The Transition to Green Energy: A Brainwash or a Reality?
By: Isabella Madrid Malo
Tags: Renewable Energy, Sustainability, Greenwashing, Climate Action, Energy

Today I was walking through Rotterdam and couldn’t help but see all the recent low-carbon transport developments. From electric scooters to electric car-sharing apps, mobility in the Netherlands is evolving and transitioning at unimaginable rates.

And I was so excited! And then I wasn't.

The green and the electric transition is sold to us as a fantastic economic and environmental transformation, and it kind of is. Thinking about decreasing our fossil fuel dependency for the mobility industry is a game-changer. Since the industrial revolution, it has been possible to understand how fossil fuels truly work and their long-term unsustainable damage. In recent years, a greener solution has been building up, and in the past few years, Western societies can see this more and more in their everyday lives. That is awesome.

Is it though?

I had never thought about it until recently where this new green and “zero-emission” energy comes from. It seemed very abstract to me, and to be honest, it didn’t even cross my mind. This is the thing with sustainability; we can make many efforts towards sustainability, but as we do, humanity needs to be connected with our soils and seas. Our food, energy, cosmetics, and water come from something, and that something is earth.

But, then the connection appeared. Lithium, nickel, cobalt, dysprosium, neodymium, terbium. The former are critical raw materials, and the latter are rare-earth elements. These elements and materials are crucial for the energy transition (e.g., electric mobility & renewable energy creation). What does this mean? Basically, we are changing our exploitation system from some raw materials to others. Now, if we enter a philosophical Machiavellian line of thought, this is ok. The means justify the end. With the energy transition, the means are exploiting, contaminating, and polluting ecosystems and landscapes, and the end entails a “zero-emission” system such as a wind turbine, solar panel battery, and an electric car.

As much interest as I have in Machiavelli, that does not work for sustainability. We are moving towards a greenwash transition; selling it as sustainable, and continuing with business as usual in other geographical areas with new materials instead of our daily use of fossil fuels.

The industry must be transparent with us. It is unfair that the only ones who know about this greenwash are engineers, industrial workers, experts, and geoscience students. It is also a necessity to move from one economic system to another; young communities, environmentalists, and societies have raised concerns regarding the extended use of fossil fuels for our everyday life.

If we are moving worldwide to different energy sources, here’s the deal:

Engineers must find ways to extract materials in the least damaging way possible (We still need energy, readers. So either way, we need to exploit somewhere.) Designers must learn how to incorporate circular models in our new electric modes of production (e.g., upcycling elements in the technical system) Researchers must evaluate and inform the people regarding the impacts of these new technologies, as well as their effect on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. These energy systems must not be in the West exclusively. That’s crap. If there is the possibility of a sustainable transition, countries need collective thought to fight global issues together. The energy crisis is coming! We are too many on this planet and we need to learn how to store energy for every single one of us (sorry, the crisis doesn't exclude the 1% ) People must inform themselves! Don’t let the system fool you. Let's educate each other on the realities and prospects of our current technological developments.

That’s all I ask for, is it too much? (lol)

In any case, I wrote this, for you. To provide some knowledge and insights on this topic. What do you think? Are we being brainwashed or is there truly a sustainable transition? Leave your comment below, would love to read your take on it.

My take: I think we have hope, but designers, engineers, educators, writers, and every human have a role to play to provide a rightful system change.