Last Thursday, Pope Francis issued an encyclical on our place in the environment.He had some interesting things to say on energy:
“We know that technology based on the use of highly polluting fossil fuels – especially coal, but also oil and, to a lesser degree, gas — needs to be progressively replaced without delay.”
“There is an urgent need to develop policies so that, in the next few years, the emission of carbon dioxide and other highly polluting gases can be drastically reduced, for example, substituting for fossil fuels and developing sources of renewable energy. There is still a need to develop adequate storage technologies.”
There’s a nice article in RenewEconomy, “The Pope is an Energy wonk”
The encyclical itself is an interesting and poetic read, even in the english translation.