Is it though? For developing countries, having a large supply of fossil fuels has always been a huge accelerator for industrialization and overall economic growth even if that fuel has to be imported. There really is no substitute, especially when you consider that it's not used only for transportation and power generation but also for manufacturing as an industrial heat source and chemical feed stock.

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gzread 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Solar energy is cheaper than oil right now. On average. Too bad it's highly variable but if you can cope with extreme variability you can get extremely cheap energy.

	▲	nradov an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Pretty tough to cope with variability if you want to build a modern industrial economy. I mean even with cheap labor it kind of kills your cost structure when capital intensive facilities have to shut down due to electricity shortage. Plus there are plenty of industrial processes that require fossil fuels as inputs separate from just electricity.

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pstuart 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

China seems to think so. Their efforts to boost their non-carbon energy sources is going at an advanced clip, along with their advances in EVs.

Not saying they're above reproach, but their energy policy certainly trumps ours.

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eldaisfish 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

fossil fuels were a proxy for energy. China continues to show the world that energy independence can come via electricity that you generate within your borders, and that it can be cheaper than importing foreign oil.

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nradov 2 hours ago | parent [-]

China is in no way energy independent. Their fossil fuel imports are extremely high and not decreasing.

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bryanlarsen an hour ago | parent [-]

China's gasoline use is down substantially. Industrial use is up, but much of that is re exported via plastic etc.

	▲	nradov 20 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Right, that's exactly the point. Regardless of the consequences, worldwide fossil fuel consumption will continue increasing. Those stable organic molecules with energy rich chemical bonds are so damn useful for everything that enables modern industrial civilization and there is no substitute.