He sold us a vision of a solar powered high energy industrial society that can't possibly work, although many still pursue it.
I remember participating in a small group discussion with him about converting the fossil fuel "natural" gas network to biologically and otherwise solar derived methane.
The problem has always been the numbers. You can't run a high energy industrial economy on "renewable" energy without environmental impacts that are every bit as horrible or worse than those of fossil fuels.
The way I see things now, the high energy industrial society so many affluent people now enjoy is impossible without fossil fuels or nuclear power. Of the two, nuclear power is the least objectionable alternative. Another alternative is a much slower way of life -- an end to the automobile age, an end to factory farmed meat, political empowerment of women, universal sex education, birth control, etc.
Current large scale wind and solar projects are unviable without huge inputs of fossil fuel gas, typically 60% or more of the total energy produced. Every large scale wind or solar project connected to the electric grid represents a deadly commitment to natural gas.
The largest industrial projects in the modern world economy, and some of our worst political horrors (wars, etc..), involve the extraction and distribution of so-called "natural" gas. There are more than enough gas reserves to destroy what's left of earth's natural environment as we know it. Fracked natural gas is no better than coal.
I think the only way to solve the problem is to ban further development of fossil fuels. If we can accomplish that, then in some places people will begin to accept nuclear power, and in other places people may pursue lower energy lifestyles.
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