Energy Increasingly Renewable
Summary
The growing interest and action in renewable energy appears to have finally gotten over the advance-and-retreat pattern that has characterized if the last several decades. In short, fossil fuel prices go up > R&D in renewables goes up as a result > fossil fuel prices go back down > R&D funding for renewables is cut. Climate concerns appear to have overcome this cycle and the advances in the technology and reductions in its cost make it increasingly compelling as an alternative.
In Futures Research
Oil & Gas 2030: Let There Be Change
Oil & Gas 2030: Let There Be Change by Accenture discusses how the oil and natural gas industry should respond to the challenges of an abundance of supply, the growing momentum toward decarbonization and the structural shifts in consumer behaviors. This is an excellent example of how an established field of business responds to a growing indication that it may be starting to become significantly less relevant, as it is used to being, to how society works.
Scenarios for the Future of Technology and International Development
Scenarios for the Future of Technology and International Development by The Rockefeller Foundation notes that “The world will strive to source more of its energy from renewable resources and may succeed, but there will likely still be a significant level of global interdependence on energy.”
The World in 2040: The future of healthcare, mobility, travel and the home
The World in 2040: The future of healthcare, mobility, travel and the home by Allianz Partners notes that “…phenomenal and unexpected progress is being made in developing renewable sources of energy generation,” and that between 2011 and 2018, the price of solar voltaic panels, which capture sunlight and convert it into electricity, has fallen by 86 per cent, the cost of energy from offshore wind farms has fallen by 23 per cent, the efficiency of solar panels has doubled and the amount of power generated by a large wind turbine has increased by 40 per cent.
2022 Strategic Foresight Report
The 2022 Strategic Foresight Report by the European Commission describes the transformative nature of what it believes to be two transitions in progress - green and digital - how they can reinforce each other (known in the document as “twinning”), and that the greening of energy is a necessity for the digital transformation to become more energy efficient.
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Energy Increasingly Renewable Oil & Gas 2030: Let There Be Change by Accenture
Excerpt from report: “For years, oil and gas companies have struggled to achieve profitability, capture investors’ interest and secure public trust. Those challenges have been exacerbated recently by an abundance of supply, the growing decarbonization momentum and the structural shifts in consumer behaviors. Many companies’ relevance — and even their social license to operate — are called into question.”
This document emphasizes supply and primarily concerns itself with how the carbonized energy industry can survive in a far more competitive energy environment.