Worse, copper is just one of an extensive array of critical energy minerals that must also be mined in the coming years to feed the needs of the wind, solar, battery, and electric vehicle industries chosen by globalist governments as the favoured solutions. Metals like lithium, colbalt, tungsten, antimony, nickel, and silver, not to mention an array of rare earths, all must achieve radically higher production levels to make any or all of this transition work.
Smil also highlights the stunning costs of the planned energy transition, pointing out that the US current GDP is about $25 trillion, and getting to net zero will cost 20 per cent of our GDP, meaning the US would have to begin spending about $5 trillion per year on decarbonisation efforts. Citing a McKinsey study that estimates the energy transition’s total cost at $275 trillion, Smil posits that inevitable delays and cost overruns not factored into that estimate are likely to cause the real cost to rise by 60 per cent, bringing the total to an unimaginable $440 trillion.
Smil’s conclusion that a “rapid and inexpensive transition” is “impossible” gives the lie to the preferred narrative pushed by transition proponents that their desired end state can be achieved without major sacrifices and reductions in standards of living. Indeed, we are already starting to see such sacrifices being mandated by governments across the western world.
Prices for every form of energy have risen dramatically since the policy push for Green New Deal-type subsidies started in earnest with Joe Biden’s inauguration in January 2021. The public pronouncements by politicians in the US, Canada, and Europe increasingly include advocacy for rising restrictions in the ability for ordinary citizens to engage in tourist travel, and the need for them to live smaller, less comfortable, less prosperous lives to “save the planet.”
To his great credit, Smil’s report adds to a growing body of data detailing the enormous costs involved in this forced march to lower standards of living for all but the privileged elites among us. It should be required reading in every household and school.