| “There is no energy shortage, there is no energy crisis, there is a crisis of ignorance”
— Buckminster Fuller
In a world that’s addicted to oil for transportation and coal and natural gas for power production, this statement is both confronting and visionary. Petroleum fuels our cars, buses, trains, planes and ships — essentially all of our transportation requirements. Coal and gas are burned to power the electrical needs of 70% of our world.
Solar, wind and geothermal generation supply just 3% of the global demand — yet we have the resource potential on every continent to supply 100% of our needs with abundant, renewable, non-polluting energy. Some of these renewables can be localized in our cities and on our rooftops. Yet the enormous untapped potential is often far away — in deserts, mountainous regions and open plains.
When you overlay existing transmission grids maps with renewable potential, you can see how we can resourcefully transition from fossil fuels to renewables as existing fossil and nuclear plants become obsolete, inefficient and their capacity must be replaced. These resource maps and policies are now available for all to view:
This transition has begun in several nations, but it is not universal. It will accelerate when the United States and China can agree on policies that put a price on carbon — a tax or a cap-and-trade program. As the US and China use 50% of all energy and create 50% of the pollution, they must lead in this design revolution... and get us to the reality of “there’s no energy shortage.”
In partnership for the planet, |
