In Just One Decade, Fossil Fuels Can Be Globally Phased Out

Burning fossil fuels has been upsetting the world's environment, but it can be phased out in just a decade, discover scientists.

While studying energy transitions in history, experts find that shifting from wood to coal in Europe took societies between 96 to 160 years, followed by electricity, which took between 47 to 69 years to move. However, the transition can be faster now.

Highlighting various examples of quick shifts, scientists report that Ontario shifted from coal between just 2003 and 2014 while Indonesian household energy programs took only three years to move two-thirds of the population from kerosene stoves to LPG stoves.

While government intervention has been crucial in achieving all these goals, it is possible to complete the goals of phasing out fossil fuels in just 10 years.

"The mainstream view of energy transitions as long, protracted affairs, often taking decades or centuries to occur, is not always supported by the evidence. Moving to a new, cleaner energy system would require significant shifts in technology, political regulations, tariffs and pricing regimes, and the behavior of users and adopters," said  Benjamin Sovacool, one of the researchers involved in the new study at the University of Sussex. "Left to evolve by itself - as it has largely been in the past - this can indeed take many decades. A lot of stars have to align all at once. But we have learned a sufficient amount from previous transitions that I believe future transformations can happen much more rapidly."

The findings were published in the April edition of the journal Energy Research & Social Science.