What Problems Are We Trying to Solve?
Abstract
Why do we want to transition all of our energy to clean, renewable energy? Why don’t we just continue burning fossil fuels until they run out, which may be in 50 to 150 years? For three major reasons. Namely, fossil fuels today cause massive air-pollution health damage, climate damage, and risks to the world’s energy security. These three problems, which have the same root cause, require immediate and drastic solutions. The longer we wait to solve these problems, the more the accumulated damage. This chapter examines each problem, in turn.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Global Energy and Sustainability Research
Renewable energy and sustainable power systems
Climate Change Policy and Economics
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Cambridge University Press eBooks
- Pages
- 1–18
- Publication date
- 22 January 2026
- Language
- EN
- Document type
- Book chapter