That people around the world have recognized the good common sense and economic value of using free photons, wind, wave power, and geothermal energy as the next evolutionary step in mass distribution of electricity across the world, in developed and underdeveloped countries, should be abundantly obvious to all.

Seeing the destruction of the dinosaur age of oil

There are those dinosaurs who haven't yet caught on to the tidal wave of interest and economic value of using renewable energy sources in place of fossil fuels, yes, because they are entrenched in old paradigm thinking and preserving the old ways of assessing economic value.

The only way fossil fuels make sense economically is by externalizing the real costs incurred, as renowned futurist and green economist Hazel Henderson always reminded us in her extensive writing, talks, and massive video collection at Ethical Markets.

I was fortunate enough to know Hazel well and to have been close to her for the last 10 or so years of her life. I was on her Global Advisory Board and sat at her feet more than once to learn about how fossil fuel economics really flowed at the expense of everyone except the oil companies themselves.

It is important to speak of Hazel here because she was a pioneer in every sense. As one example, she brought the discussion of the use of solar energy to public awareness back in the late 1950s in NYC. What we see today with the flourishing of solar energy worldwide is in no small part due to her lifelong commitment to its deployment.

Externalization is the accounting term for excluding expenses incurred by an operation, such as oil drilling and refining, that would affect the land, water, and environment where the drilling is taking place, or affect those who live in the area whose air, water, and soil become contaminated due to this operation.

Those costs typically run into the many millions but do not show up on the company's balance sheets. They do show up, however, on the towns', municipalities' or the state's balance sheets. Remediation, litigation due to violations of law, and medical expenses are not at all factored into the cost of doing business. Those expenses fall on our shoulders.

Since most drilling and refinery operations are deliberately placed in economically poorer, often Black neighborhoods, the pushback tends to be less, though thankfully, this is changing as more and more people become aware of this underhanded, though no less uncommon, practice.

The actual costs incurred by local and State governments for these externalized costs — purely a euphemism used by companies that do everything to avoid being responsible for the damage they do to local ecosystems, the habitat, and the people living there — are staggering. A very conservative, rough estimate by the International Monetary Fund, between 2016 and 2025, is over 7 trillion dollars.

But this is not just a quantitative, monetary matter. These are people's lives that are at stake, lives horribly shortened or plagued by disease through respiratory illnesses, water-borne diseases, and more.

There is no way to reimburse someone for the quality of their lives being damaged in their own homes, as is typical of these oil operations. Some of the largest lawsuits in history have resulted from the damage to water, air, and habitat of Americans all over the U.S., and in one of the most pristine regions of the world, the Amazon, and the damage to many of its indigenous people.

Human rights attorney Steven Donziger represented the indigenous communities in what was the largest judgment in history — $9.5 billion against Chevron — due to the destruction of these communities' water, air, and soil, rendering their homes uninhabitable.

My interview with Donziger about this matter and the legal entanglement Chevron created to evade paying the judgment is explored in depth.

The geopolitical chessboard is all about oil

There is nary a move that takes place — one government acting against another — that doesn't involve the purchase or transport of oil. Virtually every encroachment or military conflict everywhere involves oil, with very few exceptions.

In a phrase: if you want to understand how the world works, follow the oil-money trail.

While ironically, in its day, oil was the environmentally friendly alternative to whale oil — which resulted in the mass killing of whales — it has since become an albatross around the planet's neck.

Oil wars & slicks are becoming a historical fossil of our past

I don't think I need to review just a handful of the main wars over the past decades. While presidents across the world use war as a weak way of demonstrating what they think of as their strength, if oil were not part of the equation, it would reduce the probability of war dramatically. No doubt these so-called leaders will concoct other excuses like "spreading Democracy," a commonly used one, but the net result would likely be less military action and certainly less contamination of our Mother Nature.

The benefits of putting oil wars behind us would have economic benefits for the people of virtually every country, as such financial power would be less concentrated in the hands of the few in the oil business.

Certainly, oil isn't disappearing anytime soon, as it has, to date, a virtual death-grip around society's neck. However, the good news is that this is changing. Due to this preposterous, illegal war against Iran, the seriousness of our dependence on oil has come into sharp contrast, and people recognize that there is a solution — a very smart, very practical way out of this debacle: renewable energy.

Moving beyond oil into the renewable energy age

Oftentimes in life, we see that there is a major challenge before us, but few reasonable, affordable options. However, due to the multi-decade research and development in the solar and wind industries, today we have solid solutions and a clear direction for a renewable future. This is exceedingly exciting.

