A Sense of Urgency

When the G7 leaders meeting this month decided in all seriousness that the world must phase out fossil fuels by 2100 – that’s 85 years away – we could only shout out “that’s too late!” When we read how much (or little) surface area is needed – around 500,000 square kilometres to be precise, according to Land Art Generator – to provide for enough solar panels to power the world’s energy needs of 2030. We can only cry out, “what are we waiting for?” There’s plenty of unproductive land like that in Australia or North Africa or America, plus roofs of existing buildings, which could be used right now, with technology that’s available and cheap. Tesla comes up with a world beating solar and energy storage system. No longer can anyone say the trouble with solar is its intermittency or there’s a lack of suitable energy storage. Engineers, doctors, economists, bankers and politicians. We have the solution. We have the technology. We have the energy. We have the money. Why wait any longer? Start phasing out fossil fuels now. Start investing big time in solar. This is the new space race. A race against time. Tapping the sun’s abundant energy. For good. For all time.

Ken Hickson