Renewables and Fossil Fuels Are Not Comparable for Their Support of Humanity

Published March 28, 2023

The reason for the growth in humanity from 1 to 8 billion in 200 years is simple: fossil fuels are abundant, cheap and efficient to provide reliable and dense energy at scale that can be manufactured into usable products by humanity.  Renewables, on the other hand, cannot manufacture anything for humanity.

Fossil fuels have helped to generate a quality-of-life revolution for a portion of humanity, and people in poverty who have missed out on this blessing rightfully want what the people in the wealthy and developed countries already have.

Recently, Liberty Energy CEO Chris Wright explained in his viral video, dishonest terminology surrounds the climate debate.  One of these terms is “Energy Transition”.  The term’s use gives the impression that there exists a quick, easy, and scalable alternative to eliminate fossil fuel use without serious impact on humanity. The current rhetoric is falsely transitioning from apples to oranges, as they are different.

The current primary energy distribution by source, and forecasts by organizations like the EIA in their International Energy Outlook 2021, shows that this “energy transition” is non-existent.  As you can see in the EIA graph above, and also in the 51-page Liberty’s ESG report on Bettering Human Lives, no present quantity of primary energy generated by oil or gas is currently replaced by renewables as they do different things. Fossil fuels are primarily used to manufacture products and fuels for humanity, while renewables manufacture nothing for humanity.

Again, the primary reasons that renewables are not replacing fossil fuels is that oil and gas are more heavily used to manufacture products, fuels, and fertilizers for humanity, while renewables can only generate electricity from breezes and sunshine.  The obvious observation is that renewables cannot manufacture anything for humanity! Comparing renewables to fossil fuels is like comparing apples and oranges. They are different!

 A couple of headlines from the Liberty report that you don’t hear discussion or conversations by the elite or the media:

  • Global primary use of products and fuels are about to grow by almost 50% between 2020 – 2050 as impoverished people rise from poverty that represent at least 80 percent of humanity, or more than six billion in this world are living on less  than $10 a day.
  • Oil consumption, the source for those manufactured products and fuels, rises in all U.S Energy Information Administration (EIA) scenarios. Globally, liquid fuels consumption in the EIA forecast increases from an average of 99.4 million barrels per day (b/d) in 2022 to 100.9 million b/d in 2023. The higher consumption forecast is primarily driven by upward revisions to global economic growth.
  • Natural gas consumption, for heating and fertilizers, will continue to growth through 2050.

Sadly, few in the media report or even have discussions that there is almost nothing to compare between fossil fuels and renewables. To add insult to injury, those so-called renewables of wind and solar are 100 percent made from the products manufactured from fossil fuels!