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Fossil fuels have made modern society possible, but as the scale of their extraction and consumption has increased, the negative consequences have accrued such that they now threaten the survival of modern civilization (Ripple et al. 2019). Greenhouse gas emissions that are changing the climate, particulate and NOx emissions that threaten public health, and widespread ecological disruption from fossil fuel extraction that jeopardizes biodiversity conservation have become compelling justifications for the clean energy revolution.
Transforming a world energy system fueled by oil, gas, and coal to one fed mainly by sun, water, and wind is a wicked problem made worse by decades of procrastination that leave society facing transition curves that grow steeper every year (United Nations Environment Program 2019). There are risks and benefits associated with the transition, with complicated societal, economic, political, geopolitical, and cultural dimensions that make achieving the energy transformation formidable.