Happy Wednesday: Protecting the World from a Climate Catastrophe Just Got Cheaper

Climate change is happening, and it is getting worse.  But we can keep it from becoming a catastrophe. 

This is based on a new, peer-reviewed study by Jim Williams, a professor of energy systems at the University of San Francisco. 

The study "Carbon Neutral Pathways for the United States" was recently published in the scientific journal AGU Advances and provides a roadmap for the U.S. to not only be net-zero in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 but be net-negative zero. Plus, he says we can do this at more than half the predicted cost just five years ago.

According to Williams, the cost for 100 percent decarbonization (no greenhouse gas emissions) in the U.S. is now estimated to be around $150 billion. This is half the estimated cost in 2015 for only 80 percent decarbonization.

The reason decarbonization costs have come down so significantly is that the key technologies we use to generate power – solar and wind - as well as a new generation of electric vehicle batteries, have all come down in costs. 

"Professor Williams' paper is game-changing because it illustrates that reaching net-zero is not only feasible but economically favorable, with even the most expensive scenario costing less than 1.2 percent of [the U.S.] gross domestic product," said Brittany Blair, a student of Williams' in the Energy Systems Management program.

So, if this is "not only feasible but economically favorable," how do we keep up the momentum and make it happen? Some of Williams' suggestions are the following:

· Elect leaders that recognize the importance of decarbonization and sustainability.

· Support businesses that are making the low-carbon transition happen.

· Do not waste and do not consume needlessly. 

· Create low-carbon industries and new jobs for U.S. workers in these industries. 

· Support programs that help U.S. workers in fossil-fuel-based industries transition into low-carbon industries.

My take on this is that sustainability is our collective roadmap to a prosperous future. Without implementing sustainability initiatives now, not only will our future not be prosperous, but there will likely be a general decline in the quality of life around the globe.

Edwin Barry, who was with the Population Institute and received the Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015, says that in 1945 when he was born, humanity managed to live within the "biophysical limits" of the planet, meaning there was more than enough natural resources to go around.

However, by 1985, we crossed a threshold and started consuming about 100 percent of the world's renewable resources. That percentage is more than 160 percent today.

"In so doing, we are diminishing the earth's life-giving capacity, denying the world's poor their fair chance to succeed, and squandering my grandson's and your grandchildren's inheritance," says Barry.

But Professor Williams is correct, we can still turn things around and it won't cost us near as much as expected.

I'm confident, we will see decarbonization costs continue to decline.  Further, we will see new technologies introduced that will help us reduce our consumption of natural resources even faster than today.

These are good reasons to have a Happy Wednesday.