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Colombia hosts talks on exiting fossil fuels as global energy crisis deepens

latimes.com

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Re: Colombia hosts talks on exiting fossil fuels as global energy crisis deepens

#61

Post by dsign »

adjejmxbdjdn wrote: post #54

Maybe Trump isn’t a Putin Manchurian candidate. Maybe he has been installed by the renewable energy sector actually to get the whole world onto renewables as soon as possible. Of course, they had to give up on or delay America’s renewable future, but that may be a small Price to pay, and anyways renewables are growing in the U.S. despite the administration’s frankly insane efforts to block it

Ha! I came here to say something similar. Anyhow, I'm happy that US has found a combative way to combat climate change. I'm also disappointed.

Re: Colombia hosts talks on exiting fossil fuels as global energy crisis deepens

#62

Post by adrr »

leonidasrup wrote: post #33
adrianN wrote: post #3

We‘ve had talks about this topic decades before I was born, but progress is a bit underwhelming.

There is no progress in CO2 reduction, we are still emiting more CO2 each year. " Global CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion and industrial processes increased by +0.7% within 2025." https://www.nature.com/articles/s43017-026-00780-4

There are three main sources of green house gases. Top one which is power is declining. Transportation is still growing and the last one is agriculture which is stable. There is progress if you look at the details.

Re: Colombia hosts talks on exiting fossil fuels as global energy crisis deepens

#63

Post by glial »

PKop wrote: post #16
glial wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How so?

The use of fossil fuels equates directly to higher standard of living, military power, wealth, prosperity, and advanced economies. As well, transportation is heavily dependent on fossil fuels. "Exiting" fossil fuels means either nothing, or it means impoverishing your people.

The use of energy certainly equates directly to a higher standard of living. Oil seems like an implementation detail, with benefits as well as costs. Why not consider other implementation options?

Re: Colombia hosts talks on exiting fossil fuels as global energy crisis deepens

#64

Post by philipkglass »

xp84 wrote: post #47
jmyeet wrote: post #13

I've seen this succintly and accurately described this way: "No One Goes to War Over a Solar Panel" [1]. If you think about it, once you build a solar panel, it just produces power for the next 20-30 years. Then you buy another one and replace it. To get oil or natural gas, you need to drill a well. That well requires constant labor. What many don't seem to know is that oil wells decline in production over time. It's…

> "No One Goes to War Over a Solar Panel" Doesn't China have most of the exotic rare earths and stuff that you need in order to build solar panels and systems? I am not anti-solar, but I also don't think China is some guaranteed-friendly party that the whole world can trust not to wield their power once they have it. I assume anyone who doesn't immediately recognize their planned takeover of Taiwan next year will hav…

Doesn't China have most of the exotic rare earths and stuff that you need in order to build solar panels and systems?

Solar panels do not require rare earth elements. Some types of permanent magnets require rare earth elements, and some of those magnets are used in wind turbines, which might be where this confusion comes from since wind turbines and solar panels are frequently mentioned together. (Although even most wind turbines do not use rare earth magnets.)

Crystalline silicon solar panels account for more than 95% of the global solar market. These are mostly made of glass, aluminum, silicon, and polymers. The rarest element typically used in them is silver, for metallic pastes used to form cell contacts. China is a significant but not dominant silver producer. In 2024 it accounted for about 13% of world silver production:

https://silverinstitute.org/silver-supply-demand/

Re: Colombia hosts talks on exiting fossil fuels as global energy crisis deepens

#65

Post by altcognito »

mc32 wrote: post #51
cmxch wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US still has enough power to stop it though, thankfully. We aren’t captured by environmental activists that force the poor to shoulder the compliance burden while the rich get to defer and delay.

Many people don’t realize the IPCC walked back (refined as they put it) some of its most dire scenarios… others may choose to ignore the walkback. Akin to the rocket and feather phenomenon that affects pricing.

It was based on co2 emissions doubling by 2050.

Though energy output has doubled, as a share coal has dropped in China and the US.

