Should our response to global warming focus on technologies that reduce emissions, or on embracing simpler lifestyles? Why do some believe that deploying more renewables and accelerating the energy transition is essential, while others advocate for \u2018degrowth\u2019 instead, and claim that switching to renewables is counterproductive?<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s conversation explores a recent paper by lifecycle assessment researcher Marco Raugei of Oxford Brookes University, in which he describes an ongoing debate between \u201csystemic pessimists\u201d who focus on humanity\u2019s demands for resources and dismiss renewable technologies, and \u201ctechnological optimists\u201d who focus on the technologies of the energy transition but do not address other planetary boundaries. We describe these two tribes and their beliefs, identify their points of disagreement, and try to suggest a way forward.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll also discuss another recent paper Marco co-authored exploring whether there are important material limits to the energy transition. And to wrap it up, Chris offers his longest monologue yet, in which he draws a distinction between \u201ctechno-optimists\u201d and energy transition advocates, and suggests some ways that we might advance the debate beyond its current unhelpful framing.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, we hope this episode will persuade some \u201csystemic pessimists\u201d to consider shifting their narrative from doom and to refocus on actively solving problems, including the problem of global warming.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Why do some people believe we should accelerate the energy transition, while others claim that it will never work and advocate for things like degrowth policies instead?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[111,1145],"tags":[23,1166,18,261,126,223,326,26,1167],"class_list":["post-3942","xen_episodes","type-xen_episodes","status-publish","hentry","category-energy-transition-show-podcasts","category-free-complete-shows","tag-climate","tag-doomers","tag-energy-transition","tag-gas","tag-grid-power","tag-oil","tag-overshoot","tag-renewables","tag-transitionistas","xen_guests-marco-raugei"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n