sciencetech-blog

comments

It's more often than not thought that consuming more energy will ultimately have an increasingly negative effect on the environment.

But is that necessarily the case? Experts have argued that increased energy consumption might actually be good, because we'll be less dependent on nature.

They argue that human innovation and ingenuity will eventually pull through and save us from a future climate-related disaster.

A paper called 'Our high-energy planet' says that decoupling our planet from the environment means we can consume more and more energy without damaging the environment. As we move to more cleaner forms of energy such as solar (shown), we are beginning to decouple ourselves from environmental impact

The comments were made in a paper called 'Our high-energy planet', which was discussed at the think tank Breakthough Institute Dialogue 2014 in California in late June.

The paper says that a massive expansion of energy systems in the Southern Hemisphere is turning our world into a high-energy planet.

But, the authors say, this is not necessarily a bad thing.

As we move to more cleaner forms of energy such as solar, wind and hydro, we are beginning to decouple ourselves from environmental impact.

'The way we produce and use energy will become increasingly clean not by limiting its consumption, but by using expanded access to energy to unleash human ingenuity in support of innovating toward an equitable, low-carbon global energy system,' say the researchers.

Thus, as our sources of energy become cleaner and greener, there is not necessarily any reason to reduce the amount of energy we consume, once it is coming from the right source.

In Germany, for example, 5.3 per cent of the country's energy in 2013 was provided by solar power.

By 2020 they estimate 35 per cent of their energy will be from renewable sources, rising to 100 per cent by 2050.

The one major issue could be the boom in energy consumption from countries in developing nations but, the experts say, providing them with the right knowledge could prevent any further ecological disaster.

Innovation is the key to reducing emissions while expanding energy access, the experts claim. For instance, in order to reduce energy poverty within their borders, China and India are pioneering the use of advanced nuclear generation (pictured) and carbon capture and storage (CCS)

More than one billion people globally lack access to electricity, and billions more burn wood and dung for their basic energy needs.

The report outlines a radically new framework for meeting the energy needs of the global poor.

According to the authors, the massive expansion of energy systems, mainly carried out in the rapidly urbanising global South, is the only robust, coherent, and ethical response to the global challenges we face, climate change among them.

'The time has come to embrace a high-energy planet,' they write.

Innovation is the key to reducing emissions while expanding energy access, they claim.

For instance, in order to reduce energy poverty within their borders, China and India are pioneering the use of advanced nuclear generation and carbon capture and storage (CCS).

'It will take tremendous effort, capital, and political will to ensure that the ongoing expansion
of the energy sector in developing nations provides all people with access to energy they can afford as soon as possible, and to support efforts that will make that energy progressively cleaner,' the researchers write.

'Rather than limiting energy access and consumption on the basis of their potential climate change impacts, a coherent strategy for human development begins with the assumption that energy equity is necessary for a just, prosperous, and environmentally sustainable society.'

And, they conclude, the negative climate effects of moving towards a high-energy planet can be negated, as long as humanity decouples its power consumption from the environment.