The following submission statement was provided by /u/ObtainSustainability:

The latest analysis from Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) energy expert Kingsmill Bond showed that fossil fuel demand in the electricity sector has already reached its peak in demand. Driven by lowered costs, clean energy goals, and a gravitational shift in global capital toward renewables, solar and wind energy are expected to carry the torch left behind by coal, oil, and gas.

Bond said that this has already happened for fossil fuels in the electricity sector. In fact, his analysis shows that fossil fuels in the electricity sector reached peak demand and is now bouncing along a plateau before its inevitable decline in the back half of the decade.

According to RMI research, fossil fuel demand for electricity has peaked in 95 % of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries and 31% of the non-OECD countries excluding China. China is on track to reach its 2030 solar and wind deployment targets by 2025, meaning the nation has also likely approached its peak in fossil fuel demand.

RMI said OECD demand for fossil fuels peaked in 2007, coal demand in 2013, industrial demand for fossil fuels as energy peaked in 2014, and internal combusion engine car demand in 2017. By 2019, 58% of the world experienced peak fossil fuel demand. In 2019, renewables met 85% of the growth in energy demand.

The report demonstrates how change increases over time, often leading to exponential growth. In 2011, the world struggled to sell 29 GW of expensive solar panels, in 2021 it deployed 182 GW, and by 2031 the industry is gearing up to sell 1,000 GW, said RMI.

“The stone age did not end for want of stones, nor the horse age for lack of horses,” said Bond. “The fossil fuel age of hunting for finite fossil stocks is giving way to the renewable age of farming infinite renewable flows. Superior renewable technology is winning the battle for the future of energy, and it is time to recognize this key turning point. Countries, companies, and investors that accept and embrace the energy transition will prosper, while those that deny and resist will struggle and eventually fall.”

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