It is clear to me that we need to stop burning fossil fuels, de-carbonize, and switch to renewable forms of energy. And I think that is feasible with the technology we have or will have fairly soon. The energy is there for the taking, we just need to build the capacity to put it to work. As an author named Dana Blankenhorn has said (and I am paraphrasing) the Sun shines, the wind blows, the waves lap, and we are sitting on a molten rock. There is energy all around us, it just needs to be tapped. The supply greatly exceeds the demand. The main obstacles now are not technological, but political. And it does mean change, which some people resist. And some of the greatest successes in implementing renewable energy are in developing countries for two reasons: first, because they cannot afford to build an economy around fossil fuels; and second, because they do not have entrenched interests opposing renewable energy. And as I write this in the autumn of 2026, two events have pushed us further in the direction of de-carbonizing our economy. First, a disastrous war in the Middle East has closed down the Strait of Hormuz, removing a large part of supply from the global economy. And second, war between Russia and Ukraine has led to sustained and successful attacks by Ukraine on Russia’s oil assets, further reducing global supplies. This has pushed up oil prices by a lot already, and they may go even higher as fighting continues in both wars. So it isn’t just an environmental concern any longer, it now an economic one, and as a former professor of economics I know for a fact that when the price of something rises people become quite open to alternatives. So what is out there for us?

Solar Energy

This is the single largest source of renewable energy. Every day 173,000 terawatts of solar energy falls on the Earth, and that is more than the entire planet uses in a year. The only obstacle to using this has been the price of appropriate solar panels and other solar capture equipment. But those prices have been falling rapidly. From the site Our World In Data I found that in 1975 the price per watt for solar panels was around $100 US. By 2024 that had fallen to $0.27 US. That is well over a 99% reduction in cost, and the prices are still falling. The country that has invested the most in this is China, and they look poised to dominate this market for the foreseeable future. They are also dominating the world market for electric automobiles. BYD is the top producer of electric vehicles, replacing Tesla, and has overtaken Ford to become the number 6 car manufacturer globally. And of course it is one of the leaders in battery technology.

Wind Power

Technically wind power is a form of solar power, but in this case the energy from the sunlight is turned into kinetic energy of air molecules which we can then tap with turbines. This kinetic energy is around 2% of the solar energy input, so it can amount to a good deal of energy. In fact, wind power is the largest source of renewable energy in the United States, and I can vouch for the many turbines I saw in Oklahoma and West Texas when I was there a few years ago. We think of Texas as an oil producing state, and it is to be sure, but it is also the leading producer of wind power. But Iowa generated 63% of its electricity from wind power in 2024, and Denmark generated 57% its needs that same year.. Wind power is broken down into onshore and offshore, and offshore may have even more potential. China is the leader in wind power (640.48 GW), with the US a distant second (161.20 GW).

Tidal Power

This comes from the gravitational tug of the Moon and the Sun, combined with the Earth’s rotation. The United Stated does not have any currently operational tidal power plants. The advantage of tidal power is its predictability since the tides happen twice a day, but the disadvantage is cost. There has not yet been enough investment in this form of power to start bringing down the cost. Right now the largest tidal power plant is the Sihwa Lake Tidal Power Station in South Korea. The US has a few small scale projects, but nothing in production.

Geothermal Power

First a little basic physics. For energy to be useful it has to flow from one place to another, and geothermal power does this by taking advantage of differences in temperature between the Earth’s surface and its interior. A few months ago I had a chance to visit Yellowstone National Park where I saw geysers and other examples of geothermal energy in action. In this case it is because that molten rock we are all sitting on is much closer to the surface and heats up everything. There are several was this can be done, but most commonly the heat in the ground is used to boil water and create steam, which can then be used to run a turbine and generate electricity. One great advantage is that this form of power is also pretty constant. Geothermal power can be generated day or night on every day of the year.

A Patchwork Solution

No one of these energy sources is the complete solution all by itself, but in combination they can move us away from fossil fuels, particularly in combination with other technologies such as batteries, which are also advancing pretty rapidly now. Put it all together