Environment

What ‘transition’? Renewable energy is growing, but overall energy demand is growing faster

Published

4 years ago

November 4, 2021

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In this article

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Wind turbines in waters off the coast of the U.K.

Lakeland-Photos | iStock | Getty Images

The world wants to “transition” away from fossil fuels toward green energy, but the difficult reality is this: Dirty fuels are not going away — or even declining — anytime soon.

The total amount of renewable energy that’s available is growing. That’s good news for a world threatened by potentially devastating climate change.

But the increase in renewable energy is still lower than the increase in global energy demand overall. A “transition” from fossil fuels may come someday, but for now, renewable energy isn’t even keeping pace with rising energy demand — so fossil fuel demand is still growing.

“The global power market is experiencing rapid power demand growth as markets recover from the pandemic. Despite all the capacity additions in renewables generation, the amount of power currently generated by renewables is still not enough to meet this increased demand,” Matthew Boyle, manager of global coal and Asia power analytics at S&P Global Platts, told CNBC.

The global supply of renewables will grow by 35 gigawatts from 2021 to 2022, but global power demand growth will go up by 100 gigawatts over the same period, according to Boyle. Countries will have to tap traditional fuel sources to meet the rest of the demand. A gigawatt is 1 billion watts.

Overall energy shortage

At the same time, the amount spent on oil and gas has declined as prices collapsed in 2020 and the industry faced growing pressure to move away from dirty fuels. Total spending in 2021 was a little more than $350 billion – “well below” 2019 levels, said the IEA’s World Energy Outlook 2021 report released last month.

“The world is not investing enough to meet its future energy needs … Transition-related spending is gradually picking up, but remains far short of what is required to meet rising demand for energy services in a sustainable way,” the IEA report said.

That shortfall will only widen as economies reopen and travel resumes, with demand already spiking to pre-pandemic levels. The IEA said the rapid “but uneven” recovery from the pandemic is straining energy markets, sparking sharp rises in prices for natural gas, coal and electricity.

Already, countries are in the throes of a major energy crunch, as a gas shortage slams Europe and coal shortages pressure China and India.

That said, just because major energy companies may be cutting investment in fossil fuels doesn’t mean those emissions have stopped altogether.

Speaking at the Green Horizon Summit chaired by CNBC’s Julianna Tatelbaum during the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland, BlackRock Chairman and CEO Larry Fink expressed worries that publicly traded oil companies are lowering their reportable emissions by merely selling parts of their business to private companies that are less transparent than big firms traded on public markets.

Fossil fuels as necessary backup

One problem with renewables is that many sources are at the mercy of the weather.

“You might build a lot of wind farms, you might have hydro reservoirs and and hydro generation facilities, and you might have a lot of solar panels,” Anthony Yuen, head of energy strategy at Citi Research told CNBC in a phone interview. “The problem is: What if you don’t have enough water, wind, or solar versus your initial planning assumption?”

Renewable energy sources tend to under-deliver during certain periods — such as for instance in the month of September, when there’s less wind power generated in Europe and China, according to Boyle of S&P Global Platts.

Yuen said countries need to think through ways to ensure a reliable energy supply, and one “common ground solution” would be to use traditional fuels as a backup when renewables fail to carry through.

“We have to be more conservative, and that means two things. One is, you basically build more capacity [for renewables] so that you try to cover more,” he said. “But the other point is, what are some of the backup systems? Because sometimes, you know, let’s say the hydro reservoir or wind doesn’t show up for days … So the battery system is probably not sufficient.”

Yuen added that some “cleaner” fossil fuels such as natural gas can be used as a backup.

“Some would say that you’re perpetuating fossil fuel use. But what then is the trade-off between people actually having sufficient energy or not, right?” he said. “And that means that maybe carbon capture should still be on the table until the system is reliable enough that you don’t need fossil fuels.”

Carbon capture refers to technology designed to capture carbon dioxide from high-emitting activities such as power generation or industrial facilities that use either fossil fuels or biomass for fuel.

