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There's a similar idea about energy transitions: ostensibly human kind has transitioned from wood to coal to petrol to nuclear etc. Given time we'll have transitioned to renewables for all our energy needs...

In fact what happened is those energy sources kept being piled on top of one another. Today we consume more wood coal and fossils than ever before. [1]

[1] https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/global-energy-substitutio...

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I think the graph can be misleading because it groups all countries into a single homogenous groups. Western countries with more time and resources have indeed reduced the need to burn coal, but a lot of developing nations now tapping into industrialization haven't been so lucky.

Renewables are whole another beast, we've never been that great at storing energy, burning things is relatively simple in principle; just burn the amount you need at the right time.

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