I came across this interesting graphic recently which illustrates how little land area would be needed to power the world with solar energy. My understanding is that the data it is based upon comes from the United Nations.
Image from http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/
I am mixed about the message this kind of data gives to people.
I believe it gives false hope that we can easily solve all our global warming problems by the adoption of a solution like this. This is a dangerous assumption for a number of reasons.
Firstly we do not have anywhere near the political will or investment commitment that would be required to make this happen, and that’s a situation that is not likely to change whilst there is still money to be made from the status quo by those at the top of the corporate ladders.
Secondly even if we were able to adopt this solution within the three years that the data suggests it would take to put all these solar installations in place, it is highly unlikely that we could also make the necessary chnages to our energy infrastructure in the same time frame.
And even if we did manage the impossible, it is going to take decades or longer to reverse the global warming trend, even if emissions stopped tomorrow (which they can’t), and so we would still need to look at other solutions to cope with a changing climate.
And my final problem is that it gives people an unrealistic optimism upon which to abrogate their own responsibility as part of the problem. It tells people that it’s okay to carry on with their highly consumptive, wasteful and energy intensive lifestyles because technology is going to save them. It won’t. It can be part of the solution for sure, but a bigger part is us.
We really need to examine our lifestyles and learn to live with less impact upon our world if we are to have any chance of securing a decent life for ourselves and our kids.
And I know how difficult it is. Because I am trying to do exactly that in my own life and it’s horrifying to realise I’m as guilty of these sins as anyone. But I guess awareness is the first step and the next has to be changing it – a worthy goal for 2010!
Ideas for changing the world always welcome……
