"It's worse than we thought." Sound familiar?

[GliderGuider]

67. Regarding carbon intensity, that graph painted an incorrectly rosy picture

I blew the analysis on my first attempt. Thanks to muriel_volestrangler I got on the right track, and produced this graph later in the thread:


This shows that even though we have been using less fossil fuels overall in the last 40 years, we have been switching towards coal. The higher carbon content of coal has offset the lower aggregate fuel volume, to result in the same amount of CO2 production per megawatt.

Add to that the fact that global primary energy consumption has gone up by 250% since 1970, and it's clear why CO2 is rising faster than ever.

The only way out of this box is for the world to use less energy. Any other approach is doomed to failure. Of course, an approach requiring the voluntary reduction in energy use to the extent that economic activity is sharply reduced is likewise doomed to failure. So in the end, civilization is doomed to failure. We cannot do what is needed.

We have not yet accepted that we are in a box with no acceptable exit.