backIt’s a truism, but the energy industry has always been in a constant state of transition, ever since humans learned to make fire.
However, as it relates to the modern adoption of non-fossil-based fuels, the term “energy transition” has been in usage since at least the 1960s, when the American physicist, Harrison Brown, used it to describe the increasing share of nuclear energy in the power mix.
Since the term’s origin, its use has become ubiquitous in the media and public discourse, denoting the replacement by renewable energy of other alternatives.
Indeed, the sources of energy on offer for the transitioning consumer have proliferated since the 2015 Paris Agreement’s near-consensus on global reductions in emissions, under which most countries agreed to adapt their economies to contribute to the avoidance of rising global temperatures beyond agreed limits. The energy menu now encompasses dozens of technologies, such as renewable electricity and fuels (solar, wind, geothermal, hydroelectric and more), biofuels of various kinds, synthetic fuels, sustainable aviation fuels, small modular nuclear reactors, hydrogen energy created using renewable electricity or the reformation of natural gas accompanied by carbon capture and sequestration (together with derivatives such as ammonia, methanol and e-fuels), direct air capture, methane leakage management and, indeed, too many more to list.
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