Forward Thinking: What Would a Sustainable World Look Like?

Good article from Bloomberg.  Because we are making progress on all fronts, we can start to imagine and tantalize our sensors with images of a smarter planet.  For people and animals they preach getting our systems in balance for healthy living.  Should it be any different for our world?  Balance brings beauty and stability.  It will bring us prosperity as well without chewing up our natural capital.

Will technology make our energy and transportation habits obsolete?

BY:  Caroline Connan

We've relied on fossil fuels for generations.

Every day, nearly 100 million barrels of oil are used around the world. In 2014, fossil fuels still accounted for 85% of our global energy consumption.

But the volatility in oil prices and the devastating impact of carbon dioxide emissions on climate change and pollution have made us rethink our strategy towards greener technologies.

The economics of renewables are supporting this dramatic energy transition. In the last five years, solar prices have plunged about 75%, while wind energy has become 25% cheaper.

While enough sun falls on the surface of the earth in one hour to power the entire planet for one year, storing energy at night remains a technological challenge.

One country wants to be at the center of this revolution. On the edge of the Sahara desert, Morocco has just switched on the world's largest solar power plant. When completed, the gigantic Noor project will provide solar energy for 2 million people.

Transportation is also undergoing the biggest transformation since we transitioned from horses to cars. Vehicles will go from fossil fuels to electric, from human-driven to automated, and from car ownership to car-sharing. We may see the end of the automotive industry as we know it.

Will the technology disruption be enough to irreversibly change our energy mix? Are we on the verge of an energy revolution?

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Forward Thinking: Making Sense of Tomorrow’s Problems

A six-part series that seeks to understand the challenges facing our world using the latest Bloomberg data and analysis. Watch on Bloomberg TV and Bloomberg.com.