Elon Musk estimates that using fossil fuels indefinitely would cost about US$14 trillion, whereas switching to entirely clean energy would cost US$10 trillion.
Elon Musk estimates that using fossil fuels indefinitely would cost about US$14 trillion, whereas switching to entirely clean energy would cost US$10 trillion.
Tesla Inc. stated in its Master Plan Part 3 released on Thursday that a significant expansion of solar-panel manufacturing facilities and metal refineries is necessary over the next 20 years to provide the renewable energy generation and electricity storage capacity needed to power the global economy entirely with carbon-free energy.
The white paper elaborates on the specifics of Musk’s plan for a world free of fossil fuels, which he first presented at the investor day last month. Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla Inc., is present at the opening ceremony of the new Tesla Gigafactory for electric vehicles on March 22 in Gruenheide, Germany.
During the event in Austin, Texas, Musk declared that “Earth will transition to a sustainable energy economy.” It will occur during your lifetime.
Tesla envisions modernised grids powered by wind and solar, massive battery farms around the world, underground hydrogen storage facilities, a retooling of heavy industries like the production of steel and cement, and homes and businesses heated or cooled by heat pumps.
According to Tesla, the cost of using fossil fuels, the alternative, which involves continuing to produce oil, coal, and natural gas, is higher and would total about US$14 trillion over the following two decades if prices remained the same as last year.
Approximately 30,000 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity and 240,000 gigawatt-hours of storage batteries are needed for Musk’s envisioned global energy system.
These numbers contrast with the 3,214 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity projected for 2021 and the 1,432 gigawatt hours of stationary energy storage capacity anticipated by the end of 2030 by BloombergNEF. That would be a huge advantage for clean tech companies like Tesla.
Musk contends that even though the US$10 trillion investment cost of a cleaner world is significant, it is still within reach when spread over a twenty-year period given the US$100 trillion global economy. He informed investors last month that “over 20 years, it would be 0.5 percent of the global economy.” Therefore, this is not a large number.
Under Musk’s scenario, the global metals industry would be in for a significant surge in demand. According to Tesla, the production of the nickel, lithium, copper, and other materials used in batteries and clean energy equipment would require an investment in mining of between US$502 billion and US$662 billion.
At its highest, the world would need to remove 3.3 billion tonnes of earth from the surface each year to mine the metals required for the switch to cleaner energy sources. Nevertheless, the company noted that this is a significant decrease from the 15.5 billion tonnes currently extracted for the fossil fuel industries.
There is also little chance that the world will run out of the necessary metals because only a small portion of the available resources are needed, and higher demand would spur explorers to search for new deposits, it added.
In 2040, recycling will start to replace new metal supply in a significant way as used batteries, solar panels, and wind turbines are collected for reuse.
Other materials, such as using copper in solar panels instead of silver, synthetic graphite in batteries, and removing rare earths from wind turbines, will be phased out or reduced. Continuing with today’s unsustainable energy economy is not technically feasible, according to Tesla, and it also requires less investment and material extraction.