Many assumptions we have taken for granted are proving less viable than we would have thought. The adoption of EVs, while promising for several reasons, faces hurdles in battery production emissions and infrastructure development that make their worldwide adoption impossible at this point in time, especially in developing nations— and if this was not the case, their environmental benefits would be negated where coal is used for electricity generation. Similarly, efficiency gains in renewable and storage technologies are not sufficient to meet the energy demands of a bigger and richer global consumer population. A striking example to illustrate this point is that, out of all the energy consumed by the world in a year (175,000 terawatt hour), the capacity of all currently available batteries can store enough to power the world for 20 seconds.
Yet, the application of circular economy principles and data-driven solutions, combined with advancing technologies in storage and renewables, could offer a more realistic picture for a new energy paradigm. In other words, the limitations of renewables and storage in energy production could be covered by the increases in efficiency of AI and circularity. In the meantime, one could imagine innovation and investment improving all of these areas exponentially, with new technologies adding up to the energy mix of the future.