Outspoken business magnate Elon Musk believes the world can be converted entirely to clean energy in 20 years, at a cost of $10 trillion – $4 trillion less than remaining on fossil fuels.
Tesla owner Elon Musk believes the world can be entirely converted to clean energy with $10 trillion worth of investment over 20 years.
Remaining on fossil fuels, he argues, would cost $14 trillion over the same time period.
Although the $10 trillion investment cost of a cleaner world is high, Musk says that is a fraction of the $100 trillion global economy, and even less when spread out over two decades – 0.5% of the global economy.
During peaks, the world would need to extract 3.3 gigatons of earth every year to mine the metals needed for the transition to an electric future, much less than the 15.5 gigatons that are currently extracted for the fossil fuel industry.
In summing up, Tesla says an electrified and sustainable future is technically feasible and requires less investment and less material extraction than continuing with today’s unsustainable energy economy.
