The main solution to climate change is well known — stop burning fossil fuels. How to do this is more complicated, but as a scholar who does energy modeling, I and others see the outlines of a post-fossil-fuel future: We make electricity with renewable sources and electrify almost everything.
That means running vehicles and trains on electricity, heating buildings with electric heat pumps, electrifying industrial applications such as steel production and using renewable electricity to make hydrogen (similar to natural gas) for other requirements. So the focus is on powering the electric grid with renewable sources.
There is debate, though, about whether fully renewable electricity systems are feasible and how quickly the transition can be made. Here I argue that feasibility is clear, so only the transition question is relevant.
A wind farm in Texas. The state got about 15% of its electricity from wind in 2017. (Credit: Draxis/flickr)
Draxis/flickr
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