Starting a journey into the unknown requires an experienced sherpa
Zero to Zero

— “It is a mistake to try to look too far ahead. The chain of destiny can only be grasped one link at a time.”

An appraisal of the journey to net zero

A lot has been proposed for the crusade to decarbonise the economy but every new technology has its drawbacks. Whether that be a bigger ecological footprint than acknowledged; or the failure to consider the economics of energy. Consuming ever increasing amounts of energy at the back end to deliver “clean” fuels of electricity, hydrogen and green ammonia at the front end is not the solution.

First steps

Any experienced sherpa tackling the unknown asks “where do we stand?” Having a true understanding where we are and what the tangible options are means a path can be plotted. Along that path continual reference points will need to be recorded and measured and the question, “where do we stand?” will continually need to be assessed. The first solution lies in what we have. No new infrastructure. No ripping up the economic playbook. No additional emissions caused by the search for the unachievable holy grail. Instead a focus on delivering economic prosperity to the parts of the world who have yet to reap any benefits from the efficiencies of the modern world. The keyword is efficiency. Energy efficiency; a small change can create a ripple effect.

Mother Nature

Energy efficiency is not achieved with feats of engineering building more and more complex and advanced machinery controlled by artificial intelligence consuming terawatts of processing capacity. It is achieved by looking at the problem. Go back to the beginning, keep it simple and see what the problem is and how it can be improved. Look at the life blood of our energy system; petroleum a product created by Mother Nature herself, incubated in the bowels of the earth concentrated over time to a product that has given life to the world today. Without oil there would be no modern world, no sanitation, no medicine, no human race.