An Alternative World

Imagine a world where renewable energy was invented before fossil fuels. How do you think things would be different today? Below I have compiled a list of the potential differences that could be possible in a hypothetical past world.

Since renewable energies would have been the primary source of energy from the beginning, there would have been less reliance on fossil fuels, which would have reduced the carbon emissions responsible for climate change. It also would have reduced the need for coal mining and oil rigs in the middle of the ocean. Although we cannot guarantee that the world of fossil fuels would have been eradicated completely, there would definitely be less strain on the environment as dependence would be way lower.

Since renewable energies do not emit greenhouse gases, the world would have been able to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions much earlier than it has or avoided the extreme necessity it reduce them in the first place.

With a diverse range of renewable energy sources available, there would have been greater energy security for countries, as they would not have had to rely on a few key sources of non-renewable energy. This can relate to countries independence therefore allowing them avoid leverage offered by other countries for political gains. Global power dynamics could have potentially been different.

Renewable energies have become increasingly affordable in recent years, but if they had been invented first, they may have been cheaper from the outset due to greater investment and technological development. This would have allowed a lot more people to invest in and use renewable energies.