Study: Fossil fuels could be fully phased out in 10 years

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Thursday, April 21, 2016, 4:46 PM - A new study suggests fossil fuels could be phased out, globally, within a decade.

The paper says that while possible, it would take a "collaborative, interdisciplinary, multi-scalar effort" to phase out fossil fuels in such a short time frame.

In the study, lead author Professor Benjamin Sovacool, Director of the Sussex Energy Group at the University of Sussex, analyses historical energy transitions.

He argues that while previous transitions took several decades -- the transition from wood to coal in Europe took between 90 and 160 years, for example -- today's dwindling resources, coupled with the threat of climate change and improved technology, could accelerate the process.

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The paper includes several examples of speedy energy transitions.

Ontario, for example, phased out coal between 2003 and 2014 and in Indonesia, it took only three years to more more than half the population from kerosene to LPG stoves.

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"The mainstream view of energy transitions as long, protracted affairs, often taking decades or centuries to occur, is not always supported by the evidence," Professor Sovacool says in a statement.

"Moving to a new, cleaner energy system would require significant shifts in technology, political regulations, tariffs and pricing regimes, and the behaviour of users and adopters ... But we have learnt a sufficient amount from previous transitions that I believe future transformations can happen much more rapidly."

Professor Sovacool admits accelerated transitions require strong and consistent government intervention as well as a good public awareness.

The complete paper can be found in the journal Energy Research & Social Science.