Tesla Master Plan 3 Shows Path to Sustainable Global Energy Economy

Image: Tesla

Tesla is committed to accelerating the world's transition to renewable energy. Its Master Plan 3 shows the way to a sustainable global energy economy through the electrification of the population, and the sustainable production and storage of renewable energy.

At Investor Day held on March 1, 2023, Tesla shared its Master Plan 3. The company shared extensive information that was essentially a roadmap for its development and a plan for how the whole world, working together, can accelerate the world's transition to a renewable energy economy. On Wednesday, the manufacturer published a document presenting the calculations and specific data discussed at Investor Day.

Tesla notes that a $10 trillion investment will be required to transition the entire world to completely clean energy, compared to the $14 trillion projected 20-year spend on fossil fuels at the 2022 investment rate. Making the plan a reality will require a massive expansion of solar panel factories and metal processing plants over the next 20 years to provide the renewable energy production and energy storage capacity needed to power the global economy completely carbon-free, according to a release published on Wednesday in Tesla's Master Plan 3.

The released paper details the company's vision for a world without fossil fuels. Tesla's proposed global energy system requires about 30,000 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity and 240,000 gigawatt-hours of battery power.

According to the scenario calculated by the company, the global mining sector should be ready for a big boom in demand. Tesla predicts that producing nickel, lithium, copper, and other materials to be used in batteries and clean energy devices will require a total of $502 billion in mining investment and $662 billion in recycling costs. To do this, each year 3.3 gigatonnes of the earth would need to be moved to extract the necessary metals. For comparison, according to the information in the document, the industry is currently moving 15.5 gigatonnes of the earth to burn fossil fuels.

In the 2040s, recycling will begin to meaningfully reduce primary material demand as batteries, solar panels, and wind turbines reach end-of-life and valuable materials are recycled. Although mining demand will decrease, refining capacity will not.

Tesla believes that a fully electrified and sustainable economy is within reach through the actions in this paper:

1. Repower the Existing Grid with Renewables
2. Switch to Electric Vehicles
3. Switch to Heat Pumps in Residential, Business & Industry
4. Electrify High Temperature Heat Delivery and Hydrogen Production
5. Sustainably Fuel Planes & Boats
6. Manufacture the Sustainable Energy Economy

Modeling reveals that the electrified and sustainable future is technically feasible and requires less investment and less material extraction than continuing today’s unsustainable energy economy.

© 2023, Eva Fox | Tesmanian. All rights reserved.

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