THAT'LL DO NICELY:

How can we possibly power a modern economy with renewables? It's an oft repeated question amplified by the fossil fuel industry. But the reality is that in a world largely powered by wind and solar, where most things are "electrified", we won't need as much energy.

This is not new news, but it's worth repeating because it is often forgotten. A new report from Accenture, studying the proposed rapid shift to renewables in Australia over the next two decades, puts this into perspective.

It notes that despite a near 50 per cent increase in demand as the world shifts to electric vehicles and electric appliances in the home, total energy consumption will actually decline, because new technologies are vastly more efficient.

And, it adds, it's not just energy we will be saving through the shift to wind, solar and storage, but money and health outcomes.

The fossil fuel economy is heating our climate, but it is also killing us, slowly, through pollution, and in our homes, at a cost of at least $4 billion a year in Australia alone, and likely much more. But we rarely talk about it.

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