This transition has been in process for decades, with Germany and China long in the lead. Even oil-rich Texas has surged ahead with both massive solar and wind farms across the State.

The cost of renewable energy has fallen dramatically over the past 15 years. Solar photovoltaic panels have dropped in price since 2010 by almost 85%. Onshore wind has dropped about 55%.

There are regions across the U.S. and the world where renewable energy is the lowest-cost option, considerably lower than oil, which has to be explored, drilled for, refined, and transported — an incredibly intense, economically costly, and difficult process.

The oil and gas markets are in constant flux and are being constantly manipulated by OPEC and other oil producers, when it isn't the commodity brokers themselves. Not surprisingly, there is no peace in oil markets, only instability and volatility.

In contrast, when solar, wind, wave, and geothermal energies are engaged, the energy sources are limitless and provide a level of energy security that oil cannot provide. The Strait of Hormuz is the most obvious modern example.

Of course, sunlight is intermittent, but this is easily covered with an increase in battery storage, which is becoming less expensive over time, and the blended use of other easily available renewable energy sources, such as wind, wave in certain instances, and geothermal, virtually anywhere.

Renewable energy systems can be easily designed so that one source can cover for another, making intermittency virtually a non-issue — despite the naysayers who claim this makes renewable energy unreliable. Nothing could be further from the truth. Anyone who might say that has not been brought up to speed with the level of renewable energy systems today.

Renewable energy technology advances by the month

Innovations and advances are occurring virtually monthly and quarterly in vertical axis wind technologies, in superior design and profitable solar installations, and 1 MW, highly powered, and mobile energy generation.

The efficiencies are increasing, the cost is decreasing, and the ease of installation has become straightforward, with a significant increase in employment in the green sector, up to about 13.7 million people globally. Additionally, clean energy investments generate more jobs per dollar than fossil fuel investments.

From every angle, renewable energy is the economically and ecologically smartest choice for both small residential and utility-scale power generation.

Oil or renewables – Which is quickest to generate?

To identify a location that is oil-rich, to construct an entire rigging operation, to transport the crude oil to a refinery, and then transport it again to gas stations and other vendors across the world typically takes 5–10 years. It is typically a multi-billion-dollar venture. It destroys every habitat it touches — the air, water, soil, and people in the local environment. It is toxic and a blight on the landscape, to put it mildly.

Once up, OPEC and other rich, oil-producing nations control the price and the market. It is always stacked against the consumer. It costs Americans billions of taxpayer dollars in subsidies and in absorbing the externalized costs. The entire species that it took Nature billions of years to develop has gone extinct. Indigenous peoples have been chased off their sacred lands — all for a commodity we no longer need.

Solar panels can be installed on the roof of a house within days, sometimes within a week. A larger installation, after permits are issued and the design is complete with panels and batteries on-site, could be completed and generating power within 1–3 months, depending on its actual size.

Once assembled, wind turbines can be up and running in 1–6 weeks.

All of these technologies have been made to be bird-friendly and eco-friendly. There are some downside costs — that is, the use of some difficult materials in the construction of panels and turbines — but these pale in comparison to the usefulness and low cost of these sustainable energy sources.

No more wars?

At least we don't have to have wars about oil. Next, regarding commodities, it will likely be about water — but we have sustainable solutions for this too.

The entire geopolitical chess game will change, and the usual power brokers' power will diminish with time. The massive deployment of renewable energy globally isn't an answer to everything, of course — no one thing is —, but it sure would bring developing countries up and make energy prices affordable for people everywhere.

We need real leaders to deal with real change & the climate crisis

Currently, we have a mockery of leadership. Either our politicians aren't educated, or they are willfully ignorant because their coffers are filled by oil company contributions. These are not leaders but pawns, and the world has no more time or tolerance for such selfish ignorance.

This Administration has handed the entire green, renewable industry to China on a silver platter. Under Biden, we had a vastly growing, ripening renewable energy industry, weaning ourselves off oil and thereby reducing CO₂ pollution and emissions. It was a booming green economy — until the current Administration, which doesn't apparently have the mental capacity to understand that the climate is in crisis and that temperatures worldwide are rising precipitously.

We have real answers, and to grow the green, renewable footprint, we need real leadership.

However, make no mistake — it is moving forward and will continue to do so, good political leadership or not.

Notes

Innovations and advances:

Clean energy investments: