Humanity has actually used renewable energy for most of its history. Before the 18^th century, non-renewable energy sources were not popular. When you needed a lot of energy for a given task, you would probably use draft animals, water wheels, or windmills – all those options are renewable and sufficient for human needs at that time.

That changed when the Industrial Revolution came around. Humanity started using fossil fuels en masse, and for a good reason. At its core, the Industrial Revolution was about switching to more efficient manufacturing processes – these required powerful energy sources like coal and oil. Fossil fuels were not the only driving force of the revolution, but they were definitely one of the most important ones. In general, the Industrial Revolution was a good thing for humanity as a whole – many cultural and technological breakthroughs were sparked by it, and the quality of life objectively improved; some historians call it the most important historical period since the Agricultural Revolution (North, Thomas, 1977, p. 229).

Of course, there were downsides. By the 20^th century, humanity had become dependent on fossil fuels. By that time, the negative effects were obvious – nonrenewable energy sources started to become scarcer. Climate change was also becoming an issue, so humans began taking interest in harnessing nature’s energy using the old methods but with new technology: wind and water turbines, for example. Completely new methods also began to emerge: solar and nuclear power. Nuclear power isn’t technically renewable, but it’s cheap (if we were to ignore the upfront costs) and eco-friendly.

However, the progress in this field was slow until the 1970s oil crisis, which made governments around the world invest in the research of sustainable power sources. Since then, renewable energy has been a growing industry with a rather bright future. According to the International Energy Agency, in 2022, renewable energy sources represented around 26% of global power generation, and this number is forecasted to grow to 38%. (Green Earth, 2023)

Renewables have a few shared problems. They are still relatively expensive, and with them not giving a consistent output (the wind doesn’t always blow), you need to store energy in very large amounts, and that makes renewable power even more costly. Because of that, in 2019, oil, coal, and natural gas still represented around 78% of global energy consumption.

Fossil fuels becoming scarce isn’t the only reason to move to renewables. Climate change is starting to affect our lives, and humanity will benefit from thinking about the future generations and not about immediate economic profit. Renewable energy is developing at an exponential speed and will become cheaper and more reliable in the future.

We haven’t talked about nuclear energy yet. Whether it can be considered renewable is arguable, but it’s cheap (after construction), clean, and reliable when done right. The issue is many people think of Chernobyl and Fukushima when they hear “nuclear”, even though the first incident was caused by totalitarianism, and the second was literally the fault of a tsunami. I think moving away from nuclear power without having other alternatives to fossil fuels (like Germany did in 2023) is a mistake. In my opinion, nuclear power is one of humanity’s best bets in terms of replacing fossil fuel-based power generation.

To summarize: we are mostly moving in the right direction. It’s hard to think about future threats when there are still many immediate global problems, but we as a species must think strategically and secure a better future for the generations that will live here after us.

References:

1. North, D. C., & Thomas, R. P. (1977). The First Economic Revolution, 30 (2), 229–230.
2. The history and future of Renewable Energy. (2023, November 29). Green Earth. https://www.green.earth/blog/the-history-and-future-of-renewable-energy