So we’re going to build ten million super energy efficient homes (and presumably do an efficiency upgrade on existing homes and buildings) and we’re going to have a zillion new jobs working the infrastructure of decent public transportation in and between cities, and parks and I presume, lots and lots and lots of new wind and solar power, both distributed and concentrated. Because we’re also going to:

“Following Bill McKibben, they note that the only way to do this is by burying fossil fuels, including those that are already primed for distribution.”

The economic and political cost of this is recognized, but how can they possibly not see the real obstacle, the energy cost? Bury even the fossil fuels that have already been extracted and refined, cut off fossil fuels overnight? Do they have magic wands, to just wish all those solar panels, windmills and batteries into existence? It take a LOT of energy to produce these things, and it HAS to come from fossil fuels (and nukes) until the buildout is complete. Because right now only 20% of US energy is renewable, and that includes water power and wood heat. That 20% can’t power our current needs, let alone this massive construction project (and if we cut off fossil fuels overnight, you will have insurrection as people’s homes freeze or bake and go dark).

Aside from the availability problem, if they meant that we’ll cut off fossil fuels just as soon as this project is complete, we still have an insurmountable obstacle in that it would require INCREASING the burning of fossil fuels to power it all plus the existing needs. This would have been practical if we’d done it 30 years ago as many advocated. It’s too damn late now.

The only solution now has to include MAJOR downsizing of the economy and of expectations…an acceptance of a degrowth economy (at least after the buildout period), and a replacement of the fossil-fueled grid with a much smaller renewably powered one; an acceptance that sometimes when it’s been cloudy and windless for awhile, there is no power.

I’ll say it again: my household has an off-grid solar system and we use ten percent of what the average US household uses, and as far as I’m concerned we have plenty of luxuries.

But Americans will not accept lower incomes, an intermittent grid, or probably the changes needed to eliminate most transportation “needs.” Nor the long-term necessity of a one-child rule. They’d rather their grandchildren die horribly, starving or fighting for the last resources — which IS the actual choice, but they don’t have to see it now.