For thousands of years, humans collected and hunted for the energy they needed. In fact, humans obtained the energy needed for agriculture, hunting, and transportation from the food they ate or from domesticated animals. Over time, humans learned to use fire for light and warmth and harnessed the energy from nature by building water and wind mills. This process continued until the discovery of fossil fuels and the invention of machines, which changed not only the production and consumption of energy, but also the human economy and way of life.

Just as the discovery of fossil fuels transformed the economy and human life, today is the time for another revolution in the structure of energy production and consumption for the future of the Earth, humans, and species. Climate change is now the biggest threat to humanity, the Earth, and other species. Livestock farming, a diet full of animal products, deforestation, and fossil fuels are the root causes of the climate change emergency. In order to successfully reduce the increase in global temperature by 2 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels, we need to focus on factors such as changing human diets, stopping deforestation, and ending the use of fossil fuels for electricity, heat, and transportation. We need to produce 90% of our energy from renewable sources by 2050, instead of relying on fossil fuels. Renewable energy sources, in addition to their importance in ending the nightmare of climate change, can also be a vital source of electricity for the nearly 800 million people who still lack

Renewable energies come from natural processes that are replenished at a rate equal to or faster than their consumption. The most well-known renewable energies that are currently being discussed include solar energy (photovoltaic and concentrated solar power), wind energy, hydropower, geothermal energy, and tidal energy. Although global energy demand decreased by 4% in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), renewable energy capacity increased by 45% last year, adding 280 gigawatts to the global supply, which is more than the total energy produced in a country like Germany. The majority of new capacity has been created in the solar and wind energy sectors. According to the IEA’s predictions, the trend of renewable energy production will continue to increase at the same rate in the coming years. It is estimated that renewable energies will add 270 gigawatts in 2021 and 280 gigawatts in 2022 to

Given the advancements made, we should be optimistic about increasing the capacity of renewable energies. However, we must also consider the challenges ahead: the development of solar and wind energy industries requires the extraction of mineral resources such as nickel, cobalt, lithium, copper, and rare metals, which hinders the ideal production process. The extraction of these minerals may pose challenges, but it is not the main obstacle to increasing the capacity of renewable energies. One of the main issues regarding renewable energies is the higher cost of production compared to fossil fuels. Countries like Germany and Denmark, which produce a significant amount of their energy from renewable sources, have the highest energy prices among wealthy countries. In Britain, the cost of electricity produced by wind energy is twice as high as that produced by traditional sources.

One of the problems is that solar panels do not produce energy at night and wind turbines stop working when there is no wind. These limitations require countries that rely on renewable energy sources to always maintain and take care of their traditional power plants in order to meet the country’s needs when renewable energy is not available. One of the challenges of high costs of renewable energy is that countries tend to turn to more challenging sources such as nuclear energy, which naturally brings different risks. According to the International Energy Agency, decarbonizing the global electricity grid by 2035 will require an investment of approximately $20 trillion. The good news is that the cost of producing renewable energy has steadily decreased in recent years and there is hope that in the near future it can compete with other energy sources without government subsidies. It seems that subsidies for renewable energy have been very influential so far. Since 2008, the price of solar panels has halved and in some sunny areas, solar energy can provide electricity to the grid at

Another major threat to renewable energy is right-wing politicians who often have extensive connections with fossil fuel lobbyists and may not fully understand the urgency of climate change. Former US President Donald Trump, who famously called climate change a hoax, falsely claimed that renewable energy is expensive and useless, and that wind turbines cause cancer. He made every effort to undermine the renewable energy industry in favor of fossil fuel producers and the lobbyists his administration was in bed with. He rolled back all of former President Barack Obama’s plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and replace them with renewable energy. While Trump was giving the oil and gas industries free reign over land and sea, he was actively hindering the renewable energy sector.

Burned fossil fuel lobbies, which are mostly inclined towards right-wing politicians, are heavily planned and ruthless in their efforts to prevent renewable energies from replacing fossil fuels in America and other countries. To counter this issue, the renewable energy industry needs to find lawyers and powerful and influential lobbies in governments, in addition to efforts and focus on cost reduction, increasing diversity and innovations. More than 176 countries in the world have written plans for developing renewable energies. California, with a population of 40 million, plans to meet over 60% of its energy needs from renewable sources by 2030.

Despite all the challenges and complexities, the progress towards development and overcoming renewable energies over polluting fossil fuels is very clear. Just as the emergence of fossil fuels brought about a revolution in the economy and lifestyle of humans, once again we will make a revolutionary, clean and green change for the future of the Earth, humans, and species.

Notes:

1. The world’s energy system must be completely transformed.

Economist.

, May 23, 2020.

2. The use of renewable energies is increasing.

Economist.

11 May 2021.