Fossil fuels in the electricity mix: energy security, climate change and the economy.
Channel: Hopethroughchange
Date: 14/03/2023

Electricity is the energy sector that is easiest to change to renewables. 
Coal and natural gas are still the main sources of electricity. 

In this video, I'm looking for the answers to the following questions: 

How do they generate electricity, who produces and consumes them?
Can we run out? 
Is natural gas really better than coal? What happens when we switch from coal to gas? 
Why would our grid have to change for the renewables? 
Are coal and natural gas cheaper than the renewables? Do the renewables have an advantage over the fossil fuels only because of subsidies? 
How many jobs would be lost in the transition to renewables? 
How secure are these energy sources? What is their capacity? Are they really always available? 
How many people die in a year because of coal and gas? 
Are they really necessary - or do we really have to get rid of them immediately? 

I've mainly used statistics and information from the IEA (international energy agency), the EIA (energy information administration USA), the EPA (environmental protection agency USA), ourworldindata and IMF (international monetary fund). 

My biggest surprise was that the fossil fuels are expensive, even with very high subsidies, do not generate many jobs, they are highly polluting and lead us to rising temperatures and closer towards irreversible highly dangerous climate change. In short: There's nothing to recommend them. 

At the same time the amount of articles and misinformation I could find on this topic was truly staggering. Is it a wonder that politicians believe the money and eloquence of lobbyists and make decisions like green-lighting the willow project in Alaska? There's no path into the future here, methane and carbon dioxide don't negotiate. 

The future will come. How will it look like? We can still switch to the renewables and keep emissions down. But we can't afford more greenhouse gas emissions. That is my conclusion.