Petrocalipsis
Last time I was in Spain scouting for energy economics books at a local bookshop in my home city, I got my hands on Petrocalipsis as a recommendation from the bookseller.
This book written by Antonio Turiel offers a different call for action, as urgent as the technological approach does, moreover, providing food for thoughts for the array of systemic changes we must face.
It is in Spanish tough.
We must transition to a clean energy society, we must stop using fossil fuels and substitute them with clean energy sources in order to mitigate the damage the human activity is causing to the environment. It sounds reasonable, and with the emphasis on the technological roadmaps to achieve carbon neutrality and circularity it should be doable within a given timeframe. But, have we considered all the limiting factors and constraints that affect the equation? What the author presents is a view of an economic model that is failing, where we should not only focus in technical advancement but consider de-growth strategies to scale back our global consumption of resources.
Peak oil should be a familiar term if you are interested in energy economics, it is the point when the maximum global oil production is reached. When the decline begins, sooner or later, reading trough the book you come to the realization that any of the non-conventional oils won´t be able to cover the gap, because of being more expensive and dangerous to extract and not being an efficient choice making the prices go up. And similar argumentation is offered for carbon, gas and nuclear.
Up until this point, no big surprises, furthermore, we still have the renewable sources, don’t we? An unlimited source of energy that will cover all of our energy needs once we solve all the technical obstacles. Unfortunately, it is not quite so, supported by scientific studies from The Group of Energy, Economy and Systems Dynamics (GEEDS), the maximum PV and solar potential won´t cover more than 1/3 of the current primary energy we consume. To put it into perspective, in 2021, in EEUU, renewable energy accounted for 12% of the total primary energy consumption. One starts to ask herself, what would be the optimal energy portfolio mix, which balances energy return (economy), risk (security) and sustainability if the massive deployment of renewable energy sources, particularly wind and solar PV, is not as possible as we may think. Moreover, if the technological breakthroughs that are depending on clean energy carriers (like hydrogen) are based on abundant clean energy, the act of balancing it all becomes a more precarious exercise to sustain.
If you are interested in the book yourself, the image redirects you to my associates link.