What it means for climate targets

In 2021, $750 billion will be spent globally on clean energy technologies, but that “remains far below” what is required for climate targets, the IEA said.

Such spending would need to double in the 2020s to maintain temperatures “well below” a 2 degrees Celsius rise, and they’d need to more than triple to keep it to a 1.5 degrees Celsius increase.

Countries under the 2015 Paris Agreement agreed to limit the rise in global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius — the threshold that scientists say could stave off the worst impact of global warming.

Getting the world on track for net-zero emissions by 2050 — a target set in the Paris Agreement — would require clean energy transition-related investment to accelerate from current levels to around $4 trillion annually by 2030, according to the IEA . That would mark an increase of more than three times the current investment.

Metals shortfall

Lithium, cobalt and nickel are metals essential to generating renewable energy, as well as for the production of electric vehicles.

UBS in a recent estimate said that demand will increase by 11 times for lithium, three times for cobalt and two times for nickel in the next decade.

Tesla tops 36 car Autopilot test, affordable Model Y spied, and a $5,000 EV

Published

6 hours ago

July 28, 2025

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Tesla tops 36 car Autopilot test, affordable Model Y spied, and a ,000 EV

Credit where credit is due: in a massive, 32-car multinational independent test, Tesla’s Autopilot ADAS came out on top, the new affordable Tesla turns out to be a corner-cutting Model Y, and one of the company’s original founders compares the Cybertruck to a dumpster. All this and more on today’s episode of Quick Charge!

Today’s episode is brought to you by Retrospec – the makers of sleek, powerful e-bikes and outdoor gear built for everyday adventure! To that end, we’ve got a pair of Retrospec e-bike reviews followed up by a super cute, super affordable new EV from China with nearly 150 miles of range for less than $5,000 USD.

PLUS: listeners can get an extra 10% off by using code ELECTREK10 at retrospec.com!

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New episodes of Quick Charge are recorded, usually, Monday through Thursday (most weeks, anyway). We’ll be posting bonus audio content from time to time as well, so be sure to follow and subscribe so you don’t miss a minute of Electrek’s high-voltage daily news.

Got news? Let us know!
Drop us a line at tips@electrek.co. You can also rate us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or recommend us in Overcast to help more people discover the show.

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Environment

Tesla teases new Roadster as ‘the last best driver’s car’

Published

7 hours ago

July 28, 2025

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Tesla teases new Roadster as 'the last best driver's car'

Tesla is again teasing the new Roadster, which is now five years late, as “the last driver’s car” before self-driving takes over.

The chicken or the egg. Is Tesla delaying the Roadster to match the development of self-driving technology, or is it delaying the development of self-driving technology to match the delayed release of the Roadster?

The prototype for the next-generation Tesla Roadster was first unveiled in 2017, and it was initially scheduled to enter production in 2020; however, it has been delayed every year since then.

It was supposed to achieve a range of 620 miles (1,000 km) and accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in 1.9 seconds.

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It has become a sort of running joke, and there are doubts that it will ever come to market despite Tesla’s promise of dozens of free new Roadsters to Tesla owners who participated in its referral program years ago.

Tesla used the promise of free Roadsters to help generate billions of dollars worth of sales, which Tesla owners delivered; however, the automaker never delivered on its part of the agreement.

Furthermore, many people placed deposits ranging from $50,000 to $250,000 to reserve the vehicle, which was initially scheduled to hit the market five years ago.

When unveiling the vehicle, CEO Elon Musk described it as a “halo car” that would deliver a “smack down” to gasoline vehicles.

That was almost eight years ago, and many electric hypercars have since launched and delivered this smackdown.

Tesla has partly blamed the delays on improving the next-gen Roadsters and added features like the “SpaceX package,” which is supposed to include cold air thrusters to enable the vehicle to fly – Musk has hinted.

Many people don’t believe any of it, as Tesla has said that it would launch the new Roadster every year for the last 5 years and never did.

