According to an energy economist that advised Britain’s energy secretary in the 1970s, despite increasing development and funding of cleaner energy, the world will remain largely reliant on oil, gas and coal for another 100 years, Reuters reported July 15.
Peter Odell served as adviser to the UK Secretary of State for Energy from 1977 to 1979 and is currently a professor of international energy studies at Erasmus University in Rotterdam. He has also written a bestselling book, World and Oil Power.
In an interview with Reuters, he said that even with worldwide initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the planet will still be dependent on hydrocarbons by 2100.
Odell expects that global oil use won’t peak until 2050. He believes renewable energy would increase significantly over the course of the next century but will only provide up to 40 percent of total energy produced. Fossil fuels like oil, gas and coal will continue to control the energy market in the century ahead, he told Reuters.
Furthermore, Odell predicts that energy demand around the world will increase as much as four times what is consumed today.
