Net Zero housing decreasing demand for oil and gas

An article in Halifax Magazine quotes Energy Sustainability Engineering Technology graduate Jacob Woods describing the “living lab” known as the Pilikan House on the NSCC Middleton Campus.

The house has 10 solar panels, a Tesla Power Wall, and solar thermal array. He believes ”It will become difficult for people to see their neighbours with solar panels and watch their meters roll backward and not follow suit.1 

A MSN (Microsoft News) report by Daniel Coughlin explains why oil and gas-rich countries face a perilous future.

Countries that depend too heavily on unsustainable gas and oil to power their economies are facing a double whammy of dwindling supplies and plummeting demand as renewables increasingly replace fossil fuels. Adding to their woes, many of these nations are located in parts of the world that are likely to become unliveable for months at a time due to climate change. As the proverbial begins to hit the fan, here are 10 oil and gas-rich countries looking forward to an uncertain future.2 

These articles are complemented by an analysis for “professional investors” produced by BNP Paribas, the world’s eighth largest bank by total assets, that concludes the writing is on the wall for the oil industry. The economics of renewables are impossible for oil to compete with.

Writing on the wall

Plunging prices for batteries and renewables are driving an electric vehicle (EV) revolution so rapidly that the economics of oil “are now in relentless and irreversible decline.”

 “The clear conclusion of our analysis is that if we were building out the global energy system from scratch today,” Lewis explains, “economics alone would dictate that at a minimum the road-transportation infrastructure would be built up around EVs powered by wind- and solar-generated electricity.”But oil has a big head start. And, of course, Big Oil uses its vast current income to buy political power so that it can slow down investment and government policies aimed at advancing electric cars.3

The advantages for homeowners to have electricity and heat generated on their property include reduced utility bills and increased security of supply. The choice of these technologies supports the IPCC goal of eliminating electrical generation by coal to mitigate the effects of climate change.

References

1	(2019, August 20). A living lab | Halifax Magazine. Retrieved August 22, 2019, from https://halifaxmag.com/blog/a-living-lab/
2	(2019, August 20). Why oil and gas-rich countries face a perilous future - MSN.com. Retrieved August 22, 2019, from https://www.msn.com/en-au/money/financephotos/why-oil-and-gas-rich-countries-face-a-perilous-future/ss-AAG8vVf
3	(2019, August 9). One of the world's largest banks thinks the writing is on the wall for the .... Retrieved August 20, 2019, from https://thinkprogress.org/oil-faces-irreversible-decline-thanks-to-electric-cars-and-solar-warns-worlds-8th-largest-bank-d128101ef4a8/