Wouldn’t you expect estimates based on difficult to predict human behavior to change based on new data?

Re: Colombia hosts talks on exiting fossil fuels as global energy crisis deepens

#66

Post by scythe »

mikece wrote: post #32

Interesting that Colombia is currently powering more than 70% of their electrical consumption on hydropower. They currently have about 65 TWh of hydropower capacity; the total feasible generation potential is around 200 TWh. Makes then an interesting country to host such talks.

Most of South America has worked like this for decades. Hydropower is king even in Venezuela. It's altruistic on their part, but it may have reduced their long-term economic growth. Viewed in terms of GDP per capita, South America is a laggard. But if you change the denominator and look at GDP per kWh (energy intensity) they are surprisingly close to the rich world.

There is a hidden upside to all this hydro: it could potentially be upgraded to pumped storage and support a massive expansion of solar and wind. However, no SA country has such a forward-looking energy policy.

Re: Colombia hosts talks on exiting fossil fuels as global energy crisis deepens

#67

Post by leonidasrup »

adrr wrote: post #62
leonidasrup wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no progress in CO2 reduction, we are still emiting more CO2 each year. " Global CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion and industrial processes increased by +0.7% within 2025." https://www.nature.com/articles/s43017-026-00780-4

There are three main sources of green house gases. Top one which is power is declining. Transportation is still growing and the last one is agriculture which is stable. There is progress if you look at the details.

The most important metric is total emission and we failing at this metric.

https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions

https://ourworldindata.org/profile/co2/india

https://ourworldindata.org/profile/co2/china

https://ourworldindata.org/profile/co2/indonesia

Re: Colombia hosts talks on exiting fossil fuels as global energy crisis deepens

#68

Post by triceratops »

xp84 wrote: post #47
jmyeet wrote: post #13

I've seen this succintly and accurately described this way: "No One Goes to War Over a Solar Panel" [1]. If you think about it, once you build a solar panel, it just produces power for the next 20-30 years. Then you buy another one and replace it. To get oil or natural gas, you need to drill a well. That well requires constant labor. What many don't seem to know is that oil wells decline in production over time. It's…

> "No One Goes to War Over a Solar Panel" Doesn't China have most of the exotic rare earths and stuff that you need in order to build solar panels and systems? I am not anti-solar, but I also don't think China is some guaranteed-friendly party that the whole world can trust not to wield their power once they have it. I assume anyone who doesn't immediately recognize their planned takeover of Taiwan next year will hav…

China also manufactures and exports oil drilling and coal mining equipment. Curious no one worries about that.

Re: Colombia hosts talks on exiting fossil fuels as global energy crisis deepens

#69

Post by mc32 »

altcognito wrote: post #65
mc32 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many people don’t realize the IPCC walked back (refined as they put it) some of its most dire scenarios… others may choose to ignore the walkback. Akin to the rocket and feather phenomenon that affects pricing.

It was based on co2 emissions doubling by 2050. Though energy output has doubled, as a share coal has dropped in China and the US. Wouldn’t you expect estimates based on difficult to predict human behavior to change based on new data?

Many people were saying that things were not as dire as they claimed. I’m glad they revised but you had silly people gluing themselves to thoroughfares (cars stuck in traffic waste more energy) and vandalizing what some people consider precious art and or national patrimony in the name of climate change thinking that those most dire predictions were indeed correct and we were all headed to hell in a hand basket.

Re: Colombia hosts talks on exiting fossil fuels as global energy crisis deepens

#70

Post by namuol »

adjejmxbdjdn wrote: post #54

Maybe Trump isn’t a Putin Manchurian candidate. Maybe he has been installed by the renewable energy sector actually to get the whole world onto renewables as soon as possible. Of course, they had to give up on or delay America’s renewable future, but that may be a small Price to pay, and anyways renewables are growing in the U.S. despite the administration’s frankly insane efforts to block it

Sure. You know what Putin did the last time oil prices were this high?
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