Now, Lars Moravy, Tesla’s head of vehicle engineering, made a rare new comment about the next-generation Roadster during an interview at the X Takeover event, an annual gathering of Elon Musk cultists, last weekend.

He referred to Tesla’s next-gen Roadster as the “last best driver’s car” and said that the automaker did “some cool demos” for Musk last week:

We spent a lot of time in the last few years rethinking what we did, and why we did it, and what would make an awesome and exciting last best driver’s car. We’ve been making it better and better, and it is even a little bit more than a car. We showed Elon some cool demos last week and tech we’ve been working on, and he got a little excited.

The timing matches Musk’s recent claim that Tesla is going to have ‘the most epic demo ever, ’ but we heard that one before.

We suspected that the comment might be about the Tesla Roadster, as the CEO made the exact same comment about Roadster demos in 2019 and 2024. You will not be shocked to hear that these demos never happen.

Electrek’s Take

The “last best driver’s car” before computers are going to drive us everywhere. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy if you continue to delay the car. It might literally be the last car ever made that way. How would we ever know?

The truth is that the Roadster was cool when it was unveiled in 2017, but that was a long time ago. Tesla would need to update the car quite a bit to make it cool in 2025, and I don’t know that cold air clusters are it. You will have extreme limitations using those.

The Roadster is almost entirely in the “put up or shut up” category for me at Tesla. They need to stop talking about it and make it happen; otherwise, I can’t believe a word.

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Environment

Kia’s electric van spotted in the US again, but will it ever launch?

Published

8 hours ago

July 28, 2025

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Kia's electric van spotted in the US again, but will it ever launch?

The PV5 is already available in several markets, but will Kia launch it in the US? After Kia’s electric van was spotted testing in the US again, a US debut could be in the works.

Is Kia’s electric van coming to the US?

Kia launched the PV5, the first dedicated electric van from its new Platform Beyond vehicle (PBV) business, in South Korea and Europe earlier this year, promising it will roll out in “other global markets” in 2026.

Will that include the US? Earlier this year, Kia’s electric van was caught charging at a station in Indiana. Photos and a video sent to Electrek by Alex Nguyen confirmed it was, in fact, the PV5.

Kia has yet to say if it will sell the PV5 in the US, likely due to the Trump Administration’s new auto tariffs. All electric vans, or PBVs, including the PV5, will be built at Kia’s Hwaseong plant in South Korea, which means they will face a stiff 25% tariff as imports.

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Following another sighting, a US debut cannot be ruled out. The PV5 Passenger model was spotted by Automotive Validation Engineer Chris Higa (@Chrisediting) while testing in Arizona.

There’s no denying that’s Kia’s electric van, but it doesn’t necessarily confirm it will launch in the US. But it could make sense.

Despite record first-half sales in the US, Kia’s EV sales have fallen significantly. Sales of the EV9 and EV6 are nearly 50% less than in the first half of 2024.

To be fair, part of it is due to the new model year changeover, but Kia is also doubling down on the US market by boosting local production. Earlier this year, Kia said the EV6 and EV9 are now in full-scale production at its West Point, GA, facility.

The PV5 Passenger (shown above) is available in Europe with two battery pack options: 51.5 kWh or 71.2 kWh, rated with WLTP ranges of 179 miles and 249 miles, respectively. The Cargo variant has the same battery options but offers a WLTP range of either 181 miles or 247 miles.

During its PV5 Tech Day event last week, Kia revealed plans for seven PV5 body types, including an Open Bed (similar to a pickup), a Light Camper, and even a luxury “Prime” passenger model.

Kia PV5 tech day (Source: Kia)

Kia is set to begin deliveries of the PV5 Passenger and Cargo Long variants in South Korea next month, followed by Europe and other global markets, starting in Q4 2025. As for a US launch, we will have to wait for the official word from Kia.

Do you want Kia to bring its electric van to the US? Drop us a comment below and let us know your thoughts.

Source: Chris Higa, TheKoreanCarBlog

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