Our Renewable Future

The Post Carbon Institute is located nearby in Santa Rosa, and the fellows there are wholeheartedly committed to leading “the transition to a more resilient, equitable, and sustainable world.” All of them are serious about understanding what is happening to our planet with climate change well underway, slowing the damaging impacts, and making transitions easier. Check out the array of issues the institute addresses and their strategies.

One of their current projects is available at Our Renewable Future. It is based on the 2016 book Our Renewable Future: Laying the Path for One Hundred Percent Clean Energy by senior institute fellows Richard Heinberg and David Fridley.  Their book is described as follows:

The next few decades will see a profound energy transformation throughout the world. By the end of the century (and perhaps sooner), we will shift from fossil fuel dependence to rely primarily on renewable sources like solar, wind, biomass, and geothermal power. Driven by the need to avert catastrophic climate change and by the depletion of easily accessible oil, coal, and natural gas, this transformation will entail a major shift in how we live. What might a 100% renewable future look like? Which technologies will play a crucial role in our energy future? What challenges will we face in this transition? And how can we make sure our new system is just and equitable?

In the book Our Renewable Future, energy expert Richard Heinberg and scientist David Fridley explore the challenges and opportunities presented by the shift to renewable energy. www.ourrenewablefuture.org presents the book in a highly visual way and includes additional content and access to live discussion.

The Book

The book itself can be read in its entirety online at this website in the section entitled The Book.

The Present:

The website also offers a fascinating section entitled The Present which traces the carbon footprint of our lives. It explores key sectors of the American economy—transportation, food, manufacturing, buildings, water, and communications—to get a better sense of the energy reality of today, so that we can build a more sustainable and just energy future.

The data assembled is fascinating, compelling, and eye-opening. For example, in our present food system, in generally takes 12 calories to produce just one calorie to eat!

The Future:

The final section, The Future, is a collection of six links to a series of web-based discussions between thoughtful and knowledgeable individuals on a variety of critical topics. Three conversations have already occurred. The questions raised are listed, and the link to each discussion is provided.

In the first conversation, Asher Miller and Richard Heinberg from Post Carbon Institute were joined by Annie Leonard (Greenpeace and Story of Stuff) and John de Graaf (Take Back Your Time, The Happiness Alliance) for a lively, free-flowing conversation about what the future of consumerism might look like in a 100% renewable energy future.

Additional webinar discussions are yet to come.  Interested individuals can sign up to attend and participate with questions and thoughts. Links to future conversations will be added as they occur.

The series is meant to promote serious and ongoing discussion about how we can move into our nonfossil future.