Mark Diesendorf
Jul 24, 2017 · 1 min read

Brett asked: ‘What will the cumulative carbon emissions be from all the material extraction and processing to create fossil-fuel dependent “renewable” energy be?’

Recent research, including our own at UNSW, suggests that the additional life-cycle CO2 emissions from building global and national renewable energy (RE) systems will be very small compared with the reduction in emissions achieved from substituting RE for fossil fuels. This is because, as the transition continues, RE technologies will be made increasingly with RE. Early signs include the complete powering of the Tesla battery gigafactory with RE and a mining company in Australia building a large solar power station to save on diesel costs.

    Mark Diesendorf

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    Dr Mark Diesendorf is Honorary Associate Professor in Environmental Humanities in the School of Humanities and Languages at UNSW Sydney.