin O'Leary aka Mr. Wonderful (@kevinolearytv) August 9, 2023
But even though the cost of transitioning to green energy might be high, the economic incentive to do so -- beyond the urgent climate change warnings -- is sound.
"Even if climate change were not such an urgent issue, the shift to renewable energy would make sense on purely economic grounds alone," Rob Alexander, a professor of economics and environmental studies, wrote. "Given the need to avoid the most significant impacts of climate change, the case isn’t even close. A shift to a renewable energy infrastructure is a win-win for our society."
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