Obama Says the World's Move Toward Renewables Is "Irreversible"
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/603331/obama-says-the-worlds-move-toward-renewables-is-irreversible/[font face=Serif][font size=5]Obama Says the Worlds Move Toward Renewables Is Irreversible[/font]
[font size=4]Changing economic realities mean that America is already reducing its emissions, but the president says more action is needed to accelerate the process.[/font]
by Michael Reilly | January 9, 2017
[font size=3]The renewable energy revolution is already under way, and theres nothing you can do to stop it.
Thats the point President Barack Obama sought to make in
a piece published today in Science in which he outlined, as he put it, the four reasons I believe the trend toward clean energy is irreversible.
He started off with a biggie. Its long been received wisdom that economic growth is associated with increased energy usagewhich means more greenhouse gas emissions. Thats been true for decadesbut since 2008 there has been a dramatic shift in how America gets its energy. As a result, Obama says, the economy grew more than 10 percent from 2008 to 2015 while CO₂ emissions fell. This is something
we have also observed, and Obamas assertion that the trend has gone global
checks out, too.
In the U.S., most of that is attributable to a large-scale shift away from coal and toward natural gas, whose renaissance is
driving coal-fired power plants out of business.
[/font][/font]