You wouldn’t think it, amid all the chaos and uncertainty in recent weeks, but despite the war raging over oil in the Middle East there are hopeful signs of an energy revolution. Fuel blockades, resignations and price shocks may be dominating the headlines, but the trend line depicts a decline in fossil fuel demand.

In 2025, the EU reached a tipping point with wind and solar generating more power than fossil fuels for the first time. And there’s no going back.

We’ve been here before. In the 1970s, the oil price tripled in 1973 and then doubled in 1979. But the shock led to dramatic increases in vehicle fuel efficiencies and diversification of energy sources beyond the Middle East. There were no substitutes back then for fossil energy besides nuclear power, but fossil fuel use per capita peaked in 1979 nonetheless. The crisis spawned an efficiency revolution that continues to this day. The Ford Cortina in which my father queued for petrol in 1979 was capable of about 25mpg. Its equivalent today can achieve up to 60mpg. But that is nothing compared with an electric vehicle (EV), which is three times more efficient again or an e-bike which is many times more efficient. There is no way back to cheap oil, so the clean and efficient alternative is the way to go.

Similarly, the energy shock caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine led to gas prices in Europe spiking 180 per cent in 2022. While the Irish Government........

© The Irish Times