No, Biden isn’t going to unilaterally kill fossil fuels. Renewables/battery tech have gotten so cheap, so fast, that they’ll eventually replace fossil fuels *no matter what* the next president does. Only question is how quickly this transition happens washingtonpost.com/opinions/biden…
Biden's statement about transitioning away from oil only seems radical if you ignore what the industry itself is saying. E.g. the usually bullish OPEC recently said developed nations are past peak oil. washingtonpost.com/opinions/biden…
International Energy Agency’s new World Energy Outlook found that solar PV is “consistently cheaper than new coal- or gas-fired power plants in most countries, and solar projects now offer some of the lowest cost electricity ever seen.” washingtonpost.com/opinions/biden…
While no one was looking, clean (and/or cleaner) energy technology got super cheap, super fast. China largely deserves credit for rapidly bringing down solar/battery costs. Forget environmental appeal - oil/coal have trouble competing on economics alone washingtonpost.com/opinions/biden…
Upfront capital-equipment costs for renewables have fallen, and once the equipment is installed, wind & sunshine are essentially free; by contrast, coal plants still have to pay for the coal and the people to operate the plants. washingtonpost.com/opinions/biden…
Legacy fossil fuels are therefore being phased out on their own, regardless of the regulatory environment. E.g. despite Trump’s efforts to prop up coal, coal-fired electricity generation has declined faster under Trump than previous 4 years of Obama washingtonpost.com/opinions/biden…
Despite tech advances, not yet at a place where renewables can fully replace FF's. Batteries improved but still not quite good enough. Prob means we're stuck with nat gas (which has also gotten way cheaper) for fixed generation for a little while longer washingtonpost.com/opinions/biden…
Similar story with cars. Electric cars have gotten cheaper & cooler. But still not enough for Americans to justify junking their existing gas-powered vehicles that have years of life left. Even so transition is already happening. In Norway ~1/2 of new car purchases are electric
In other words, transition out of fossil fuels is coming no matter what. Politicians can speed it up (w CO2 tax/green subsidies) or slow down the inevitable. They can help fossil-fuel-dependent communities transition, or can keep lying about possibility of turning back the clock
If you view climate change is an existential threat, that argues for bringing us into the inevitable clean-energy future faster. And if you care about workers who will be hurt by this disruption, that argues for developing a plan to help them, now. washingtonpost.com/opinions/biden…
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