I have been wondering about this:
Write-downs of power plants, auto factories and fossil-fuel reserves could cause big losses in the transition to renewable energy.
Source: Trillions in Assets May Be Left Stranded as Companies Address Climate Change – WSJ
My electrical utility shut down a huge coal fired electrical generation plant last month, the only coal fired plant in the state, and the largest single point source of carbon emissions The plant, which had been upgraded over time, may have had another 20 or more years of productive capacity.
The foregone productive life ends up as a stranded asset to be written off. There are a LOT of assets that are going to be written off.
The amount of power we generate from fossil fuel energy sources is enormous, with mind blowing big numbers involved. One environment analyst estimated to become “net zero” within a few decades, we would have to build the equivalent of a new 1 GW nuclear power plant every single week for the next several decades, to replace existing fossil fuel sources.
That hints at the scope of the challenge. It seems unlikely that politicians proclaiming zero carbon by 2030 (or 2035, etc) are mentally sane.
