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No, Really: We're Going to Keep Burning Oil—and Lots of It
No matter how much we wish it were otherwise, the economics favor burning fossil fuels.
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Charles Mann's complex, dark story about energy in the 21st century asks what will happen if carbon-based energy becomes renewable. This is a scientific and technical question that helps us understand more about the geological reality of the world. But the very subject raises a whole set of political questions. In light of global warming, should we be using fossil fuels at all? How should we account for their externalized costs? Could we develop the political will to keep fossil fuels in the ground? Are cleaner alternatives available for countries building most of the world's new infrastructure? To address these issues, we invited experts in environmental science, energy and foreign affairs to debate the Mann story.
Reuters
No matter how much we wish it were otherwise, the economics favor burning fossil fuels.
Reuters
Like whale oil in the 1860s, oil today has become uncompetitive -- even at low prices -- and that will only become truer with time.
Reuters
And the evidence is solid that they are well on their way to changing the world's energy choices.
Reuters
Which is why we need a structural solution, like a carbon tax.
Reuters
Renewables are on a much more solid path to affordability than the exotic fuel.
Reuters
A deep dive into the nature and complications of alt fuels like fracked natural gas, methane hydrate, and tar sands oil
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Whether or not we can "run out of oil," we have to be asking bigger questions about the costs of our energy systems.
Reuters
We've long known that we have more than enough fossil fuels to create unimaginable levels of global warming.
Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins
Maggie Koerth-Baker
Michael Levi
Chris Nelder
Gregory Nemet