a month ago
- The 'energy transition' narrative of replacing fossil fuels with renewables to achieve net zero is often presented as a historical progression similar to past transitions like coal to oil.
- Historian Jean-Baptiste Fressoz argues that energy history is not about transitions but about accumulation, where new energy sources increase demand for old ones, such as wood use persisting with coal and oil.
- The belief in orderly energy transitions is a misleading ideology; achieving net zero requires an unprecedented break from centuries of energy accumulation, not historical precedent.
- Technologies like railways and cars depend on multiple energy sources interdependently (e.g., timber for railways, coal for steel), challenging the notion of simple substitutions.