are our politicians really stupid, tragically misinformed or just conveniently place ideology and their donors’ wishes front and center? all of the above? take the current opposition leader, who calls for more digging and drilling to alleviate the pain inflicted on all of us by the delusional orange moron, aka the ‘leader of the free world’. we should, according to angus taylor, who allegedly studied economics and is auditioning to be australia’s next prime minister (some refer to this position as ‘leader of the country’, a terminology i fundamentally disagree with), continue to use an old, inefficient and fundamentally destructive technology based on extractive, colonial-era processes, instead of looking at the current crisis as a wake-up call, accelerating the transition rather than attempting to turn back the clock. that doesn’t sound intelligent.
the fact that the energy transition is not only necessary to keep the planet we life on habitable, but also economically beneficial and factually irreversible is hard to dispute. despite what some politicians want to make citizens believe, the combination of renewable energy sources and storage is not only feasible, it is proven to work in everyday life and, more importantly, it is also economically viable – actually profitable.
how do i know that? because 19kW of solar panels power our house and in combination with a 30kWh battery provide all the energy our home needs and also all it ever gets – we are not connected to the grid. i admit this may be easier in st helens than in some places closer to the poles and the fact that we had the luxury of designing structures that optimise not only renewable energy production and storage but also its efficient use is not something everyone can choose.
and for the last year and a bit we have also been driving an electric vehicle and found that this is not only a more environmentally friendly mode of transportation, but also ultimately cheaper, especially when we charge it from surplus energy from the solar panels – and there is plenty of energy the panels deliver on almost any day. electric vehicles also hardly need any maintenance, the batteries degrade much less quickly than some fear and they get cheaper every year. the arguments against an ev for your next car are quickly disappearing.
yes, i have heard the argument that there are doubts that evs are better than ice-powered cars over a complete lifecycle. this argument has been settled and the outcome is clear: after about three to four years evs are better. read it here if you are interested, but there are more studies out there. or believe the politicians who would like to ensure the fossil fuel industry can continue to make money as long as it is still possible, which will not be that much longer anyway. see the building in the back there, behind the car?
one last point that is maybe a bit less obvious, but is equally important: fossil fuel extraction reinforces colonial structures (that is true even if many of the oil exporting countries are no longer technically colonies), makes many countries dependent, exposed to economic shocks and drives conflict; we can see that play out now.
can we completely cut ourselves off oil and coal right now? no, but we can certainly significantly reduce the world’s reliance on fossil fuels and use them were they cannot be replaced and that is less than we are made to believe. i think we better stop drilling and digging right now and i will not vote for any politician who says that’s what we should do.