IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolec/v195y2022ics0921800922000404.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A technical critique of the Green New Deal

Author

Listed:
  • Trainer, Ted

Abstract

In view of the attention Green New Deal proposals have received there has been very little concern to assess its technical feasibility. It involves two major technical claims, firstly that renewable energy can sustain present societies at a relatively low cost, and secondly that economy can be decoupled from resource consumption and environmental impact. The validity of these assumptions is often taken for granted. Robert Pollin is unusual in providing arguments for them. This article puts reasons for rejecting both claims and then considers the implications for the design of sustainable and just systems. It is concluded that GND goals cannot be achieved unless there is large scale degrowth to radically different economic, social and political systems. A novel perspective on the transition, contradicting GND thinking, is indicated.

Suggested Citation

  • Trainer, Ted, 2022. "A technical critique of the Green New Deal," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:195:y:2022:i:c:s0921800922000404
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2022.107378
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800922000404
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2022.107378?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Charles A. S. Hall & Stephen Balogh & David J.R. Murphy, 2009. "What is the Minimum EROI that a Sustainable Society Must Have?," Energies, MDPI, vol. 2(1), pages 1-23, January.
    2. Elliston, Ben & Diesendorf, Mark & MacGill, Iain, 2012. "Simulations of scenarios with 100% renewable electricity in the Australian National Electricity Market," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 606-613.
    3. Weißbach, D. & Ruprecht, G. & Huke, A. & Czerski, K. & Gottlieb, S. & Hussein, A., 2013. "Energy intensities, EROIs (energy returned on invested), and energy payback times of electricity generating power plants," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 210-221.
    4. Yousefzadeh, Moslem & Lenzen, Manfred, 2019. "Performance of concentrating solar power plants in a whole-of-grid context," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 1-1.
    5. Elliston, Ben & MacGill, Iain & Diesendorf, Mark, 2013. "Least cost 100% renewable electricity scenarios in the Australian National Electricity Market," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 270-282.
    6. Roberto Leonardo Rana & Mariarosaria Lombardi & Pasquale Giungato & Caterina Tricase, 2020. "Trends in Scientific Literature on Energy Return Ratio of Renewable Energy Sources for Supporting Policymakers," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-17, March.
    7. Ted Trainer, 2021. "Degrowth: How Much is Needed?," Biophysical Economics and Resource Quality, Springer, vol. 6(2), pages 1-8, June.
    8. T. Trainer & A. Malik & M. Lenzen, 2019. "A Comparison Between the Monetary, Resource and Energy Costs of the Conventional Industrial Supply Path and the “Simpler Way” Path for the Supply of Eggs," Biophysical Economics and Resource Quality, Springer, vol. 4(3), pages 1-7, September.
    9. Lenzen, Manfred & McBain, Bonnie & Trainer, Ted & Jütte, Silke & Rey-Lescure, Olivier & Huang, Jing, 2016. "Simulating low-carbon electricity supply for Australia," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 553-564.
    10. Trainer, Ted, 2018. "Estimating the EROI of whole systems for 100% renewable electricity supply capable of dealing with intermittency," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 648-653.
    11. Trainer, Ted, 2019. "Some questions concerning the Blakers et al. case that pumped hydro storage can enable 100% electricity supply," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 470-475.
    12. Trainer, Ted, 2017. "Some problems in storing renewable energy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 386-393.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ioana Andreea Bogoslov & Anca Elena Lungu & Eduard Alexandru Stoica & Mircea Radu Georgescu, 2022. "European Green Deal Impact on Entrepreneurship and Competition: A Free Market Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-15, September.
    2. Laura Tolettini & Eleonora Di Maria, 2023. "Structuring and Measuring Environmental Sustainability in the Steel Sector: A Single Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-26, April.
