A Fossil Fuel Free World Is Possible

[eridani]

http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/312-16/30585-a-fossil-fuel-free-world-is-possible

MARK JACOBSON: Well, our plans are to change the energy infrastructure in each and every state in the United States, and in fact, ultimately, every country of the world, to infrastructures run entirely on wind, water, and solar power for all purposes. So that is electricity, transportation, heating and cooling and industry. Right now, fossil fuels and nuclear power and biofuels are powering our energy infrastructure for all purposes. And the emissions associated with the burning of the fuels, primarily — from burning of fossil fuels and biofuels in particular — these emissions are causing both air pollution and global warming. And these are almost entirely the cause of both of these problems. Air pollution causes 4 million to 7 million premature deaths every year worldwide including about 62,000 in the United States and about 12,000 in California. Global warming of course is a growing and rising problem. In terms of costs, the air pollution mortality in the United States alone costs the United States about $500 billion per year or three percent of the GDP of the U.S. And in 2050, it is estimated that the U.S. emissions alone will cause $3.3 trillion of global climate damage and the rest of the world will cause a total of about $15-20 trillion per year of damage. And so we’re trying to — the only way to solve this problem is to change the energy infrastructure, that’s electrify everything, pretty much, and produce that electricity from clean energy such as wind, water and solar power.

AMY GOODMAN: So how do you do that?

MARK JACOBSON: Well in our plans, we do it state-by-state. And we first develop a plan, and we say, this is like how many wind turbines we need, how many solar panels do we need, how much rooftop areas do we have, how much land area do we require, what would be the cost, how much storage do we need? How many jobs would be created as result? And it would, in the United States, create a net of about 2 million jobs to do such a transformation. And then we have — once we have developed a plan, then we educate the public about the plans, educate policymakers, and try and hope that people will then take these plans and run with them and actually start implementing these changes.

[Enthusiast]

1. Kicked

and recommended!

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. Here's their 50 state paper, if you want to see how it's done:

https://web.stanford.edu/group/efmh/jacobson/Articles/I/USStatesWWS.pdf

[GliderGuider]

3. Best of luck, Mark Z!

As you trek bravely towards the receding horizon...

"...and try and hope that people will then take these plans and run with them and actually start implementing these changes."

I guess when all you do is make plans, the responsibility for implementation failure always rests somewhere else. Nice work when you can get it.

[OKIsItJustMe]

5. I guess when all you do is make plans…

Making plans is so much better than not making plans.

[OKIsItJustMe]

4. An interactive 50 State map is here

http://thesolutionsproject.org/