The American company Tesla presented a big report on how you can transform the world by abandoning fossil fuels, and how much it will cost. According to Elon Musk's company, the abandonment of traditional fuels in favor of "green" and renewable sources (RES) today will cost much less than the continued use of oil and gas in energy generation. The key ideas of the plan are provided by Bloomberg.
Tesla analysts claim that their global energy transition plan will cost just $10 trillion, while the world's current baseline plan to reduce dependence on fossil fuels in favor of renewables will cost $4 trillion more. The energy transition, the final point of which will be a complete transition to environmentally friendly energy generation, is expected to be fully completed in 20 years – that is, much faster than the world's largest economies currently intend to carry out (the EU – by 2050, China – by 2060).
Elon Musk's plan includes the creation of additional energy generation using renewable energy sources with a capacity of 30 terawatt / hour, as well as storage of this energy in the form of powerful batteries with a total capacity of 240 terawatt / hour. The entrepreneur insists that the $10 trillion is not that big if you understand that this is only part of the new $100 trillion global sector of the economy.
“In 20 years it will be 0.5% of the global economy. So this is a small number, ”Musk himself said last month, announcing his plan.
In addition to technology companies that will develop and manufacture solar panels, powerful batteries, windmills and other systems, mining companies that develop deposits of aluminum, copper, nickel, lithium and other metals necessary for the production of "green" technologies will benefit. The Tesla report says that the total investment for the extraction and subsequent processing of minerals will require more than $1 trillion – $502 and $662 billion, respectively.
"An electrified and sustainable future is technically feasible and requires less investment and material extraction than maintaining today's unsustainable energy economy," Tesla said in a report.
Musk notes that ramping up production of essential metals would require only 3.3 gigatonnes more of land to be excavated each year, well below the 15.5 gigatonnes that are excavated each year for fossil fuels. Moreover, at the moment there are no risks of a critical reduction in the amount of metals required for such production volumes, and investments in the industry will contribute to the search for new deposits. By 2040, the recycling of already used solar and wind panels will have its say, and progress should lead to the replacement of some expensive metals and materials with cheaper and more common ones, the report says.