    3. Brown, Donal & Brisbois, Marie-Claire & Lacey-Barnacle, Max & Foxon, Tim & Copeland, Claire & Mininni, Giulia, 2023. "The Green New Deal: Historical insights and local prospects in the United Kingdom (UK)," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ted Trainer, 2022. "Can Australia Run on Renewable Energy: Unsettled Issues and Implications," Biophysical Economics and Resource Quality, Springer, vol. 7(4), pages 1-17, December.
    2. Keck, Felix & Jütte, Silke & Lenzen, Manfred & Li, Mengyu, 2022. "Assessment of two optimisation methods for renewable energy capacity expansion planning," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 306(PA).
    3. Marco Vittorio Ecclesia & João Santos & Paul E. Brockway & Tiago Domingos, 2022. "A Comprehensive Societal Energy Return on Investment Study of Portugal Reveals a Low but Stable Value," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-22, May.
    4. Trainer, Ted, 2017. "Some problems in storing renewable energy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 386-393.
    5. Carlos de Castro & Iñigo Capellán-Pérez, 2020. "Standard, Point of Use, and Extended Energy Return on Energy Invested (EROI) from Comprehensive Material Requirements of Present Global Wind, Solar, and Hydro Power Technologies," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-43, June.
    6. Hansen, Kenneth & Breyer, Christian & Lund, Henrik, 2019. "Status and perspectives on 100% renewable energy systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 471-480.
    7. Keck, Felix & Lenzen, Manfred & Vassallo, Anthony & Li, Mengyu, 2019. "The impact of battery energy storage for renewable energy power grids in Australia," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 647-657.
    8. Diesendorf, Mark & Elliston, Ben, 2018. "The feasibility of 100% renewable electricity systems: A response to critics," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 318-330.
    9. Lu, Bin & Blakers, Andrew & Stocks, Matthew, 2017. "90–100% renewable electricity for the South West Interconnected System of Western Australia," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 663-674.
    10. Yousefzadeh, Moslem & Lenzen, Manfred, 2019. "Performance of concentrating solar power plants in a whole-of-grid context," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 1-1.
    11. Li, Mengyu & Lenzen, Manfred & Wang, Dai & Nansai, Keisuke, 2020. "GIS-based modelling of electric-vehicle–grid integration in a 100% renewable electricity grid," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 262(C).
    12. Riesz, Jenny & Elliston, Ben, 2016. "Research and deployment priorities for renewable technologies: Quantifying the importance of various renewable technologies for low cost, high renewable electricity systems in an Australian case study," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 298-308.
    13. Howard, Bahareh Sara & Hamilton, Nicholas E. & Diesendorf, Mark & Wiedmann, Thomas, 2018. "Modeling the carbon budget of the Australian electricity sector's transition to renewable energy," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 712-728.
    14. Trainer, Ted, 2019. "Some questions concerning the Blakers et al. case that pumped hydro storage can enable 100% electricity supply," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 470-475.
    15. Graham Palmer, 2017. "A Framework for Incorporating EROI into Electrical Storage," Biophysical Economics and Resource Quality, Springer, vol. 2(2), pages 1-19, June.
    16. Ziemowit Malecha, 2025. "Energy Mix Constraints Imposed by Minimum EROI for Societal Sustainability," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(14), pages 1-13, July.
    17. Cheung, Grace & Davies, Peter J., 2017. "In the transformation of energy systems: what is holding Australia back?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 96-108.
    18. Rey-Costa, Elona & Elliston, Ben & Green, Donna & Abramowitz, Gab, 2023. "Firming 100% renewable power: Costs and opportunities in Australia's National Electricity Market," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 219(P1).
    19. Weitemeyer, Stefan & Kleinhans, David & Vogt, Thomas & Agert, Carsten, 2015. "Integration of Renewable Energy Sources in future power systems: The role of storage," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 14-20.
    20. Luigi Cirocco & Martin Belusko & Frank Bruno & John Boland & Peter Pudney, 2014. "Optimisation of Storage for Concentrated Solar Power Plants," Challenges, MDPI, vol. 5(2), pages 1-31, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:195:y:2022:i:c:s0921800922000404. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.